Gay Nigerians Face Sharia Death

[LaoPo]

Mea Culpa, as it has nothing to do with Thailand, but all the more with Gay rights and freedom. Thought you might want to learn about this:

Gay Nigerians face Sharia death

Eighteen men have been remanded in prison following their arrest for alleged sodomy in northern Nigeria, the state-owned news agency, Nan, reports.

The men were arrested in a hotel in north-eastern Bauchi State, which is governed by the Islamic Sharia law.

The Sharia punishment for sodomy is death by stoning.

The men, reportedly wearing women's clothes, are said to have gone to Bauchi town from neighbouring states to celebrate a "gay wedding".

Sharia judge Malam Tanimu ordered that the 18 be remanded in prison after they were arraigned before him on Wednesday.

Prosecuting police officer Tadius Boboi said the men's actions had contravened Sharia law, adopted in Bauchi and a dozen other states in Muslim northern Nigeria in 2000.

Amputations

More than a dozen Nigerian Muslims have been sentenced to death by stoning and for sexual offences ranging from adultery and homosexuality.

But none of these death sentences have actually been carried out as they were either thrown out on appeal or commuted to prison terms as a result of pressure from human rights groups.

Many others have been sentenced to flogging by horsewhip for drinking.

But there have been two amputations in north-western Zamfara State which pioneered the introduction of the Islamic legal system in the country.

Taboo

Nigeria, like many African countries, is a conservative society where homosexuality is considered a taboo.

The Nigerian parliament has been trying to pass a controversial law introduced by former President Olusegun Obasanjo banning gay rights organisations.

Gay activists and some human rights groups have condemned the proposed legislation and called for its rejection.

But homosexuality and same sex marriage are illegal in Nigeria and are considered very serious offences.

In April, a woman reportedly fled Nigeria after being accused of organising a polygamous lesbian wedding.

She later denied the reports.

Two years ago, a Sharia court sentenced a man to six months in prison and fined him $38 for living as a woman for seven years in Kano.

Source: BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6940061.stm

LaoPo

[PeaceBlondie]

I am so thankful that my plane landed in Bangkok rather than in Lagos......

[farang prince]

I am so thankful that my plane landed in Bangkok rather than in Lagos......

For more than just Sharia law PB. What a shithole.

I truly feel for those people that live in countries where homosexuality is outlawed. We have all experienced homophobia in a variety of different forms. And I'm afraid the struggle for equality will be a long one and far outlast me. Courage!!!!

Edited August 10, 2007 by farang prince

[Naam]

I am so thankful that my plane landed in Bangkok rather than in Lagos......

you wouldn't have to worry. no sharia law in Lagos and all of southern and central nigerian states.

[geriatrickid]

I don't know how many of you folks remember the 2 children that were hanged in Iran in 2005. They were accused of homosexuality. The reality was that they were perhaps engaged in some harmless youthful sexual exploration. Torture brought the admissions.

In 2005, 2 young men (early 20's) were executed. Read about it here at Human Rights Watch; http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/11/21/iran12072.htm

Here's some more gut wrenching documentation.

http://gaypatriot.net/2005/09/20/iranian-a...rture-gay-youth

I know PeaceBlondie and others find may find my heterosexual macabre sense of humour and grip of reality annoying, but reports of the blatant denial of the most basic of human rights enrage me. Although "gays" are targeted, it's everyone, no matter what their gender that is the target.

Last march I totally lost it it when it was proposed that the Iranians should be involved in some HIV research related activities in Thailand. My position was that while the Iranian needle exchange programs were indeed valuable and advanced, the views on sexually transmitted HIV prevention/treatment were reprehensible. (Besides HIV in Thailand is a heterosexual infection, and not a gay "syndrome".) I was accused of religious insensitivity blah blah blah. Not one comment came from the westerners in attendance, some of whom were gay.

I am particularly offended that while EU "liberals" try to push all sorts of academic boycotts of imperfect democratic nations such as Israel, they remain silent on incidents like this. While the most recent academic boycott was heating up this summer in the UK (and which would have severly impacted an HIV clinical trial using an Israeli innovation), a couple more gays were murdered (more like tortured, and ripped apart in Gaza) by religious zealots. Not a word was reported. Sort of like the Darfur genocide refugees that are shot while trying to make it through Egypt to Israel. No one said a darn thing.

