Video: Nigerian film-makers highlight the impact of anti-gay blackmail but…

A Nigerian media group has released a video clip that highlights the impact of anti-gay blackmail.

From the African Human Rights Media Network

By Mike Daemon

The short video clip titled ‘Lifestyle’ was produced by Hug Media Concept, a Nigerian film production outfit.

As at the time of writing this piece, the video has garnered more than 400 views on YouTube where it was recently posted.

The video tells the story of a gay hook-up that turned out very ugly. In the video, 2 men lure a gay man to their home where they assault, physically, and verbally abuse him.

The overall storyline tells a familiar but sad story about the plight of LGBT people in Nigeria who suffer many forms of human rights abuse including blackmail and extortion which is undeniably one of the biggest issues that the community is currently faced with.

Whilst the video highlights this important and vital issue, unfortunately, it fails to accurately capture the authentic experiences of LGBT persons who have suffered anti-gay blackmails, and as a result, fails to do justice to the subject matter.

Even the title of the film ‘Lifestyle’ is inappropriate and seems to promote the negative narrative that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice.

Also, the gay character was completely sexualized and not humanized, therefore reinforcing the homophobic narrative that queer people are only after sexual gratifications.

When NoStringsNG reached out to Harrison, the CEO of the group with concerns about the film’s content, he blamed it on a lack of partnership and collaboration with queer-based NGOs.

He said: “It is a demo film; we believe that we will get better as we highlight more issues affecting the community. This is why we have been looking for pro-LGBT NGO’s to partner with so our voices can be amplified”

No doubt, this is a step in the right direction, but obviously, it wasn’t a job well done as sadly, in a way, the overall film seems to be glorifying anti-gay blackmail.

Watch the film below.