Rainbow Highlight's Podcast
Rainbow Highlight Podcast shares the stories and experiences of queer Ghanaians, exploring their struggles with faith, family, religion, identity, and everyday life. Through honest conversations, the podcast creates space for visibility, healing, and understanding.
Rainbow Highlight's Podcast
Exploring Faith and Identity
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Exploring the journey, navigating religion and sexuality as a queer person, highlighting the struggles, self-discovery, and balance between faith, identity, and acceptance in deeply religious homes.
I don't see love in the Christian community because it's always about people coming to the Christian community with so-called perfection, judging people coming into the space as if they are all perfect or they are like, I don't know, but it's it's the thing of perfection that is making like the Christian community have that challenge of stigma.
SPEAKER_02Today we are exploring a deeply personal and often complex topic: navigating religion and sexuality. For many queer individuals in Ghana, the intersection of spirituality and sexuality can be a challenging space, especially within the context of Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion. In this episode, we will hear diversely from those who are finding ways to reconcile their faith with their identity, navigating the sometimes difficult path between religious teachings and personal truth. Join us as we delve into these powerful stories of faith, identity, and resilience. Somebody here. Oftentimes, when it comes to religion and sexuality, there's often a battle within an inner struggle that happens within us, making talking about it quite difficult. So, how are we feeling about speaking to the topic of sexuality and religion?
SPEAKER_05Actually, um, this is this is a very complex topic um to begin with. It's a topic personally, I am not the kind of person who likes talking about religion, religion, religion, religion because I have my own reservations. However, um this is a this is a battle. It's a battle um as a queer person and as as also someone who um also loves God and also wants to, you know, um worship or practice their faith, it becomes a very, very controversial topic to you know um even cast your mind on. So um personally it's a very um difficult topic to discuss.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I feel you because it's it's a very sensitive topic. Um I've really been reflecting on it because it is something that takes you to the inner place and then brings you out and then makes you really question who you are and then ask yourself that are you really also a child of God? Yeah, are you from God? Are you from God and is God loving you in ways that we have been taught that God loves? But I'm also honored to speak on this topic because I know that I have other siblings that are also battling with things that maybe perhaps we on this table have battled with before, or we are still in the journey of redefining what it looks like for us.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. So, with me, inasmuch as the question is quite dicey and it's complicated, I still love to talk about it. Because when it comes to tradition, the more and people like that, there are a lot of misconceptions about us. And that is one thing I I really want to talk about. So, yes, the question is dicey, it's difficult, but it's it's okay for me because there are so many things I really would love to talk about.
SPEAKER_05For me, I see it to be like a journey, like it's a it's a journey, and I feel like I am I am somewhere, yeah, somewhere within the journey, and yeah.
SPEAKER_03I feel you, I think that it's also a journey to self-actualization because as a people, sometimes we feel like to be actualizing the person that we fully want to be, or we are, or we envision to be, we sometimes also want to find a way to also reconcile spirituality, religion, and who we are as a person. And I'm very honoured. For me as a person, I have like a very dynamic background. A part of my mother's family, they are Muslims. My father's mother, direct mother, um, a traditional healer. Um my father is also like a pastor in church, and I'm also currently like a very active person in church, so it's very dynamic and uh dynamic, and I'm very honored to like speak about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think Shika has experienced the best of all the worlds. Well, talking about self-actualization and reconciliation, it drifts us to my next question. How do we as individuals reconcile our sexuality with our religious beliefs? What a question.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, it's very it's it's very deep. I'm saying it's very deep because nobody has ever been taught to reconcile anything. You are just giving birth plainly, and a certain system has been programmed for you for you to follow. However, this is the case where you also recognize that you are a different person, and so how do you reconcile? Uh, for me as a person that I come from this very diverse background. My grandmother is a traditional healer, I came to know her. My father is like a pastor, uh, a part of my mother's family are Muslims. For me, I had to find my pathway because it was very confusing for me. Uh Ubaya saw more grandmother, yeah, Muslim way. So, as a child, it was very confusing for me. So I had to move away from religion and to come to spirituality because I need to have a relationship with my maker, not what my mother is teaching me, not what my father or my grandmother is teaching me. Remember, religion is an organized systematic way of worshiping, and anything that there is system, there are things that men or human beings put in place to favor them, and also in a way to put some law and order in place. So, how do I reconcile? I reconcile by finding my own pathway and to say that me as Shika, do I wake up today and feel like I'm pouring libation? Yes, I should be able to do that. Do I wake up today and begin to speak in tongues? Yes, I should be able to do that. Do I wake up today and join my Muslim folks and say, I can also not pray, but I can give the salaka with you? Can I I should be able to do that? So for me, I was able to reconcile by having a personal relationship with my maker. You cannot tell me nothing because the Bible has given us the authority. I'm saying the Bible because I'm a practicing Christian, it has given me authority to go straight to God. I have a line with God. I don't need my mother to be my line manager. I have a line with God, so I'm able to go to court any shape, form, or way. Um, can you backwa kuchwe me? So maybe feinduko. I am some kutuka, me come jie kutuka. But as and what you choose it, what will be for you. There are churches that don't even speak in tongues, they do not believe in it. There are churches that don't only believe in hymns and don't believe in praises and worship. This is also telling me that even the system that has been put in place is dynamic. And so I have to find what keeps me sane and what keeps me connected to my maker. And so that's how like I have been able to reconcile.
