Rejected & forsaken!
By Kolade Rasheed – West African Correspondent
Joseph George and Mobolurin Okupe have in common is quite a lot, though Joseph George is a Gambian and MobolurinOkupe is a Nigerian. Both were born into Christian families, where the love of Christ is preached and presumably exemplified. Joseph’s father is a Christian from a well-known family in Banjul. MobolurinOkupe’s father is a man of God, an evangelist who is well versed in the way of the church and in the ways of God. He is a messenger of the living word of God.
Both men grew up being told that it is good to love everyone and treat them the way Jesus loves and treats people. In fact, both were always preached to from the Book of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 43-48, which states thus:
Love your Enemies – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Sadly, when both men came out as being gay, they were rejected by their Christian, bible believing, church going parents, who denounced them, vilified them and rejected them. Mobolurin Okupe’s father defended himself in the Nigerian press by denouncing homosexuality and condemning it. He threw the Jesus principles straight out of the window to protect his own pride, ego and reputation, yet Jesus will actually leave the 99 and go and find just the one soul that is lost.
Both men’s fathers’ level of Christianity has no room for broken sons whose sexuality is not understood. Lord have mercy, I’d say. The similarity here is akin to that of Cain who when God asked him of the whereabouts of his brother Abel, he sarcastically replied saying; “Am I my brother’s keeper!” – What a shame? The world has thrown their own flesh and blood under the bus.
To be normal…
Joseph’s father just wanted his son to be, quote: ‘normal’- Alas, he is not as normal as his father would like him to be, He is gay! He has sexual tendencies for the same sex. He did not ask to be born this way. He did not arrange his own gene pool selection from his mother’s womb, and he did nothing to become gay. He was just born gay! He was rounded up by the Gambian police along with some gay men in the days of Yahya Jammeh, who vowed to behead gay men or lesbians. Joseph subsequently fled from police custody and made his way to the United Kingdom. Before fleeing, he was forced to marry a Gambian woman as if that will cure his sexual desire for men. Sadly, it did not!
He was forced to marry and consummate the marriage, but he still desired to be with men. His wife found out and hell broke loose. She spread the news everywhere. To be gay in Gambia, in the past and today remains against the law. There is no place to hide. Joseph is a broken man who wears a veil of sadness every time you see him. He said: “I feel lost! I am lost! I belong to no-one. I belong to nowhere and I am loved by no-one in my family. I am like a leper, who has to hide and pray he does not run into people when he walks in the street. He said, ‘People see through your brokenness. They exploit you, use you for sex and dump you. Life is cruel.”
Bolulope is hiding in France, where he can freely express his sexuality and not be judged by others. He dares not show his face in Nigeria. Not only is he subject to being arrested, detained or tried in the courts for homosexuality, the shame alone will kill him, and the press will surely finish him off. That is for sure!
Joseph was used to hiding his sexuality in Gambia and rarely want to talk about it. He has been in counselling for years, to deal with his never-ending depression episodes. He said, he will rather commit suicide than go back to the Gambia. He said, “Life will be very tough for me in Gambia. No-one will have anything to do with me in a predominantly Muslim country where my sexuality is a taboo, deemed abhorrent, illegal, unlawful, and evil. In such a small country, there is certainly nowhere to hide.
“I cannot seek or ask for police protection. I will just be made to disappear. People have been known to disappear in Gambia – just like that!” He added, “People like me are the scum of the earth in their eyes. I will face torture and inhumane treatment. If I go home, I will forfeit my life.”
Gambia currently have very tough ani-LGBTQI laws, Yahya Jammeh saw to that and so does Nigeria for that matter, Goodluck Jonathan saw to that too.
The questions are: Are laws sufficient to help us understand what is happening to our youth and why they are like this? Is it a spiritual battle as some say or has nature made a mistake that needs correcting, if at all such truth/notion could be conceived in our minds?
The laws and punishment have not deterred our children from becoming gay, queer, transgender, or lesbians, so what must be done, I ask?
