The LGBTQ+ Community: What About It?

LGBTQ+ is a word that brings about controversies, biases, and even resentments in our Nigerian society but are we judging a book by its cover, or are we just scared of different?

The LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, etc) community was something that I had not heard of until I was in senior high. The idea seemed foreign. I was confused but confused was not the problem, it was a taboo topic. It still is and I wonder why. In fact, many people in Nigeria would tell you that it is a Western culture that has started infiltrating and polluting our African traditions. Most of the things I knew about the LGBTQ+ community, I either learned from social media or what everyone around me said. It became an uncomfortable topic that could not be discussed leaving it ever mysterious and consequentially misunderstood. So as part of my new year's resolution, I decided to take a dive into this unknown world to see what it was really about. From the outside and popular Nigerian culture, it seemed that they were just misfits who portrayed themselves minorities and were often the victims of discrimination almost like a sort of racism. But this time, it was so open and terrifying, that people would turn 180 on a stranger just because of their orientation.

Discrimination and violence towards this group were more outspoken and daring just because of people's beliefs that they were "cleansing " the society.

This sexual "cleansing" was only worsened when Goodluck Jonathan signed the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act into law. People became civilian police, bestowed with this sense of duty to enforce this act, usually through the most inhumane ways. And the painful thing is that our society looks away, THE CHURCH! looks away. Now I confess, I am not an expert on LGBTQ+ topics and I might have slacked off research a bit when COVID happened but I will try to respond from a Christian capacity especially because most queer people say that religion is the first institution that turned them away.

The bible mentions homosexuals in Romans 1 where Paul describes how man ignores the wisdom of God and worships his creations instead of the creator Himself. He also talked about how God allowed their sinful and lustful desires to rule over them and let them do even the vilest of things to themselves. But I ask. This sin with which we condemn people to death and ostracization over? Is it really worse than the others?

I am no pastor but I think Paul makes a clear argument in Romans 3:20-23 when he says,

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin. But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

In church, my pastor talked about the glory of God being the manifestation of God's holiness awesomeness, for better lack of words, his being God-iness.

To stand in his glory, you need to be sinless which as you can see is a very high standard, and because of Adam and Eve's first sin, when we are born, we are automatically in the fallen short of glory category. This puts us all on the same level. The fact that you don't tell lies doesn't matter because any naturally born man has been contaminated with Eve's sin.

ALL have sinned and ALL have fallen short of the glory of God.

This means that no matter how little or how much you sin after you are born, you are still fallen short of God's glory. The only solution to this predicament is Jesus.

But instead of the church to offer Jesus, we offer isolation. This is not how Jesus treated the woman at the well, or the thief on the cross, or even us.

Homosexuality is a sin, but so is murder and yet some people are allowed to maim queer individuals just because they can twist the bible. Something is definitely wrong, we can't allow sin to be the solution to another sin, so we have to look at the history of this community and their orientation. The first place I looked at was Gay Girl, Good God. This is a book written by the famous author, Jackie Hill Perry. Now I have not read the book but Jackie herself was a lesbian and she describes how she became straight after giving her life to Christ. (Now let me clear up a misconception that becoming a Christian automatically terminates those urges the LGBTQ+ community deals with. This is a half-truth, instead the Holy Spirit equips the new convert with the ability to combat this sin. Just like the Holy Spirit helps us stop stealing or being lustful, the Holy Spirit equips us to fight homosexual sins too.) In her talk, she also describes what it means to be lesbian and how queer people are often rejected before offered help, even in the church. Another thing she highlights is the hierarchy of sin we construct, she says that homosexuality is just as sinful as lust or adultery but both have different methods of reproach. If a young boy was lusting after a girl, he would receive a very different reproach than if he lusted after a guy.

The fact is when we uphold people's sexual orientation as their identity, we tend to make a big deal of it, every time. And it's true. When I come across members of the community, most times, I don't recognize them until they say so, that's because they are human beings first before LGBTQ+ individuals so using that label to describe them underrates all their other human qualities like their intelligence, compassion, sociability and even generosity. Just like all of us, they have been blinded by sin but we choose to blame them for it instead of helping them get out of it. With the recent #EndSARS movement, I can't help but think, if we can come out to protest for police officers to stop killing us because our life is a right, what stops us from protecting our fellow citizens even if we don't agree with their lifestyle? Do we overlook them because they are sinners (like us), just like the Pharisees did? Especially when the moral high horse we are riding is the King who came to die for condemned children?

The truth is, after all my research, I'm still scratching the surface of this topic but one thing I know is that my attitude towards them won't change. I'll pray for them just like I pray for myself to overcome my personal sins. I'll pray that they realize God's design just like we should be praying for overzealous feminists to respect their men.

There is no lens whether moral, spiritual, ethical, social, or emotional that justifies our attitude towards this community. None.

Thank you dear reader for your time.

I hope that even though this might be an uncomfortable topic that you are inspired to step out of your comfort zone with God's guidance to learn about the unknown.

And remember if you have questions or thoughts, you can always use the comment section.

Please be polite.

Thanks.

Kamikun.

8/11/2020