Let the LGBTQIA+ community be!

I cannot believe this…damn, I cannot believe this!

Even I, a stern believer in African rituals, systems, and beliefs, cannot believe that there are still people out there that do not believe that lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer, and more (the LGBTQIA+) have rights.

I get ridiculed for believing in my ancestors, I get ridiculed for appeasing them by burning incense and slaughtering an animal once in a while. I get ridiculed for believing that a groom should pay lobola for his wife.

I also get mocked that once in a while I should brew traditional beer, slaughter a cow and have a feast with my family in the name of my forefathers. This is what I believe in, and for this I am not evil, practicing some kind of voodoo or witchcraft, or am I?

These are my beliefs!

Despite being in a democracy for almost 30 years, I was left shocked this week to discover that some people are still against the LGBTQIA+ community. They are up in arms against Woolworths’ “WPride” campaign which is in celebration of ‘International Pride Month’.

What nonsense is this?

South Africa is a democracy and all that live in it have a right to choose what they want to do with their lives, they have a right to choose what they believe in, and they have a right to choose who they associate with.

Hell… they have a right to choose who they sleep with!

This is not Uganda where draconian laws have been passed against the LGBTQIA+ community members, where in some instances they have been promised heavy jail sentences or even death should they be ‘found out’.

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni recently signed one of the world’s toughest anti-LGBTQIA+ laws, including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”. The new law stipulates capital punishment for “serial offenders” against the law and transmission of a terminal illness like HIV/AIDS through gay sex. The law also decrees a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality.

What nonsense!

Some customers have threatened to boycott Woolworths because of its campaign, I believe this is just purely nonsensical. They should just get over this because the LGBTQIA+ community is going nowhere. These are our brothers and sisters, they are not practicing some kind of evil, or are they?

They are simply being who they are!

In the same way that I am an African, and strongly believe in my heritage, and my forefathers’ practices, I believe that the LGBTQIA+ community is simply practicing who they are.

They are simply being themselves, let them be!

Lerato wa ha Serero…