Advocacy, social control, and the criminalisation of same-sex relationships : the evolution and enforcement of ‘anti-gay laws’ in Nigeria

Abstract

Since the enactment of Nigeria’s Same Sex (Marriage) Prohibition Act of 2013, advocacy for the protection of sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria has grown rapidly. This advocacy often toes a line of legal formalism, under an international human rights law framework. This framework uses strategic litigation, petitions before international bodies, presentation of violations reports to the national human rights bodies, and public engagement on the equality of application of human rights norms for sexual and gender minorities. Despite these efforts, political rhetoric and public opinion continue to be antagonistic to advocacy efforts, based on the claim of political and religious leaders that same-sex relationships and non-heteronormative sexuality and gender identity are incompatible with the cultures and religions of the Nigerian population.

This thesis argues that the evolution and enforcement of Nigerian laws criminalising same-sex relationships and non-heteronormative sexuality and gender identity (‘criminalising laws’) are part of a system of wider social control leveraged by the political elite to perpetuate its hegemonic power. Consequently, this thesis proposes that, to advance the legal protection of sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria, advocates must critically understand, and take measures to reduce, the underlying power dynamics in the criminalising laws.

Using doctrinal and empirical research, this thesis proposes democratic strategies to challenge and reduce hegemonic power dynamics in Nigeria, and to strengthen existing advocacy for the protection of sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria. The research shows that the evolution of laws criminalising same-sex relationships in Nigeria is based on the use of political homophobia by the political elite as a tool of social exclusion. It further concludes that law enforcement authorities in Nigeria are guided by hegemonic considerations in the enforcement of the criminalising laws. The thesis identifies social control linkages between the criminalising laws and the existence of wider social exclusion in Nigeria. An increased awareness by advocates of these underlying hegemonic motivations can lead to a more nuanced, more contextual, and more intersectional advocacy for the rights of sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria.