My beloved reader,
As you would by now know, I was raised in a Christian home by a woman who was way ahead of her time. At church we were taught to love our neighbours more than ourselves, to pray for our enemies, to forgive so in turn we too could be forgiven and to never judge others as we would be judged in equal measure.

At home, ‘ubuntu’ (humanity – I am because you are) was the main rule taught to us by our Commander in Chief aka Mummy Dearest. Ubuntu is about respect of all beings in equal measure. For example, one cannot just walk into a room or elevator and not greet people. Ha! If I tried that, my mother would rise from the grave. It’s that deep! To this day, I greet people when I walk past them/ or come into close contact to acknowledge that I see them.

That being said…

I am always shocked that it is so-called Christians that shout the loudest on issues of LGBTIQA+. They quickly jump to that Leviticus verse and while foaming at the mouth, promise fire and brimstone to anyone engaged in this ‘witchcraft’. At times I wonder if the bibles they carry do not have the New Testament because if they did, they’d also find many verses where Jesus Christ (the only Son of God, the same dude who died and rose of the third day, also the same dude who stopped a woman from being stoned by saying ‘he who is without sin must cast the first stone’ and still the same guy who hung around lepers/ tax collectors/ ‘working’ women/ general sinners like you and me

Polishing our Christian halos, we call the members of the LGBTIQA+ nasty unrepeatable names. We spew all these horrible words with the same mouths we use to recite the Lord’s Prayer as we ask God to bless us and our loved ones.

Our voices are at full blast as we speak out of turn on things we do not know anything about. Instead of seeking understanding, we are standing on podiums with our noses up.

We, God fearing people, are quick to blame the LGBTIQA+ community for teaching our children this ‘evil’ and pushing their agenda. If that is in fact true, should we not be far more concerned about why our children (we have obviously raised right and according to the Christian statues) would rather listen to strangers than us?

The saddest part for me in all this is that we take a very important conversation about equality and inclusion, trivialise it to be about where people choose to stick their sexual organs. We are so more concerned about what goes where, forgetting that it’s none of our business either way. Consenting adults can shove whatever they want wherever they derive the best pleasure from. I would suppose (because I don’t have enough knowledge yet very willing and open to learn and support) all they really want is to be recognised and enjoy the same rights as the rest of us (heterosexuals). They too are citizens, aren’t they?

How is this any different to what you and I want? Why do we choose to squash such important matters? Are we not all equal?

They want to be seen, heard and respected.
They want to have identification papers that reflect in honesty who they are.
They want to be safe in their homes, communities and countries as enshrined in our constitutions that govern us.

They want to have access to resources.
They want to get married and live happily with their partners.
They want to secure their futures, protect and provide for their loved ones.
They want to love freely.
They want to have equal opportunities nje.
They want to access safe and affordable health care.

We have those Christians who are quick to assume the LGBTIQA+ just want to screw around and engage in ‘immoral acts’ (whatever those are!) yet if we had be a fly on the wall when these holier than God brothers and sisters are getting jiggy with it, we’d be left stunned at the ‘immoral acts’ they engage in. Even Lucifer in Hades would be left blushing!

Christianity is all the rave across the globe and one would assume with so many people praying and living according to the 10 commandments we would be crime-free and living our best Garden of Eden lives.

We have all types of abusers, rapists, paedophiles, murderers, philanders are a serious pandemic we are living with, thieves – think it, we got it by the millions. How is that possible when we are such “straight” Christians? Who is raising these monsters? Who’s responsible for teaching them all these nasty things? Is this the part where we blame the LGBTIQA+ again?
Why are we not, being the heaven going Christians that we are, making more noise about rapists/abusers/ paedophiles/ murderers/ philanders too? Our communities are decaying and we live in fear and don’t trust each other anymore. Surely these scums should be receiving all the fire and brimstone tongue lashing and not people who just want to live their lives like you and me.

Why are we so obsessed and triggered with the choices and lives of the LGBTIQA+?

Could it perhaps be that we are sexually repressed and hate them for living their truth proudly?

Whatever it is, I really hope us ‘Christians’ can do better. May we be able to tame our thoughts and tongues remembering to always be kind and compassionate to all.

Dearest Christian, next time you feel the urge to spew and name call, recite the following.

Ready? Repeat after me…

‘Why am I looking at the speck of sawdust in your eye and paying no attention to the plank in my own eye? How do I say to you, ‘let me take the speck out of your eye’ when all the time there is a WHOLE plank in my eye?

If this doesn’t work, I have just the thing. An age old African proverb that will stop you ‘straight’ in your tracks – ‘UNGENAPHI’? (How is this any of my business?).

Love is love and may it always win.
Live and let live.
Love and let love.