SPEAKER_02I would say I'm a practicing Christian, but maybe to me I'm a practicing Christian, but to them I'm not. But I think to me, I I found I just as Shika said, I had to channel my own path and find my own way of reconciling with my maker. And I remember I was part of a church some time ago where the pastor told us that as much as he is a pastor, he his kids would have to openly accept Jesus as their Lord and personal savior at a certain age where he feels they they actually know that okay, at this age I feel I want to be a Christian. He is not going to say because he is a pastor, his kids must follow Jesus. He he wants them to decide for themselves by openly accepting Jesus. And that really struck me and it stayed with me for years. So it made me understand that in this journey, it's as much as we were born into a certain religion, it is up to us to decide whether that is the way we want to connect with our maker. And so, with this, I realized that when it comes to scripture, too, most of the time, most Christian institutions often do something that we call cherry picking. They pick and choose what scripture would favor whatever arguments that they are pushing. And so, if that is the case, I can also do the same thing. So if you are telling me that being queer is abominable, what is God saying about me as a Christian? Are you trying to tell me that God is telling me that I'm an abomination? Did he not know that I'm an abomination and he created me? Would God make a mistake in creating me? These are some of the questions that I had to ask myself at some point in my life to channel my own path to my Maker. And so, with this, I often focus more on scriptures that talk about the love, the unconditional love of God, more than what is an abomination and what is not. Because we all pick and choose what is going to favor us.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so um I I really would love to talk about this because um Christians have a guide, guide like Bible life manual. Muslims have, but we traditional people we don't have. So reconciling with God when it comes to our side, it's very interesting. Okay, so um I feel or I what I know is I'm human. I have every right to be attracted to whoever I want to be attracted to. Because um we have women who are being dominated by male spirits, which means they have um double sexuality. Physically, they are maybe women, but spiritually, they are men, and then we have men who are physically men, but spiritually they are women. So when it comes to queerness, it's with us. That is what I always say. I'm a woman, spiritually, I'm a woman, but the one who I refer to as my husband spiritually is a woman. So what is happening when it comes to um traditional settings? My spirit is my husband, or my spirit is my partner, I'm a woman, and I'm being dominated by a female spirit, which means the female spirit comes to sleep with me. What is happening between the two of us? Yes, so um with me I have nothing to reconcile with because that is who I am, and then that is how it has been. Growing up, yes, growing up, um, I was a Christian, but I didn't like going to church because whatever they were telling me, I know deep down it's not true. So I only go to church because it's Christmas, they'll buy a dress for me. When I'm going, they'll give me money, then I'll see nice girls, I'll chat with them. That was the main reason why I was going to church, but I wasn't really going to church because I'm going to listen to whatever they are teaching us. Most of the teachings we received from church are not things we really need to hear. When I have a friend who is queer, and then you are telling me I should not get close to the person because I might end up being queer, then it means you are not telling me to love one another. I'm supposed to love the person, get close to the person, find out why the person is who she is. When you are telling me my next door neighbor is a traditional priestess, so when I hear sound, I'm not supposed to go there. If I go there, maybe something bad will happen to me. What are you telling me? Then it means even if my um neighbor is in danger, okay, me I can kayajame. No fear no feeling, she learned a feeling. I don't see anything