In response to chimamanda Adichi's argument against the new
law banning same-sex marriage in Nigeria I present this rebuttal. To begin
with, many Nigerians and citizens of foreign countries have condemned the new
law before Miss Adichi did the same. The reason I decided to do this now is
because many of us, including me, hold
Adichi at a very high esteem and I am sure that many of us, including me, is
quite disappointed that she feels the way she does about this matter.
I strongly disagree
with her obiter that the new law (the law banning same-sex marriage) shows the
failure of our democracy. Even if the new law is a mistake on the part of our
government, without mincing words, democracy is still the reason she could
write what she wrote, freely expressing her opinion about government and the
country in a critical stance. I doubt any sensible person would be eager to do
that in Abacha's era and that means we do have a working democracy today. I'd
say we ought to lop our alacrity to condemn our country and democracy based on
the numerous problems she's facing which, in fact, is not unique to her. To
quote miss Adichi, 'the new law shows the failure
of our democracy...because the mark of true democracy is not in the rule of its
majority but in the protection of its minority'. That sounds all good and true
but I was taught early in school that everything that has an advantage will
also have disadvantage. We all think of, for example, communism or military
rule with distaste. But bad as it may be, military government has its benefits.
Democracy is not perfect. Surely, it is not indeed the perfect system of
government. Democracy is certainly about the rule of the majority. According to
democracy everybody is protected and the majority will have the strongest
voice. The day the minority's wishes triumphs over that of the majority, you
are sure to begin to hear and feel the cracks on the walls of democracy. I do
believe that your use of the word 'true' democracy negates the truth because
true democracy is definitely the rule of its majority, whatever their choice or
decision for themselves might be.
To say that the subject of homosexuality is a
strange priority in a country with so many real problems is indubitably a
misleading notion. It reminds me of those organizations who passionately preach
peace, unity; loyalty and patriotism but on the other hand promotes and celebrates
hip-hop. These organizations actually host hip-hop events, importing rappers
from overseas whose personalities, career trail and way of life are far from
inspiration for modesty, peace, love, tolerance, equanimity and virtues that
build society. What four flushers! What are the real problems of the Nigerian
nation, Violence, corruption, illiteracy? I'm sure you'll agree these are but
by-products of moral decadence and nihilism. When people have constitutional
support to explore immorality, the upshot sweeps the society like a whirlwind.
To me, a culture of morality should be at the very top of the list of any
visionary government and I do not need be told that a man craving the body or
anus of another man is perverse; abomination. Whether the behavior was learned
or inherent doesn't change that simple truth. Chimamanda argued that a crime is
a crime for the reason that it has victims. I'd readily say the same thing
except that I can't possibly convince myself that the gay phenomenon is
harmless to the society. Do you seriously believe its ripples are trivial or in
some ways don’t add up? If we pass laws that condemn murder, for example, is it
stupid for a government to pass laws that prevent murder? Our response can't be
to criminalize homosexuality? The last time I checked no one criminalized homosexuality.
That would be like criminalizing blindness, Aids, deafness etc. Just like boys
will be boys, people will be people. Deaf people will always be mocked. Blind
women will always be raped and 'knocked up' by unknown persons but a government
would not make them criminals. Miss Adichi wrote that homosexuality is as old
as man. My question then is why the tumult in this twenty-first century? As
long as they did what they did, governments ignored them. But that's no longer
enough for them. They now want marriage with a licitly tendered certificate
that ratifies the sanction and substratum of the people of this nation. Out of
all our inadequacies as a people, we're not completely insane! And when the government
disapproves the ugliness, some people accuse her of fallacy. Some critics of
the new law like Miss Chimamanda are like, 'yeah they're not like us but we
should leave them alone'. The question then is if its wrong why support it?
They are left alone. No one hunts them down and throw them in prison. By refusing
them recognition the country is saying, 'we do not condone your disease'. She
also argued that the holy books cannot be a basis for the laws we pass. But
marriage is solidly rooted in religion! When a woman moves in with another
woman because they want to be together, its their business. But when they seek
an ordinance for that union, they poke at religion. I really don't see how we
can honestly deal with the subject of marriage and not stir the waters of
religion. What is government? Machinery... machinery manned by flesh and blood.
These flesh and blood have religions, religions that define who they are,
influence their choices, thought pattern and general perception. Should we
continue to delude ourselves that religion have nothing to do with government?
Religion, in a large measure, is part of who we are in Nigeria and Africa.
There's no denying that and homosexuality strikes very close to home. It is
true, like she said that the Bible, for example, condemns adultery and
fornication as much as it condemns homosexuality yet no laws have been passed
against adultery nor is fornication a crime. I was definitely amused by that argument
but suffice it for me to ask this question; do you think our government should
and/would sign fornication and adultery into law if someday those who practice
them wants statutory recognition? Even without the holy books, this thing, gay,
is an assault to human nature and because some people are prone to it is
insufficient reason for the rest of humanity to espouse it.
Speaking of sochukwuma who is the subject of Miss
Adichi's story she remarked that 'we don't know why he's like that' which can
plainly be understood to mean we don't know why homosexuals are the way they
are. Be as it may, we may not know but we do know not to cuddle it. An
extremely important truth about the subject of homosexuality which its
supporters seems to miss or just chose to ignore is that the condition of being
gay is an error, a sickness, an illness, a disease. Humanity calls it
'abnormal' and rightly so. Don't get me wrong. This is different from
victimization, maltreatment and bullying of people because of whom or what they
are. I mean, I'm assuming and agreeing that yes people could be born that way. It’s
a weird world we live in. Babies have been born with a holy Bible in its hand
and then another was born holding the Koran both in this country. Can anyone
explain that? So being born with some freakish genetic disorder is probably no
big deal. Yes sochukwuma plausibly slid out her mother's womb with homosexual
tendencies, still, that does not make it normal. Chimamanda wrote that if we
are part of a majority group we tend to
think others in the minority groups are abnormal. Plenty of truth in that but
for pete's sake, its homosexuality we're talking about here! We're talking
about a woman who'd rather make love to another woman or a man who'd rather
insert his genitalia in another man's shit hole. You honestly believe that's ok
and normal? You can honestly tell yourself there's nothing wrong with that?
Should we lend support to this behavior only because those who practice it are
fellow human beings and, so to speak, in the minority group? This is the bane
of this matter: homosexuality is a defect and people who find themselves in
such should seek reprieve. Many a sickness a person could be born with;
deafness, blood cloth, anemia, etc. If you were born with a weak heart, for
example, wouldn't you seek medical attention? And if there is no cure, perhaps
the experts say there is no cure for homosexuality, is that the reason we must
all embrace the disease and our government should actually sign it into law?
Just as boys will be boys, people will be people. But still, sensible people
know not to mock, criticize or condemn others bearing one form of deformity or
the other. There's a huge difference between living a fulfilled life even as a
sick person and being sick and proud of it. And now you’re hankering the rest
of humanity to look upon that sickness and say, 'wow, that's normal'. Or
'omigod, that's so cool'. 'Cool' and 'experimental' is how some people who are
not even gay sees this trend today how much more the next generation and how
much worse with our government's signature. Let me wrap up by saying that
sochukwuma is definitely Nigerian and his existence is not a crime... And his
sickness is not a virtue.
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