Policing gender dissidence: a study on the increase of institutionalized gender repression- the 2014 anti-homosexuality bills of Uganda and Nigeria

Abstract

In the first two months of 2014, LGBTI rights were dealt heavy blows in two African countries. On 7 January, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law a bill that criminalises same-sex unions, with prison sentences of up to fourteen years. This same law sentences any person or organisation that funds in any way the registration and operation of gay organisations, clubs, or societies to a prison sentence of ten years. A month later, the president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, officially assented to a more draconian bill which imposes penalties as high as life imprisonment for people engaging in consensual same-sex sexual activity. There has been a stark increase in the passing of repressive gender laws on the continent in the last decade. This is a qualitative inductive study that sets out to research the factors causing the increase of gender repressive law making in African states between 2009 and 2014. The study sets out to dissect the 2014 Anti-homosexuality bills of 2014 in Uganda and Nigeria as case studies. Using a multi-layered analysis approach the study tests out the influences leading to the increase of LGBTI intolerant laws categorised into national, regional and international impacts. I argue that strategic national interests are central in explaining the frequency, urgency and intensity of anti-homosexuality vitriol in some African states.