reconciliation there. Because me jamon, it's clear um queerness. Yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05Reconciliation. What a word. That is that is the that is the struggle at the moment, you know. Um Fortunately for me, I will I say it's fortunate. Um I also resonate with what's what um Sheika said in terms of she coming from uh a home, a very diverse home. That's the same place I was also raised. Um I I I come from a house where my father being a Muslim, my mom Christian, my Christmas, my siblings Christians, you know. I when I go to the extended family, we have traditionalists over there, they practice their with their religion so beautifully, and you know, where you also come from a royal family, so you see them pouring libation and the rest. So all these things are things that I've witnessed growing up, which became also confusing for me. Which path do I pick? I I I follow my my siblings to church, and whenever we go to church, um I felt like my soul doesn't belong here. That's that's how I felt going to um when when so I was like, okay, I won't go anywhere, I have to stay in the house. Then later I was like, let me go to the mocks and see, and that's where I felt my soul below belonged. Yes, I was there, however, it's also a battle. Um looking at the teachers, oh, homosexuality is bad, it is this, it is that. And you sitting down, you are asking yourself questions. Was I not created by the same Allah? Like, what is the what is the problem? What what did I do wrong? Am I the problem or is God is the creator the problem? That's a that's a question I always do ask myself. So reconciling my my sexuality to my religion has become a struggle. For me, it is it's still a struggle, and even till now, I feel like I am I am moving towards spirituality than religion. Of course, religion is an organized system, institution where there should be certain practices that you have to follow. But I see myself to be like, why can't I get to my God without any system in place? Why can't I speak to God? Why should someone be a barrier towards myself and the creator, the one who created me? That's how I feel at this moment. And um and it has been like for like the past two years, three years, I've not stepped to the mocks. I've not I've not prayed. Wow. Yes, because I I I don't know. I feel you. That that that is that is how I'm seeing myself now. And I'm like, okay, gosh, going to the mocks. So you pray at home? I pray so I sometimes pray at home. Sometimes I so I I I see myself even though I still love my religion, I still love to, you know, practice Islam. I the you know going to the moks has become a challenge for me. And um finding ways to reconcile my religion to my sexuality is still a battle that I am struggling with as a as an individual.
SPEAKER_02I think you are you are struggling with organized worship. Exactly. I think that that is where I am right now. I struggle with organized worship, go to church, and I I was raised Catholic, so go to church, first reading, second reading. I mean, I think I have issues with that. Yes. I I also have issues with joining charismatic church and hearing a pastor say yes, baby, the L G B T Q. Yeah and how they say it. It's it's I feel I don't need that. I don't need all those systems in place. I don't need a system where if if I have a child before marriage, they will tell me shame. Yeah, so you can't come to church, you can't eat the body and blood of Christ, you can't do this, you can't do this because human beings think you have sinned, and so I I feel all those systems, like you are saying, that organized worship should be just scrubbed off my table so that I can just go on my knees and then say a word to my God and hear him talk back to me, either through dreams or anything. I appreciate that more, but I I I would want to ask: looking at all these struggles that we are having, with the exception of Nayomo, who has embraced and accepted her sexuality and her religion, can we talk about any struggles that we have faced with regards to our sexuality from our religion that we belong to? And if if there are no challenges, can we talk about any form of support that we have experienced or we have had from our religion with regards to our sexuality?
