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We're
here to stay
Foremost
Nigerian gay movement, the Alliance Rights, Nigeria (ARN) led by
Dare Odumuye makes a bold strive to stay alive, as it celebrates
five years of existence in a largely homophobic society, writes
TONY IYARE 
Not many in
this clime would touch his pet project even with a long spoon. But
undaunted, Dare Odumuye, who presides over Nigeria's first publicly
known gay movement, Alliance Rights Nigeria (ARN) as chief executive
officer is forging ahead with his strange homily in a largely homophobic
society. Odumuye whose ARN got a Red Ribbon award recently from
the Journalists Against Aids (JAAIDS) in Lagos for its effrontery
to publicly raise its voice on this issue, narrates the story of
his organisation set up to defend gay and lesbian rights five years
ago "I was living in Lagos.
Within the gay
and lesbian community, we were just having parties. After that,
my friend and I sat down and said we needed to pursue things about
sexual health and rights of gays and lesbians. Prior to that, a
lot of people were sacked for being gay and lesbian. One was a manager,
he was sacked and harassed. Another was a bank senior executive,
he was also sacked. At social gatherings, area boys would come and
harass people suspected of being gay or lesbian. Because of information
we had about rights, we felt this was an integral part of the human
being. Why should people be harassed for their sexual orientation?
We now sat down and said this cannot continue. We had the same ideals
and then the name Alliance Rights Nigeria came up".
Continuing his
moving story, Odumuye, a former administrative manager in Lead Assurance
says the ARN which started as a membership based organisation on
July 2, 1999 has now evolved into a service provider as an NGO.
"With the advent of democracy, we thought we had the constitutional
leverage to operate. So we started exploring contacts and issues
with friends. We started at my house at Alaka Estate in Surulere,
Lagos. When the number increased, we now moved to now defunct Surulere
Night Club around Shita area. From there we moved to the National
Stadium where we had more space. That was how we started.
There was also
a place around Kuramo beach in Victoria Island where we used to
meet. On an average night, we had 400 people who usually come and
enjoy themselves. We started pursuing issues of sexual rights. We
used to have lesbians and gays but right now we are focused more
on issues that affect gays. The lesbians now have their own organisation".
With seven "reputable people" on its board, Odumuye says the ARN
is trying to engage the Nigerian society so that it can be less
homophobic. Out of the four men and three women who make up the
board, only two are said to be openly gay. The ARN also has a five-member
expert advisory committee. "These are friends who identify with
the aims and objectives of the organisation. They are the steering
wheel of the organisation.
They've been
very instrumental to the modest achievement we've been able to do."
On the objective of the foremost Nigerian gay movement whose work
has touched more than 10.000 people across the country, the ARN
boss says, "The World Health Organisation WHO talks about health
for all and you can't do that if you exclude some part of the society.
Our contribution is to ensure sexual and health rights for everybody.
If we focus on just a part, there will be problems. We need to do
a dynamic study of the needs of the gay/lesbian and bisexual and
trans-gender issues". Contrary to the belief of many here that gay
and lesbian culture is foreign inspired, Odumuye, who also worked
in a finance house in the 90s, would certainly stir the hornet nest
with his treatise that this phenomenon predates colonialism in Nigeria.
Hear him, "Something
that can be found in the language pattern of the people is part
of that society. In Remo language, it is called gbowo. In Hausa,
it is called dan daudu while the word langwa is used by the Ngwa
in southeast Nigeria to derogatively abuse people who engage in
homosexuality." According to the ARN chief executive officer, "It
was actually colonialism that criminalised sodomy or sex that is
against the order of nature.". "There's a lot of misconception out
there. When we talk of homosexuality, it is not just anal sex. Some
people do not have anal sex. Some do masturbation, some do thy sex,
some just comfort each other and stay together.". Odumuye argues
that while Christianity and Islam frown at homosexuality, traditional
African religion does not. According to him, in traditional Yoruba
society when boys are approaching puberty, they are usually taken
to the bush by older men who teach them how to have sex. Some of
these young men grow out of it and become bisexual while some continue
with the act of having sex with men. He also says some aids of the
Oba who usually take care of the harem in the palace were eunuchs
who had sexual urges but had no children. The son of a former deputy
registrar, University of Ibadan, Odumuye says he has the support
of his highly educated family for his not too warm project. " My
people are very educated. My mother has a PhD. My father (late Femi
Odumuye) who retired as a former deputy registrar, University of
Ibadan was the first graduate from Ilishan Remo. My mother retired
as a civil servant. She's now into private business and also does
some consultancy. My grand parents were also educated. They impacted
education in every sphere" Just a little over 35 years, Odumuye
who describes himself as "single on both aspects", says he gets
a lot of pressure from the extended family members to get married
but prefers to enjoy "my life as I am". "There are other people
who are not homosexuals, who are older than I am and are not married.
As long as you don't go and steal and you do your work and you are
getting public award and recognition, they feel you are doing some
service to society." And the ARN which operates a small apartment
office in the serene of Bodija, Ibadan, actually has its hands full
of advocacy projects. One of them is a 12 month project called the
Alliance Aids Initiative which is commencing from July 2004 to June
2005. This is an HIV/AIDS prevention education project for and with
men who have sex with men (MSM) which is to be carried out in Ibadan
metropolis The project which takes after the one held earlier in
Senegal, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Sierra Leone, is being funded
by Network in Ethics, Law, Human Rights HIV/AIDS Prevention, Education
Care and Support (NELA) based in Ibadan in conjunction with International
HIV/AIDS Alliance (IHAA) based in London. Says the ARN chieftain,
"it involves pair education. When we train the core group, they
will go and train other people. We give them information of where
to go for treatment. We want to capture this community and improve
their sexual health condition. We hope we would have been able to
reduce the sexual hazards among MSM." The mission of the ARN in
line with this project is to distribute more condoms. "We want a
situation where they (MSM) will be safe and the general population
will be safe. MSM are advised to use stronger condoms. Once you
use condoms, that are not strong, there's a problem. It depends
on how they use it. They must use it right. They must have the skills
because these men also have sex with women". The ARN which also
has partnership with Hope World Wide based in Lagos and Family Health
International envisages to kick start a very big project with three
other organisations around the last quarter of the year. Estimated
to cost over N20 million, this project will cover some selected
sites in the country. It has not been smooth sail for the ARN whose
membership is said to cut across different regions of the country.
Between 2000 and 2002, six members of the executive died of HIV/AIDS
related cases. Odumuye, a 1988 BA English graduate of Ogun State
University, Ago Iwoye says, "Membership cuts across the different
ethnic groups. We had slightly more Igbo members. We've attended
parties in Kano, Kaduna, Port Harcourt, Benin, Enugu, Owerri, Ijebu-ode
and so on. There's a preponderance of membership from the south
east and south south. Unfortunately these areas are where the stigma
is more". Not done with his gospel which many would prefer to see
as heresy, Odumuye says the prevailing stigma on homosexuality in
Nigerian society is misplaced because sex is a universal language
of the human being. "The release is there and the joining of the
physical body, the passion that is aroused. It also plays on emotion.
It brings down tension. It's about the highest expression of the
attraction to one another. It is used as a form of covenant, contract
and procreation in some instance. MSM comes down to the same issue.
All the passion and emotion that goes on in heterogeneous sex is
also their in MSM. It is more emotional, and passionate. It is possible
to have multiple partners without any sexual act. They just have
more time together over drink in what they call serial monogamy.
They do help each other and so on."
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