Written by Aremuorin
I am a Tom Girl, Nigerian origin; of the Yoruba tribe and Kingdom. Born this way, in fact my sister 7 years my junior, was a natural Tom Boy; as a child.
Imagine my horror after years of harrasment, bullying & dehumanisation for my genetic disposition as a blackman, to find out 700 years ago, my ancestors, endorsed anďrogyny & same sex relations in Africa🧐. See Osumare (3).
(The irony. How sad, when Osumare, means ‘Rainbow’ in ‘Yoruba’, where it’s from. And, ‘Osumare’, a deity (like Sango, Obatala, Yemoja, and etc) who balances feminine and masculine energy, is also an androgynous god whose signature is the rainbow. The same signature of the lgbtqia+ in the west. Yet, some of my people, still dismiss, and truely perish; for lack of knowlege).
No thanks, to white jesus and it’s phonie bolonie, idealogy to suppress, oppress and control my people, with a form of christianity, that will white wash it’s indegenious ways, customs and practices for power and control. GTFOH. The Arabs, are no saints either and just as hypocritical.
I never felt, or was made to feel different, in Africa, until my encounter with homophobia in Europe later on in life. Coloniliasm and slavery did a no on us Africans, just as much as the white Jesus they gave us. My research led me – here.
To break it down: LGBTQIA+
L – LESBIANS, G – GAY, B – BISEXUALS, T – TRANSGENDERED, Q – QUEER / QUESTIONING, I – INTERSECTIONS, A+ – ALLIES (& Supporters) ..’
Examples include:
- One notably ‘‘explicit” Bushmen painting, which depicts African men engaging in same-sex sexual activity
- In the late 1640s, a Dutch military attaché documented Nzinga, a warrior woman in the Ndongo kingdom of the Mbundu, who ruled as ‘‘king” rather than ‘‘queen”, dressed as a man and surrounded herself with a harem of young men who dressed as women and who were her ‘‘wives”.
- Eighteenth century anthropologist, Father J-B. Labat, documented the Ganga-Ya-Chibanda, presiding priest of the Giagues, a group within the Congo kingdom, who routinely cross-dressed and was referred to as ‘‘grandmother”.
- In traditional, monarchical Zande culture, anthropological records described homosexuality as ‘‘indigenous”. The Azande of the Northern Congo ‘‘routinely married” younger men who functioned as temporary wives – a practise that was institutionalised to such an extent that warriors would pay ‘‘brideprice” to the young man”s parents.
- Amongst Bantu-speaking Pouhain farmers (Bene, Bulu, Fang, Jaunde, Mokuk, Mwele, Ntum and Pangwe) in present-day Gabon and Cameroon, homosexual intercourse was known as bian nkû”ma– a medicine for wealth which was transmitted through sexual activity between men.
- Similarly in Uganda, amongst the Nilotico Lango, men who assumed ‘‘alternative gender status” were known as mukodo dako. They were treated as women and were permitted to marry other men.
In the former Kingdom o Dahomey, women could be soldiers (above) and older women would sometimes marry younger women, according to anthropologist Melville Herkovits. The Baganda. King Mwanga II, the Baganda monarch, was widely reported to have engaged in sexual relations with his male subjects.
- Jesuit working in Southern Africa in 1606 described finding ‘‘Chibadi, which are Men attired like Women, and behave themselves womanly, ashamed to be called men”.
- In the early 17th century in present-day Angola, Portuguese priests Gaspar Azevereduc and Antonius Sequerius encountered men who spoke, sat and dressed like women, and who entered into marriage with men. Such marriages were ‘‘honored and even prized”.
- In the Iteso communities, based in northwest Kenya and Uganda, same-sex relations existed amongst men who behaved as and were socially accepted as women.
- Same-sex practises were also recorded among the Banyoro and the Langi.
- In pre-colonial Benin, homosexuality was seen as a phase that boys passed through and grew out of.
- There were practises of female-female marriages amongst the Nandi and …
- Kisii of Kenya, as well as the
- the Igbo of Nigeria,
- the Nuer of Sudan and
- the Kuria of Tanzania.
- Among Cape Bantu, lesbianism was ascribed to women who were in the process of becoming chief diviners, known as isanuses.
The next time you harrass or gaslight any lgbqia+ person with the bible, according to white jesus, remember this post. Because, unless you are stoning all the females in your familiy who are not virgins; on their wedding nights, as the bible commands, according to white jesus, you are a flaming hypocrite. I do not suppose you have a monopoly on grace now. Do you? Realtalk ..’✍🏿
Read some more original sources here: 1 2 3 4
Produced by Aremuorin
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Àrèmúorin – Anthony Everest is a Jazz, Soul-R&B Multi Award Winning Singer-Songwriter, Author, Producer. No1, 49+ Weeks, Jazz Charts. (C) 2020 MercyfulGrace / Anthony Everest All Rights Reserve.
Disclaimer:
Everybody wants to be loved. Even lgbtqia+. folks. No misogyny, racism, violence or homophobia on my posts. Don’t ask for what you can’t give ..’ It’s an instant block ..’ ✍🏿🙏🏿
To the abusers – I made no norms. I shared history. Take it to the alter and the ancestors. Not me. Truth hurts. The lie is worse.
Evil has no color and evil is smart. This post is to raise awareness and troubleshoot solutions. Not anarchy and mischief. Live and let live. I do not care what your orientation, colour, class, or creed is. Respect is a two way street.
For real thou. If you are going to be self righteous, holy and pious, why lose the argument by throwing childish tantrums when facts say otherwise?
Then, run off like a cry baby. Lets have a grown up conversation like adults.
Maybe if some of our inept African leaders were not consumed with looting the treasury with greed we might have some funds left to build schools and institutions of higher learning, for real history; unlike mental slavery from bad religion.
Very mature indeed ..’ ✍🏿🙏🏿
#Aremuorin
#SpreadLove
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