NationStates Jolt Archive

A Nigerian court has sentenced a man to death by stoning. The reason: He openly admitted to having sexual relations with other men. The judge convicted him of sodomy and he is now set to be stoned. A United Nations official is speaking out against it, claiming that "Sodomy cannot be considered one of the most serious crimes for which, under international law, the death penalty can be prescribed. The punishment is wholly disproportionate."



My political views concerning homosexuality:
Personally, I am totally against homosexuality. However, I believe that the government doesn't have the right to tell people who they are allowed to love either. I say just let them do as they will.
I believe that the Nigerian courts are completely messed up for allowing this to happen. Yes, their government may view it as wrong, but to be sentenced to death (by stoning at that) for gay sex is completely wrong.



I'd like to know your opinions.

Welcome to our diverse world.
I imagine this has happend quite alot before, but nobody made a big deal of it, now that somebody's picked up on it, everybody is going to be freaking out and demanding that the US intervene or something.

Fucking hell...

It's a pretty sobering reminder of how good we have it in here.

Keepin in mind that, if memory serves, in Nigeria the Sharia Laws are used...

It wasn't all that long ago even in western democracies was homosexuality a criminal offense and going back a bit further in many of these same countries was the same punishment... not stoning but hanging. Same end result, same mentality. It's now marginalized and guised as the pro-family faction. :D

A good flogging will be effective enough to punish him. It's a pity how they can't sentence him to re-education.

Keepin in mind that, if memory serves, in Nigeria the Sharia Laws are used...

Acutally it's based on English Common law though modified by Nigerian rulings (which is where the sharia crap pops up).

This stuff happens when church meets state it seems.

Not all of Nigeria is under Sharia. It's divided between Christian and Muslim areas, each with their own local laws. The central government is too corrupt and weak to do much about the disparate legal codes.

Keepin in mind that, if memory serves, in Nigeria the Sharia Laws are used...

Nigeria is a federation, which means that various states have different laws (much like in the US, for example), and the Federal Nigerian government is essentially powerless to overrule the implementation of sharia in some of those states.

To answer the question, of course killing a man for being a homosexual is wrong. Downright barbaric and, as the UN has said, "wholly disproportionate". (Not to mention that homosexuality shouldn't be punished at all).

Turns out, memory served, but rather underhandedly and not very accurately.
I'll try not to rely on it as much next time... :p

Bump

Homosexuality is a sin, not a crime, and should not be punished with human law. My 2 cents.

Turns out, memory served, but rather underhandedly and not very accurately.
I'll try not to rely on it as much next time... :p

Good man, willing to admit you made a mistake.

Anyway, I don't agree with the idea of sentancing someone to death for something like that, but I respect their right as a soveriegn nation to make whatever crazy messed up laws they want. If I were Nigerian, however, I would make a big fuss about it.

A Nigerian court has sentenced a man to death by stoning. The reason: He openly admitted to having sexual relations with other men. The judge convicted him of sodomy and he is now set to be stoned. A United Nations official is speaking out against it, claiming that "Sodomy cannot be considered one of the most serious crimes for which, under international law, the death penalty can be prescribed. The punishment is wholly disproportionate."



My political views concerning homosexuality:
Personally, I am totally against homosexuality. However, I believe that the government doesn't have the right to tell people who they are allowed to love either. I say just let them do as they will.
I believe that the Nigerian courts are completely messed up for allowing this to happen. Yes, their government may view it as wrong, but to be sentenced to death (by stoning at that) for gay sex is completely wrong.



I'd like to know your opinions.
The Nigerian justice system is rather federal. In the Islamic north, the Sharia is often the basis of local law, while in the Christian south, the rules aren't so harsh. Sometimes the government manages to intervene, but the decision isn't typically Nigerian, just typical for that region.

Thinking of an argument makes me want to use this smilie. :headbang:

On the one hand, there is absolutly nothing wrong with being gay.

On the other, this fellow probably knew the likely result of coming out, and should have used more discretion. And individual countries have the right to make whatever crazy laws they want.

There's my two pence.

A good flogging will be effective enough to punish him. It's a pity how they can't sentence him to re-education.

Quite apart from the fact that this is... just obvious trolling, have you ever seen a study on the results of "re-educating" homosexuals? Just does not work. What comes out the other end is prone to serious depression and suicide if it is "converted", and that's a small chance indeed. Essentially - and you may be proposing this, I can't tell - "re-education" by methods of electroshock and such things are just torture. Nothing more.

Stoning is such a horrible way to kill someone, anyone.
Still, as the west slips more and more into Satans grasp, decadence etc you can expect the Islamic world to become even more harsher towards values that we now unfortunately embrace as normal.
I agree with above poster, you cannot 're educate' anyone to prefer the opposite sex only, but you can strongly discourage them from promoting this wrong lifestyle that they unfortunately are a part of.
Stoning is pretty harsh but.

