i

TITLE PAGE

THE PROPRIETY OR OTHERWISE GAY MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA AND

ITS IMPLICATIONS

ii

DEDICATION

This term paper is dedicated to God Almighty

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My acknowledgment goes first to God Almighty for

His love and mercies towards me. To my parents whose

love, care, financial and moral support has kept me in

this school.

This work would not have been a reality without the

help of certain authors whom I cited their works. To

these authors, I say a big thank you.

Finally, I want to appreciate my friends in the

department and everyone who contributed in one way or

the other to the success of this work. God bless you

all.

iv

PREFACE

Gay Marriages have already significantly altered

family law, by leading to new formal relationship

statuses and incorporation of the principle that both

of a child’s legal parents can be of the same sex. This

essay explores further changes that may lie ahead as

same-sex marriage debates increasingly affect both

family law and the social meanings of marriage. In this

work, effort is focused on the implications of gay

marriage with respect to Nigeria. The work is divided

into four separate chapters for clarity purposes.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page - - - - - - - - - -i

Dedication - - - - - - - - - -ii

Acknowledgment - - - - - - - - -iii

Preface - - - - - - - - - - ivTable of contents- - - - - - - - -

v

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - -1

CHAPTER TWO: GAY MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA

2.1 The Meaning and Origin of Gay Marriage - - -- 2

2.2 Bill against Same-sex marriage in Nigeria - -- - 2

2.3 Arguments against Gay Marriage in Nigeria - -- - 4

2.3.1 It Violates Natural Law - - - - -- - 5

2.3.2 It Always Denies a Child Either a Father or aMother - - 52.3.3 It Validates and Promotes the HomosexualLifestyle - - 52.3.4 It Turns a Moral Wrong into a Civil Right -

- - - 6

vi

CHAPTER THREE: IMPLICATIONS OF GAY MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA

3.1 Freedom of conscience and religious liberty wouldbe threatened 73.2 Fewer people would marry - - - - - -

73.3 Fewer people would remain married for a lifetime.

- - - 83.4 Fewer children would be raised by a married motherand father - 83.5 More children would grow up fatherless - - -

- 83.6 Birth rates would fall - - - - - -

- 9

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Summary - - - - - - - - - 10

4.2 Conclusion - - - - - - - - -11

REFERENCES

1

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Introduction

Same-sex marriage (also known as gay marriage) is

marriage between two people of the same biological sex

and/or gender identity. Legal recognition of same-sex

marriage or the possibility to perform a same-sex

marriage is sometimes referred to as marriage equality

or equal marriage, particularly by supporters. The

legalization of same-sex marriage is characterized as

"redefining marriage" by many opponents.

Introduction of same-sex marriage laws has varied

by jurisdiction, being variously accomplished through a

legislative change to marriage laws, a court ruling

based on constitutional guarantees of equality, or by

direct popular vote (via a ballot initiative or a

referendum).

2

CHAPTER TWO

GAY MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA

2.1 The Meaning and Origin of Gay Marriage

Simply put, same-sex marriage is marriage between

two persons of the same gender identity. Same sex

marriage which is also known in some jurisdiction as

‘gay marriage’ is an expansion of the traditional or

orthordox form of legal monogamous marriage to include

homosexuals (Vitiello 2008). It means any marriage that

exists between two persons of the same sex. It is

3

otherwise also called ‘homosexual marriage’. Some

people call it ‘gender neutral marriage’ apparently

because it involves persons of same gender (Ifemeje

2008). The marriage could be between two males (then it

is called ‘gay marriages’) or between two females (then

it is called ‘lesbian’ marriage).

2.2 Bill against Same-sex marriage in Nigeria

Nigeria recognizes neither same-sex marriages nor

civil unions for same-sex couples. Homosexuality can

land men up to 14 years in prison in Southern Nigeria

and capital punishment for men in areas under Sharia

Islamic Law. Proposals to constitutionally ban same-sex

marriage compacted with severe penalties to those

convicted of performing or participating in such, have

twice surfaced. A similar bill is currently pending

parliamentary approval.

