British Billionaire, Richard Branson To Meet With Nigerian Leaders To Discuss Gay Rights
Category: World News
The joint 3rd richest Briton and chairman of Virgin Group, Richard
Branson has shown his discontent at the bill passed by the Nigerian
government against gay rights.
Richard Branson says on his Twitter page that he will be in Nigeria soon
and that he wants to meet with Nigerian leaders to discuss on the
latest law on gay and to encourage compassion.
Branson will also be visiting other countries with strong laws against gay people, including Uganda. He wrote;
Last month I spoke out on the dreadful situation in Uganda, where
MPs have passed a bill making homosexuality punishable by life
imprisonment and not reporting gay people punishable by extremely strong
jail sentences.
There were thousands of impassioned replies about the issue
and it was good to raise awareness about such an important subject. It
was saddening to read a handful of comments from people praising the new
law, but most heartening to see so much support for the Ugandan gay
community.
Richard
Some people questioned why I called for companies to boycott Uganda,
while Virgin does business in other countries that have civil rights
issues. I commented on the Uganda situation specifically because I felt
the life imprisonment bill was so appalling I couldn’t stand by and do
nothing, and still have hope the Ugandan Prime Minister won’t sign it
into law.
Sometimes business leaders have more freedom to make
controversial comments than politicians, and it is important to
stimulate debate and challenge injustices – even if it hurts your
business.
We are now working with Ugandan business people to put together a
strong list of like-minded entrepreneurs and companies to appeal to the
Ugandan Prime Minister to not sign the bill into law. In other
countries where civil rights of individuals are being abused we are also
working with like-minded business people to tackle this sort of
discriminatory behaviour. Ideally, businesses and organisations should
work with governments to try to change their attitudes from within
countries.
I have spoken out against discrimination on many occasions, from
supporting equal marriage to challenging Malaysia’s leaders on Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s trial. Next week I am going to meet government
leaders from countries including Nigeria to discuss issues such as gay
rights and try to encourage progress. We want to work with governments
around the world – in countries we do and don’t operate in – to change
attitudes for the better. Everyone should speak out to ensure people are
free to love whoever they want.
Those politicians passing draconian laws against gay people may
discover their own children were born gay. Would they really want to see
them locked up for life? We need love and understanding not punishment.
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