SPEAKER_04Oh okay, so with the challenges with me, who is saying there is nothing like reconciliation, there are challenges because um in every um setting there are hierarchy like senior, traditional women, high priest, and all those people. Okay, so um from where I'm seeing this, from where I'm coming, most of them are older than me, but they are not coming from that place. Because when this bill thing came, we all heard that the traditional people were also parts of it saying they should be passed and all that, forgetting that what we are, what we are as cool, this what the building is attacking. It's criminalized. So we have traditional priests, senior people who thinks physically when you are queer, it's wrong, but spiritually, that is what you are forgetting that whatever you are, you are you are in spiritually manifest first and physically, yes, and then we have traditional persons who thinks if physically you are clear, you should not be associated with because the younger ones coming, you will impact it in them, forgetting that that's who they are, and these ones are these things are challenges we face a lot. They are challenges we face a lot. Um, we are praying from where I'm seeing things, they should start seeing it from there, and then they should have the mind that anytime someone says something about LGBT, the person is speaking against tradition because that is who we are.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, thank you so much, Nayumo, for starting with this preamble. Um, I I love what you just brought. I wish the Christian community was as easy to navigate just as you. So, for me, um, some of the challenges is patriarchy for me. Is a patriarchy that is choking me in the Christian community. The idea that I'm not going to sit here and say even though it's a patriarchal community, I see the effort of some people trying to also dismantle patriarchy in certain ways, but that's not enough for me. I don't see the idea that people should constantly be asked when are you going to marry? At a certain age. It is not your business to know. And for me as a person, it becomes like a problem for me that when people are going to the front to pray for marriage and I'm not going, people are watching. Like, I don't want to marry. Women should just say that I don't want to marry. I don't understand the institution of marriage with a man. I don't want to be there. That's also a struggle, not just for me, but I know that a lot of women are going through it and they are silently suffering. It's not because I'm queer. But if you ask 10 women in church honestly, genuinely, you can get some of them that will clearly tell you, I don't want to marry. Not because they are queer people, but because they don't feel marriage is a priority for them. Marriage doesn't favor women. Yes. Marriage is a very like system that doesn't, like you said, it doesn't favor women at all. Because you I would say that from the Christian community, one of the things that we face is patriarchy. Because um, patriarchy favors the men. And even when you look at the settings of marriage, it the institution has been um programmed in a way that it only favors men. Yes, I don't care what anybody says, it favors men, it doesn't favor women. Because when there are issues of childbirth, they are not coming to the man to ask that are you impotent? They are straight coming to the woman to say that you're either a witch or you have had abortions or whatever theory they are bringing to you. Even when you are not giving birth to men. My darling, they'll be like, My darling, as if you are the person that slept with yourself and then put the babies in your womb, it becomes also a problem. Even when you look at the issue of savings in marriage, when a woman is making more than the man, they find a problem for the woman, calling her a woman a bitch, a bear, a witch, or all the things that they are coming to like attack the woman with.
SPEAKER_02And and you are also forgetting um in cases of cheating and divorce, a woman is always encouraged to pray for her husband, pray he's gonna change, but when the tables turn, she's a she's a horse. So leave her.
SPEAKER_03She's ashamed to you, so leave her. So that's the patriarchy, one of the patriarchy. Also, when we clearly look at the Christian community, there's no love. I don't see love in the Christian community because it's always about people coming to the Christian community with so-called perfection, judging people coming into the space as if they are all perfect or they are like, I don't know, but it's it's the thing of perfection that is making like the Christian community have that challenge of stigma. Because a clear example, when you look at a person living with disability in church, how are they treated? It is recently that uh the government have enforced the idea that there should be a pathway for wheelchair to be passed on. But do we have special seats for them? Do we have special washroom for them that say that this is disability friendly? When we are doing things and we are moving to the altar up and down, are we also going to say that since this person is a disabled person, we are assigning an usher to them to take care of them? It's not friendly. Single mothers, even people that will say that I used to be a sex worker and I came, it's a whole lot of stigma. You see, the stairs, even queer people that are saying that they are no more queer and they have openly said that there's always that woman looking at you in a funny way, and also I also see like a lot of mental issues that goes on. There's also a struggle. I don't think sexuality is the only thing people struggle with. There are people that are dealing with addiction. Addiction is just not about drugs, masturbation, the lying, the gambling, abuse, and all that. It's also something that like it's also a challenge in the Christian community because we don't have a system of love. We have a system of people trying to be perfect, people trying to judge you, other than coming to a place and say that yes, this is the community that we find ourselves. We are not perfect, but let's hold each other with grace. Those are challenges and many other things. I think that I want to because also we have similarities with um the Muslim community.
SPEAKER_05So true, like as where you started from patriarchy, that is that is the ultimate challenge that um, you know, here Muslims do face because um they want to put the men at a position of power. So men are given that position of power, women are placed down there, be submissive, be there.
SPEAKER_02I think it's not just about um Christianity and Islam. I believe all Abrahamic religions are very patriarchal, exactly. So we have shared um similar, we have similar stories.
