Bobrisky, James Brown, Others Risk Jail As Reps Consider Bill To Ban Cross-Dressing

Nigerian cross-dressers, Bobrisky, James Brown, and others will risk being jailed for six months if the new bill seeking to prohibit cross-dressing is passed by the House of Representatives.

House Of Reps Move To Amend Same-Sex Law

The bill sponsored by a lawmaker representing Toro federal constituency of Bauchi state, Muda Lawal, seeks to amend the Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2013.

The legislation which passed its first reading at the lower legislative chamber on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, proposes to add two new sub-clauses to section 4 of the existing act.

The new sub-clauses read: “(1) Cross-dressing whether done publicly is prohibited; (2) 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.”

The proposed amendment, however, provided an exception that the clauses “shall not apply to cross-dressing in the course of a stage play or in any bona fide public entertainment”.

Section 5 of the bill also proposes sanctions for would-be violators of the aforementioned new clauses.

“A person engaged in cross-dressing is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for 6 months or to a fine of five hundred thousand naira,” it reads.

The bill defines cross-dressing to mean “the practice of wearing clothes usually worn by a person of the opposite sex”.

This implies that when the bill is passed into law, Bobrisky, James Brown, and other Nigerian cross-dressers may face up to six months in jail if they continue with their current practice.

KanyiDaily had also reported how two popular crossdressers were sentenced to five years in prison for “attempted homosexuality” and other offences in Cameroon.