A Police Raid, Viral Videos and the Broken Lives of Nigerian Gay Law Suspects

 | 
02/24/2020

The 57 men stumbled out of the back of a dark police truck into the glare of a sunny courtyard and a phalanx of cameras. Some clutched another’s hand, as if for comfort. They lined up on wooden benches in the dirt, almost all of them trying to hide their faces, and not succeeding. Standing behind a bank of microphones, the Lagos state police commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, told the gathered journalists that he personally had ordered the raid that swept up the men after the authorities received a tipoff that young men were being initiated into a “homosexual club.” Edgal declared that homosexuality ran contrary to the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. That law, which drew international condemnation when it came into force in 2014, targets not only same-sex unions but homosexual relations in general with prison terms of up to 14 years.

Regions: ,

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 04/24/2024
04/23/2024
Wales has become the latest UK nation to pause the use of puberty blockers by under-18s. The physically reversible hormone blockers, which suppress unwanted …
Added on: 04/24/2024
04/24/2024
Over the weekend in Japan, 15,000 people took part in the 2024 Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade, one of the biggest LGBTQIA+ events in Southeast …
Added on: 04/24/2024
04/23/2024
Not-for-profit Qtopia has applied to permanently transform a former police station into the Sydney Centre for Queer History and Culture. Along with Create NSW—the …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Other News from ,

Added on: 04/20/2024
The airwaves buzz with a new and exciting podcast called ‘LivenInspirewithMathabatha’ hosted by an advocate for the LBGTQ+ community Mathabatha Joba every Wednesday from …
Added on: 04/19/2024
Burundi’s president said gay people should be stoned, amid a larger crackdown on the LGBTQ community in the East African country. “If you want to …
Added on: 04/19/2024
ACCRA (Reuters) – Members of Ghana’s LGBT community and activists are waiting to see whether the West African country’s president will sign into law …