4

On January 18, 2007 the Federal Executive Council

approved a law, Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act

2006, prohibiting same sex marriages and sent it to the

National assembly for urgent action. According to the

Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, the law was pushed

by President Olusegun Obasanjo following demonstrations

for same sex marriage during the international

conference on HIV/AIDS (ICASA) in 2005.

The proposed bill calls for five years imprisonment

for anyone who undergoes, "performs, witnesses, aids,

or abets" a same-sex marriage. It would also prohibit

any display of a "same-sex amorous relationship" and

adoption of children by gays or lesbians. The bill is

expected to receive little or no opposition in

Parliament. The same-sex marriage ban would make

Nigeria the second country in Africa to criminalize

5

such unions. In 2005, the Ugandan constitution was

amended to ban same-sex marriage.

The same bill would also call for five years

imprisonment for involvement in public advocacy or

associations supporting the rights of lesbian and gay

people. Included in the bill is a proposal to ban any

form of relationship with a gay person. The intent of

the bill is to ban anything remotely associated with

being 'gay' or just gay in the country.

2.3 Arguments against Gay Marriage in Nigeria

2.3.1 It Violates Natural Law

Marriage is not just any relationship between human

beings. It is a relationship rooted in human nature and

thus governed by natural law.

Natural law’s most elementary precept is that “good

is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.”

6

By his natural reason, man can perceive what is morally

good or bad for him. Thus, he can know the end or

purpose of each of his acts and how it is morally wrong

to transform the means that help him accomplish an act

into the act’s purpose.

Any situation which institutionalizes the

circumvention of the purpose of the sexual act violates

natural law and the objective norm of morality. Being

rooted in human nature, natural law is universal and

immutable. It applies to the entire human race,

equally. It commands and forbids consistently,

everywhere and always. Saint Paul taught in the Epistle

to the Romans that the natural law is inscribed on the

heart of every man. (Rom. 2:14-15)

7

2.3.2 It Always Denies a Child Either a Father or a

Mother

It is in the child’s best interests that he be

raised under the influence of his natural father and

mother. This rule is confirmed by the evident

difficulties faced by the many children who are orphans

or are raised by a single parent, a relative, or a

foster parent.

The unfortunate situation of these children will be

the norm for all children of a same-sex “marriage.” A

child of a same-sex “marriage” will always be deprived

of either his natural mother or father. He will

necessarily be raised by one party who has no blood

relationship with him. He will always be deprived of

either a mother or a father role model.

8

2.3.3 It Validates and Promotes the Homosexual

Lifestyle

In the name of the “family,” same-sex “marriage”

serves to validate not only such unions but the whole

homosexual lifestyle in all its bisexual and

transgender variants. Civil laws are structuring

principles of man's life in society. As such, they play

a very important and sometimes decisive role in

influencing patterns of thought and behavior. They

externally shape the life of society, but also

profoundly modify everyone’s perception and evaluation

of forms of behavior. Legal recognition of same-sex

“marriage” would necessarily obscure certain basic

moral values, devalue traditional marriage, and weaken

public morality.

2.3.4 It Turns a Moral Wrong into a Civil Right

9

Homosexual activists argue that same-sex “marriage”

is a civil rights issue similar to the struggle for

racial equality in the 1960s.

This is false.

First of all, sexual behavior and race are

essentially different realities. A man and a woman

wanting to marry may be different in their

characteristics: one may be black, the other white; one

rich, the other poor; or one tall, the other short.

None of these differences are insurmountable obstacles

to marriage. The two individuals are still man and

woman, and thus the requirements of nature are

respected. Same-sex “marriage” opposes nature. Two

individuals of the same sex, regardless of their race,

wealth, stature, erudition or fame, will never be able

10

to marry because of an insurmountable biological

impossibility.

Secondly, inherited and unchangeable racial traits

cannot be compared with non-genetic and changeable

behavior. There is simply no analogy between the

interracial marriage of a man and a woman and the

“marriage” between two individuals of the same sex.

CHAPTER THREE

IMPLICATIONS OF GAY MARRIAGE IN NIGERIA

3.1 Freedom of conscience and religious liberty would

be threatened

Churches and non-profit organizations could be

stripped of their tax exemptions and religious

psychologists, social workers, and marriage counselors

11

could be denied licensing if they "discriminate"

against homosexuals. Individual believers who

disapprove of homosexual relationships may face a

choice at work between forfeiting their freedom of

speech and being fired.

