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| ...and SISTERHOOD |
I pinched this essay on homosexuality in Africa from the Nigerian blogger Yoknyam Dabale. See full essay @ Wenham.
Top Anti- Homosexual Phrases Amongst Africans
1. It is forbidden by God read Leviticus 18:22, 20:13
2. Marriage is between a man and a woman for pro-creation
3. It is satanic, it needs deliverance from God
4. It is a white-man invention. Evil and foreign. “Faggots have no place in African Society!”
5. God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve
Growing up in rural Northern Nigeria, I often would hear the word, “dan daudu” this term is attributed to a person who has the characteristics and demeanor of both male and female; however, with more pronounced male features. From my understanding dan daudu sometimes dresses like a woman and has sexual intercourse with both male and female. Dan daudu at times would marry a male and or a female for reproduction. I don’t recall hearing a revolt against this special gender amongst us. One could say, dan daudu would have his “cake and eat it is too”.
However, despite the exposure to the idea that there is a third gender group, I did not take the time to reflect on its implications, after all what does that got to do with me. My third year at undergraduate I was forced to interact with schoolmates on campus who recently identified themselves as homosexuals (they desire loving, sexual relationship with members of the same sex) and bisexual (they engage in sexual relations with both male and female or vice versa). Being the born again, sanctified and justified Christian woman of God that I was, I recollect expressing to the homosexuals and bisexuals every time I conversed with them, “you will go to hell!” I went further by pointing out to Genesis 19 from the Christian Holy Bible that talks about Sodom and Gomorrah, how it was destroyed by God because of their sinful sexual engagement with the opposite sex. For all these facts, I urge them to repent from their sinful ways.
It has been over a decade now since I learned about “dan daudu” gender and six years interaction with homosexuals and bisexuals in the Western world. Through these years, I decided to read outside my academic work, by studying and engaging with this group, I read books, articles and asked others questions. Through my analysis of “dan daudu” (which is consider third gender group in most of Northern Nigeria), homosexual and bisexual seem to have a lot in common. This commonality includes: the desire to be in a meaningful, loving relationship with members of the opposite or the same sex, fight for human dignity, respectful and peaceful coexistence with those different from them, and to be acknowledge for their human-ness; hence despite their sexual orientation, they too were created by God.
Read more @ Wenham.
Read more @ Wenham.
