This Friday — Opeyemi Samuel, age 24, discusses Nigeria and the LGBTQ+ community in our safe space letters.
‘Na Gay Dey Reign’ has become the mantra of the Nigerian LGBTQ+ for a year or so now. LGBTQ+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and addition, sorry — and others. Thing is, the world is polarized between cis-hets or heterosexuals and members of the LGBTQ+ community. There has been way too much hate towards the LGBTQ+ community in Nigeria, and this has sparked my rant.
Nigerian youth carry it upon themselves to champion the vendetta against LGBTQ+ (give it up for — Vendetta Mayweather!) such that they see a man proposing to another man in the USA and they decide to fill the comments section with vile words. They see cross-dressers in real life? Hatred and maiming follows. It has resulted in trauma and death for many. A lot of queers have had to relocate to other countries to seek asylum. Here’s where it gets interesting, countless people who are not members of the community have used homophobia as a pretext to get asylum overseas.
It’s not just the audacity for me, It’s the double standard.
How do you hate people who can’t change themselves, and yet you do what? You pretend to be in their shoes to get a privilege and that’s it. Here’s the basic rule — DO NOT HURT YOUR FELLOW HUMAN. Prejudice on the basis of race, gender, class, tribe or sexuality is unfortunate. The black man who wonders why he’s hated for the color of his skin suddenly hates another for the individual’s sexual orientation? The white woman who has a valid point against the discrimination she faces because of her sex — the way she’s overlooked at the workplace, the sadness she feels when reports come from the middle east that girls are shot and killed by the Taliban for attending schools suddenly has a problem with an individual who sincerely states that his/her sexual orientation is simply…
different.
So much hate in the world. We shouldn’t tolerate the racists, rapists, extremists, misogynists, tribalists, classists because it’s indiscipline and hate, hate towards another. That’s the issue we must fight.
Everyone deserves to be happy but not at the expense of another. Where being homo, bi, trans, ace, pan, non-binary is conducted without disrespect and intrusion or hate towards others — I think it’s best you leave them alone. If you can’t show sympathy or co-exist-
leave them alone.
