Inconsequential or secondary matters always have as much force as weightier issues to generate public tensions in Nigeria. We find it not out of place to dissipate time and energy on fabricating storms in tea cups when critical challenges in our big bowls are left unattended. Perhaps, we even derive some form of entertainment from dishing sentiments as national discourse. Or what is all this roiling brouhaha over gay or no gay rights' With the issue already aggravating into international political face-off with our Western benefactors, our National Assembly may have unwittingly roused a sleeping dog with their November 29 anti-gay bill passed. Indeed, the lawmakers have always played to the gallery with issues that suit their whim. We would recall that a former female senator in the last dispensation proposed a bill to outlaw indecent dressing in public. The proposal caused some public stir and then fizzled out. The current two-term deputy Senate President also recently tried proposing a bill that would legalise prostitution in Nigeria. He attracted public outcry against the idea and his constituency didnt even support him. And now comes this one about homosexuality on which the senators have acted so fast, faster than the speed with which they considered and passed the Freedom of Information bill sometime ago. Wont it be nice if the distinguished legislators could be engaging other more salient national bills with such impressive promptness' Well, what really is the other side of this volatile anti-gay offensive' There have been heated arguments on both sides of the divide. Some are congratulating the lawmakers on the historic bill (yet to become law), claiming fidelity to morality, religious righteousness and cultural integrity. Those opposed to the anti-gay bill are incensed, calling for the respect of fundamental human rights. In all this raging battle of wits, the stridency of the voice of the anti-gay movement seems to be louder than that of the rights protagonists. Personally, I dont subscribe to the idea of being a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. And I am not into fighting for their rights. But I see and abhor absolutism, sentiment and hypocrisy on the part of those who support criminalising homosexuality and such sexual orientations. The fact is, those taking undue fanatical umbrage against homosexuality are ululating more out of religious hypocrisy than any true moral or cultural evangelism. Thats why many righteous people have been hailing the National Assembly for acting on the side of God. In fact, just a few days after the passing of the anti-gay bill, a church group based in Southeast Nigeria took out a full-page advert in a national daily congratulating the lawmakers! So, this is all it comes down to: fighting or protesting for God' Cant God fight for Himself' For how long will mere mortals, as guilty of sin as all, keep assuming the toga of a Judge-God over fellow human beings' Is this not the same streak of bigoted intolerance and religious absolutism that is fuelling the endless religious conflicts and violence in the world today' I think that we pious and normal people should leave immoral and abnormal homosexuals to God for any sanction or punishment they might deserve. A lofty way to go expressing ones reservations about homosexuality could be by preaching and persuasive propagation of anti-gay values in family, religious and social contexts, rather than brazen discrimination, harassment and criminalisation of the perceived deviants. Yes, we have our ennobling African culture, norms, values and ideals to be proud of and preserve. But there have always been, and will continue to be, social deviants in our society as in every other society. Cultural values are best imparted to members of a society through positive socialisation and education process, rather than by legal or political repression. By the way, with all the laws ever enacted in human history against social evils like murder, armed robbery and the like, why have such vices not reduced or disappeared from the society' And why are we not crying out forcefully yet against serious sexual vices like incest and paedophilia that are now common in most Nigerian families and communities' By the way, when will the National Assembly also pass a bill to criminalise acts of fornication and adultery that are so rampant in our society today' Or are we saying, in our religious or cultural sanctimonious protestations, that premarital and extra-marital vices are not also against biblical, quranic or moral prescriptions' The most perplexing aspect of our societal hypocrisy is that the more religious or morally pious we show off to be, the more ungodly and corrupt Nigeria is. Churches and mosques are proliferating in every street in Nigeria, yet social, political and economic evils increase in intensity. How are we sure that there are even no homosexuals in the National Assembly itself' Who would have believed that a major financier of the Boko Haram terrorism network would be named among our distinguished senators' Yet, the lawmakers are among stakeholders who have severally condemned the Boko Haram menace. So, in a society where we are faced with the more serious challenges of effective leadership and urgent national development, how will priority attention being accorded gay practice make a difference in our lives' How are we sure that the new anti-gay bill, if eventually passed into law, will not become a tool of victimisation, political oppression and legal abuse in the hands of law enforcement agencies and influential individuals' We dont have to legalise homosexuality in deference to any Western blackmail or neo-liberalism ideal, neither should we criminalise it. Onifade, public affairs analyst, wrote from 15, Owode Street, Abule Egba, Lagos, vide adebiyigood@yahoo.com
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