Same-sex marriage Bizarre? Human rights? • The debate continues

 SAME SEX PALAVER

The threat by Britain to stop aids to African nations that violated gay rights has been rebuffed by many African countries. Nigeria’s Senate has passed a bill which outlaws same-sex union in whatever guise. KEHINDE OYETIMI while writing on the controversies and politics around the issue asks why Europe, particularly Britain is intent on ramming gay rights down the throat of African countries.
THEY had come consequent upon the authority of a greater being. They were not men of that city; their carriage, their conduct and the charisma which they exuded stood in every way higher than the citizens of that place. As they approached the gate of that city, they looked impatient, yet were polite. Lot, relative to Abraham, sat at the entrance of the city. He saw the two visitors and offered to help; he was oblivious of the men he wanted to help.
As they entered into Lot’s house, some men of the city came knocking, demanding to have these guests. Lot’s plea fell on deaf ears. He told them to have his virgin daughters to quench their debauched sexual drive. They would have none of it; they wanted to have sexual relationship with these visitors. It was upon this that the visitors revealed their identity; they were angels sent by God to destroy the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah for the pervasion among them.
They had a weak alliance with morality. They were loose and lost. Their pervasion was phenomenal; the name of their city thus transcended into the tag of their iniquity; they were sodomites, negatively revered for sodomy. The Bible records it; the Quran tells of this state of immoral madness.
Never in the post-colonial era of Nigeria’s recent history has its moral and cultural peculiarities been brought under acute interrogation as it was when the West lent its voice to the recognition of same-sex relations and the demand for the recognition of gay rights in Africa. The arguments at the nation’s Senate were not as polarised as might have been expected. Same-sex interactions were not only adjudged despicable but foreign to the African soil. Though Euro-modernist historians have argued that same-sex unions existed in pristine African countries, it must however be stated that such had very different orientation for its establishment. Such practices were discarded with the argument that not all old traditions should be retained. What had stated as a mild drama metamorphosed into a melodramatic display when the British Prime Minister, David Cameron insisted that his country would stop its aids to countries of African extraction that refused to acknowledge the gay rights.
History is redolent of the universal non-acceptance of same-sex unions before these mores began to be questioned. Human societies have been structured based on acceptable norms, cultural preferences, and folkloric structures, varying from one place to another. Unarguably, history records periods when same-sex unions in whatever guise were viewed not only as antisocial but worthy of the highest punishment of death. One word was used to describe such sexual pervasion; it was sodomy. As human societies co-related most vigorously and science began to play a most central point in these interactions, certain cultural mix started to occur. The globe gradually became a melting pot of sort. It was most recently that pressure groups and civil societies began to question the rationale behind the non-acceptance of individuals with varying sexual identifications. They started a process of re-negotiating space for such freaks of nature. At first, such widening of the fronts of liberalism was labelled despicable and restricted to the West. The pendulum of their arguments swung from one extreme of scientific theories to the other of fundamental human rights. They invoked the theories of science, arguing that such deviation from sexual norm should be viewed merely as natural, beyond the control of such individuals.
Western liberalism sanctioned this once unaccepted sexual aberration and has given birth to a world of sexual misnomers.  It has become difficult if not impossible to create a line of differential between these freaks of nature and those who have become extremely sexually debased, giving vent to wild sexual orgies.
Not a few have condemned the antics of the West through David Cameron in tying aids to the recognition of gay rights in African countries. Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, stated this with total commitment at the recently held Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth. He was applauded by the Australian Prime Minister, Jullia Gillard.
Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister did not hide his support. Cameron canvassed for more active roles in the fight against gay rights violation. The hole in Cameron’s argument which defies respect for cultural peculiarities and territorial sovereignty was captioned in his statement. He argued that ‘We want to see countries receive our aid adhering to proper human rights.’ One wonders that what would be more disrespectful than the endangering of the human race through the promulgation of gay rights and the destruction of the family institution.