SPEAKER_05Yes, so you know, from there, we've given that power to men. So that power is to protect that to masculinity that we have. True. So we have given it to a man. Why should a man get up and say that I am gay? Which means that the power we've given to you, you don't want it. So we have to take you to that power that's that power we've taken from women, let us take you there. So let us beat you up. So there is that kind of insecurity, that insecurity that is protecting that toxic masculinity thing to keep that patriarchal system alive. So that is the challenge that we face. So, in order to keep that patriarchal system alive, let us be insecure of our toxic masculinity, and now let's give let's beat those people they don't want that power, let's beat them up in that status quo. Let's let's put you at your place. Why should a woman say that I am a lesbian? Why should a woman take what men wants? That is the question. Why should a man get up and say that I am a woman? You were born a man, so why should you get up and say that I am a woman? That is you okay, you are challenging that status quo. Why should a woman get up and say that I am a man? Oh wow, you want to come and challenge me? You see, so for me, that's that's the challenge, that's how I see it. So with so queer people are a threat with queer people, queer people are a threat to um to the system that has been has been has been um made. So if you are a threat, why don't we put you at your place? So let's pitch you up. Let's so as a person when I sit down and I see um when I get up and I see how certain Muslims are so radical towards queer people, my heart, my heart's my heart aches. Like I'm like, where is the love that Shekai is talking about? Where is the love that we preach all the time? We say that we are we are peaceful people, we are we we we we treat ourselves with love, we we we are there for each other, we are each other's um keeper. Where is that love? If you believe, if you believe that we don't judge, we can't judge on earth, and we believed in the in the in the oneness of Allah, we believe that God is the only ultimate judge. Why don't we leave that judgment, that kind of punishment that you want to execute on earth? Why don't we leave it to uh or the Almighty Allah to do that? You get it? So for me, that's that's the challenge that I I do I do face. That's how I see it.
SPEAKER_02My greatest challenge when it comes to all Abrahamic religions has got to do with the fact that they they believe that whatever that they are doing is right, and some of their sins are very righteous because then they are able to get scriptures to back whatever that they are saying. You talk of people who are from Christian Christian backgrounds trying to inflict some sort of pain or violence against queer persons, and they are confident to tell you that in the Bible, people who practiced homosexuality were burnt to ashes, so it's okay for me to beat someone, it's okay for me to burn someone alive, and and to enforce the patriarchal system to add on to what Shika said. There's a scripture in Leviticus that states that a place a man's place is with a woman, and so people believe that a woman's private part was created specifically for a man's private part, and so, as such, you are not supposed, as a woman, to give yourself to another woman, but rather to give yourself to a man. All these quotations, all these um teachings that come from these Abrahamic religions only enforce entitlements to women's bodies. Meanwhile, they can't satisfy us very well. Ouch. Ouch. Well, this is a feminist space, so it's okay to say what she said. So, yes, these are some of the challenges that we face every day. Looking at the the system, even when it comes to our religions, the support that we get, the little support that we get is followed by some sort of backlash. The pope will say something about loving all persons, including LGBTQI plus persons, and then the Pope, the next thing you hear about the Pope is, oh, he's the Antichrist. Yeah, he's he's pushing a demonic agenda and all sorts of false news to sort of demonize a person's sexuality. So all these challenges are so they are not even hidden in plain side, they are so clear, and it's it hurts so bad that we have to deal with all these things every day. So even with supports, after the supports, there is some sort of backlash that follows that sort of nullifies all the supports that we are getting as individuals who identify as queer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I think that the the topic for this podcast should be where's the love? Where's the love? Yeah, there's no love, there's no love on the street, there's no even love in our um organized religion that we say that we are going to seek love because um the foundation of Christianity is love, right? And I know that the foundation of Islam really is love, peace. So where's the love? And I know that when you go to our fetish, when you go to our traditional settings, there's love that they are preaching there. So we should find a middle ground where we say that above everything we look up to love.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so there was love before Christianity came. Yes, I keep saying this because um sometimes when you are talking to the elderly, the elderly people who have no knowledge about Christianity, the things they say is different. There was a time one lady was accused of having sex with another lady, and then the issue was taken to one blind old woman who was also a priestess, and then she was like, and so what? This thing was done in a room. So how did you get to know they've done it? Were you in the room with them? Are you saying she does not have the right to be happy? The fact that she's a priestess, is she not a human being? And then I could feel what the old woman was saying. But these days, when they go to church after they've prayed, these days when they go to church after they've poured libation, they are walking with hate like there was love before Christianity came, and trust me, now even in uh traditional settings, they are practicing the Christian patriarchy thing. On a very good day, when you are a traditional person, you are not supposed to get married. Because um you are supposed to be committed to your deity.
