Fides Media Living the Faith
By Gloria Ibesi
On my way back from the mini stadium, after my usual Saturday basketball game, dressed in my basketball Jersey, a young man that should be in his early thirties nearly drove past but halted beside me in his expensive looking car. He called my attention and I, thinking he might have lost his way to somewhere and needed help, stopped to listen to him. To my utmost dismay, he started smiling and said ‘Nnaa, I like you’.
He further asked that I join him in the car so he could take me to a nice place for a treat. Having heard of similar encounters from some guys, I ignored him and made to leave. He alighted from his car and tried to draw closer to me but I blurted out at him, ‘Guy no near me oo’, and left. This is the narrative of one of the encounters of a friend with some homosexual wooers.
Homosexuality is the sexual relationship that exists between persons of same sex. Study.com defines it as same-sex attraction; meaning the physical, emotional, and psychological attraction to persons of the same sex. Both males and females practice homosexuality. The male homosexuals are termed gays, sometimes also used to refer to the females, while the female homosexuals are termed lesbians. Others who are attracted to both sexes are termed bisexuals.
The moral wrongfulness called homosexuality is strongly permeating our society, especially among the youth. A coterie of people exists, who are homosexuals, from a personal observation of them. For the male homosexuals, some of them behave like the males where they perceive their partners as the female and they are romantically attracted to each other whilst they are of same sex.
The ones who act as males display masculine characteristics like normal male human beings while the ones who act as the females, in most cases, exhibit feminine characteristics which as portrayed in their manner of dressing, gait, and relationship with people and some other aspects of their lifestyle. Same goes for the female homosexuals. Some are rarely able to relate properly with the opposite sex but are more comfortable relating with their homosexual partners.
Some scientists understand same-sex attraction as largely based on the biology of the brain and that gay men and women have committed and loving relations, just in the same way as opposite-sex couples, hence, homosexuals shouldn’t be blamed for indulging in the act.
Additionally, some scientists believe that genetics does play a role and are responsible for perhaps a third of influence on whether someone has same-sex sex.
The influence comes, not from one gene but many, each with a tiny effect and the rest of explanations include social or environmental factors, making it impossible to use gene to predict someone’s sexuality.
Another argument posits that empirical observation has revealed that most of our youth who are homosexuals start engaging in the act from teenage to their twenties. Where some, especially those who started the act from teenage, were induced into it in boarding schools where they are out of their parents’ sight for a period of time.
They become hooked and grow with this warped sexual orientation and in several cases it affects their lifestyle and difficult to stop. Some others become homosexuals because of material things being offered to them in exchange to offering themselves to be used for sexual gratifications and progressively, it becomes their lifestyle.
While some scientists attribute it to biological and environmental factors, some people believe it is spiritually rooted, attributing it to some evil spirits dwelling in the homosexuals which makes them desire their same sex instead of the opposite sex. Some others consider it a mental disorder.
Homosexuality has existed in the past in varied frequencies and birthed different outcomes. In the nineteenth century, Martyrs of Uganda, St. Charles Lwanga and companions, whose death alongside that of the priest who encouraged them not to give in, was ordered by the king Mwanga of Uganda whose advances for homosexual relationship was turned down by the young saints. This led to their being burned to death.
Another story was told of a young junior secondary school student who was regularly abused by a group of homosexual senior students in a mission owned boarding school. The boy who was further warned not disclose what was happening to anyone by the senior boys, became depressed due to psychological and physical injury caused by the abuses. The mother who noticed his unusual dullness, persuaded her son who recounted his ordeal to the mother who reported and took the case to court. According to the woman, the abuses severely affected the academic performance of her son.
In another scenario, a Keke man was hired by some young men to take them to a place. Unknown to the Keke man, they were homosexuals who needed someone to ravish. As the story had it, it was an act of ritual fulfilment by the young men. The Keke man who later managed to escape after they forcefully had their way with him ran and reported the incident to the police. Likewise, many stories have been told about the malicious events of homosexuality.
