#DignityUnderLaw: Legal Protection and Recognition for All Identities Is Non-Negotiable

Every June, the global community observes Pride Month, a time to honour the lives, struggles, and victories of persons whose sexual and gender identities fall outside mainstream norms. In Nigeria, however, this observance sits uneasily against a legal backdrop that continues to deny recognition, dignity, and protection to countless individuals simply because of who they are.

At Lex Initiative, we approach Pride not as a trend or token, but as a call to action. A call to assert that legal dignity is not something to be begged for. It is not a privilege. It is a right. And it must be protected under law.

Nigeria’s 2014 Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act (SSMPA) criminalises not only same-sex marriage, but also public displays of affection between same-sex individuals, as well as any association, real or perceived, with queer identities. This law, while framed as a defence of “African values,” has functioned in reality as a state-backed licence for harassment, blackmail, arbitrary arrest, and social exclusion.

What’s even more troubling is the silence of other protective laws where marginalised groups are concerned. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 guarantees dignity (Section 34), freedom of association (Section 40), and freedom from discrimination (Section 42), yet these guarantees are unevenly applied.

In practice, queer Nigerians live without any formal legal recourse when denied housing, fired from jobs, or targeted online. For many, reporting violence to the police only leads to further danger. In other words, the law is not just failing them, it is weaponised against them.

#DignityUnderLaw Is a Matter of Justice

At Lex Initiative, our theme for Pride Month 2025, #DignityUnderLaw,  is more than a hashtag. It is a framework. It demands that we move beyond tolerance to recognition. That we interrogate not just public attitudes, but the laws that shape who is visible, who is protected, and who is left to survive in the shadows.

True legal dignity means:

  • Protection from discrimination in housing, work, education, and public services;
  • Access to justice without fear of outing, blackmail, or retaliation;
  • Constitutional recognition that every Nigerian, regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression, deserves equality before the law.

This is not an imported agenda. It is a constitutional demand.

Despite the legal and social hostility, queer Nigerians are not passive victims. They are organising, advocating, writing, defending, and dreaming. We have seen courage in our legal clinics, our town halls, our youth mentorship spaces. From a lesbian student fighting housing discrimination in Abuja, to a transgender woman documenting police abuse in Port Harcourt, the movement for legal dignity is very much alive, but it needs protection.

This is why legal education, rights awareness, and ally-building are central to our Pride Month campaign. Through our #DignityUnderLaw initiative, we are:

  • Hosting legal awareness sessions on constitutional rights;
  • Sharing survivor testimonies and strategies for safety;
  • Engaging allies, lawyers, students, faith leaders, to challenge prejudice with principle.

Because Pride, for us, is not a parade. It is a legal and political act of resistance. It is a demand for visibility with rights, not pity without power.

We call on the Nigerian Bar Association, the National Human Rights Commission, and all legal practitioners to break their silence on the legal invisibility of queer Nigerians. We ask our lawmakers to reckon with the Constitution’s promises and the lived realities of those it fails to protect. And we urge our civil society allies to ensure that inclusion is not selective.

Silence, neutrality, and avoidance are no longer acceptable responses to injustice. This Pride Month, we must confront the truth that dignity under law is non-negotiable. And the work of building a just, inclusive society is not the task of queer Nigerians alone,  it is a test of our collective humanity.

About the Author
 Augusta Yaakugh-Shahin is a feminist lawyer and Executive Director of Lex Initiative for Rights Advocacy and Development (LIRAD). She leads intersectional legal advocacy focused on gender justice, access to justice, and sustainable development in Nigeria.