Stoning is such a horrible way to kill someone, anyone.
Still, as the west slips more and more into Satans grasp, decadence etc you can expect the Islamic world to become even more harsher towards values that we now unfortunately embrace as normal.
I agree with above poster, you cannot 're educate' anyone to prefer the opposite sex only, but you can strongly discourage them from promoting this wrong lifestyle that they unfortunately are a part of.
Stoning is pretty harsh but. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Man, you are a comedic genius! You need your own show!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Man, you are a comedic genius! You need your own show!


'hey, hey, hey, hier kommt Alex. Vorhang auf... für seine Horrorshow'

Oh no, Dutch or German!!!!!!

Stoning is such a horrible way to kill someone, anyone.
Still, as the west slips more and more into Satans grasp, decadence etc you can expect the Islamic world to become even more harsher towards values that we now unfortunately embrace as normal.
I agree with above poster, you cannot 're educate' anyone to prefer the opposite sex only, but you can strongly discourage them from promoting this wrong lifestyle that they unfortunately are a part of.
Stoning is pretty harsh but.
So you prefer oppressively silencing people than killing them outright. Damnit, you're almost as bad! What the hell is wrong about homosexuality?! You think you're motivated by God's will, but really, you're just a biggot! It's no different from racism, you disgiusting pig! [/rant]

I'm sorry, but nothing I hate more than homophobes.

Thinking of an argument makes me want to use this smilie. :headbang:

On the one hand, there is absolutly nothing wrong with being gay.

On the other, this fellow probably knew the likely result of coming out, and should have used more discretion. And individual countries have the right to make whatever crazy laws they want.

There's my two pence.

Wow. It's scary how much like my In-Character position this is.

So you prefer oppressively silencing people than killing them outright. Damnit, you're almost as bad! What the hell is wrong about homosexuality?! You think you're motivated by God's will, but really, you're just a biggot! It's no different from racism, you disgiusting pig! [/rant]

I'm sorry, but nothing I hate more than homophobes.

Wow. Sounds like you have a little too much hate in ya. Did they touch a nerve?

Homophobes are what you hate the most? You don't hate terrorists who blow up little babies and maybe even cute puppies more?

Me thinks you need some reality.

Wow. Sounds like you have a little too much hate in ya. Did they touch a nerve?

Homophobes are what you hate the most? You don't hate terrorists who blow up little babies and maybe even cute puppies more?

Me thinks you need some reality.
Yeah, you're right. I did overreact. But I'd like to point out that Bush, who has blown up tens of thousands of little babies and maybe even cute puppies, is a homophobe.

Yeah, you're right. I did overreact. But I'd like to point out that Bush, who has blown up tens of thousands of little babies and maybe even cute puppies, is a homophobe.

Proof of either of those accusations? Oh that's right, just more rhetoric and DNC talking points.

One would think that getting stoned as your punishment would have much more pleasant connotations. :(

A good flogging will be effective enough to punish him. It's a pity how they can't sentence him to re-education.
I take it that means your re-education worked? Or is your fascination with the homo-erotic imagery of Fascist uniforms just the tip of the iceberg? Do tell.

This is nothing out of the ordinary, in the respect that elsewhere than in USA and Europe, homosexuality is seen as a disgusting perversion, much like bestiality. There's nothing special about that; there have been very few cultures where it hasn't been considered a criminal perversion.

So, while you can preach "equal rights", recognize that your culture the odd one, not the other.

(Then again, how civilized a culture is is measured by how they treat the most hated.)

This is nothing out of the ordinary, in the respect that elsewhere than in USA and Europe, homosexuality is seen as a disgusting perversion, much like bestiality. There's nothing special about that; there have been very few cultures where it hasn't been considered a criminal perversion.

So, while you can preach "equal rights", recognize that your culture the odd one, not the other.

(Then again, how civilized a culture is is measured by how they treat the most hated.)


You hit the nail on the head.

People think the US is so anti-gay and homophobic, but how are gay rights treated in say Iran?

No one will act on this, like, say, the Nigerian woman that was going to be stoned because she got raped and subsequently pregnant by her rapist, because gay people are the minority it is OK to hate and kill.

We should fucking drop an anthrax bomb on that court and see how those judges like it. Nigeria is just one of those fucked up countries that needs to be dealt with.

You hit the nail on the head.

People think the US is so anti-gay and homophobic, but how are gay rights treated in say Iran?

Nobody is saying the US is the worst place in the world for such things, but that it should stop trying to style itself the best.

We should fucking drop an anthrax bomb on that court and see how those judges like it. Nigeria is just one of those fucked up countries that needs to be dealt with.

I could say something very similar about the ruling that some parents in Minnesota (?) weren't allowed to bring their children up in a certain common religion because it wasn't the state relig... sorry, I mean, because it was "harmful" to the child.

