Fourteen young men have been dragged from their beds and assaulted by neighbourhood people and the Nigerian police as anti-gay violence surges following Nigeria’s new Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, dubbed the “Jail the Gays” law. Screaming that they were going to “cleanse” their Abuja neighborhood of gay people the mob marched four of the victims to the local police station where they were allegedly kicked and punched by police officers who yelled slurs at them. Before the latest law was enacted on January 7th, in considerable secrecy, Nigeria already had laws criminalising homosexual activity. When the new law, which also criminalises gay organisations and clubs, was being debated in the House of Assembly last year those few people brave enough to come forward to oppose it were aggressively heckled and laughed at by the nation's MPs.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 18th February 2014 - 12:33am