Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Northern Nigeria face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.

[2]: page: 69 Section 405 provides that a male person who dresses or is attired in the fashion of a woman in a public place or who practises sodomy as a means of livelihood or as a profession is a "vagabond".

[2]: page: 128 Twelve northern states have adopted some form of Shari'a into their criminal statutes: Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara.

In the states of Kano and Katsina, "sodomy" is committed by "[w]hoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man or woman through her rectum".

In the states of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Sokoto, and Zamfara, "sodomy" is committed by "[w]hoever has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man or woman".

[2]: page: 69 In the states of Gombe, Jigawa, and Zamfara, a person who commits the offence of sodomy shall be punished: (a) with caning of one hundred lashes if unmarried, and shall also be liable to imprisonment for the term of one year; or (b) if married with stoning to death (rajm).

[2]: page: 70 In the states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, and Yobe, a person who commits the offence of sodomy "shall be punished with stoning to death (rajm)".

[2]: page: 71 In the states of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara, "any male person who dresses or is attired in the fashion of a woman in a public place or who practises sodomy as a means of livelihood or as a profession" is a vagabond.

[2]: page: 127 In the states of Kano and Katsina, "any female person who dresses or is attired in the fashion of a man in a public place" is a vagabond.

[3]: pages: 199–200 In the state of Kano, a person who "being a male gender who acts, behaves or dresses in a manner which imitate the behavioural attitude of women shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction, be sentenced to 1 year imprisonment or a fine of N10,000 or both".

[3]: page: 202 An attempt by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo to outlaw same sex relations in January 2007[4] failed to pass.

On 13 January 2014, The president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act 2013, which the National Assembly passed in May 2013.