In Nigeria, the LGBTQI community faces immense challenges due to entrenched legal and societal discrimination. The colonial-era sodomy laws and the 2014 Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) not only criminalise same-sex relationships but also target organisations supporting LGBTQI individuals. This environment fosters fear and ignorance, leading to widespread misconceptions and the imposition of sociocultural and religious biases.
Despite these challenges, Women’s Health and Equal Rights Initiative (WHER) in Nigeria, a lesbian, bisexual, queer women and gender non-conforming persons organisation, are working to empower the community in the region and advocate for their rights. They also conduct research into the needs of the community such as sexual and productive health and rights of LGBTIQ persons.
We spoke with Akudo Oguaghamba, the Executive Director of WHER, about the lived experiences of LGBTQI Nigerians, their meaning of Pride, and the importance of global solidarity and awareness in the ongoing fight for equality and acceptance.
Could you start by telling us what the current situation for LGBTQI people in Nigeria is?
What we have realised is that our leaders copy themselves. So whatever you see happening in Nigeria trickles down to other West African countries. In Nigeria, we are still battling with the colonial-era sodomy laws and in 2014, the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was passed into law. Not only does it criminalise same-sex relationships, but it also criminalises organisations programming for the LGBTIQ community. The punishment ranges between 10 to 14 years.
This then trickles down into what people try to interpret the law to be. It’s only when it comes to LGBT people that the entire society is knowledgeable of the law. They translate it and infuse sociocultural beliefs into it. People have misconceptions about what culture does or doesn’t say. Funny enough, in our history, we don’t have homophobia in Africa. We had acceptance and we also celebrated diversity.
So recently, people have tried to take parts of religious texts and translate them back into the culture. I think they’re suffering from an identity crisis because they don’t know whether to hold on to the culture, African culture as culture, or whether to interpret religion into the culture.
“It’s only when it comes to LGBT people that the entire society is knowledgeable of the law. They translate it and infuse sociocultural beliefs into it. People have misconceptions about what culture does or doesn’t say.”
Nigeria has over 300 ethnic groups. And having 300 ethnic groups means we have over 300 languages in Nigeria. And so when people talk about this is not in our culture, there’s always a question around which of the cultures are you talking about? Is it the one that my entire village respects? Is it the one that I and my family respect as the Oguaghambas family? Or is it my own personal culture? And then when you talk about religion, people go into the Bible or the Quran to take out clauses that they feel will strengthen their arguments.
Not that I’m cutting them some slack, but I think it comes from a place of fear and ignorance.
And with that context in mind, what does Pride mean to you or the LGBTQI community in Nigeria?
Pride embodies self-acceptance, it is about standing tall in the face of adversity. It is about coming together with my queer siblings to celebrate our resilience. As activists on the front line, we are regarded as Captain America, and we have superpowers, but a lot of times some of us go home and we still cry. So I think that Pride is an opportunity for us to come together, be vulnerable, and speak about our issues without fear.
Pride is important because it creates a neutral platform for our community to engage. In Nigeria, our organisation organises one of the biggest Pride events in Nigeria called African Pride Accelerated. African Pride Accelerated is where fun meets strategising, it’s a place where the community comes to hold us accountable and to ask questions about our work. It’s also a place where we can stay and gossip. We gossip about donors, we gossip about the anti-rights movement, and we don’t have the fear or the anxiety to search for funding while we’re in that space. It is our space, we created it. Every year we open up a call for participation, and organisations come together to participate. We ensure people can attend this Pride from all parts of Nigeria.
A lot of people ask, why is it called African Pride? It comes from the misinformation that being gay is un-African. A lot of times there’s misinformation in Nigeria that Pride is about people getting on the streets naked, flying the rainbow flag and all of that – there’s a lot of anxiety within the society around what Pride is about.
In Nigeria, they celebrate an achievement by bringing together traditional dancers, there’s a flamboyance of colours with different tribes in their regalia. That is exactly what we do. As I said, there are over 300 tribes each with their own rich culture. I am Igbo by tribe, so there are a lot of beads. I wear beads, I wear something we call Isiagu, which is like a cloth made with soft fabric that has the head of a lion on it. Many other people come in their traditional regalia. So we take Pride and we translate it our way.
“Pride embodies self-acceptance, it is about standing tall in the face of adversity. It is about coming together with my queer siblings to celebrate our resilience. As activists on the front line, we are regarded as Captain America, and we have superpowers, but a lot of times some of us go home and we still cry.”
And why is it important for the community in the UK to be aware of the experiences of LGBTQI people in Nigeria?
There’s no solidarity without awareness. And there is no empathy without awareness and solidarity. I think all of them work hand in hand.
The community in the UK needs to know about what we go through in Nigeria and other parts of the world. We’re learning from the struggles of UK activists and their fight many years ago. We’re still studying them, and we are adapting those methodologies, and we must continue to share information with our queer siblings in the UK because these anti-rights groups, they are insane. They don’t have a pattern to how they move. They come for me today, they come for you tomorrow.
We must foster cross-border collaborations because it’s good for us to continue to learn. And it’s important for us to also realise how to raise resources collectively and to partner in many projects. And when I talk about raising resources, I’m not only talking about financial resources. I mean, financial resources are important, they’re key. However, it’s also important for us to look for other resources like technical support.
Maybe you will assume that what you do here does not have a positive impact on where we are. You might not be able to come to Nigeria to do advocacy or lobbying, but you can lobby your government here for the Nigerian government to have it easy on us. Your engagement on social media is not restricted to the UK. It’s global. The more we are globally aware, the easier it becomes to interact and engage where we are from.
“There’s no solidarity without awareness. And there is no empathy without awareness and solidarity. I think all of them work hand in hand. The community in the UK needs to know about what we go through in Nigeria and other parts of the world.”
And finally, what is a message you would like to share with supporters in the UK this Pride?
First of all, don’t forget what Pride is about. It’s easy for our ears to be blocked by the noise that is going on. Pride is celebrating us. And in doing that, do not forget those of us living in marginalised societies. Have us in mind while you’re celebrating.
One tree can never make a forest. You are our siblings. So remember that your siblings are there. Some of us struggle to wake up and breathe, but that doesn’t matter. We are still happy. We are still celebrating queer joy.
And lastly, I want to say thank you.
It’s not easy to create these spaces where we connect, where we talk to ourselves, where we laugh, or even cry together, you know. So thank you for everything, for being an ally, for being a friend, for being a queer sibling, for just being a supporter generally.