http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Nigeria does not allow or recognise LGBT rights. There is no legal protection against discrimination in Nigeria. Very few gay or transgender people dare be open about their orientation, and violence against them is frequent.
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria. The maximum punishment in the twelve northern states that have adopted Shari'a law is death by stoning. In southern Nigeria and under the secular criminal laws of northern Nigeria, the maximum punishment for same-sex sexual activity is 14 years' imprisonment.
An email from a gay reader who lives in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, prompted this villanelle.
WARNING: DANGER ZONE or GAY IN ABUJA
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
(fewer still must guess)
neighbours would see us dead
On stereotypes, too many fed
who begrudge us happiness;
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
I’ve, oh, so often heard it said,
best rid the world of queers;
neighbours would see us dead
We have listened, argued, bled,
(members of the human race);
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
Why the disgust, horror, dread?
(a sexual identity in all of us)
neighbours would see us dead
No God would see us hounded
(in whose name hound us?)
G-A-Y, where few dare tread;
neighbours would see us dead
Copyright R. N. Taber 2016
Nigeria does not allow or recognise LGBT rights. There is no legal protection against discrimination in Nigeria. Very few gay or transgender people dare be open about their orientation, and violence against them is frequent.
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria. The maximum punishment in the twelve northern states that have adopted Shari'a law is death by stoning. In southern Nigeria and under the secular criminal laws of northern Nigeria, the maximum punishment for same-sex sexual activity is 14 years' imprisonment.
Abuja - Photo from the Internet
An email from a gay reader who lives in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, prompted this villanelle.
WARNING: DANGER ZONE or GAY IN ABUJA
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
(fewer still must guess)
neighbours would see us dead
On stereotypes, too many fed
who begrudge us happiness;
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
I’ve, oh, so often heard it said,
best rid the world of queers;
neighbours would see us dead
We have listened, argued, bled,
(members of the human race);
G-A-Y, where few dare tread
Why the disgust, horror, dread?
(a sexual identity in all of us)
neighbours would see us dead
No God would see us hounded
(in whose name hound us?)
G-A-Y, where few dare tread;
neighbours would see us dead
Copyright R. N. Taber 2016
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