Before the same sex debate reached the present stage, coach of the Super Falcons, Eucharia Uche, was the first to drop the hint that same sex marriage was still a taboo in the country after she branded homosexuality as ‘dirty’ and admitted she forced lesbians out of her team at a press conference she addressed at the start of the FIFA Women World Cup in Germany.
“Yes, the lesbians in our team were really a big problem. But since I’m coach of the Super Falcons, that has been cleared up. There are no more lesbian players on my team. I cannot tolerate this dirty life,” she had said in an interview.
But FIFA took it up against her, lambasting her for trying to promote discrimination and that her position was against the statutes of FIFA.
Uche would later find out that homosexuals were among the players her team would face as the reserve goalkeeper of, Germany, Ursula Holl, is married to a woman and first-choice shot-stopper Nadine Angerer is openly bisexual.
For Jude Nwabuokei, a cultural expert and Peace and Conflict analyst, ‘The argument for the propagation of same sex marriage is spurious. Africans are aware of the fact that this sort of marriage is not in tune with our culture. The so-called activists who defend this base form of marriage should learn from nature. If animals were to engage in this act what would become of their species? Let’s do away with these inanities and deal with weightier matters of the law.’
Appearing impatient with such bizarre stand, Nigeria and, remarkably, many other African countries have condemned such outrageous posture and therefore solidified their constitutions’ resolve to fight gay rights and same-sex marriage. Many still question the sincerity in such aids, and the rightness or otherwise in Cameron’s statement.
The African bloc of the Anglican Church was quick to see the bizarre gay rights’ evangelisation when it threatened to break off from the Anglican Communion Worldwide if it allowed the ordaining of gay bishops. The rave of homosexuality, the Anglican Church in Africa contended had no Biblical precedence and therefore should be condemned.
John Atta-Mills of Ghana spoke glowing of the sovereignty of African nations which the United Kingdom had no right to infringe upon. For him, ‘The UK has no right to direct other sovereign nations as to what they should do as their society’s norms were different from those in the UK. I as President will never initiate or support any attempt to legalise homosexuality in Ghana.’ It is on record that anti-gay laws are vibrantly in place in 41 in the 54 member states of the commonwealth. The severity of the punishment differs from one African country to the other.  For proponents of the gay union or its practitioners, the law in Malaysia stipulates floggings and about 20 years as jail term. Nations like Tanzania, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Uganda and Guyana have life-sentence penal codes for same-sex unions.
It is noteworthy to identify with the position of John Nagenda, adviser to the President of Uganda, when he condemned the colonial colorations of Cameron’s statement. ‘Uganda is a sovereign state and we are tired of being given these lectures by people; if they must take their money, so be it. This kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying ‘you do this or I withdraw my aid’ will definitely make people extremely uncomfortable,’ he stated.
Since the United Kingdom made good its threat by reducing its aid to Malawi after two gay men were sentenced to 14 years in jail with hard labour, it would not be surprising if African countries defying such threats are affected. Since 2001, ten countries started allowing same-sex couples to tie the nuptial string. Countries like Belgium, Argentina, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Sweden and some parts of the United States of America have given recognition to such marital interactions.
Not a few align their thoughts with Dr James Dobson, an author on family health, when he argued that same-sex marriages would lead to the eventual decay of families. It is on record in Scandinavian countries where same-sex unions are legalised that many children are born, raised out of wedlock. It is the fear of social scientists that should such trends spread across the globe to Africa, families would be fractured and almost every child would have several ‘moms’ and ‘dads’. Legalising gay unions would have children been taught such perversion in schools; parents would be forced to accept the homosexual orientation of their kids without attempting to alter it.
Given the unstable nature of human societies and the constant desire to amend legal structures, sooner than expected, it would become legal that marriage could be conducted between three men and one woman. It would be impossible to stop such since it would be enshrined in the constitution.
Also the argument appears to be gaining much followership that since the dependent on foreign aids started, many African countries have not done well since the era of post-independent Africa opened. The call has been to explore other ways rather than subsisting on such. The appeal has been for African countries to take a cue from the market-driven economy of countries like Brazil, India, China and Botswana.