We've been focusing a lot on the positives of NGO's in class and in the blog, and I came across this article from Nigeria, about how a few NGO's are taking a stand against same-sex marriage and homosexuality. The heads of both organizations agree that same sex marriage is not suitable for Nigeria, and celebrate a proposed bill that will ban same sex marriage, and sentence same sex couples living with one another up to three years in prison. One head of one of the organization even said that even though her NGO supported gender equality, that same-sex marriage was extremely detrimental to Nigeria. We've talked about humans universal rights, but what happens when an NGO does not agree with those rights? or has a different stance? Do you think that these organizations no longer meet the definition of an NGO because they are denying same sex couples their right to a family and to marry? Or do you think that although these NGO's ignore and even abuse the rights of same-sex couples, they promote and protect the rights of straight couples?
Good points, Olivia ... and we could further complicate it by asking whether even "good" groups that support causes that we favor might be doing harm as well. Specifically in the area of rights, it is sometimes possible to do a lot of damage, even with the best of intentions.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who grew up in a country fighting for these rights it astounds me that a country would prohibit it. However, not all countries and cultures are the same as America's and in my opinion if this is something that a majority of Nigerians are opposed to and think is wrong, then I don't think it would be a positive move for NGO's to promote it. I cannot remember the exact right we discussed but we talked about laws in China and how we disagree with them, but it stems from their tradional values. I see it as a similar case here where even though we disagree with their laws their culture is very different than ours. I don't agree with Nigeria's prohibition of homosexual relationships as that is a right but I do feel that if they think that making same-sex marriage illegal is best for their country then they have the right to do that without NGO's and other countries pressing them to do otherwise.
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