As controversy continues to trail the recent passage of the Anti-gay Marriage Bill, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has asked lawmakers in the National Assembly to go back to school in order to clearly understand the difference between public and private affairs.
A bill banning same-sex marriages was recently passed by the Senate. The bill, which makes same-sex marriage punishable by a 14-year jail term, still has to be ratified by the House of Representatives before it is signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.
Soyinka, who spoke with journalists on Friday in Calabar, Cross River State, shortly after he had delivered a lecture titled Faith, Science and the Morality of Knowledge, to mark the fifth convocation of the Cross River University of Technology, said he did not see any reason why lawmakers should bother themselves with legislation that deals with the private life of adults.
He said, "The problem with legislators is that they fail to distinguish between personal bills and interventions in private lives. That is the problem. I see no reason why they should intervene in the private lives of adults. What people do in their bedrooms is no business of mine. It should not be the business of legislators.
"But at the same time, I think other countries who are pointing fingers should look inwards and see whether they also do not practise the same kind of discrimination. That is where I disagree, but I think it is important we learn to distinguish between what is a public affair and what is a private affair.
"The legislators need to go back to school to learn the difference before they waste their time with what people do in their private bedrooms."
On the activities of the fundamentalist Boko Haram sect, Soyinka, who restricted himself to the aspect that affects higher institutions, wondered why the security situation had degenerated to the extent that it affected one of the country’s earliest universities.
He said, "The aspect of Boko Haram that affects me in this environment is what is happening to institutions. I think it is a disgrace that we allow an institution to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics. I think it is a disgrace to the government; it is a disgrace to the entire university system. It is a disgrace to you and me that we accept to be intimidated out of what is our own proper environment of learning.
"University of Maiduguri as far as I am concerned is like the University of Ibadan, Ife, Lagos and we should be concerned about that. To talk about Boko Haram outside that concept requires a larger picture. Self-respecting people should never allow their institutions of learning to be closed down by a bunch of fanatics."
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With due respect, I disagree with the Nobel laureate on this one. True, choice of sexual orientation is a private matter meaning it's not the government's business to try to put a stop to homosexuality and lesbianism. However, once taken to the level of marriage, it becomes an issue that concerns the government as marriage is a legal union requiring there to be at least one witness to it. This goes beyond what people do in their bedrooms were there are no witnesses. Probably what he meant to say is that there are more pressing issues than same sex marriage for the legislators to concern themselves about at this time in our nation.
ReplyDeleteSoyinka is a literary icon of our generation, but his attempt to downgrade the work of the legislators is quite rude. He should show more respect for members of the national assembly than asking them to go back to school for not knowing (according to him) the difference between what is private, and what is public. It is worthy to note that institutionalizing gay marriage is degenerative, to say the least. This type of licentiousness has always been the bane of great civilizations. Public morality is the cement by which societal fabric is bound. Dilute that, and we will come crashing down. Those things we hold sacred, and cuts across many religious groups is public in essence. It is what the public says is public that is public. Our societal taboos should not be equated with what the western considers right. Let's, for once, recognize this thing which legislators tackled across party lines, to vote. Is not said that "Vox populi, vox dieu"? "The voice of the people, the voice of God? My free advice to Soyinka is: Stick to your literary jingoism and linguistic rigmarole that serves for escape. This is our life we are fighting for. Let all the gays run to other countries as refugees. Keep Nigeria for people who are NORMAL (No apologies)
ReplyDeleteAs the case usually is, Prof. Wole Soyinka speaks everyone wants to listen because most of the time his views are always people oriented. Talking of perfection only God is perfect, personally I don't think Prof is sending the right message this time around. True, sexual relationship is a private affair, but I wouldn't want to believe that the Prof. Is saying that gays and lesbians can be wedded, which seems like a public affair if they will go to the registry to legalize their union. If this case is strictly private affair, then they should keep it under their roofs. I think all our legislators are saying is such union should not be brought into public in any form! Our legislators might not be addressing the right thing at the right time but they don't stand to be condemned in all cases even when we know that they are making sense. Homosexuality is not in our culture and it must be condemned in all ways.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Prof. Wole Soyinka didnt clearly encourage homosexuals/guys, He was only trying to focus on education and security... Yet its very wrong to look at Homosexuals as a private affair cos it will surely spread to the public if not stopped now... education without good manners is useless... so the step the legislator took on that is very very very very very very WELCOMED.
ReplyDeletegovernment have been working on This security/boko haram thing for years now. the bill will neva stop that. SO what is the stress????
Abeg KEEP HOMOSEXUAL out of Nigeria. Keep Nigeria HOMOSEXUAL Free.
Like i have always said, sex between two consenting male adults is not a crime. A marriage is a relationship between two people. How does it hurt society or people not involved in the marriage? It is a personal commitment that really is no one else's business. Society shouldn't be dictating what two people can or can't do when no one else is hurt in the process. If the church, legislators or certain groups disapprove, that's their right, but it isn't their right to stop it.
ReplyDeleteMarriage is a commitment that says "I love you so much that I want to live the rest of my life with you. I want to share the ups and downs, forsake all others, and be together until death do us part." Should it matter that the couple doesn't fit into what society is used to?
Is it not rather ironic and in very bad taste for the respected Nobel Laureate to so insult our esteemed Legislators for passing the very popular Anti-Gay Bill, while there is no record of him passing the same insult at Law Makers of Western countries which had equally been prying at what people do in their bedrooms by enacting pro-gay 'same sex' legislation. They also ought, in Soyinka's logic, to have gone to School to know how to distinguish between public and private matters, by not making laws to allow or permit homosexual practices, which, in his view, is nothing but a bedroom issue. He should not approbate and reprobate at the same time!
ReplyDelete