Yea, I know, you can't smear everyone, but where the F. are you people? Don't you think this is unacceptable treatment of people? You know why a waddling skirt chaser like me saying No F--ing way? Because I am selfish.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me--

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller (He was sent to a concentration camp for his integrity)

Gay people are the canaries in the coal mine.

Wake up and make yourselves heard before it's too late.

Sorry for ranting, but this evilness just p*sses me off to the max.

[endure]

I don't know how many of you folks remember the 2 children that were hanged in Iran in 2005. They were accused of homosexuality. The reality was that they were perhaps engaged in some harmless youthful sexual exploration. Torture brought the admissions.

Yes, we remember the two Iranian teenagers that were executed in 2005. We also remember Mathew Shephard who was murdered in Laramie. We remember Jody Dobroski who was murdered in London. We remember alll those killed and maimed when the Admiral Duncan in London was bombed. We remember David Morley, one of the survivors of the Admiral Duncan, who was later murdered by a mob. We remember many other assaults and vilifications of gay folks around the world, some of them committed against ourselves. We don't need reminding about these things by a 'waddling skirt chaser' because this is the life we live too.

[tilac2]

Are you seriously comparing the situation in the USA and Britain with that in Iran? Perhaps you have never visited an Islamic country. I have. The main difference (why does one have to keep pointing this out) is that we have relative freedom in western countries -- and even in Thailand -- compared to almost any predominantly islamic country you care to mention. I am not gay, but as the earlier post said, the way gays are treated is a measure of a country's freedom. So I say good luck to them -- and they'll need luck in the Middle East and large parts of Africa.

[Naam]

Are you seriously comparing the situation in the USA and Britain with that in Iran? Perhaps you have never visited an Islamic country. I have. The main difference (why does one have to keep pointing this out) is that we have relative freedom in western countries...

may i [not so] humbly point out that homosexuality was a punishable crime in one of the "western countries" (my home country Germany) till the mid 70s?

[paulsmithson]

Dr Nam ---but we have progressed-at least some of us have.

I am not gay but it really pisses me off when gay people are victimised in any way at all. What two consenting adults get upto in their private life should be of no concern to anyone else.

So many heterosexual men abuse their women and enjoy perverted sex acts with them-who are they to condemn gay people?

What really matters in life is how you treat other people-and hanging and beating gay people is totally unacceptable.

No one asks to be gay do they??????

[endure]

The point I was making is that, contrary to geriatrickid's apparent belief that he's springing something new on us, we do remember the Iranian teenagers and many other similar injustices meted out to gay folks the world over. They are our brothers & sisters. BTW 40 years ago in Britain sodomy was punishable by life imprisonment.

[Naam]

Dr Nam ---but we have progressed-at least some of us have.

I am not gay but it really pisses me off when gay people are victimised in any way at all. What two consenting adults get upto in their private life should be of no concern to anyone else.

i fully agree. however it will take a long time till gays of both genders are fully accepted in every society, especially in islamic orientated ones.

what does not help to "integrate" gays are the well known rallies where sexual behaviour is publicly and explicitly displayed. but that is just my very personal view as a "straight" chap.

edited for addendum: i am not sure what our laws on Klingon are in this respect. never bothered to find out.

Edited August 12, 2007 by Dr. Naam

[endure]

Might I just point out to you gentleman that the gay forum is a forum for gay people and their friends. It is not a place for debating the 'rights' and 'wrong'' of homosexuality. It is not a place where we need to justify our existence. It's Thaivisa version of the Castro. If you need to ask what Castro is it may not be the place for you.

[LaoPo]

In my home country, The Netherlands, gay people are well respected and many famous [Television] artists/presentators/famous people are openly gay.

Nobody has a problem with that and same-sex marriage is widely accepted (as one of the first countries in the world).

However, in recent months our liberal attitude has been under attack by so called gangs of 'gay-beaters', mainly by (let me try to be very careful here...) Northern Africans, children of immigrants with a different-than-Christian religion...

They've beaten up, in an extreme way, gay tourists as well as Dutch gays. The country is shocked by this 'behaviour' of a small group of lower educated youngsters.

Even the government is utterly shocked.

It seems to be a kind of 'new wave', 'sport' if you will, for them to visit the special areas where gay people meet, wait for them and beat them up, severely.

This weekend a former MP has called upon the government to try and do something to have this gay-beating stopped.

Foreign tourist gays are staying away already from one of the most liberal gay-friendly countries in the world.

