The story of how a Nigerian man's secret wedding went viral

On August 1, 2016 popular Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, 35, posted a story about a gay Nigerian man David Shoen-Ukrewho married his partner Eric Shoen-Ukre on July 30, 2016 in Rochester, New York.

Unknown to the blogger, posting the story and using photos of the couple without their approval would cause a storm on the Internet most especially the Nigerian side of the Internet.

play

Nigeria gay man marries his partner in New York

 (Linda Ikeji)

David and his partner wanted to keep the news of their wedding private and only known to select family members and friends but when Linda Ikeji's post came up the low-key couple were opened to public scrutiny which they were not ready for.

Writing about the backlash their wedding got from the online Nigerian community, Eric Shoen-Ukre detailed how Linda Ikeji made their wedding  an unfortunate viral story.

play

Linda Ikeji

 (Linda Ikeji)

"On July 30, I married a Nigerian man. Although he is very special to me, he is not famous. He has never done anything to warrant so much media coverage. We had a small ceremony under the leaves of some great old trees on the lawn of an adorable little restaurant. My family and our closest friends joined us. Our vow exchange was only 30 minutes long" he wrote on Huffington Post on August 11, 2016.

play

Nigeria gay man marries his partner in New York

 (Linda Ikeji)

The secret union would not stay secret forever. When Linda Ikeji published the story along with the photos without the couples consent all hell broke loose.

According to Eric's account "Monday morning, I woke up early to return the rental car that we had used for the weekend. When I returned, my husband was pacing and crying, distraught, pointing to his phone. Somehow, someone had either sold or given photos from our wedding and first dance to one of Nigeria’s notorious gossip bloggers, Linda Ikeji who chose to publish them on her blog. Whether to out David and make a mockery or to somehow use it as advocacy, no one knows. What we do know is that she had no permission from either of us to use our photos or story."

play

Nigeria gay man marries his partner in New York

 (Linda Ikeji)

Linda Ikeji was contacted to remove the story from her blog but she did not respond to this request. The story took a life of its own and became viral with several other blogs running with the story. At this time David had to make his Facebook account private.

Shortly, the gay couple started receiving messages online from strangers who warned them that homosexuality is a sin. Also David started receiving a lot of unknown calls from back home in Nigeria. Some of the comments the couple received ranged from "end of times, beheading us if we came to Nigeria, asking God to rain down evil upon us, suggesting that we get anal cancer and die, calling us devils, and threatening us in various other vulgar ways" according to Eric.

The backlash did not only stop with the couple. The groomsmen at the wedding where also accused of being gay.

play

Nigeria gay man marries his partner in New York

 (Linda Ikeji)

Meanwhile back home in Nigeria, David's family became a target of homophobia from neighbours and hooligans. Unfortunately, David hadn't told his family he was gay and they found out through Linda Ikeji's post. "His other siblings also messaged us to say that they were being harassed via telephone, in person, and social media" wrote Eric.

David's sister however called the couple and told them they had her support while his mother defended her son in the presence of any curious person asking questions.

play

Nigeria gay man marries his partner in New York

 (Linda Ikeji)

At the end of his story, David wondered why gay marriage is such a big deal in Nigeria. "Why would this be such big news in Nigeria? I believe it is because the press still wants to vilify gay men and women.  They want to show that the USA is a place that corrupts the morals of children and is a den of sin and iniquity. The current political election probably isn’t helping change that impression much. The mere thought of two men getting married is enough to incite vitriol from all corners of Nigeria, and other parts of the world still today."

Linda Ikeji is still yet to react to this story.