Homosexuality is an issue most Nigerians do not want to talk about. It only made headline news here on the ordination of a gay bishop in America and the stand of the Anglican Church Nigeria on that issue.
Homosexuality has grown from the closet to become an issue in the Western World. We need to understand the reason for its rapid growth in America, the attitude of the church there, and its implication to Nigeria.
Most Nigerians believe that homosexuality is not part of our culture, and therefore cannot gain ground here. That is a misnomer. Homosexuality is nobody's culture, but grew out of a series of decisions in response to life development process.
Homosexuality was once a taboo in the Western World as it is today in Nigeria, but changing values have made it acceptable there. In societies, cultural values can change from one generation to another, especially when the younger generations are not protected from the negative influence of other cultures. Immorality is spreading like an evil disease across the nations leaving a thick dark cloud of moral decadence
. Looking at the history of homosexuality in the Western World and the church's response to it opens the implications of where we are with homosexuality in Nigeria, the Nigerian church attitude to it and where we are going with it.
In the Middle Ages, particularly the 13th century, Europe totally condemned homosexuality. The attitude of the church then was that sex itself was a relationship, which God provided for procreation. The church was not prepared for the new way of thinking (liberalism), which emerged as a result of scientific discoveries and the philosophies of the 18th, and 19th centuries of which Charles Darwin's theories of evolution played a major role. Society began to shift away from traditional, Jewish/Christian beliefs into humanism in which there are no absolutes.
In 1810 France legalized homosexuality amongst consenting adults, other European nations followed much later. People see America at the forefront of spearheading the pro-homosexuality campaign, but the American story started much later than some European nations.
In America, the church and society had a very negative attitude towards homosexuality, but with the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, humanism started gaining grounds in America. With the Kinsey's report on American male sexuality lending support to the Darwin's theory, science sanctioned what society had hitherto seen as sinful.
But homosexuality did not start growing rapidly until after the 2nd world War. Homosexuals were dismissed from the army, this prompted there coming together and the eventual formation of the first homosexual association in 1950 called the Mattache Society. But in 1955, the association lost its steam and was not very effective.
In 1953, President Eisenhower banned homosexuals from being employed by the American Government. The 1950s was a period of heavy persecution for homosexuals. They were sacked by the their employers, many were arrested and tried in courts. All these persecution did not deter them, but actually aided in the growth of homosexuality in America.
The sex revolution of the 1960's: By the 1960s sex began to be talked about freely and openly even amongst youths, but most of this was misinformation. Science and the media played a major role in this. There was "knowledge explosion" more books on sex were published between 1940 and 1970 then all the previous decades of American history. This altered their beliefs, values and attitudes more than anything else. One would ask, in all this drama where was the church, and what was her role? The church was there, and her role was that she kept silent. Not that they did not condemn sex, but they did not inform the youth adequately on sexuality. The church's sin was silence.
At the period homosexuals were being arrest and even beaten up by the police, they started calling themselves gays (to express that they were happy being homosexuals). 1969 was the year the homosexuals first demonstrated publicly against their arrests, and they did this for three days. In1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental illness, and since then homosexuality has been on a rapid growth.
From the middle of 1970's organizations like Exodus and some churches emerged that started ministering to homosexuals. But they never envisaged that homosexuality would become as widespread as it is now in America, not to talk of some state governments licensing gay marriages. "The milk has been spilt already".
The church really underestimated the power and influence of the gay rights movements and its cohorts. It is continuing to spread that in few years it will become difficult to preach the gospel in America with the infiltration that is going on. Soon, things that were called immoral will be called acceptable. God help us!!!
What would have happened if the church had started combating these issues in the 50's? What would have happened if the church had started educating youths earlier about sexuality from a Godly perspective? The youths in America only heard one side of the story, the wrong side.
Right now there are 2,000 schools in America with Gay Alliance Clubs, whose main purpose is to make homosexuality acceptable to children.
We cannot afford to allow these things to happen in Nigeria. We really thank God for a father like the Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola, who has demonstrated great boldness against this menace internationally. May God continue to increase him.
It is very easy to turn a blind eye, and to underestimate the forces of evil. This is what the church in Nigeria is presently doing.
