IHA - IDEGBE: A PHILOSOPHICAL EXAMINATION OF “SAME SEX TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE” IN ANIOMA CULTURE, AND THE LEGALITY.

Abstract

Marriage among the Anioma people is a complex affair with economic, social, religious as well as legal aspects which often overlap so firmly that they cannot be separated from one another. Iha-idegbe which translates to “same sex marriage” is a type of marriage which permits a woman to marry another woman, not for the purposes of indecent or immoral sexual relationship such as lesbianism but for the sole purpose of procreation and family continuity and progeny, which is the existential purpose of the marriage institution among the Anioma people. Through this marital relationship between two adult women one being the husband and the other the wife, many individuals, families are saved extinction, societal embarrassment and other social vices associated with childlessness, and peace restored to barren mothers and families. Existing studies on same sex marriages have been approached from the moral perspective, paying less attention to the existential problem in marriages (childlessness), which necessitated the traditional and cultural practice of Iha- idegbe. The crux of this paper is therefore an appraisal of Iha-idegbe . Is it actually a marriage? Does the Anioma traditional society approve of it? What becomes the fate of children gotten from such marriage?