Nigeria Signs Law against Same-sex marriage

President jonathan has passed the law banning same-sex marriage and criminalises homosexual organizations, societies and meetings, with a penalty of up to 14 years in jail.

The law was passed in the closet and has not been announced, maybe to avoid pressure from the international community.

However, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States was "deeply concerned" by a law that "dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for all Nigerians".

It is now a crime to have a meeting of gays, or to operate or go to a gay club, society or organisation.

"If that bill passes, it will be illegal for us to even be holding this conversation," Olumide Makanjuola, executive director of the Initiative For Equality in Nigeria said in a recent interview.

The new law says, "A person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies or organisations, or directly or indirectly makes public show of same-sex amorous relationship in Nigeria commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of 10 years."

Anyone convicted of entering into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union faces up to 14 years' imprisonment.

Nigeria already has a law inherited from British colonisers that makes homosexual sex illegal in the West African nation. In the areas in Nigeria's north where Islamic Shariah law is enforced, gays and lesbians can face death by stoning.

Ms Makanjuloa said those who will suffer most under the law are poor gay Nigerians. Many rich ones already have left the country, she said.

The court of the European Union recently ruled that laws such as that passed in Nigeria could provide grounds for political asylum.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Nigeria said "The UK opposes any form of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation."

The spokesman, traditionally not identified by name, echoed Kerry's concerns about freedom of expression, saying the law "infringes upon fundamental rights of expression and association which are guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution and by international agreements to which Nigeria is a party."

There has been no real opposition to the law among Nigerians, generally highly religious and conservative where Christian, Muslim or bound to traditional mores, who appear united in their belief that homosexuality is unnatural and evil.

Nigerians are the least tolerant nation when it comes to gays, with 98 percent surveyed saying society should not accept homosexuality, according to a study of 39 nations by the U.S. Pew Research Center.

A statement by the Nigerian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Intersex Diaspora to legislators urged them not to make them refugees.

Criminalising same-sex relationships "turns us into asylum seekers in other countries," it said.

"We visit home with trepidation because at home we have to live a life full of lies and deny who we are for us to be accepted. Why do we want to keep subjecting our citizens to such psychological and emotional torture?"