Nigerian Gay Activist Attacked at Funeral  | News | Advocate.com

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March 25, 2008
Nigerian Gay Activist Attacked at Funeral

The leader of a Nigerian gay rights group was violently attacked Thursday while attending a funeral, according to Changing Attitude England, an activist organization.

The unnamed leader, who was the director of the Port Harcourt chapter of Changing Attitude Nigeria, said a man approached him while the congregation sang a hymn, asking him to speak with him outside. He said he was then attacked with slapping, punching, kicking, and spitting by a group of six men.

"While beating me they were shouting, ‘You notorious homosexual, you think can run away from us for your notorious group to cause more abomination in our land?’ Those who attacked me were well-informed about us, so I suspect an insider or one of the leaders of our Anglican church have hands in this attack,” he said in a Changing Attitude press release. The attackers threatened to kill the members of the organization for "inducting young people." They also said they would not rest until gays are silenced from activism.

Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude England, said in the release that violence against LGBT people has been encouraged by the Church of Nigeria's leaders, including notoriously antigay archbishop Peter Akinola, who is primate of the Church of Nigeria and president of the Global South Anglican steering committee.

“Changing Attitude calls on the Church of Nigeria to denounce violence against LGBT people," Coward said in the release. "We challenge the leaders of the Global South coalition to repent of their un-Biblical views which fuel prejudice against LGBT people in our Communion." (The Advocate)

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