Nigeria: Anti-LGBT Law Threatens Basic Rights | Human Rights Watch

Nigeria: Anti-LGBT Law Threatens Basic Rights | Human Rights Watch:

(Abuja, January 15, 2014) – The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill signed into law on January 7, 2014, by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria is a sweeping and dangerous piece of legislation, Human Rights Watch said today. The law criminalizes public displays of affection between same-sex couples and restricts the work of organizations defending gay people and their rights. President Jonathan should immediately repeal the draconian law.

The law imposes a 14-year prison sentence on anyone who “[enters] into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union,” and a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders, who “witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union.” It imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who “directly or indirectly make [a] public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship” and anyone who “registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations,” including supporters of those groups.

 

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan arrives at a meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on October 12, 2013.