Blog

Before anything else, we are humans. Why the hate?

Just like everyone else, we deserve to be safe, we deserve to be happy and we are entitled to our rights, and these rights should be respected just like everyone else.In his words,JóhannaSigurðardóttir opined that every human being’s freedom and human rights must be respected, all over the world.”

No human is more important than another, regardless of sexual identity and orientation, hence, all rights should be protected and access to health care should be granted to all.To buttress the above assertion, Clinton (2011)thoughtthat LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why their rights are human rights, and human rights are LGBT rights.

It’s a sad reality that people are murderedas a result of the hatred society has for their sexual identity and orientation, it’s disheartening how LBQ+ women and sex workers hardly report assaults to law enforcement agencies due to fear of arrest and further violation of their rights. According to Human Rights Watch, the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill (SSMPA) has become a tool being used by some police officers and members of the public to legitimize multiple human rights violations perpetrated against LGBT people. Such violations include torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention, violations of due process rights, and extortion. 

In the same vein, sex workers in Nigeria are also faced with all sorts of human rights violations from the communities and the police. In his study, Aborisade (2018) asserted that Police abuse of street-based sex workers was found to be rampant and comes in the form of economic extortion, verbal intimidation, sexual assault, and physical manhandling.

Societal and religious normscan not validate people’s existence. Let people be who they are.