3.2 Fewer people would marry.

In Massachusetts, where same-sex "marriages" began

in May 2004, only 52% of same-sex couples who live

together had even bothered to "marry" by the end of

2006. Among opposite-sex couples, the comparable figure

is 91%. In the Netherlands, the figures are even lower,

with only 12% of homosexual couples having entered

legal civil "marriages." Giving the option of same-sex

"marriage" would tell society that marriage in general

is "optional," not normative, and fewer people would

marry.

12

3.3 Fewer people would remain married for a lifetime.

Even a homosexual psychologist has acknowledged

that "gay and lesbian couples dissolve their

relationships more frequently than heterosexual

couples." The same Dutch study that showed the high

rate of homosexual promiscuity also showed that the

average homosexual male "partnership" lasts only 1.5

years. As the transience of homosexual relationships is

incorporated in society's image of "marriage," we can

expect that fewer heterosexuals would maintain a

lifelong commitment. 

3.4 Fewer children would be raised by a married mother

and father.  

Social science has clearly proven clearly that

children do best when raised by their own married

13

biological mother and father. Yet legalizing same-sex

"marriage" would put an official stamp of approval on

the deliberate creation of permanently motherless or

fatherless families. As scholar Stanley Kurtz says,

this "would likely speed us on the way toward

. . . More frequent out-of-wedlock birth, and

skyrocketing family dissolution."

3.5 More children would grow up fatherless.

Most children who live with only one biological

parent will live with their mothers, and lesbian

couples are more likely to be raising children than

homosexual male couples. Therefore, with same-sex

"marriage," more children would suffer the specific

negative consequences of fatherlessness, which include

higher rates of youth incarceration among males and

adolescent pregnancy among females. Research also shows

14

negative outcomes for the children of sperm donors, who

are used by some lesbian couples.

3.6 Birth rates would fall.

Same-sex "marriage" would eliminate the incentive

for procreation that is implicit in defining marriage

as a male-female union. There is already evidence of at

least a correlation between same-sex "marriage" and low

birth and fertility rates, both in the U.S. and abroad.

While some people still harbor outdated fears about

"over-population," demographers now understand that

declining birth rates harm society.

15

CHAPTER FOUR

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Summary

Both the issue and controversy generated by the

concept of same sex marriage otherwise also known as

‘gay marriage’ is relatively new in Nigeria. Until

recently, there was no known open discussion on the

matter and presently, there is no law in Nigeria

according recognition to that relationship which is

still abhorred by majority of members of the society

mainly on account of Nigeria’s cultural pattern and

religious inclinations. (Sessou 2013). Indeed, both the

criminal law and the Marriage Act prohibit same sex

marriage. The situation is such that homosexuality can

land men up to 14 years imprisonment in southern

Nigeria and capital punishment for men in areas under

16

Shari’a Islamic Law in northern Nigeria (Nanzing and

Garba 2008).

4.2 Conclusion

Same-Sex marriage as marriage between two persons

of the same gender identity is a wind that is blowing

across the globe. As many as fifteen countries have

already fully legalized it and the process of doing so

in many other countries is presently going on. While

that is the case, people with same-sex preferences in

Nigeria are not only being marginalized and

discriminated against, their fundamental rights to

freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of

17

association etc are being denied. In the face of those

travails, the Nigerian National Assembly has recently

passed a bill – Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act

which is awaiting the assent of the President to become

law. As discussed in the foregoing, the proposed law

prohibits same-sex marriage and all other forms of

same-sex relationships with stiff penalties. This is in

addition to the law in Shari’a Law states of northern

Nigeria where same-sex marriage or relationship could

earn one the death penalty. This hostile environment is

inimical to the enjoyment of the fundamental rights of

people with same-sex preferences in Nigeria and needs

to change for Nigeria to be at par with the global

trend. Anything to the contrary will amount to a breach

of the fundamental rights, particularly, of freedom of

thought, conscience and religion, as well as the right

to personal and private life of people with same-sex

18

preferences who are also entitled to the right to

freedom of association under the Nigerian Constitution.

19

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