The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to shun pressures and protect Nigerians from the growing but dangerous influence of the lesbian, bisexual, transgender propaganda.

The Bishops’ Conference in a statement titled: “Our Stand on Marriage, Family and Human Society”, also called on members of the National Assembly, the judiciary to protect Nigerians from bad influence as it affect marriage and family.

The Conference appealed to professionals in the media, music, entertainment, education, medicine, marketing and business to become faithful gatekeepers by protecting the public from the infiltration of the propaganda spread through various media and fora.

“’We encourage parents to teach their children the immutable meaning of marriage so as to strengthen them to stand fearless by the indelible truth in a rapidly changing world.

“’We urge young people to learn and hold firmly unto sound religious and cultural values that celebrate the beauty and blessings of marriage as the lifelong union between one man and one woman,” the Conference said.

According to the Conference, the recent rise in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activism in Republic of Ireland and the Supreme Court decision in the United States of America will tend to provoke a notable and rapid shift in public opinion about the nature and meaning of marriage in order to include same sex marriage.

The Conference reiterated that this was sad, unjust and lamented situation based largely upon a distorted perception of natural law, the will of God and human nature.

While noting that some western countries had gone down this path, the Conference said that they were nations which have cultural, social and economic influence upon many African countries including Nigeria, Mozambique that were yet to accept same-sex marriage but instead they struck down their legal ban.

“’Our people daily interact with the western nations, these countries also generate a lot of the media content consumed by African continent as well as much of the educational materials used in our schools, they also give generous humanitarian aid to various establishments and projects in our country and continent. In these ways, their views, thoughts and trends are easily embedded into the heart of our society and influence may people especially the impressionable young ones,” the Conference said.

It however, expressed concern for the influence which some of these trends could have on morality and values and therefore called on the leaders to be circumspect.

It said that by officially endorsing homosexual unions or same-sex marriage, it would be devastating and detrimental to the country, adding that it would lead to the inevitable deconstruction of the family and the society at large with other serious but negative implications.

On their part, the Conference reemphasised that marriage is the sacred union of one man and one woman for the begetting and care of children, saying “it forms the core of the family which is the bedrock and foundational cell of our civilization and as such it is sanctioned by God, upheld by our culture, celebrated in our society and protected by our government.

“’The family deserves the protection from all civilised institutions as it predates society and is not subject to it. So our role is to promote it, protect it and preserve it at a time like this when many countries have unfortunately chosen a different path,” the Conference added.