The persecution of homosexuals continues in Nigeria with four young men convicted of homosexual relations and flogged on in open court. The judges and lawyers watched as the men (aged 20 to 22) were laid prostrate on the floor, stripped, and whipped on their buttocks in a demonstration of Sharia justice. The sadomasochistic nature of the punishment appears to have escaped the onlookers. While a crowd outside tried to grab the men to kill them, the court explained that stoning was not needed since the men admitted to homosexual acts previously but said that they were no longer engaging in such relations.
Each was sentenced to 15 strokes and may also face a year’s imprisonment if they cannot pay a fine of $120.
The case was brought under the the new infamous Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act in January that targets homosexuals. The crowd insisted that under Sharia law the men should be stoned to death.
The question that I have is why Americans, particularly gay and lesbian Americans, are expected to give large amounts of aid to a country that would execute or flog many of our citizens if they visited the country. At some point, it would seem reasonable to deny aid to countries who want to kill our own citizens.
Recently, Sweden cut off aid to Ugandan for its anti-homosexual laws. Is it time for the United States to do the same for countries like Nigeria? I would also add other core rights as a threshold test, including the denial of religious freedom and free speech and women’s rights.
What do you think?
Source: Guardian
Note: I’m a Nigerian christian, i don’t hate gays but you gotta notice homosexuality is frowned upon by both dominant religions of the country, and we are a religious people
This is a dumb statement, Nigeria isn’t an islamic state….the northern parts full of muslims does, that must b where this happened……..Nigeria doesn’t depend on aids anyway, Oil producing country (doesn’t that scream money to you?)
After reading a lot of the comments posted here, I’ve come to the conclusion that “Common Sense” has escaped a lot of folks posting here. So I will not waste my time trying to educate these mindless morons.
Laws should be based on common sense & what helps or hurts others. Add to that a certain degree of laisez faire where others are not hurt so it would be your prerogative to damage yourself with alcohol, drugs or anything else if no-one else were hurt by your actions. Archaic laws based on falsehoods or unproven facts would need to be removed & replaced. This would include a lot of arbitraries like defining adult as 18 for everyone for most everything, & anything based purely on a religious belief would have to go. The common sense based Way to Happiness booklet would be a good start.
You showed your opinion on beastiology but what about incest. If two consenting adults such as a father and son decide they want to have a sexual relationship should we tolerate it.
“If two consenting adults such as a father and son decide they want to have a sexual relationship should we tolerate it.”
What would be the compelling state interest to prevent it?