Laws are made for man and not the other way round. So as society develops and societal goals and values develop too, laws are amended, repealed and even new laws made to accommodate those changes in societal values and that is why for a law to be properly so called it should never be static, rather it should be organic and flexible so to be able to adjust to the societal changes and to accommodate new societal values.
The cross-dressing bill which the house of representatives is considering passing into law intends to criminalize cross-dressing and bring about a dress code for the general public with the punishment of 6 months imprisonment for those that fail to comply with this public dress code is quite absurd.
How will such law be enforced considering the ambiguity of the interpretation of what cross-dressing and dress code could be deemed to be?
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At a time when other countries are amending their laws and making new laws to accommodate citizens who want to change their sexual identity and wanting to identify with another sex that is not their biological sex and also explore their sexual fantasies, Nigeria lawmakers are seriously considering making laws for public dress code, it shows how retrogressive the thinking faculties of the Nigerian lawmakers are.
Will this law apply to ladies/girls too who put on clothes that are known or regarded to belong to the male gender or is this law only limited to males who have chosen to dress like ladies?
What is good for the goose is good for the gander. So if this legislation pulls through while the law is prosecuting males dressing like women then women who put on trousers, shorts, polo, etc should be prosecuted too.
Don’t you see how silly the whole thing will turn out to be?
Legislation is a serious business and the legislative arm of government plays a very vital role in the development of any society. it is saddening that the legislature can’t think of proper laws to make or amend for the betterment of society but rather consider criminalizing cross-dressing in 2022 of the 21st century.
This is obviously just an afterthought of joblessness and boredom on the part of the house of representatives.
It should never be heard of that a country like Nigeria which prides itself as a liberal and secular society should ever consider restricting and limiting the way an individual dresses or adorns himself or herself.
Making recourse to the grundnorm, the Constitution, which other laws derive their validities from, let’s ask ourselves the pertinent question; “if this bill is passed into law can it stand the Constitutional test of validity?
Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) provides the citizens with the fundamental right to freedom of expression. Freedom to express oneself is not limited to expressing your thoughts through spoken or written words.
The way an individual can express himself through words, another individual can as well express himself or herself through dressing and painting, especially those in the creative and entertainment industry.
Placing a ban on cross-dressing is tantamount to placing a ban on s.39 of the Constitution. Therefore, the lawmakers have no such power to make, repeal or amend any law which purports to limit or deny citizens’ fundamental rights as provided in the Constitution.
Therefore, constitutionally speaking, this proposed law if passed into law will offend the provisions of the Constitution, particularly section 39 and according to S1(3) of the Constitution, any law which does not align with the constitution can not stand.