Some people believe that those who practice homosexuality are members of the occult who amass great wealth and engage in other evil acts. They are believed to lure people into the confraternity using their affluence and sometimes, the power they wield with top positions they occupy in society. Some of them are said to be among the respected members of our society.
The persons they attract end up joining their cult group, start to enjoy the degree of wealth they enjoy and gradually delight in the act. While the life and future of many of our youth who are obsessed with the get-rich-quick syndrome have been mesmerized by the evil of homosexuality, some people still believe that those who engage in the act are far away, while they are literally everywhere around us and keep preying on the lives and future of our younger generation.
Also, some spiritualists posit that during coitus with homosexuals, especially with ones who are being newly introduced to the act, a negative spiritual exchange takes place were some natural, spiritual gifts and endowment belonging to the newbie is taken and negative forces acquired, which makes them addicted to the act and in turn lure other people into it.
The Bible calls it Sodomy, while some other people think it’s a mere disorder that should be accommodated as it gradually eats deep into the futurity of a country where young ones who are supposed to be future leaders, innovators and transformers, are jeopardized while their faces are being turned from working hard to be successful in life to indulging in sexual gratification with the same gender to live extravagantly.
Homosexuality is seen not only among the youngsters but also elders, prominent men and women, celebrities and superstars, and even in the religious sector. Pastors and church leaders who are inveterate homosexuals lure their church members, especially the young ones among them, to become there sexual partners in exchange for positions in the church, material gifts and connections.
Some parents on their part advertently or inadvertently, push or support their children to associate with this societal ill. An instance is when a teenager comes home with expensive gifts and in some cases suddenly starts living large but some parents, rather than prying to know the source of the sudden wealth, celebrate the child with no knowledge of how it came about. Some encourage their children to hustle like others, do what others are doing and make money.
Many African societies abhor homosexuality and regard it as taboo while many countries have passed laws which treat homosexuality as a punishable crime.
The Nigerian Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill signed into law on January 7, 2014, by President Goodluck Jonathan, criminalizes public displays of affection between same-sex couples and restricts the work of organizations defending gay people and their rights. It imposes a 14-year prison sentence on anyone who “enters into a same-sex marriage contract or civil union”, and a 10-year sentence on individuals or groups, including religious leaders, who “witness, abet, and aid the solemnization of a same-sex marriage or union”.
It imposes a 10-year prison sentence on those who ”directly or indirectly make public show of same-sex amorous relationship” and anyone who “registers, operates, or participates in gay clubs, societies, and organizations”, including supporters of those groups.
The Catholic Church sees homosexuality as “disordered inclination”. She observes that in some homosexual persons, the homosexual inclination comes seemingly “from a false education, from a lack of normal sexual development, from habit, from bad example, or from other similar causes, and is transitory or at least not incurable.”
Pope Francis opines that being homosexual is not a crime but a sin. He faulted laws that criminalize homosexuality or homosexual activity and urged church members, including bishops, to show “tenderness” as God does with each of his children.
The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association states that “Lesbians have richest concentration of risk factor for breast cancer than any subset of women in the world and higher risk of many of the gynecologic cancers”; while the “gay men are at risk of prostate, testicular, or colon cancer and also increased rates of anal cancers.
All members of society, including state leaders, church leaders, traditional leaders, parents, school managements/teachers, especially pertaining to boarding schools, are all strained with the responsibility of correcting this fast spreading abnormality in our world today.
Since the environment is one of the major agreed factors that encourages homosexuality, we should be mindful of the nature of environments we expose our children to. Some parents get too busy with their careers that they leave their children at the mercy of strangers who are either neighbours, friends or teachers and from that tender age, these children may be exposed to some sexual harassment which they know nothing about and this, later on, forms part of their sexual orientations.
School proprietors and teachers should endeavor to imbibe good morals especially as it pertains to Sex Education in the children, emphasizing on the risks of homosexuality in order to dissuade students from the act as well as closely monitoring their wards.
Government should set up correctional facilities where young ones who are caught in the act can undergo immediate therapy and corrections while the adults should be made to face the dictates of the law.
Gloria Ibesi writes from Awka.