(CNN) -- The Nigerian senate has passed a bill banning same-sex marriages, defying a threat from Britain to withhold aid from nations violating gay rights.
The bill by Africa's most populous nation calls for a 14-year sentence for anyone convicted of homosexuality. Anyone who aids or "abets" same-sex unions faces 10 years in prison, a provision that could target rights groups.
It goes to the nation's House of Representatives for a vote before President Goodluck Jonathan can sign it into law.
"It would place a wide range of people at risk of criminal sanctions, including human rights defenders and anyone else -- including friends, families and colleagues -- who stands up for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people in Nigeria," Amnesty International said in a statement.
The bill passed Tuesday comes nearly a month after British prime minister, David Cameron, threatened to withhold aid from nations violating gays rights, sparking outrage in Africa where leaders interpreted it as "colonial" display of power.
I have to notice that British conservatives are very very different from the USA kind. In the USA you would NEVER get conservatives threatening to withhold foreign aid to nations that jail gays. :)
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Comments: 16
I thought the African response a bit silly. Yeah, colonialism was a bad thing, but this is not colonialism. It's about freedom- you like having it, you just don't want gays to have it. If you don't want any British money, just refuse to take it. It's not like you are being enslaved, just say no thanks.
Which moral codes are to be respected and which not? Who decides?
The ancient Hebrews may have disliked the Egyptians for this reason, along with the bit about being oppressed.
Well, the U.K. has strongly opposed the tyranny of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe. But I don't see it as a threat. They are not planning to bomb anybody (as of course they did to Gadhafi in Libya), invade anybody, inflict economic sanctions as they have already done with Iran. It's just saying, hey if you want the money don't throw all your gays in jail. The Africans are all free to throw the gays in jail and leave the $ on the table- and plenty of them are planning to do exactly that.
The U.K. is also complaining that Jamaica will not allow nor recognize same sex marriages but I hear of no threat notwithstanding the fact that gay sexual intercourse is illegal here. The crime carries a jail sentence.