A bill to amend Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (2013) and outlaw cross-dressing has been introduced for first reading in the House of Representatives.
Using Section 4 of the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act as a guideline (2013) Cross-dressing, whether done privately or publicly, should be prohibited, according to Honourable Muda Lawal Ulnar, who sponsored the bill during plenary on Tuesday.
He also proposes a 6-month prison sentence or a N500,000 fine for anyone found guilty.
“A person shall be deemed to have committed the offence publicly where it is published or displayed publicly notwithstanding that it was committed privately or in any place that would have ordinarily been described as private. Provided that this section of this Act shall not apply to cross-dressing in the course of a stage play or in any bona fide public entertainment.
“That Section 5 is amended by inserting, after the existing sub-clause (3), a new sub-clause (4): That a person engaged in cross-dressing is guilty of an offense and liable to imprisonment for 6 months or to a fine of N500,000.
In addition, Hon. Ulnar is seeking for Section 7 of the Principal Act to be amended by introducing the word “cross-dressing and defining same as the practice of wearing clothes usually worn by a person of the opposite sex”.