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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.
Name one documented study by Name and Researcher that proves that homosexuality was a common practice in Afrika. In fact, since there are lots, please name FIVE, so I can crosscheck references. By the way, historical research is not normally called a "study". A "study" is an examination of present activity. The past usually falls into historical, anthropological etc etc. Please be sure to post those sources ASAP.
Also your rationale as to Europeans and Africans in regards to homosexuality is jumbled. Please reword. Can't make any sense of 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.
Set and Heru never had sex. lol Please again, provide a source. I think you are getting the clash between Heru and Set confused. This clash is symbolic of your Will (Heru) maintaining dominion over your animal nature (Set). Lastly Thoth or Tehuti as he is correctly named, is symbolic of the Wisdom of God, knowledge of Past, Present and Future. He did not nor would he use anything birthed from Set (which symbolized lack of ethics and imbalance) as 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.
You make suggestion of multiple White and Non-White Sources, cite TWO of each please.
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.
I won't argue whether one Afrikan man was was raped by another in America, but to be so sympathetic to homosexuality, I am surprised that you would COMPARE that rape to homosexuality. Are you saying that all homosexuals are silent rapists? With advocates like you, there is no reason to have enemies.
Also would you agree that "if" the account you give is correct, that many Afrikans were driven to do things that were uncommon and unreasonable to one another, perhaps by depression, rage, mental instability etc caused by the slave trade? Perhaps the same reason we know sell drugs, gangbang and prostitute our women? Or are you suggesting that we have always been gangbangers, pimps and drug dealers? If so, I'd have to say you are "quite the Afrikan" to believe such things about yourself.
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.
The idea that "nothing is unchangeable" is a elementary concept of Ifa, often quoted by novices and charlatans to excuse certain behavior or desires. Older more traditional elders do not use the comment in that way. And NO Ifa is not changeable. Ifa is the divine wisdom of the Creator. It the foundation upon which human life exists. Odu are the sum total of every energy ever known or created and will be created. They need not change. They anticipated everything in life. They dont adapt. They already know before we know. That you would suggest that Odu bend to human interest is spiritually suspect. Dont tread in deep waters, unless you know the currents.
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!
Odu represents "true Ifa" as you state it. EVERYTHING is predicated on Odu, as again, Odu represent EVERY SINGL energy, situation, combination of situations that have, are or will ever be.
By the way, do you even have an Ifa Shrine? If not, exactly how would you be in the position to question what it is or isnt? I could see if you had it, had been through the rites... then we could debate all day...But since you don't... how can you? Its like I got a cannon and you have a scribbled drawing of one It aint the same thing. |