As President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to meet with his United States
\ncounterpart, Barack Obama, in the White House next Monday, the US
\ngovernment is expected to make another case asking the Nigerian government
\nto repeal its law against same-sex unions.<\/p>\n
Making this known Monday, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African
\nAffairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, stated that the US would continue to
\npressure Nigeria until it legalises same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n
According to the Nigerian Pilot, Thomas-Greenfield revealed America\u2019s
\nplans yesterday during a live-web chat with journalists in Washington DC.<\/p>\n
US recently legalised gay marriage, a development, which sparked off mixed
\nreactions across the globe.<\/p>\n
Thomas-Greenfield, who said the US had adopted the protection of the
\nrights of same-sex people as part of its foreign policies, vowed that
\nWashington would continue to mount and sustain pressure on Nigeria and
\nother countries to reverse their laws against lesbians, gays, bisexuals
\nand transgender (LGBT) community.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cAs a government, it is one of the highest priorities and
\nstrongest values that discrimination against anyone based on their sexual
\norientation and gender identity is wrong. We believe human rights should
\nbe available to everybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a policy, we will continue to press the government of Nigeria, as well
\nas other governments which have provided legislation that discriminate
\nagainst the LGBT community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas-Greenfield, who did not agree that pressuring Nigeria to reverse
\nthe anti-gay law amounted to interference, said Nigeria and Uganda have
\nthe hardest legislation on the gay community.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThis is very much a work in progress, but I think you will
\nagree with me that the law in Nigeria really went far in discriminating
\nagainst this community but also people who associate with them. So, we
\nwill continue to press the government, to press the legislature to change
\nthese laws and provide human rights for all Nigerian people regardless of
\ntheir sexual orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas-Greenfield was optimistic that the US would win the fight to
\nprotect the LGBT community.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cWith what is happening in the US, you can determine how
\nfar we are willing to go.
\nWe strongly believe human rights for all people and we are particularly
\nopposed to legislation that actually targets the gay community for
\ndiscrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we are prepared to push this as a policy, not just in Africa but
\nacross the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As President Muhammadu Buhari prepares to meet with his United States counterpart, Barack Obama, in the White House next Monday, the US government is expected to make another case asking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n