30 April 2019
'I was held at gunpoint for being gay' Bisi Alimi
I stumbled on an interview granted by Bisi Alimi
as regards the situation in Brunei and Nigeria as
regards the law against LGBT. I must tell you its a
good read, please read and you will understand
what fellow human are going through.
Brunei’s new laws stating that its LGBT citizens
can be stoned to death is one of the most deadly
attacks on the community I have ever seen. As a
gay man from Nigeria, I know what it feels like to
have your identity criminalized by people that
have no idea who you are, and do not care about
you. In January 2014, the Nigerian government,
led by Goodluck Jonathan, signed into law the
Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that
prosecuted people for registration of gay clubs,
association, meetings, gathering and provision of
services to LGBT people. It ignited one of the most
vicious attacks on the community that I have
experienced in my adult life. Within months of
the law being passed, scores of people suspected
of being LGBT were arrested and some were
imprisoned. A 20-year-old man, Mubarak Ibrahim,
was convicted of having engaged in sodomy and
publicly flogged. In Lagos, HIV services suspected
to be providing services for LGBT people were
raided by the police and service users were
paraded on national television as common criminals.
Their HIV statuses were released in national
newspapers. For many of the gay men who went
through this ordeal, the trauma is something they
will never overcome. I know this from my own
experience. In 2007, a group of gunmen broke
into my house and held me to ransom for over two
hours. The reality that this could be the end of my
life, just for being an openly gay man, was not just
frightening, it has stayed me with me my whole life
and is something for which I’ve had to get mental
health support. In Brunei, the crackdown on the
country’s LGBT community – disguised as
upholding religious and moral values of the
kingdom – will put those already struggling at
more risk. The community will go underground
and essential services like HIV testing and care
will find it hard to reach them. In 2014, the Brunei
Ministry of Health noted that the rate of HIV
transmission is already increasing on this tiny
island. There is also the issue of arranged
marriage and false identity that comes as a result
of a regressive law such as this. I have seen this
happen in Nigeria: LGBT people were forced to
enter into marriage with people from the opposite
sex and build up a false identity. In most cases,
the marriage breaks down and it is hugely
stressful for any children involved. Jonathan is
now traveling the world giving talks on how he
regrets the passage of Nigeria’s anti-gay law, and
it is this hypocrisy that we are seeing played out
yet again in Brunei. For many of the gay men who
went through this ordeal, the trauma is something
they will never overcome. I know this from my
own experience. I had the privilege of attending
the birthday party of Prince Azim of Brunei in
London as a guest of my friend Caitlyn Jenner.
The King and Queen of Brunei were in the
audience along with members of the royal family
and many prominent people who identify as LGBT.
I could not sense any dislike or disdain and the
royal family and expressed their gratitude to the
audience for their friendship and support for his
son. It saddens me that the same royal family is
the one enacting this most dangerous of laws.
hat is even more shocking has been the silence of
the prominent LGBT people at that party that night.
A society that forces its citizens to live a lie through
regressive laws is a society that is on the path of
self-destruction. The solution is to invest in
grassroots movements that have education at their
core. I believe change will come but it won’t happen
through silence, only by strategizing and seeking
support and solidarity from activists across the
world. We all must use the voice and the leverage
that we have to send out a very strong message:
that homophobia and transphobia are unacceptable.
Organizations like the United Nations and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)
should condemn this law strongly. The business
has a responsibility to reconsider their investment
in Brunei and see the danger their staff will face.
anti-terrorism unit mocked for saying they're
'monitoring' Notre Dame fire The governments of
Britain and America along with other world
Leaders should speak out in unity against this
draconian law – and we should not think that our
individual activities don’t count. Even as ordinary
Citizens of the world, we can boycott the many
investments the Brunei royals have across the
world and there is a petition by Allout calling on
us to demand that the EU speak out. Adding your
signature will go a long way towards creating
change. We need to use all the platforms we have,
from an active protest on social media, and keep
putting on the pressure while expressing our
support and love for the LGBT communities in
Brunei. As people with influence, we must speak
up and uphold the principles that make us human.
No one is free until we are all free – and that
includes LGBT people in Nigeria and Brunei.
can be stoned to death is one of the most deadly
attacks on the community I have ever seen. As a
gay man from Nigeria, I know what it feels like to
have your identity criminalized by people that
have no idea who you are, and do not care about
you. In January 2014, the Nigerian government,
led by Goodluck Jonathan, signed into law the
Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act that
prosecuted people for registration of gay clubs,
association, meetings, gathering and provision of
services to LGBT people. It ignited one of the most
vicious attacks on the community that I have
experienced in my adult life. Within months of
the law being passed, scores of people suspected
of being LGBT were arrested and some were
imprisoned. A 20-year-old man, Mubarak Ibrahim,
was convicted of having engaged in sodomy and
publicly flogged. In Lagos, HIV services suspected
to be providing services for LGBT people were
raided by the police and service users were
paraded on national television as common criminals.
