Re: Why can’t he just be like everyone else? – by Taslim OKUNOLA

This article is in reply to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s article on the new anti-gay law in Nigeria. I’m neither a poet nor a novelist. So, I will go straight to my reply without telling the story of Sochukwuma or Chukwumaso. Also, this article might also contain some grammatical blunders that I will want English speakers to pardon me for; English is not my mother tongue anyway. To start with, I don’t think there is any genetic or biological evidence for the fact that some guys are born gay. Homosexuality is a choice often caused by depression, anxiety and self-destructive behaviour. Let us assume like you presumed that some like Sochukwuma are born gay. Study shows that about 1.7% of the world’s population are gay or lesbian. If their population is that minute, then such abnormalities, if natural, should be corrected instead of promoted. We have worse cases that have been corrected and cured by able doctors.

Chimamanda wrote and I quote: “But is shows a failure of our democracy, because the mark of a true democracy is not in the rule of the majority but in the protection of its majority”. I want to emphatically counter this statement by saying that democracy is made for the majority. It symbolises the voice of the masses which are regarded as the majority in any democratic nation’s economic hierarchy. If you say the mark of a true democracy is not in the rule of the majority, why can’t someone with the least votes that represent the minority be made to rule the nation? And it was agreed upon by the majority of those we voted in to represent us (the masses) in the National Assembly. What a constitutional law it is! Drafting and signing of this law might not be our priority in this country where we have bigger problems, but this is just an issue of multitasking because while the entire event was unfolding, other things were also being done.

Gay and Lesbianism is by all means against the law of nature which makes it abnormal. Anal sex which is also under major criticisms is the only hope of gays to have sex with each other. They insert a reproductive organ into an excretory organ. Do you think that is ideal? Lesbians also go about doing all sorts of masturbation which are hazardous to their well-being. Also talking about the fact that homosexuals in Nigeria don’t ask for same sex marriage, they will one day if it is not curbed this way. Announcing one’s sexual orientation as a homosexual publicly started because the act wasn't curbed. Well, it’s the truth that both straight and gays molest children but statistics show that child molestation is more common with the gays and lesbians. And the explanation is easy, they do not get gays or lesbians like them everywhere because they are minute. Do you recommend that these people be allowed to adopt our motherless babies? Gay and Lesbianism is “unafrican” as they say. Anything African should pertain to our culture and same sex union is never part of our culture. Although the passage of the law might be said to be “unafrican” but the practice is also “unafrican”.

P.S: I am not representing anybody or any group with this reply. This is my own candid opinion on the article written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

My name is Taslim OKUNOLA and I am a progressive Nigerian youth. That’s all.