Anti-g*y Law: We’ll Pressure Nigeria To Reverse The Law – United States

The United States government has vowed to continue to press
the Nigerian government to reverse its anti**-g*y law.**

The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda
Thomas-Greenfield, said this during a live-web chat with
journalists in Washington. Our correspondent monitored the web
chat in Abuja.
Thomas-Greenfield also said that America was not bothered that
Chinese companies were fast taking over the African market from
their US counterparts.
President Goodluck Jonathan had on January 7, 2014 assented
to the Same s*x Marriage (Prohibition) Bill 2013 which
criminalises homosexuality in the country.
On January 14 when it became public that the President had
signed the bill into law, the US, Canada and the European Union
openly expressed reservations over the law.
Thomas-Greenfield, who said the US had adopted the protection
of the rights of same-s*x people as part of its foreign policies,
vowed that Washington would continue to mount and sustain
pressure on Nigeria and other countries to reverse their laws
against the l*n, g*y, Bisexual, and Transgender community.
She said, “As a government, it is one of the highest priorities and
strongest values that discrimination against anyone based on
their sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong. We believe
human rights should be available to everybody.
“As a policy, we will continue to press the government of Nigeria
as well as other governments who have provided legislation that
discriminate against the LGBT community.”
Thomas-Greenfiled, who did not agree that pressuring Nigeria to
reverse the anti-g*y law amounted to interference, said the
country and Uganda had the hardest legislation on the g*y
community.
She said, “This is very much a work in progress, but I think you
will agree with me that the law in Nigeria really went far in
discriminating against this community but also people who
associate with them.
“So we will continue to press the government, to press the
legislature to change these laws and provide human rights for all
Nigerian people regardless of their sexual orientation.”
She, however, did not disclose if the US would impose sanctions
on the countries with anti-g*y laws to achieve its objectives.
Thomas-Greenfield was optimistic that the U.S would win the
fight to protect the LGBT community.
She said, “With what is happening in the US, you can determine
how far we are willing to go. We strongly believe human rights
for all people and we are particularly opposed to legislation that
actually targets the g*y community for discrimination. So we are
prepared to push this as a policy not just in Africa but across
the world.”