Clash over gays
MASERU — Delegates attending the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) annual general conference last Friday clashed over the association’s decision to help an organisation advocating for the rights of homosexuals.
Matters came to a head after the annual report which was tabled before the delegates revealed that the council had given technical assistance to Matrix Support Group, an organisation for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals and intersexual people.
The report said the LCN had been brought in as a technical partner when Matrix Support Group received some funds from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
LCN, the report said, was helping the group manage and account for funds.
That revelation sparked angry responses from delegates who accused the organisation of assisting “ungodly acts”.
Angry delegates demanded that the LCN stops associating with the Matrix Support Group.
Thabo Thelingoane, the secretary-general of the Construction and Allied Workers Union (CAWULE), was the most vocal of the delegates.
A livid Thelingoane demanded that the council stop assisting programmes involving homosexuals.
“Basotho are a Christian nation and Christian principles do not allow them to promote homosexuality,” Thelingoane said.
“We are a Christian society which is not supposed to intermingle with Satan’s people,”
He added that he was not happy to be part of an organisation that “assists Satan’s people to further their ungodly behaviour”.
Thelingoane later told the Lesotho Times that he is Catholic.
When LCN president Lira Theko tried to call him to order, telling him that Lesotho was not constitutionally a Christian state, Thelingoane stubbornly insisted that “homosexuality is ungodly”.
And even when officials threatened to eject him from the conference hall, Thelingoane remained adamant.
“Expel me if you want but I still say CAWULE does not agree to homosexuality because homosexuals are Satan’s people,” he said.
It is however not clear whether Thelingoane was expressing his own views on homosexuality or the official position of the labour union that he leads.
Theko said the heated debate by the delegates did not surprise him.
“I was not taken aback because it (homosexual) is a debate we are used to,” Theko said.
He said Thelingoane “often behaves like this when there is a debate”.
Mantsi Mantsi of the Lesotho Ex-mineworkers Association, an organisation which claims to represent people who used to work in the South African mines, also raised concern about the LCN’s involvement with Matrix Support Group.
LCN’s funds manager, Sekonyela Mapetja, told the Lesotho Times in an interview the LCN was helping the support group manage the grant it received from the UNDP but the council did not have any other interaction with the group.
“It is a support group helping sexual minority groups and it does not have capacity to account for the funds,” Mapetja said.
“It is not a member of the LCN but we assist it like we do to all other small groups that need assistance from us.”
LCN public relations officer Tankiso Sephoso said the council had not taken an official position on the controversial issue of homosexuality.
Sephoso said the LCN was still in talks on how to deal with homosexual groups.
“The LCN has not taken a position on the issue of homosexual groups,” Sephoso said.
“The matter is still being discussed.”
Sephoso said the LCN understood that everybody had fundamental human rights that include the right to choose one’s sexual orientation.
A programme co-ordinator at Matrix Support Group who spoke to this paper but refused to be named for fear of retribution said the LCN had become their partner because they did not have papers to qualify for funding from the UNDP.
She said the group’s role was to hold workshops for members and sensitise them about their sexuality and offer them counselling services and support.
“Most of our members feel like lost sheep because churches turn their backs on them,” she said.
“Parents ignore their sexuality or take them to be rebels while others have hopes that their children will one day change, which does not happen.
“Some are married people whose spouses do not know that they are gay or lesbian.”
The Christian world is deeply divided over the issue of homosexuality.
The Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL) this week said it did not prescribe how each member denomination should view homosexuality.
“The CCL leaves that to be pronounced by individual churches,” said CCL spokesperson Potjo Potjo.
“The council does not have an (official) position on the matter because it has never been put on the table for discussion.”
But the head of the Methodist Church of Lesotho, the Reverend Daniel Rantle, said his church’s position was that homosexuality is ungodly.
“It is not permissible in the Christian church,” Rantle said.
“It was because of such acts that God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah as clearly described in the Bible’s book of Genesis,” he said.
“The Apostle Paul condemned the practice in the Christian era and said they (homosexuals) will not enter the kingdom of God.”
He said homosexuals should be given a chance to study the word of God for them to change.
“Studying the Bible can change them.”
Rantle however said the CCL had not discussed its position on the issue “because it would divide the council”.
“It is the issue that will touch some churches’ doctrines and dealing with it directly as the council will surely bring division in the council,” he said.
“It is a well-known fact around the globe that some churches have gone to an extent of blessing same-sex marriages and have ordained priests who practise sodomy.”
The Anglican Church has condoned same-sex marriages.
In England where the Anglican Church originated some priests are reported to be blessing same-sex marriages and some of the priests are allegedly gays, according to a recent BBC report.
South Africa is the only African country whose constitution clearly allows same-sex marriages.
But the practice is generally shunned across Africa.
A local lawyer, Thabo Lerotholi, told the Lesotho Times there is no specific statute prohibiting homosexuality or same sex marriages in Lesotho.
Lerotholi said the practice is barred by the common law which defines marriage as a union between a male and a female.
“Unlike in South Africa the common law does not define marriage as a union between two persons,” Lerotholi said.