SPEAKER_02When you have a man, you have divided attention. That is for uh spiritual healers, traditional healers, traditional healers, yes.
SPEAKER_04You are supposed to be committed to your deity because there are times when on your days, like my days are Fridays and Saturdays, I'm supposed to sleep in my shrine room. In the morning, when you wake up, you realize you've had an orgasm, you were there alone. So when you have a man, the time you have to commit to the deity, take care of it and everything, you divide it. You give half to the man. Meanwhile, the man is dominating you. Yeah, the man is doing all sorts of things to you, apart from orgasm, and then maybe someone to communicate to with. Well, to me, I don't really value relationship when it comes to men like that. Because trust me, on Fridays and Saturdays, I get orgasm and I'm like, oh wow. Oh wow, you understand, but there are times you are a human being, you need people to talk to, you need someone you can communicate with, someone to always be there with. And those things are the reason why you need someone around you. Because there are times when you are a traditional person and then you have a shrine, you are not supposed to even take care of wounds, you are not supposed to take care of wash, uh be cleaning washrooms and all those things. Even if you have a sick mother who excuse me to say can't bath or go to the washroom, you are not supposed to get close to those things. You are if you are not even supposed to go and see, excuse me to say someone's toilet. Those things you are not supposed to see. But here is the case you are with a man, and then the man is so careless that maybe you are sharing bath house. He will go and use the washroom and then leave the place. You have to go and flash it. There are so many things. There are so many things which are not right. That's deep. But here we are. When you are a traditional person at a particular age and then you are not married, then you hear people talking. Which is it's not supposed to be like that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So um there has been a point in my life where I was in church, and the pastor was preaching about accepting Jesus, walking with Jesus, being born again. Okay, yes, being born again was basically what he was talking about. And with the scriptures he was using to back his sermon, uh, a lot of people in the congregation realize that they haven't really accepted Jesus proper. As in what a year so but one funny year. So you are supposed to go reflect to see whether oh, five years ago you you openly accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal savior. But along the line, you realize that that thing that you did, you you you didn't really follow their criteria. And I'm using criteria because the pastor outlined certain things that I term as criteria to say, okay, if you have followed these systematic ways of doing things, then what if I use and he said a lot of things, and so it it got to me and it made me feel like oh, so all along, alpha after years to bat and funny, and with what he said, I felt it contradicted whatever that I am with regards to my sexuality, and so I was I was so pushed, being a closeted queer person, I was so pushed to even raise my hands and ask him so what of somebody who has who finds herself in a situation like mine? Does that mean that because of my sexuality, Jesus? Yeah, I'm not a good Christian, but I I do everything that is expected of me as a Christian, but then because of my sexuality, is that what you are saying? And that that was the the first and only time that I felt the intensity of that inner struggle that we are talking about, and it was too much for me, such that I had to go to the washroom and cry. I spent like 30 minutes in the washroom crying and I I I ruined my makeup because I kept asking myself that so being who I am, does that mean that mean five years to years? So what am I even doing in the church? Does that mean that offering a me fema to see that me beautiful does that mean that God has rejected all of them? This is this is my personal experience. I don't know whether anyone on this panel has any similar experience that conflicts with your religious teachings.
SPEAKER_05Yes. Um I remember there was a time when one of my imams was put in and was and the the issue of homosexuality came up and you just brushed over it. It was part of the scenes he was mentioning, and he mentioned that. So you mentioned that of Zina, um the the rest of the scenes, then so adultery, um, what do you call it for the kitchen, then added homosexuality and the rest. And I was sitting there and I was asking myself God, because I've been I've been I've been fasting all this while, and anytime I fast, my fasting, the the topic for the fasting is God, take this gayness out of me. That is the that that is the that is the that's the topic like all the time. That's the aim, the goal. And you know, I'll finish and I'm I'm even more gayer than cash. So I was in you know, you know, it's it was a struggle. It was it was a a struggle because he was saying the the pretty was when when the angels got to got to Sodom and Gomuria, like the people wanted to like have some this thing with the angels, you know, the people wanted to have an intimacy with the angels and God punished them. However, even though that was the that that was what he said, however, there were other sins that the people were doing, they were committing a lot of sins, plenty of sins that God was so angry with them. But according to the preacher, he said, according to the imam, he was like that was the main reason why he got angry, because like that was what ended everything for that's a lie. So when I heard it, I was sitting down and I was asking myself, so does it mean that God you don't like me, you don't like me, so why then why don't you take my life? So I was even asked telling telling myself that because I was imagining when I was 24 years. Oh my god, you will just imagine the you know the struggle I've gone through. Wallah because no, it's not it's not like that, but the truth is I was so scared. Yeah, I just don't know. I was so scared to extend that I I don't want to do something that would even though I knew I am peer, but I don't want to do something that will that will make me regret and be like, okay, at this moment, you are satisfied to enter hellfire. Because now you've done you've done the own the the undoable. I feel you, I feel you. You are satisfied to enter hellfire. You get it? So doubt that. That was a struggle.