Or the rulings that religion = science in Kansas.

What? That's fucking crazy! Maybe I didn't read right.. parents weren't allowed to bring their child up in a certain faith? (i'll guess islam :P) because it was "harmful"?

Nobody is saying the US is the worst place in the world for such things, but that it should stop trying to style itself the best.

whoever said it was the best?

What? That's fucking crazy! Maybe I didn't read right.. parents weren't allowed to bring their child up in a certain faith? (i'll guess islam :P) because it was "harmful"?

Actually, they were Wiccans, if I recall correctly. Maybe "common" was an overstatement, but I'm not sure if "rare" really counts. And yes. Were not allowed to bring their child up in their faith, because the prosecutor cited that some Wiccans dance around naked for some festivals. A bit like saying you can't bring your child up Muslim because some Muslims beat their wives.

whoever said it was the best?

Nobody, explicitly, said it was the best place for homosexuals to live. On the other hand, your president continuously goes on about how America is to be looked up to as the paradigm of virtue, freedom, goodness and honour. I'd just like your government to accept that it isn't the paradigm nation of any of these things.

Homosexuality is a sin, not a crime, and should not be punished with human law. My 2 cents.

This is the line of thinking that I wish more religious folks would take. Yes, thee are crimes which must be punished by man, but these are crimes which affect us on more than just a religious level. Murder, rape, robbery, they're all requiring attention to prevent them from affecting other people. Even abortion is far closer to dispute than homosexuality should be. Dragons Bay is correct. If it is truly a sin punishable by God, God will get it done in due course.

Nigerian misinterpretation of Shariah or is there more to the case we're not seeing?

Shariah forbids the State from interfering with people's home privacy and the death penalty is only proscribed for public displays of lewdness witnessed by several people. (Which I vehemently disagree with and why I'd really like to see Shariah abolished from the Islamic world as it contradicts Qur'an)

Islamic law does not hand out the death penalty for being homosexual. Period. Qur'an only proscribes the death penalty for unrepented murder. The murder victim's family is given a choice to either insist on the death penalty, or to pardon the perpetrator and accept monetary compensation for their loss (Qur'an 2:178).

This is not a Muslim thing, folks. It's a Nigerian thing.

Nobody, explicitly, said it was the best place for homosexuals to live. On the other hand, your president continuously goes on about how America is to be looked up to as the paradigm of virtue, freedom, goodness and honour. I'd just like your government to accept that it isn't the paradigm nation of any of these things.
Oh, you're on a tangent.

Oh, you're on a tangent.

Yup. Bob Greene's.

Bah.. And I thought the U.S was full of anti-homosexual trolls....

huh. Things like this just make me wish there was a practical solution to intolerance, but it just won't happen without people making it so much of an issue that it becomes a non-issue. And that, it seems, is a long way away in a country like Nigeria. A shame. People in situations like this should be forcefully removed from their imprisonment. Which will never happen, and would raise a whole lot of other problems.

A Nigerian court has sentenced a man to death by stoning. The reason: He openly admitted to having sexual relations with other men. The judge convicted him of sodomy and he is now set to be stoned. A United Nations official is speaking out against it, claiming that "Sodomy cannot be considered one of the most serious crimes for which, under international law, the death penalty can be prescribed. The punishment is wholly disproportionate."

Yaarr, conservative Muslims :headbang:

Last year the same people were stoning a woman for having a child out of marriage.

Heh, they shouldn't sentence him to death for being a butt pirate, they should sentence him to death for being a fucking idiot. What kind of moron comes out in a place like Nigeria? Seriously, he's a dipshit.

PS: The killing him for being an idiot part was sarcastic, though he was a fucking idiot, and ought to do us all a favor and throw himself off of a very tall building on his own.

This is the line of thinking that I wish more religious folks would take. Yes, thee are crimes which must be punished by man, but these are crimes which affect us on more than just a religious level. Murder, rape, robbery, they're all requiring attention to prevent them from affecting other people. Even abortion is far closer to dispute than homosexuality should be. Dragons Bay is correct. If it is truly a sin punishable by God, God will get it done in due course.


Dragons Bay and Megaloria make excellent points.

Bah.. And I thought the U.S was full of anti-homosexual trolls....


I hate to break it to you, but trolls aren't real. The only place trolls exist are on the internet, which losers use to describe a poster. Which is fucking retarded to begin with.

I take it that means your re-education worked? Or is your fascination with the homo-erotic imagery of Fascist uniforms just the tip of the iceberg? Do tell.

I know Sino didn't specify, but I'd think you'd have to use untemptable eunuchs. Maybe Clockwork Orange-style, but with homosexual pornography... then, when the subject's heartrate increases, out comes the soldering iron. ;)

Seriously though, it's interesting to compare this law to the 'female circumsicion' debate. Both are of the same legal source, and yet there's a totally different media and popular reaction..