LGBT Nigerians Storm Streets, Protest Against Cross Dressing Bill

A group of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) advocates have stormed the  streets of Abuja on Sunday, May 1, to protest over a proposed bill criminalizing cross-dressing in Nigeria.

The video that has surfaced on social media captured some of the protesters who donned masks to conceal their identities, in a group speaking against the proposed Cross Dressers bill.

They in their number vowed to resist “queerphobia” in Nigeria.

They demanded that the ‘Cross Dressers Bill’ which was recently proposed at the National Assembly, Abuja, in April 2022, be revoked.

Naija News reports that a bill prohibiting cross-dressing and proposing a six-month jail term for offenders was recently read on the floor of the House of Representatives.

The bill states that, “a person engaging in crossdressing is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment of 6 months or to a fine of five hundred thousand naira.”

The bill is with the exemption of those using it for entertainment.

If it scales through the second and third readings, and eventually signed into law, several notable crossdressers in the country may be looking at six months behind bars.

The bill seeks to amend the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act of 2013 by including crossdressing as one of the offences under the Act.

Recall that same sex couples and gay persons in Nigeria face 14 years in jail if convicted by a court.