The 2014 law has fuelled violence, extortion and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, a leading activist says
- 2014 law criminalised same-sex relationships
- Law harms job prospects for LGBTQ+ Nigerians
- Attacks have increased since law passed
LAGOS - The impact of a decade-old law that criminalises same-sex relationships in Nigeria has reached far beyond what the legislation covers, effectively sanctioning abuse against LGBTQ+ individuals and robbing them of their livelihoods, a leading rights defender said.
Nigeria passed the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) in 2014, prohibiting marriages and civil unions between members of the same sex, an act that is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
"Most importantly, it has presented LGBTQI persons as criminals," said Olumide Makanjuola, in Nigeria, director of programs at the Initiative Sankofa d'Afrique de l'Ouest, which aims to strengthen LGBTQ+ rights in West Africa.
"Once you are criminalised for who you are, you can't seek redress, you can't seek justice," he told Context/Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Before 2014, same-sex relations between men were punishable with imprisonment under federal law and under Sharia law, which is practised in most of Nigeria's Muslim-dominated northern states.
But the law signed by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014 went further than the previous federal prohibition by banning same-sex cohabitation, the meetings of LGBTQ+ organisations and "the public show of same sex amorous relationship."
Human rights groups have raised concerns that the breadth of the law, its ambiguous provisions and harsh penalties have led to an increase in violence against LGBTQ+ individuals and activists.
"You can imagine the fear and the general atmosphere of uncertainty it created for many people within the community," said Makanjuola, who co-founded The Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERs) to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community in 2005.
Financial impact
As the SSMPA made discrimination against the community more acceptable, LGBTQ+ Nigerians started to hide their identities to avoid losing their jobs or risk arrest, said Makanjuola.
Human Rights Watch saw this trend emerge in a 2016 report. Many LGBTQ+ Nigerians had "adopted self-censoring behaviour by significantly and consciously altering their gender presentation to avoid detection or suspicion by members of the public and to avoid arrest and extortion," it said.
Economic insecurity is likely now more acute as Nigeria experiences a cost-of-living crisis. Inflation hit 34% in June, the fastest rate in 28 years, and prompted countrywide protests this month.
Makanjuola said LGBTQ+ Nigerians are likely bearing the brunt of the country's economic crisis. "Once you are already excluded and disenfranchised by society and law, it makes things complex for you," he said.
Amid the crisis, LGBTQ+ Nigerians have become increasingly susceptible to extortion and blackmail, Makanjuola said.
Afraid of public abuse and police harassment, members of the LGBTQ+ community use online apps like Grindr, Romeo and Tinder to meet partners, but criminals have long exploited online dating apps to kidnap, beat and extort victims.
Even before 2014, Nigeria's LGBTQ+ community was targeted for kito, slang for the entrapment of Nigerian men on social networking apps by threatening to out them if they don't hand over money. Those attacks are now on the rise.
In 2023, about 70% of 996 human rights violations against people who are or were perceived to be LGBTQ+ were kito cases, according to data collected by TIERs and 22 other rights groups across Nigeria.
Other attacks against LGBTQ+ Nigerians have also surged in the last 10 years, the data also showed. Incidents of assault and battery has more than quadrupled.
Reporting these crimes often isn't an option, because LGBTQ+ victims fear that the police might prosecute them rather than their attacker, said Makanjuola.
"The system, which the police are part of, is supposed to protect and enable their freedom but is the same system that stalls them," he said.
A lack of trust in the justice system encourages victims to give into extortion rather than report it, he said.
More visibility, slow acceptance
One thing that has changed for the better is that social media has created a space for LGBTQ+ Nigerians as physical spaces shrink, Makanjuola said.
"In terms of broader social perception and legality, we are still way behind but we have progressed on visibility," he said. "What we are still dealing with is social acceptance."
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A poll commissioned by TIERs showed social acceptance of LGBTQ+ people rose to 34% in 2022 from 30% in 2019.
According to an Afrobarometer survey conducted between 2019 and 2021, only 21% of Nigerians are tolerant of same-sex relationships, but that figure is up from 8% in surveys conducted between 2016 and 2018.
While the vast number of Nigerians oppose same-sex relationships, support for the SSMPA has waned to 48% in 2022 from 77% in 2015, the TIERs survey showed.
This gives Makanjuola hope for greater inclusion of LGBTQ+ Nigerians in the future.
"The desire for me has always been to build a society where we can live and be free and be equal, where you are going to be judged not by your sexual orientation but by your character," he said.
This story is part of a series supported by Hivos's Free To Be Me programme
(Reporting by Pelumi Salako; Editing by Sadiya Ansari and Ayla Jean Yackley.)
