Some Nigerians resident in Toronto , Canada have called on the International community to prevail on the Nigerian government to give members of the Lesbians, Gay,Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community within and outside the country adequate protection against victimization and discrimination from members of the public through the passage and implementation of enabling laws adding that the implementstion of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act was in clear violation of their fundamental human rights
The 2022 Toronto Pride Parade held in June in Toronto ,Canada provided the desired platform for some of the participants, particularly those of African roots, to lend a strong voice to an end to the victimization and discrimination against LGBT communities in Nigeria as this has often times led to persecution of victims who were caught in clear violation of the 2014 Same-Sex Prohibition Act .
The Pride Toronto,a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, is an annual event held in Toronto,Ontario, Canada in June each year .
The Nigerians resident in Canada who added glamour,colour and panache to the Toronto Pride Parade seized the opportunity to call on the government in Nigeria to approve gay rights marriage adding that the current Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was severely fuelling discriminatory tendencies against LGBT community in Nigeria.
This ,according to some Nigerians during the Toronto Pride Parade , prompted some members to stage an awareness campaign against the victimization and discrimination of LGBT communities in Nigeria.
The Nigerians are seeking among other things, that Same-Sex unions and relationships, like every other gender, ought to be highly respected and protected against all forms of discrimination and victimization.
A Nigerian during the Toronto Pride Parade ,Santos Ehiorobo who is wanted in Nigeria after fleeing his country of origin with his family owing to his bisexual orientation ,admitted being bisexual .
According to Santos , there are several millions of Nigerians that are bisexual who can not return to their country of origin owing to the persecution and the severity of the punitive measures against LGBT communities which is further worsened by the outright discrimination and victimization against members.
He noted that Same-Sex genders should not be discriminated against, rather, the society should be more accommodating in embracing members of the LGBT communities.
Another Nigerian simply identified as Bobby J urged the international community to prevail on the Nigerian government to put policies and law in place that would provide adequate protection of the rights of LGBT communities with a view to eliminating discrimination against members.
He said ” I left Nigeria several years ago when the threats to my life reached a heightened level owing to my sexual orientation as a bisexual individual as there are no laws in place to ensure adequate protection of our gay rights but rather outright discrimination and rejection by members of the public .”
Also, Dele as he wants to be referred to ,a bisexual at the Pride Parade claimed that ever since he left his country of origin several years ago he has been at peace with himself because of the total freedom to be who he is based on his sexual orientation as a bisexual individual which according to him was never there in the first place in his country of origin as a result of the outright rejection, discrimination and prosecution of members of LGBT community under the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act 2014.
Since the criminalisation of sexual relationships between people of the same sex in January 2014, the Nigerian LGBTTQQIAAP (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, pansexual, and other variants, herein referred to as LGBTQ) community has faced a new wave of discrimination, hostility and rejection.
The Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA), signed into law in 2014 by former President Goodluck Jonathan, was enacted on the premise that the Nigerian culture is antithetical to homosexuality. With the population of the country largely divided between Christiacns and Muslims, there was also a religious urgency to the Same-Sex Prohibition Act which approved a 14-years imprisonment for offenders upon conviction.