SPEAKER_03So for me, I I just wanted to add a little bit to what you were saying. Um, just to put it out there that being queer is not just centered around sex, it's about a lot of things because you, as a person, have capacity, you have talent, you have things that you bring. Not I I don't I'm not gonna say table because I don't know who put that table there. Um there there are a lot of things that you bring to the world, like your awesomeness, like the grace you bring, right? So being queer is not just centered around sex. However, I also understand like the struggle that you are also like you also went through as other time. I also just want to say a little bit about Sodo and Gomorrah story because it's not about sex. When you read the Bible, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their hostility towards strangers, yeah. Because the Bible clearly speaks about we showing love to strangers, and that is the center of the Bible. In that time, strangers are regarded to be messengers of God, and so the people that came into Sodom and Gomorrah were there to deliver a message to Lot. However, Lot also did something that is patriarchy, offering their daughters for rape, collective rape, gang rape, and those are things that we do not talk about, which are things that we should highlight. There was stealing that was going on there, there were people not disregarding God, like uh Naomi said, sex happens in the room. Yeah, there were other things, but because men want to justify collective rape that wanted to be happening to Lot's children, and we as Christians are not also acknowledging the fact that what Lot did was wrong, we are just centering it around homosexuality. But when you read the whole verse, it's talking about people not being hospitable, and so I think that sometimes that is why there's the need for us to also, as people of faith, reconcile with our faith by also reading our religious texts. Do not go away from God, or God is so near to you. Read your Bible, read your Quran. If you feel like going to the moks or going to the church will be a problem, why don't you stay in the house and meditate and then God will always speak to you because you know the average Ghanaian doesn't read, and so it is, and we in in the Ghana, Ghanaian community, we even even though we have literates, we have literate fools where they would still follow people because of the hierarchy and the position that they have, and being manipulative and all that. So there's a need for us to get close to God, read our religious text, and also have interpretation there. Remember, interpretation comes in two ways it comes in the word that you are reading and what is influenced by the spirit. So that is what I want to bring on the table.
SPEAKER_04Sometimes there is this thing I always say. Um, sin is not you. Um sinner is the one who has money, and then someone is hungry, someone is hungry and then he's not feeding the person. A sinner is someone who has money and then someone is sick and is refusing to take the person to the hospital. It's not someone who knows very well that this thing that I'm saying, someone might get hurt, someone will be hurt, but I'm still saying it to help someone. The sinner is someone who will sell out another person for his or her own benefit. Sexuality has nothing like sin in it. Because it happens between two grown-up adults, consenting adults, they know what they are doing. So I I really want to say that we should take that thing off our mind. Whatever happened between two consenting adults, it's never a sin.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. I would want to speak to um the Christian perspective of the Sodom and Gomorrah account in the Bible. I have had to read that particular account countless times because of the struggle that I I faced inside. And there's one thing that oftentimes people overlook or people don't even talk about, to add to whatever that she can say, the Bible clearly tells us that, and I have read more than five translations of scripture, and that thing is still there. That the Christ from Sodom and Gomorrah reached God, and that is why He decided to take action. So, what that meant was victims, victims of perpetrators in Sodom and Gomorrah cried onto God. The Bible didn't say that people who were okay with them cried to God, said victims, meaning whatever hostility that was happening there, it was the victims of this hostility that reached out to God. So let's assume in the West case of scenarios, Lot's daughters were were raped, and they being victims of rape, they cried on to God. It would have triggered God to act. Will they be celebrated? Would they be celebrated?
