Erecting this article on a solid foundation of objectivity requires that I declare my sexual orientation – I am a HETEROSEXUAL. I am straighter than a ramrod, and I don’t swing both ways. Now that we have got that out of the way, I beseech that you look at what I am about to say through the microscope of reason. I will bring up the various arguments to support homophobia and try to punch many holes in them.
The recent signing into law of the bill criminalizing homosexuality and same-sex marriage by the President of Nigeria has set the Nigerian media ablaze with intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals alike lending their voices from different perspective ranging from religious to cultural, political, moral, and even medical. Of course, the opinions vary, but it has to be said that Nigerians are still largely homophobic with those speaking for tolerance sounding like a transistor radio beside a Yanni orchestra. Personally, I thought we have moved beyond the point where we pick on others just because they are different, especially with the way we criticize racism, tribalism and religious fundamentalism because when you juxtapose those despicable acts with homophobia, you will see a common thread running through their core.
Religion: the Supreme-Being sanctioned reason to annihilate anyone who holds a contrary view. God hates homosexuals is a strongly held belief, I totally accept that because it is written extensively in the Bible and the Qur’an, but God hates a whole lot of other behaviours –Fornication and Alcoholism- (Leviticus 11 will be of help), but we do not seem to be helping God legislate against such behaviours. As Christians, why do we not legislate against those who eat Pork? Snake dishes are a delicacy in many parts of the country but the Bible explicitly forbids eating anything that creeps (Leviticus 11), do we not need legislation against that? People of faith are always quick to differentiate between “the age of laws” and “the age of grace” and I am also swift to ask “does that grace not cover homosexuals?” The reality is that Nigeria could not be more diverse than it is, and though we claim Nigeria is a secular state, we eagerly bring religion into every discussion with a further assumption that we are all either Muslims or Christians, and that rejection of the others is as grave as the rejection of the Muslim faith by the Christian or vice versa. The person who considers a fellow human to be less of a human because of their sexual orientation is as terrible as a human who considers another human being to be less of a human because of their religious beliefs, though their religious beliefs both criminalize homosexuality.
Culturally, people say homosexuality is not in our culture, this might be true, and it might also be that those tendencies were submerged and people with such orientation learnt to hide it and conform rather than become pariahs or even sacrificial lambs. Homophobia is very similar if not exactly the same as the treatment of twins, albinos and left-handed people. We considered them abnormal and less-human to the point of killing twins, sacrificing albinos, and forcing left-handed people to change to right-handers, today, thanks to conclusive researches, we have been able to move beyond those prejudices, but it seems we are taking another rest at the junction of homophobia. It is ironically heartbreaking that those who preach racial and religious tolerance are so vocal in denouncing homosexuals.
Moving on to those sitting on the moral high horse proclaiming we are saving humanity by outlawing homosexuality, I give it to you that we need heterosexual behavior to continue to propagate humanity, but is there a clandestine move somewhere by homosexuals to rid the Earth of we heterosexuals? Although there are no incontrovertible figures, but homosexuals are less than 1% of the world’s population, since most of us actually believe homosexuality is learned, are we afraid that the 1% will forcefully teach the rest of us to become like them? Except homosexuality gives some power to hypnotize and indoctrinate, I do not see the remotest chance of that happening. This means the rest of us heterosexuals have the number and the means to keep the world going, can we look at them as medically impotent and at least have pity on them or do we think medically impotent people should be jailed too? And this brings me to the small matter of homosexuals adopting babies; there are medically potent heterosexual couples who have consciously decided not to have children and would rather adopt, do we not think they should be jailed too for not directly contributing to the continuity of the world? Accepting that heterosexuals can have choices but homosexuals (who were actually born that way) should not have choices is both hypocritical and comical at the same time. Homosexuals are not socially acceptable in Nigeria, why do we have to make their lives more difficult by criminalizing their existence?
The most laughable defense of this law comes from those who proclaim this law is a show of political strength both nationally and internationally. It took this bill less than a year to become a law, but the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) has been floating around in the Legislative Chambers since 2012 and it is not looking like it will be signed into Law soon. The question begging to be asked is “which bill affects Nigerians the more?” Why do we have to legislate against an act which the Nigerian Constitution already outlaws? This is nothing but politics of diversion – give them something irrelevant to applaud while we continue to be busy doing nothing to better their lot or secure their children’s future. This Law is like the proposed bill to approve the payment of some monthly stipends to unemployed graduate, while it might be popular because there are a lot of unemployed graduates out there, it is totally misguided because the enabling environment to steer the graduate towards employment or even become an employer of labour is non-existent. Then comes in those who believe with this we are standing against neo-colonialism and rejecting neo-imperialism. I felt like laughing but this is a really disheartening matter. Saudi Arabia punishes homosexuality with capital punishment or life imprisonment; Saudi Arabia has chauvinism a la polygamy entrenched in its constitution because women are second class citizens and all their rights and privileges stem from men; Saudi Arabia is an Islamic State; and Saudi Arabia operates a Monarchical system where the King (there can never be a Queen) is superior to the government; and just in case you have forgotten, Saudi Arabia is a top ally of both the US and the UK. Ecuador on the other hand allows same sex unions (but bans adoption and legal marriage), is a democratic state, and recognizes gender equality, yet is a big foe of the US and the UK. In the murky waters of global politics and international relevance, homophobia counts for little or nothing; military strength, economic stability, social development, and strategic geographical location are the indices that count, and even all the straight intellectuals know that we are extremely low on those indices. As long as Nigeria cannot bring anything to the international table aside natural resources (sports and entertainment do not count) we are always going to be a laughing stock in the international community. The good news is we are not alone, we can run to the-recommended-to-be-formed “Committee of Homophobic Nations” for relevance.
