Film Screening of Laramie Project
Jul 8th, 2014 by admin
The LGBT pride month was recently celebrated in the Public Affairs section, U.S. Consulate in Nigeria. To commemorate the LGBT Pride Month, the U.S. Consulate General in collaboration with the Goethe Institute marked the day state with the screening of a film, The Laramie project. The day reaffirms the commitment of the department of state to support, promote and protect the human rights off LGBT persons around the globe.
The month of June was originally celebrated as LGBT pride month to commemorate the June 1969 stonewall riots in New York City, which sparked the modern LGBT civil rights movement in the United States. The event opened with welcome remarks by Dehab Ghebreab, the Public Affairs Officer who reiterated the commitment of the governments support to LGBT persons. It also afforded Nigerians at the screening to discuss firsthand the gay-issue in Nigerian and make comments.
The film, Laramie Project is a documentary-styled play that analyzes the death of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student who was brutally murdered because of his sexual identity. The play was created by playwright/director Moisés Kaufman and and members of the Tectonic Theater Project.
The theater group traveled from New York to the town of Laramie, Wyoming – just four weeks after the death of Shepard.
At the end of the screening of the film, Nigerians present voiced their opinions. Most were largely of the view that love should be demonstrated when dealing with LGBT persons as violence was not an option though the general concensus was one that every adult was entitled to their own identity and orientation. Nevertheless, the Nigerian society is without doubt a religious and conservative one, which frowns on deviant behaviour.
In Nigeria, the president this year signed a new law persecuting homosexuality. The new law made it illegal for gay people to even meet. The same Sex Marriage Prohibition criminalizes homosexual clubs, associations and organizations with penalties of up to 14 years jail time. The Ugandan bill on the other hand, passed by parliament some months back punishes “aggravated” homosexual acts with life in prison. The new law was signed by Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni in February.
The screening of the film afforded Dehab Ghebreab, the public affairs officer the opportunity to answer questions on probable sanctions on Nigeria by the United States. According to her, this was not in the horizon though the United States strongly condemns discriminatory acts and legislation against LGBT individuals and their allies.
However, for many Nigerians, their opinions were diverse but the key point is realizing that all human beings are created by God and irrespective of one’s religion and sexual orientation it is our collective duty to understand, ask questions and find a way forward.
Personally, as a Christian, it goes against my belief and it again brings home the fact that there is still so much work to be done in educating and opening doors to enable learning form an early age on what is right and wrong because if truth be told there is a right thing and a wrong thing. It is simply our human excesses and sometimes indiscipline that allows or rather opens the door to negative habits or wrong attitudes.