SPEAKER_03Would they be recognized for giving their body body autonomy thrown under the ground?
SPEAKER_02You should you should you should read the scripture. I mean you can read the Bible, it's there, it tells you that and the Christ reached to God, and then God decided that oh, the Christ are many, let me send messengers to go and do the action there. Nobody talks about that. Nobody talks about the fact that victims who like people who had gone to Sodom and Gomorrah and had been treated unfairly, had been raped, went to God to go cry that see what these people did to me. You are the Lord of vengeance, take some sort of action. Nobody talks about that, but the fact that the Bible genderizes the angels as men of God and the people who reached out to Lord as men highlights that it was homosexuality. What if in translations the angels were misgendered? We would never know. But then that's a topic for another day. So looking at the conversation that we have had today, what can we say that has been our understanding of spirituality, especially one that involves our relation with our identity? Can you say that after this conversation or through this conversation, you you have had a different understanding or your attention has been exposed to a different perspective about sexuality and spirituality?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, for me, I feel I I still I'm still on the journey, and um I feel like right now my religion is personal, but my encounter with God is personal, and I am going through that journey on a personal uh journey with God. So um with I see myself being spiritual and that is it.
SPEAKER_03I feel you for me as a person, um I'm still actively involved in church. Um not because I was born in church, but I love the church community. All its imperfection because the Bible talks about fellowship and I enjoy fellowship with my other Christian brethren. I'm using brethren loosely here, not to gender anybody. I there also there's a lot of things that I learn when I go to church, also because sometimes you need to go out there to see what's going on. It will shock you. There's a lot of things that you see in church. I would say that I'm also on a journey that I'm still trying to also make meaning out of a lot of things that um even if I decide to have children, what does it look like for me in church? How what does it also look like for my children? Stigma, discrimination, and all that. So I'm also on a journey, but I would always encourage people that do not let anybody decide on how you worship your God, get to know your God and get to experience your God and speak through how your God wants you to experience them.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. So I also say I'm equally on a journey, and I'll still say that with my religion, we don't have a manual to guide you on saying, and then the this thing said this this most of our teachings come from us, like uh the deity you are worshipping. When you go close to it, you pray. In the morning, when you wake up, the dreams you have are teachings that you used to you use in guiding yourself. I have never experienced anything that has to do with sexuality. So personally, I know there is nothing wrong with me. I'm a woman. The spirit that has dominating me is a woman, and I get orgasm. Very so personally, um, although I'm still learning, and then maybe along the line, there are other things I'm yet to discover. Myself and my creator, we are so cool.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Well, personally, it's it's a journey for me too. And on this journey, I have come to appreciate that um with all these religions, this these many religions we have on the globe, with all these religions, we we've come to realize that someone had an encounter with a supreme being, and they claimed they were being led to start a whole religion. Prophet Muhammad, peace be unto him, had that encounter and so he he spearheaded the Islamic movement globally. The same with Christianity. We believe that Christ came to die for us and we believe it as such. I also believe that with my creator I need to channel my own path, which I'm on. Thank you for joining us on this insightful journey into the intersections of religion and sexuality. We've heard how queer individuals are navigating their spiritual paths within Christianity, Islam, and traditional religion in Ghana. Often facing significant challenges but also finding ways to embrace both their faith and their identity. These stories remind us of the complex and strength it takes to walk with this path. As we wrap up, I hope this episode has provided you with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the courage it takes to reconcile these parts of oneself. Until next time, keep searching for your truth and embracing all that you are. This initiative is brought to you by Cupacity Ghana and Resilience Sisters Ghana. Same time next time. Bye bye.
SPEAKER_00Try for my breath, but it's filling up my lungs. Try keep it quiet, but it's bangin' like a trunk. And it's shaking up my bones, tearing up my ligaments. I'm still tryna act like now it ain't that serious. But I'm deep in the womb, and I'm kicking on the diaphragm. Try not to see you. Plays like Caesar, funny when I feel choke of the umbilic. My soul gets deeper. Songs, real spiritual, cross around my neck, and a crystal in my pocket. My love is the bomb, and forgiveness is the rocket, which Charming gone stopping. My faith rises up, even while's dropping. I'm running on my heart, so it's never forgotten. You only forgot son stars only watching watching, silly, salah, salah, salah, salah, salah.
SPEAKER_01Sella sala, sala, sala, sala.