How sad

LaoPo

[sjaak327]

In my home country, The Netherlands, gay people are well respected and many famous [Television] artists/presentators/famous people are openly gay.

Nobody has a problem with that and same-sex marriage is widely accepted (as one of the first countries in the world).

However, in recent months our liberal attitude has been under attack by so called gangs of 'gay-beaters', mainly by (let me try to be very careful here...) Northern Africans, children of immigrants with a different-than-Christian religion...

They've beaten up, in an extreme way, gay tourists as well as Dutch gays. The country is shocked by this 'behaviour' of a small group of lower educated youngsters.

Even the government is utterly shocked.

It seems to be a kind of 'new wave', 'sport' if you will, for them to visit the special areas where gay people meet, wait for them and beat them up, severely.

This weekend a former MP has called upon the government to try and do something to have this gay-beating stopped.

Foreign tourist gays are staying away already from one of the most liberal gay-friendly countries in the world.

How sad

LaoPo

Very sad indeed, even though I believe that the ethnic background of these people are irrelevant. Remember that even amongst Christians in the Netherlands, there is still homophobia.

I think the Dutch government and police should just make sure that these people will get the punishment they deserve, and today there was a story on the news that at least one of them did indeed get a stiff punishment. Set an example to deter others.

Regarding the OP, I guess I just got lucky to be born in the Netherlands instead of in those states in Nigeria where the Sharia applies. Another good example of the necessity of separation of state and church.

[geriatrickid]

Yes, we remember....

We don't need reminding about these things by a 'waddling skirt chaser' because this is the life we live too.

Hey it's splendid that you don't need reminding, even though I wrote remember which has a different connotation. Slogans and catch phrases are great but what does it accomplish? Have you ever gone head to head against some of the people doing these things? Have you put your job on the line? What would you do if a mob came to your clinic looking to burn it down? It happens and it's not "gay" people that are there facing down the violent mob.

This isn't about gay or str8. In case you didn't know, there are alot of people that are not gay that are spending their lives helping people. They also have gay friends and attend gay social events with them, and they are just as much a part of the gay community as a drag queen or some guy that's closeted.

My point was and still remains, that when a society accepts that it's ok to hang children for some harmless kid stuff, concrete action is required otherwise it moves onto other activities.

The link to Thailand should be obvious for those that have been in the deep south where secular teachers are murdered and schoolhouses are torched on a weekly basis. Thailand's gays need the government to remain steadfast and have success in restablishing peace or else there will be some very unpleasant progressions.

[Scott]

I've never attended a gay rally in my life and probably never will, (I've never attended any other kind of rally either). I have worked in refugee work and I did make sure, one way or another, that upwards of a thousand gays were given refugee status. Other UN officials and officals from other countries just considered them a bunch of queers and in need of no special treatment.

I saw them as a specially targeted group who would face persecution if returned to their homeland. This included people from all over the middle east as well as Vietnam, Africa and other Asian countries. The sad fact is that many of them will face persecution throughout their lives even in some of the liberal western countries where they were resettled, but at least it won't be because it is sanctioned by the gov't.

In order to make sure these folks were granted refugee status, I had to keep my head low and work very hard on their behalf. There was a tidal wave of negative feelings (mostly personal) toward gays and it was more than once that I had to use veiled threats to repeat what some officials had said about gays in order to get them to backoff and turn the case over to me--some of them flat refused to grant refugee status to them.

People need to know that most of us do our part, but we don't always jump up and down about it. Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war.

[endure]

Yes, we remember....

We don't need reminding about these things by a 'waddling skirt chaser' because this is the life we live too.

Hey it's splendid that you don't need reminding, even though I wrote remember which has a different connotation. Slogans and catch phrases are great but what does it accomplish? Have you ever gone head to head against some of the people doing these things? Have you put your job on the line? What would you do if a mob came to your clinic looking to burn it down? It happens and it's not "gay" people that are there facing down the violent mob.

Well, I have been beaten over the head with an iron bar and put into hospital for having the effrontery to be myself rather than living in the twilight that those you're talking about would prefer us to inhabit. I've been dismissed from a good job because I refused not to be gay. I've had the sh1t kicked out of me by a gang of 5 men who were offended by my sexuality. When the police attended me in the hospital the moment they found out I was gay they said it must have been my fault and left. Is that good enough or would you like me to suffer a little more before you give your approval? The fact that some of us didn't react with horror to LaoPo's original post doesn't mean we don't care - we're only too well aware of the kind of things that happen to PLU.