Bloc Party's Kele Okereke Criticizes Nigerian Attitudes Toward Gays

Kele Okereke continues to publicly explore his sexuality ...

Bloc Party's newly-out lead singer, born in Britain to Nigerian parents, previously said he rarely discussed his sexuality in interviews because of his "super-Catholic" parents. In an interview with UK homostyle mag Attiutude, Okereke criticizes Nigerian attitudes toward gays and women.

"'I was born in the UK and my parents are Nigerian. Fundamentally, I do have problems with a lot of what I perceive to be Nigerian culture. How they treat women. How they treat gays. It's a very hierarchical system where you always have to defer to your elders even if you know them to not be right. That's something I personally disagree with. I think everything should be open to discussion. To reason is part of being human.' But he added: 'Nigeria is part of my heritage. I'd like to explore it. I love African music. I love African food. I love African people when I meet them. But these things are very complicated for me personally.'"

The oil-rich West African nation has been criticized by the United Nations for "serious" human rights violations toward its LGBT citizens. In 2007, the Nigeian parliament proposed extreme anti-gay legislation similar to the proposed Ugandan bill. Thankfully, that has stalled under international pressure.

After more or less coming out  in 2007 and publicly discussing his sexuality last month in Butt Magazine, Okereke has also made some changes in his musical tastes. Good to see that he's becoming more political, too.

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Comments

[Gary]

I love this man more and more everyday