There are those who advise the Gays to leave the country if they cannot abide by the law. Yes, it is now the law of the land, and for your information, that law also criminalizes helping homosexuals or not reporting homosexuals to the Police, even Doctors cannot abide by the Hippocratic Oath where a gay person is involved. This law simply declares homosexuals persona non-grata in Nigeria and that makes you an accomplice if you do not sniff them out and make them face punishment. With our penchant for jungle justice, do not be surprised when gays are being served as burnt offerings at popular junctions; or when the Police start rounding people up at bus-stops for displaying homosexuality by standing close together. And when that bill which prohibits criticizing the government on social media finally gets signed into law, I bet we will all just close our Twitter and Facebook accounts or probably turn them to outlets to share encyclopedia facts, popular jokes, and quotable quotes because the law is the law and we must abide by them.
To cap it all, I present the empirical perspective from which every issue ought to be dissected and analyzed in the 21st century. Medically, homosexuality has been proven not to be a product of choice. It has been proven to be largely genetic, and to a lesser extent, sociological. It is largely nature, as against nurture. This extract sheds more light:
“Science has looked at the causes of homosexuality, and more generically the causes of human sexual orientation, with the general conclusions being related to biological and environmental factors. The biological factors that have been researched are genetic and hormonal, particularly during the fetal developmental period, that influence the resulting brain structure, and other characteristics such as handedness. There are a wide range of environmental factors (sociological, psychological, or early uterine environment), and various biological factors, that may influence sexual orientation; though many researchers believe that it is caused by a complex interplay between nature and nurture, they favor biological models for the cause.
The American Academy of Pediatrics stated in Pediatrics in 2004:
| “Sexual orientation probably is not determined by any one factor but by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. In recent decades, biologically based theories have been favored by experts. […] Although there continues to be controversy and uncertainty as to the genesis of the variety of human sexual orientations, there is no scientific evidence that abnormal parenting, sexual abuse, or other adverse life events influence sexual orientation. Current knowledge suggests that sexual orientation is usually established during early childhood.” |
The American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers stated in 2006:
| “Currently, there is no scientific consensus about the specific factors that cause an individual to become heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual—including possible biological, psychological, or social effects of the parents’ sexual orientation. However, the available evidence indicates that the vast majority of lesbian and gay adults were raised by heterosexual parents and the vast majority of children raised by lesbian and gay parents eventually grow up to be heterosexual.” |
The Royal College of Psychiatrists stated in 2007:
| “Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person’s fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice.” |
The American Psychological Association states “there are probably many reasons for a person’s sexual orientation and the reasons may be different for different people”, and says most people’s sexual orientation is determined at an early age. Research into how sexual orientation in males may be determined by genetic or other prenatal factors plays a role in political and social debates about homosexuality, and also raises concerns about genetic profiling and prenatal testing.
Professor Michael King states: “The conclusion reached by scientists who have investigated the origins and stability of sexual orientation is that it is a human characteristic that is formed early in life, and is resistant to change. Scientific evidence on the origins of homosexuality is considered relevant to theological and social debate because it undermines suggestions that sexual orientation is a choice.”
Garcia-Falgueras and Swaab state in the abstract of their 2010 study, “The fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge. In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb. There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
This should lay to rest the erroneous assertion that homosexuals become gay by choice. Now the choice is ours to either continue to be homophobic or be tolerant.
____________________________
Rasheed Adewusi is a Sales Manager in one of the telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria. He also runs the personal blog, Wise, Wide and Wild). He tweets @SirRash
Comments are closed.
A piece so timely but also so compelling. Good job man!
wht an insightful peice, i must admit. however, as you may know i am a christian which means naturally i am oppossed to homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbianism and the likes. and talking about anti-gay bill being passed into law and the eventual assent by the President; i think they did what is politically expedient and come to think of it if he (the President) didn’t do that the backlash would have been too much for him to handle and eventually signalled his political death. i feel sorry for homosexualists, bisexualists, lesbians and the likes because i know they need help; what kind of help? it is spiritual help; they need to be delivered from demonic possessions because i know that their problem is unnatural and i feel it’s out place to encourage such things under the guise of human rights. even in America only 16 states (i stand to be corrected) have legalized gay rights while others are still oppossed to it and so why should we make it look like we are barbaric because we are oppossed to gay rights here in Nigeria? Even though we are civilized, i still think we have a duty to promote godliness in our world because when the chips are down that is the only thing that will count for us. Thanks!