‘PASTORS CALL US TITABANE, TINKONKONI’

MANZINI – Pastors in the Kingdom of Eswatini have been accused of using the pulpit to spread stereotypes against LGBTIs.

They have done this by allegedly preaching against the LGBTI community by saying its members were nothing but demons.
This transpired during the Religious and Intercultural Dialogue where lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender and intersex people engaged with local pastors at The George Hotel in Manzini.

At the dialogue, the LGBTI community came together with pastors and church members to discuss stereotypes that society had against homosexuals.
While others argued that the main reason why the stereotypes were popular was lack of education, most of the LGBTIs decried that most churches preached that they wanted them to change their lifestyle and return to God.

According to the members of the LGBTI community, pastors used names such as ‘titabane’ and ‘tinkonkoni’ when preaching and encouraged other church members to stay away from them. Besides the alleged attack on the pulpits, there was a concern that LGBTIs were referred to as drunkards who wasted their time on drugs, something which those in attendance viewed as something that perpetrated the stereotypes.

Another concern was that the media was also contributing in that it reported negatively on LGBTIs. The accusation against churches and pastors was further spread during testimonies which some of the LGBTI members shared where they related how they were forced to quit fellowshipping due to the treatment they received.

One of the members who shared his testimony alleged that he had been a member of one of the oldest churches since 2005 where he was a member of different committees.
The churches will not be named due to the fact that their leaders were not present to respond.
“I am gay and have been in a relationship since 2011. Things changed when elders discovered the kind of person that I am and stopped me from participating in most of the church activities. The church is destroying gay people,” he said.

Another testimony was shared by a young man clad in traditional regalia, who alleged that he was a son to one of the local pastors.
“I was playing a keyboard in church but things changed when my father discovered that I was gay. He stopped me from playing the keyboard and started preaching about Sodom and Gomorrah almost every Sunday when he was on the pulpit,” the young man said.

He highlighted that it led to a point where his father ordered him to leave his homestead and go to stay with his grandmother. A testimony that touched hearts was one of a young woman, who alleged that she discovered that she was a homosexual at the age of 12, got raped by a brother-in-law and fell pregnant at 15 years. She alleged that her family did not support her, which made her attempt to commit suicide eight times.

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