■ Davic Mac-Iyalla: “The climate is already becoming intolerable ...  we are going to see a flood of refugees as people flee for their lives.”

The Nigerian branch of the Anglican Church pressure group on LGBT rights, Changing Attitude Nigeria (CAN), is warning other countries that the passing of the anti-gay marriage bill could cause significant problems for them, too.

Restrictions in the bill are so draconian and oppressive that it could result in a potential flood of gay Nigerians fleeing to other countries. The main targets would be other countries that Nigerians often travel to, such as Britain.

"Already we are seeing an increase in homophobic behaviour and attacks, because people feel they can get away with it,” said Davis Mac-Iyalla, the head of Changing Attitude Nigeria.

“The climate is already becoming intolerable.  Unless the government tones down its language and cancels the bill, we are going to see a flood of refugees as people flee for their lives.”

Over the last few months, since the bill has been proposed, Mr. Mac-Iyalla – a lay minister in the Nigerian Anglican Church – has already received a series of death threats regarded as credible and has been forced to go in to hiding.

“We are already getting reports of an increase in attacks on people who are merely suspected of being gay – people who are not even being ‘caught in the act’,” he said by email.

“This climate of fear will simply drive many people to take desperate measures to find somewhere – anywhere – where they can at least live without imminent fear of death just for existing.  For many people, even being the prospect of being an illegal immigrant in Britain will seem preferable to a life of perpetual terror and suffocating oppression in Nigeria,” he suggested.

CAN has already received a report of an increasing number of Nigerians seeking English partners on gay dating websites in recent months as gay Nigerians try to seek safe passage out of the country.

The population of Nigeria is approximately 117million, and if figures from other countries are comparable, approximately 6.5% of the population is conservatively estimated to be gay.

This means that the population of Nigeria that is coming under increasing threat is approximately 760,000.

“If only a fraction of those sought sanctuary elsewhere, that would still create a headache for countries that Nigerians would naturally flee to,” said Mr. Mac-Iyalla.

“Some of the oldest passages in the Bible – Exodus – remind us that when people come under intense oppression in one land, a natural response is to flee to somewhere more hospitable.”

He also warned that countries should not close their doors to people seeking shelter from extreme persecution.

“Neither those who create the oppression in the first place nor those who close their doors are well regarded by God,” he said.

Mr. Mac-Iyalla challenged the notion that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was about the sins of homosexuality.  “Most Biblical scholars who have studied the Old Testament in its original Hebrew – and not the often corruptly-translated versions in other languages such as English – now recognise that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was nothing to do with homosexuality and a lot to do with lack of hospitality to strangers.

“The often-quoted argument between Lot and the crowd in Sodom when Lot was trying to protect the visitors from a violent interrogation was the final straw that caused Sodom and Gomorrah to be burnt down to the ground.

“Jesus himself reminded us how importantly God regarded hospitality, telling his disciples that any town that was not hospitable to them would find the day of judgement tougher than Sodom and Gomorrah,” he concluded.

SEE ALSO

European Parliament Gets Tough With Nigeria Over “Anti-Gay” Bill.  The European Parliament is to call on the Nigerian Government and Parliament not to adopt the proposed 'Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act' in its current form.  (UK Gay News, March 15, 2007)

Nigerian Anti-Gay Bill Could Lead To a Gay Genocide, Says Foundation.  The ‘anti-gay’ bill pending in the legislature of Nigeria could result in that country running afoul of international treaties which outlaw genocide, according to a statement issued this morning by the Gay Homeland Foundation (GHF).  (UK Gay News, March 14, 2007)

Draconian Anti Gay Nigerian Bill: The Debate Continues  The draconian Bill that effectively outlaws representations and advocacy of  homosexuality in Nigeria could be on the statute book this month, a gay Nigerian activist said in London yesterday.  (UK Gay News, March 8, 2007)

Protect Davis, Gay English Church Group Pleads to Nigerian Archbishop.  By Colin Coward.  Davis Mac-Iyalla, Director of Changing Attitude Nigeria, has been the subject of further intimidation last week.  He was visited, when absent from his place of work, by two men who were identified as Nigerians.  (UK Gay News, March 6, 2007)

Nigerian National Assembly Advances Draconian Anti-Gay Bill.  By Rex Wockner. The Women Affairs and Youth Committee of Nigeria's House of Representatives held a hearing on February. 14 on an extreme antigay bill that some activists had believed was not going to see any action.  (UK Gay News, February 28, 2007)

UN Experts Oppose Proposed Nigerian Ban on Gays.  Voicing serious concern over a proposed Nigerian bill which would effectively outlaw same-sex relationships, four independent United Nations experts have said it would violate international human rights norms, and urged the Government to withdraw it immediately.  (UK Gay News, February 25, 2007)

Humanist Jeered for Supporting Gay Rights at Nigerian Public Hearing.  A Nigerian Humanist was repeatedly jeered in Abuja last week during his statement opposing the proposed new anti-gay legislation in Nigeria, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association revealed last night.  (UK Gay News, February 19, 2007)

IGLHRC Report: Gay Nigerians Respond to Same-Sex Prohibition Act.  Nigerian lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenders speak out against a proposed law in a new report by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).  (UK Gay News, February 18, 2007)

Euro MEPs Gay Rights Intergroup Concerned By Draft Nigerian Law.  The controversial draft law that is currently going through the Nigerian legislative process would violate basic human rights, the European Parliament’s ‘Intergroup’ on gay and lesbian rights reiterated today.  (UK Gay News, February 15, 2007)

Christian Gay Group Meets Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola.  Davis Mac-Iyalla, director of the Christian gay group Changing Attitude Nigeria, briefly met Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of All Nigeria, today.  (UK Gay News, February 14, 2007)

Nigerian Gay Christian Group Appeals to Anglican Primates.  A group of gay Christians in Nigeria has written an open letter to the Archbishops of the world-wide Anglican Communion on the eve of the debate in the Nigerian Parliament of a draconian Bill to ban same-sex relationships.  (UK Gay News, February 13, 2007)

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Posted: 18 March 2007 at 13:00 (UK time)