A slogan popularized in the U.S. a decade ago assured young LGBTQ people that “It Gets Better.” Sadly, for gay people elsewhere (Iraq, Iran, Russia, Nigeria, scores more), the rainbow T-shirt might have to be altered to say, “It Gets Worse.”
That would be true in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, which has criminalized gay marriage and all types of gay expression.
Fortunately, a growing number of writers — many of them living in exile — have bravely issued books that explore gay life inside the most repressive countries.
Last year’s “A Nearby Country Called Love,” by Salar Abdoh, centered on an unlikely group of gay, straight and trans friends in Iran, seeking to be themselves in a hostile homeland.
Now we have “Blessings,” a spirited, heart-on-its-sleeve debut novel by Nigerian-born Chukwuebuka Ibeh, who is still in his mid-20s. The title is more optimistic than the story told, but there is a literary blessing in seeing Ibeh’s exuberant talent ushered into the world.
Obiefuna, 15 at the novel’s opening, loves music, school, dancing and his mother. He is chosen last for teams in soccer. Bullies target him. Clearly, there is something “off” about the boy.
One day Obi’s shopkeeper father, Anozie, shows up with a tall, handsome young man in tow. Aboy has been drafted from a relative in a neighboring village to be the father’s apprentice and live with the family.
Obi is smitten. “It seemed as if, with Aboy, Obiefuna’s life had finally begun, a life he had been waiting to live.” The attraction turns out to be somewhat mutual. But when Anozie catches the two teens in an embrace, he erupts in fury, beating Obi and exiling his son to a strict Christian school in a distant town. The punishment, it turns out, is hardly bound to “cure” Obi of his gay tendencies, as he discovers at boarding school a rich variety of same-sex activity.
