Is homosexuality a white thing?

I found this over at Sugabelly

Homosexuality is Un-AfricanREAD THE ENTIRE POST HERE

Or so our fellow compatriots would like us to believe.

Yoruba:

Update: We had a lively debate on this topic on my Facebook page. After 148 comments, I wrote this final entry: 

Looking over my notes on the matter the term that was given to me regarding the effeminate dancer at the Chief's palace in Aburi, was "kodjobesia." I was told that this is a phrase used to describe effeminate men...
[...] The point is not that westernization "stopped homosexuality." I think we all agree that homosexuality has been a continuous reality in Africa. The issue, as I understand it, is what if any impact westernization/Christianity had on cultural attitudes *about* homosexuality.

As I said previously, based on my informal conversations with Africans from many different parts of the continent, there is a general consensus that in many places there was a public expectation of adult male female conjugal relations that produced children. There may even have been public pronouncements against homosexuality. But there was also a tacit acceptance that there were, for example, effeminate males in the village who probably had sex with other males. In other words the pre-colonial approach was more flexible. I am suggesting that westernization/Christianity, led to a more strident attitude towards homosexuals. Nowadays I routinely hear Ghanaians say that homosexuality was INTRODUCED by the white man. This, I think we all concur, is clearly false and probably a notion influenced by Christianity.

Why has Christianity made some Africans more strident on this issue? The reason seems obvious to me. The bible explicitly mentions homosexuality as as abominable practice--an affront to God. By way of comparison, the Old Testament mentions that libations are against God but the language is not nearly as strong. There is nothing in the Bible or little to support equally strident ideas about traditional medicine or even female circumcision. kzs

tags: gender, homosexuality, sex