Their HIV statuses were released in national
newspapers. For many of the gay men who went
through this ordeal, the trauma is something they
will never overcome. I know this from my own
experience. In 2007, a group of gunmen broke
into my house and held me to ransom for over two
hours. The reality that this could be the end of my
life, just for being an openly gay man, was not just
frightening, it has stayed me with me my whole life
and is something for which I’ve had to get mental
health support. In Brunei, the crackdown on the
country’s LGBT community – disguised as
upholding religious and moral values of the
kingdom – will put those already struggling at
more risk. The community will go underground
and essential services like HIV testing and care
will find it hard to reach them. In 2014, the Brunei
Ministry of Health noted that the rate of HIV
transmission is already increasing on this tiny
island. There is also the issue of arranged
marriage and false identity that comes as a result
of a regressive law such as this. I have seen this
happen in Nigeria: LGBT people were forced to
enter into marriage with people from the opposite
sex and build up a false identity. In most cases,
the marriage breaks down and it is hugely
stressful for any children involved. Jonathan is
now traveling the world giving talks on how he
regrets the passage of Nigeria’s anti-gay law, and
it is this hypocrisy that we are seeing played out
yet again in Brunei. For many of the gay men who
went through this ordeal, the trauma is something
they will never overcome. I know this from my
own experience. I had the privilege of attending
the birthday party of Prince Azim of Brunei in
London as a guest of my friend Caitlyn Jenner.
The King and Queen of Brunei were in the
audience along with members of the royal family
and many prominent people who identify as LGBT.
I could not sense any dislike or disdain and the
royal family and expressed their gratitude to the
audience for their friendship and support for his
son. It saddens me that the same royal family is
the one enacting this most dangerous of laws.
hat is even more shocking has been the silence of
the prominent LGBT people at that party that night.
A society that forces its citizens to live a lie through
regressive laws is a society that is on the path of
self-destruction. The solution is to invest in
grassroots movements that have education at their
core. I believe change will come but it won’t happen
through silence, only by strategizing and seeking
support and solidarity from activists across the
world. We all must use the voice and the leverage
that we have to send out a very strong message:
that homophobia and transphobia are unacceptable.
Organizations like the United Nations and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)
should condemn this law strongly. The business
has a responsibility to reconsider their investment
in Brunei and see the danger their staff will face.
anti-terrorism unit mocked for saying they're
'monitoring' Notre Dame fire The governments of
Britain and America along with other world
Leaders should speak out in unity against this
draconian law – and we should not think that our
individual activities don’t count. Even as ordinary
Citizens of the world, we can boycott the many
investments the Brunei royals have across the
world and there is a petition by Allout calling on
us to demand that the EU speak out. Adding your
signature will go a long way towards creating
change. We need to use all the platforms we have,
from an active protest on social media, and keep
putting on the pressure while expressing our
support and love for the LGBT communities in
Brunei. As people with influence, we must speak
up and uphold the principles that make us human.
No one is free until we are all free – and that
includes LGBT people in Nigeria and Brunei.
In January 2015, an Islamic law enforcement agency, the Hisbah, arrested 12 men in the north Nigerian city of Kano for allegedly planning a same-sex wedding. The head of the Hisbah, Aminu Daurawa, told Agence France-Presse that the suspects “looked and acted feminine”, which prompted their arrest which shows that it is quite a criminal act under the law.
Ironically, a gay Nigerian cleric Jide Macaulay will be ordained an Anglican priest by the Church of England in June. The church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has however always rejected calls to ordain gay priests.
Macaulay is a Nigerian born on November 4 1965 who is a pastor an ordained minister, an LGBTQ, human rights and HIV/AIDS activist, community builder, queer theologian, lawyer, and parent. He is the founder of the first house of worship to the LGBTQ and serves as its executive director named the House of Rainbow. According to Ubuntubiographyproject.com, Macaulay’s Christian upbringing had always forced him into a different understanding of same-sex relations, and he married a woman under the guise of spiritual healing at the age of 24. While Macaulay experienced same-gender relationships and desires before marriage, it was not until after his divorce in 1994 that he fully came out as gay, with a great effort to reconcile his faith, spirituality, culture, and sexuality.
The cast out stone in Nigeria has become a corner stone in England to the LGBT community. It’s a wishful thinking that this freedom will be expressed in Nigeria for the LGBT people as well such that they will be able to express themselves publicly.
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