NYC Nigerian Global Day of Action Speech by Housing Works President & CEO Charles King Friday, March

7, 2014
New York CityOn Friday, March 7, 2014, hundreds demonstrated and nine activists were arrested in front of the Consulate General of Nigeria in Manhattan to protest the draconian anti-LGBT law signed by Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on January 14, a law that makes gay marriage and same-sex relationships crimes punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The protest, organized by The Nigerian Solidarity Alliance for Human Rights, was one of a number that took place that day in other cities, including Washington, DC, and London. The overarching demand: to rescind the law and let LGBT Nigerians live their lives free of discrimination and violence. Speakers at the New York rally included Nigerian LGBT activists Michael Ighodaro, Adaku Utah, Adejoke Tugbiyele (U.S. Representative for The Solidarity Alliance for Human Rights), and Ekene Okwuegbunam, Housing Works President & CEO Charles King, and ACT UPs Jim Eigo. The text of Charles Kings speech at the rally appears below.

I stand before you today, not only as the president of Housing Works, but also as a member of the Christian clergy, as a gay man, and as a person living with HIV. We have gathered today to demonstrate our solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community of Nigeria and with their families and friends. We stand today not only in solidarity with this community, but also with the same communities in Uganda, in Cameroon, in Jamaica, with the young black gay man in East New York, with the young transgender Latina woman in the South Bronx, indeed, with all those around the globe, where ever they may dwell, who live in fear, who are forced from their homes, who suffer violence and indignities upon their person because of who they are or whom they love. I have been asked to reflect today on the impact of the odious Nigerian anti-gay law on the AIDS crisis. As you may know, the Nigerian Minister of Health has issued a written statement pledging that all people living with AIDS will continue to receive treatment and other care and support notwithstanding the provisions of the new law. I am sure that UNAIDS, the Global Fund, the US PEPFAR, and other multilateral and bi-lateral actors will work to ensure that this pledge is carried out. But, while this is vital to those with HIV who are already in care, it hardly matters in the larger context. For this law has driven people who are most at risk of HIV further underground. And people who are living underground will not come forward to risk being tested. People who are infected with HIV will not risk coming forward for treatment. When every sexual encounter becomes a furtive gesture that risks ones life, safer sex becomes an oxymoron. By driving people underground, we are driving the epidemic underground, where it will continue to flourish and spread. The last couple of years have been remarkable in the fight against AIDS, as we have come to the growing collective realization that, even without a vaccine or a cure, we have within our grasp the science and the technology to end AIDS as an epidemic around the globe. Sadly, we do not have the science nor the technology to end hate. And it is hate and discrimination, based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity that are the fuel that has allow this virus to rage unabated. That is why, at its core, the fight against AIDS is a fight for human rights and human dignity. So fight we will! Our message today, therefore, to the LGBT community of Nigeria is: Have courage and stand strong. We in New York have our shoulder at your back.
Housing Works is taking action by providing housing, health care, and legal support to LGBT activists from Nigeria, Uganda, and other nations who have come to the U.S. to escape imprisonment and violence for the way they live. You can help by donating today: to the Housing Works Asylum Project and to Housing Works ongoing advocacy campaigns like the one above.