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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