| How ignorant
I've been looking at this homophobic thread for a while, and ignored it, but I have decided that it is my responsibility as a part of humanity to stand up to this small mindedness.
First, I am very tired of people perpetuating the myth that Africans did not engage in homosexuality before the arrival of Europeans. There have been enough documented studies to prove otherwise that it's really time to lay that lie to rest. Not only is it stupid, but it is un-African because it negates the existence of proven and documented behavior among Africans, and seeks to negate it due to the European sensibilities that have attached shame and hatred to such behavior. In other words, because Europeans hate homosexuals, people of African descent who suffer from low self esteem don't want to claim homosexuality as it existed in Africa and instead want to blame their oppressors for it. Grow up and get over it.
The evidence proving the existence of homosexuality in Africa goes back to ancient antiquity. The Kemetic god Set was homosexual, had an affair with the god Heru. When his semen was called forth and appeared on his forehead in the form of a silver moon, the god Thoth seized it and made it his symbol. Later, Europeans travelling in Africa as early as the 1500's-1600's documented homosexual behavior among people who had no contact with Europeans and which was corroborated by other non-Europeans. In other words, there is documented in writing and corroborated by Africans who had nothing to gain from doing so, evidence of homosexuality among people who had absolutely no exposure to Europeans. In the new world colonies, one of the first cases of sodomy involved an African slave who sexually molested an African youth and was put to death by strangulation. All of the above is documented and readily available. If anyone needs proof I will point you to it.
As it relates specifically to Yoruba culture, even today there are homosexuals who are adherents to Yoruba cosmology. Africans, contrary to the romanticized vision that clueless African Americans have of them, have always had dynamic, maleable cultures that have been able to survive by adapting to change. Ifa states that aside from the dates of birth and death, nothing is unchangeable. Doesn't that include Ifa itself? Ifa is also a belief system that speaks to ALL of humanity being connected and diverse, with the ultimate goal being to lead an upstanding life, regardless of sexual orientation and the like. Applying European sensibilities to an African belief system by projecting our biases and seeking to judge those who are different is perhaps the most ignorant, un-African and un-Ifa like thing any adherent can do.
Begin practicing true Ifa and accept humanity the way the omnipotent God created it. That includes homosexuals who are as capable of being upstanding as anyone else. Enough of the ignorance, divisiveness, and hatred already!
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