Table of Contents
This writing claims that same-sex
marriage in Igbo culture is necessary, an improvisation, and a ‘like
with like’ construal. By construal, it places Igbo same-sex marriage
in a social psychological context and views an individual as finding out ways
or means to understand and interpret his-her surroundings, and the behaviour
and actions of the people around and towards him-her. The reason for this claim
is not far-fetched.
The Igbo Tribe
The Igbo is a major ethnic group in
Nigeria with an estimated population of about 32 million. It is one of the
largest in Africa adding to 18% of the total 177 million people of Nigeria.
Igbo land consists of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo states of Nigeria.
However, Igbos can be found in these other states of Nigeria: Rivers, Delta,
Akwa Ibom, and Cross River. Outside of Nigeria, the Igbo tribe is also native to
Equatorial Guinea.
Igbo has a
socially constructed patriarchal system; essential powers in political
leadership, religious organizations, property ownership, homesteads and
male-line-family history are concentrated on male folks' dominance.
Hence, the quest and demand for a male
child from a wife is non-negotiable. Also, the Igbo interpretation of ‘eternal
life’ to mean ‘continuity,’ (that is the ability of a father to have a son that
will succeed him and the son to have his own son to succeed him and so on) is
yet a major reason for same-sex marriage in Igbo cultural tradition.
In this writing, there will be a brief
definition of same-sex marriage, same-sex marriage in Igbo culture, and the
reason for it. There will be arguments comparing Igbo same-sex marriage with
today’s same-sex marriage or civil union.
Same-Sex Marriage – Definition & Brief History
By way of
definition, same-sex marriage is a marriage between two people of the same
gender or sex. It is popularly referred to as marriage equality or gay
marriage.
As has been contested in many
traditions and academic communities, same-sex marriage has been carefully
weighed as a right: human and civil, on the one hand, but has also raised some
religious (the main), political and social controversies, on the other.
It has been argued that same-sex
marriage did not start in the 21st century. Historically, there
are varieties of same-sex unions that have existed from casual and/or
unapproved relationships to highly formalized ones.
In Ancient Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia,
and some places in China (Fujian province) and different periods in ancient
European history, same-sex unions were recorded. There were recognitions of same-sex
unions in Egypt, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, especially “during
the Ming dynasty, females were said to bind themselves in contracts to younger
females in elaborate ceremonies.” The equal male partnership was also noted in the
“early Zhou Dynasty of China as recorded in the story of Pan Zhang and Wang
Zhongxian. It was a relationship that was sanctioned by the people and compared
to heterosexual marriage but was not considered leverage to a religious
marriage ceremony which was binding.”
Conversely, the idea of same-sex union
was frowned upon in biblical traditions. In Leviticus, the Hebrews were warned to
abstain from the ways of the Egyptians and Canaanites; ways described as
man-man relations and woman-woman relations. Hence, the following verses:
“You shall not lie
with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22).
“If a man lies with
a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall
be put to death; their blood is upon them” (Leviticus 20:13).
From imperial heights were two examples
of homosexual relations engaged by Roman Emperors: Nero (originally called
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus 54-68 AD) and Elagabalus or Heliogabalus
(officially known as Antoninus 218-222 AD).
There was no provision for it in Roman law, as such, it was prohibited in the Roman Empire in a law of 342 A.D
sponsored by two Christian emperors Constantius II and Constans. According to
the law:
When a man
“marries” in the manner of a woman, a “woman” about to renounce men, what does
he wish, when sex has lost its significance; when the crime is one which it is
not profitable to know; when Venus is changed into another form; when love is
sought and not found? We order the statutes to arise, the laws to be armed with
an avenging sword, that those infamous persons who are now, or who hereafter
may be, guilty may be subjected to exquisite punishment (Theodosian Code
9.7.3).
Arguments against same-sex marriages or
unions stem from abstaining from the abominable ways of other people, as the
Book of Leviticus puts it, to an understanding of it as an aberrant or unorthodox
practice or an uncommon or peculiar practice. Some have even gone further to
suggest that same-sex unions will encourage “homosexuality in the society” and
“that children raised by opposite-sex parents are better off than children
raised by same-sex parents.” But the latter is not the purview of this writing.
If Igbo same-sex marriage is not any of the described above, what is Igbo
culture’s same-sex marriage?
Same-Sex Marriage in Igbo Cultural Traditions
First and foremost, we consider
cultural traditions as the people’s heritage, values, lore or even myths that
have been transmitted from generation to generation and fountains of a
collective identity from which individual identities come. Which goes to
show that no person exists in a vacuum. Cultural traditions point more to
autochthony, and same-sex marriage in Igbo culture is part of it.
