Nine protestors were arrested Friday around noon outside the Nigerian consulate in New York City during protests against the Prohibition of Same-Sex Marriage Act signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in January.
The law not only would send same-sex couples who wed to jail for up to 14 years, it also criminalizes promoting LGBT rights, providing services to LGBT people, and public displays of affection between people of the same sex. Since the law's passage, there has been a surge in violence against LGBT people in Nigeria and mass arrests.
The nine activists arrested were associated with the NYC HIV-advocacy organization Housing Works and were blocking traffic on Second Avenue in front of the consulate in Midtown, according to a press release from Housing Works. They were part of a 400-person rally organized in New York by the Nigerian Solidarity Alliance. The New York event was just one location in a global day of action in protest of the Nigerian law.
