We're all made in God's image – LGBTIQ+
Staff Writer | Tuesday July 25, 2023 06:00
Halfway through the march, members were met with placards and demonstrators from the LGBTIQ+ community and allied members who protested against the protest.
The Monitor caught up with a few members and allies for their comments. Karabo Kesegofetse: You can be in the presence of the most high God, but you may not be aware of His existence. God hates oppression and ill-treatment of his creation hence why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Do not deceive yourself fellow homophobic Christians, you are on your own.
You are without the Holy Spirit. God does not dwell in the hearts of those full of hate, ignorance, hearts which entertain evil and wickedness. On his account? You are lying, deceiving yourselves, hence the scripture says, “My people perish because of lack of knowledge”. Don't claim to be smart when you are not. Sethunya: God is aware of the LGBTQIA+ people, He knew them before their parents conceived them, and there’s absolutely no foul play in God’s creation. We are all wonderfully and fearfully made in the image of our Heavenly Father.
No one is better than the other before Him. LGBTQIA+ are human before their identities and sexual orientations, and that's how they want to be seen and treated. Sasha: The church says deleting Section 164(a) and (c) as per Court of Appeal order is an issue against public morality/family and procreation and I say that couldn’t be far from the truth. In a country that thrives on “democracy for all” where is the freedom for LGBTQIA+ people in this instance? Why is the church so hell-bent on policing the existence of anything different from them? Why are they so bothered by homosexuality that they will throw any and everything to cancel us? Using the Bible scriptures, selectively so, to chastise the very creation of God is rather hypocritical and inhumane when all leaders need to do is educate themselves on diversity and preach love and companionship instead of division and hate. Seipone Boitshwarelo: The ‘church’, specifically EFB, shows how Christians can spread hate and prejudice in this world which is not what the Bible encourages us to do.
There are also serious issues happening in Botswana that need the church’s voice (GBV, corruption, rape, unemployment etc) and they have decided to focus on creating havoc on private matters happening between consenting individuals.
God loves us all! Wandy: The church can have its opinion, and I have mine too. What I am opposed to is the fact that they want to influence people to stand against LGBTIQ+ people’s rights.
The decriminalisation case has been in the courts for years and LGBTIQ+ people sat through deliberations and arguments to win the case and the appeal as well, now no one’s opinion can come and turn upside down people’s lives. What I find comical is the fact that this has been turned into a sex conversation, not a human rights issue, not equality, not love, but again even if it’s sex, that is between two consenting adults and what they do. How they do it is absolutely up to them, now why is the church or people in the church interested in those two consenting adults' business? These clobber passages written on their placards have been used to marginalise, stigmatise, and discriminate against LGBTIQ+ for a long time.