Marriage itself, in Igbo culture, is a kindred’s affair. Before Igbo people received western education and were influenced
by Christianity, marriages were arranged and negotiated between the families of the
intended bride and groom. It has since improved hence, the import of
transculturation.
As stated above, Igbo has a socially
constructed patriarchal system; where a man without a male child would do all
within his power to have one. At times this could lead to polygyny. A man can have
many wives or concubines in his efforts to have a son who will continue the
family lineage. However, for the sake of the same family lineage, a woman can
marry another woman.
Therefore, the
“Igbo have institutionalized marriage options permitting "female
husbands" in woman-to-woman marriages, in special circumstances.”
In special circumstances, same-sex
marriage is permitted in Igbo culture. A wife can have a wife on her own and
become a ‘female husband’ so long as she pays the bride price. Why? The reason could
be because of infertility and an obligation to have an heir for the sake of the continuity of the lineage. According to Brian Schwimmer: “Alternatively, a
woman, especially if she is very wealthy, will set up her own compound and take
wives to establish and advance her own status. In this case, the wives involved
will have affairs, sometimes with men of the "husband's choosing, and add
any children as dependents of her household. They will accordingly form a minor
lineage of which she is the founder … subsequent male offspring to form a
patrilineal group.”
Such same-sex unions were regarded as
non-sexual but rather same-sex in kind (married to a woman but sharing the bed
with a man), a ‘like with like’ construal, not one of love but
necessity. It is a ‘like with like’ construal for the sake of
lineage continuity.
Therefore,
woman-to-woman marriage is compared to man-to-woman marriage and both have
almost the same result. Both come to the same end, though by different means;
having a male offspring to continue the family lineage.
In this context, Igbo same-sex marriage
can be compared to heterosexuality. Though unorthodox, it may happen if for
example, a man’s wife could not deliver children for the man or if the man dies
without a child and the wife is advanced in age to bear children. It is a ‘like
with like’ construal, that is, same-sex marriage in Igbo culture offers a
wife an option or alternative to understand and interpret her surroundings,
life’s situations, people’s actions, and cultural confrontations. According to
Ogbalu:
A Woman who
has lost her husband but has no issues may marry a wife to attempt to raise
male issues for her husband.
Some scholars have argued that same-sex
marriage in Igbo culture “was not created to facilitate gay marriage but rather
“an improvisation to sustain patriarchy” and “simply an instrument for the
preservation and extension of patriarchy and its tradition.” Some scientists
have argued in support of homosexuality as being a “natural and normal change
in human sexuality.” Accordingly, “sexual orientation is not a choice.” It is
both human and civil rights.
The Igbo wife
without a son, and the death of her husband or instance of a sterile husband
has the tradition’s approved path to leverage with another Igbo wife with
son(s). She has that social and cultural freedom to lineage equity. Based on
this fact, same-sex marriage in Igbo culture is welcomed by the wider Igbo
community.
Unfortunately, though Igbo culture
permits same-sex marriage, the Nigerian government prohibits same-sex marriage.
Nigeria does not sanction same-sex marriages or civil unions of same-sex
couples. In fact, people identified as homosexuals can be imprisoned for up to
14 years in Southern Nigeria and those under the Sharia Islamic Law could face
capital punishment.
The Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition)
Bill was eventually signed into law on January 7, 2014, by then-President Jonathan Goodluck. It states that the law imposes a 14-year prison sentence on
anyone who “[enters] into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union,” and
then ‘a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders,
who "witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or
union.’” Then to those who may like to parade the pride relations, the law
‘imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who “directly or indirectly make
[a] public show of [a] same-sex amorous relationship”’ and this includes anyone
who supports, “registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies,
and organizations.”
Conclusion
The law is meant to be kept if it does
not touch the main belief of a people’s tradition. Igbo same-sex marriage had
been in practice before the Federal Executive Council’s bill prohibiting it.
More so, Igbo cultural traditions existed before the formation of Nigeria. So
long as this tradition is one of Igbo beliefs in lineage continuity, a practice
understood contextually as ‘eternal life’, same-sex marriage in Igbo culture
will continue to be a way out for wives seeking to leverage cultural and social
freedom as well as lineage equity.
If same-sex marriage in Igbo culture is
considered necessary, an improvisation, and/or a like-with-like
construal, should the society not consider those who view the same practice
(though sexual), as a right: human and civil?
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