A group of brave young activists mounted the first-ever queer protest in Nigeria on Sunday against a proposed ‘Cross Dressers bill’. Despite the joyful demeanour of the protestors, they risk very real danger in a country that criminalises gay sex acts and where LGBTIQ+ people regularly face extreme violence including murder.
As one local activist tweeted, these brave young Nigerians put their lives on the line.
The least we can do is trend the hashtags please, these people are literally putting their lives on the line for the rest of us.
Use the following hashtags#EndCrossdressersBill#RepealSSMPA#EnoughIsEnough#QueerLivesMatter #WithdrawCrossdressersBill #QueerLiberationNow
— Gate Keeper of Queerness Aka Senior Prefect (@Dennis_Macaulay) May 1, 2022
The ‘Cross Dressers bill’
The protestors demanded the government revoke the ‘Cross Dressers bill’ put to the National Assembly last week. The bill proposes that ‘a person engaging in crossdressing is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment of 6 months or to a fine of five hundred thousand naira’. 500,000 Nigerian Naira is about AU$1,700 and more than most Nigerians earn in a year.
The proposed bill also includes an amendment to make ‘crossdressing’ an extra offence under the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013. Following last week’s first reading, the bill will go through second and third readings before facing a vote.
The only exemption offered under the proposed bill is for entertainers.
No Queer Liberation without Trans Liberation
Protestors wore shirts and carried placards with messages like ‘No Queer Liberation without Trans Liberation’ and also, ‘Trans Lives Matter’.
A particularly resonant placard read ‘The scapegoating of minorities can’t keep imperialist collaborators in power forever’.
The persecution of LGBTIQ+ people in former colonies does indeed result from imperialism. When the European powers set out to colonise the world, they encountered gay and transgender people across the planet. However, they did not find homophobia or transphobia. They imported that and then legislated and enforced their own prejudice. Yet another modern-day consequence of colonisation — the continued persecution of LGBTIQ+ people.
In recent decades, human rights advances in western countries often translated into diminished persecution elsewhere. Some authoritarian regimes became reluctant to openly persecute LGBTIQ+ people for fear of losing foreign aid. However, the west’s influence on human rights can also work negatively.
Violence and extrajudicial executions
When bigots demonise LGBTIQ+ people in western countries, they gift authoritarian regimes licence to crack down on minorities including turning a blind eye or even encouraging police violence and extrajudicial executions.
As another placard read, ‘We the people, unsubdued, demand our rights and freedoms”.
We just started the March! This is the first open queer protest in Nigeria!
Retweet! #EndCrossdressersBill#RepealSSMPA#EnoughIsEnough#QueerLivesMatter #WithdrawCrossdressersBill #QueerLiberationNow pic.twitter.com/9qgQ9SoR6l
— For Fags Sake!🌈 #RepealSSMPA (@vicw0nder) May 1, 2022
We did it. Queer Naija Protest March is here. We will resist queerphobia here at home. Nigeria belongs to us. It is our home and we refused to concedes ground. #fyp #RepealSSMPA #QueerLiberationNow #WithdrawCrossdressersBill pic.twitter.com/4fbYqbGDKo
— Queer Union For Economic and Social Transformation (@QUEST9ja) May 1, 2022
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