It is difficult to give the exact population of homosexuals in Nigeria because of the fear and secrecy involved in it here. But with the presence of four operational homosexual associations with a presence on the Internet, it should be a clear indication that the advent of homosexuality in Nigeria is alarming. It is more alarming when you discover that these movements that have been in operation since 1999 and 2002 respectively, have the mission of eliminating the belief amongst literate and non-literate Nigerians that homosexuality is a taboo. Through their campaigns on HIV, STDs safe sex etc, they have been able to get grants from government and other donors within and abroad and are in turn propagating their underlying mission. Let us open our eyes to see clearly.
How far these organizations will go depends largely on the attitude of the church. Are we to keep silent like the American church did? This question is hard to answer, with the spate of prosperity consciousness in our churches.
The same elements that gave rise to immorality and homosexuality in America are gradually taking root in our beloved Nigeria. Rapid urbanization; sex advertisements; x rated books and magazines; and the most damaging, Internet pollutions. Visiting cyber cafes and seeing our youths and adults hooked to pornographic and x rated websites break our hearts when we try to calculate the extent of the damage this will cause them.
The church in America failed because she did not understand homosexuality from the onset. And because she did not understand it, her attitude to homosexuality was wrong. For the church in Nigeria not to tow the same line, she has to understand homosexuality; its origin, causes and recovery and in turn change her attitude towards this issue.
There are two kinds of people struggling with homosexuality. Those who are struggling and want to come out it, and those who are struggling with it and have made the choice to remain with it. A young man called John came to GAYAID for help, he came timidly and fearfully, not knowing what to expect. On putting his fears to rest and picking up courage he was able to share his homosexual struggle experience with us. GAYAID told John that homosexuality is a sin before God, but that confession to it and a genuine repentance brings forgiveness.
It was explained to him that homosexuality is not as hopeless as he has been made to belief, that anyone who seeks freedom from homosexuality will get it from Jesus Christ who has promised to give rest to whoever comes to him with a burden. John started weeping profusely after this. These were tears of repentance and relief.
John had been burdened with guilt, condemnation, and fear of rejection by God and Society.
There are many Johns in our society (male and female), who are struggling with homosexual attractions. Many of them are confused about their feelings and sexuality. Some of them tried to get help from our churches, and what they got was condemnation. This attitude of the church has become the devils strongest point of deception. Many of them are lonely, looking for people who will care for them and show God's kind of love. In the absence of this, many of them come to see homosexual activity as a means of finding relief, securing safety, and taking revenge. It rarely starts out this way, but once they get a taste of what they believe homosexuality provides, they are hooked. As they start to pursue more of what they've stumbled across, they begin to believe that what homosexuality provides is necessary and deserved.
According to article 214, 215 and 217 of our penal code, homosexuality and other carnal knowledge against the order of nature carries a penalty of 14 years imprisonment. Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences defined is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for 7 years. This law is good, but it is not the solution. It has existed for a long time, and yet homosexuality is growing under our nose. Legislation may be helpful in a lot of cases, but it is limited in this case.
The church and the society have a vital role to play. In other to offer the kind of solution needed, the church must dump her self-righteous judgment, and her fear of a sin she doesn't understand .We all must stop offering part answers and band-aids to heal a condition that requires spiritual surgery, a lengthy recovery period and lots of compassion and acceptance. GAYAID visited one of the bishops of the Pentecostal churches in Lagos to partner with her in the seminars '' YOU ARE NOT BORN GAY" which she holds in our campuses. Do you know what? The bishop treated us as if we are taboos ourselves. He did not want to come near us. What a show of ignorance by a father like that. This is the attitude of many of us.
The majority of us lead quite unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for some of us, no monuments created in our honour. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for ministries like GAYAID and churches to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our encouragement, who will need our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took time to share what we had to give.
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. It is overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make love felt.
No matter what we have done, or how long we have done it, or whom we have done it with, our life is never beyond repair. From a life of sexual brokenness, constant yearning, self-devaluation and rebellion, God can carry us into a place of joy and fulfillment. We have discovered that reality in Jesus Christ. That is the hope for all of us in this sometimes chaotic and unexplainable world. JESUS IS LORD.
Evangelist Kingsley Nwafor