“As far as I am aware, no law specifically forbids homosexuality except the common law.”
Lerotholi said Lesotho is not by constitution a Christian state and therefore nobody is by law bound to abide by the Christian principles.
Comment by Lebaka Bulane on 11 February 2010:
This Homesexual is not for Basotho ba Lesotho, most of Basotho do practice this Bohlola when they are studying in Mzansi or any other places other than in Lesotho. Oh no since Heso ke Roma Ke bona Hore Litabane li se li le ngata Roma (NUL), A ko nthuseng ke seife Motse oa Ntate kapa ke tla boela Quthing
Comment by 'Muso on 11 February 2010:
Thelingoane hoo a ho buang ha ho bolele hore ke motho ea lokileng pela Molimo hohang.O na le Libe tse ngata hampe tse tlo mositisa ho kena leholimong.Ha se ligay le lisbian feela tse etsang sebe lefatseng mona.
Ke mang ya kareng haa hlole ho kenyeletsa le eena Thelingoane eo?
Motho ea reng batho ba entsoeng ke molimo ke ba satane ruri ke satane ka bo eena. Ke tseba le liketso tsa hae a hopole.
Batho ba bang ha ba utloisisi hore batho bao ha baa iketsa ba entsoe ke molimo kapa molimo o fositse, let God to be blamed by you then.
Na lea tseba hore na ke hobaneng ha ho no ho thoe ke sebe ho etsa joalo?
Ke hobane ho no ho batloa feela hore batho ba be bangata lefatseng ka nako eo joale hona loale re se re le bangata mme thato e phethahetse joale ho ka ithabisoa.
Lea hopola hore meaho e melelele e ne e sa lumelloa bibileng ke molimo ka sebbele a re u batla hore batho ba qhalakane le lefatse? ke k ahoo aileng atla liha tora ea baabele? empa hona joale ka hoba re se re le bangata mme thato wa hae e phethahetse meaho e se e ahoa e melelele 200 stats hore re se qhalakane le naha.
Ke ka mo ke ithutileng ka teng.Lasotho mona teng ho phela bahetenehetete ba buang haholo empa ba kena kereke.Athe baruti ba bang bona ao,ha ba hopole hore melao e leshome hao mong.
se ahlole batho ba bang tsa hao lintse li mo hlotse.
Comment by Bram on 11 February 2010:
Bua ‘Muso, bua!
Comment by Letlotlo on 12 February 2010:
i m doing a very small research, and what i have found out so far is just too much, there are, from both students and lecturers, gays. some are not willing to disclose it because of its stigma, discrimination, and harassment in all aspects. if a there can be a law adhering to that, about 30% of NUL comminity will disclose thier homosexuality.
personally,i have a galfrnd who is attending a defferent church frm mine. they are not allowed to be married outside thier church, but i love her and want to marry her. if i join her church, chances of us getting married get very slim coz, many of her church members know our affair. the hardest part is, her mother dowes not want to here anything about her getting married outside the church. well, dats just my life!
Comment by monyane on 12 February 2010:
BO THELINGOANE BA TENA HAMPE, THEY THINK THEY ARE HOLY JUST BECAUSE THEY ATTEND CHURCHES, ENE BA ETSA NTHO TSE KHOLO HAMPE. MAYBE SOMTHING IS STILL MISSING IN TODAYS GENERATION. MOST PEOPLE BA NAHANA HORE MOTHO O OA RATA HO BA GAY KAPA LESBIAN,ITS LIKE MOTHO HA A KA TSEKISA LESOFE HORE NA HOBANENG E LE LESOFE. HA A IKETSA HORE EBE O JOALO. AKO UTLOE HORE NA KE SEHLOHO SE JOANG HA U LE MOSALI U NYETSOE KE GAY. AND THEY HAVE TO DO IT BECAUSE HA BA AMOHLEHE IN THE SOCIETY.JOALE BA TLO JUDGOA KE BATHO BA NTSENG BA NA LE LIBE TSE KHOLO LE HO FETA, TSEO BA LI ETSANG KA LERATO. I THINK BATHO BA TLAMEHA HORE BA KE BA ITHUTE,BA SE LE TSEBO THEN EBE BA COMMENTA KA MORAO, ESENG U COMMENTE U SA TSEBE THE WHOLE STORY HOBANE U TLA BUA NTHO LI SELE.
Comment by rethabile on 12 February 2010:
‘muso u mphumutse likhapha tsaka kamora ho utlwa ke bitswa satane just because of my sexuallity..baratuwa rea rata le rona re ts’wane le bana ba bang feela God knws itz hard..haebe hee jwalo kaha monghali Thelingwane a bolela it was ungodly deed Molimo one a loketse ho re bolaea jwalo kaha ba cita sodoma le gomora…hee re utlwile ke baikaketsi bana hle..eena eo ea buang haaholo hosane leka makala hakere u robalelitse haka,even worse a nja!!!!stop judging us..
Molimo ha asa re rate haa re bolaee it wud save us to his hypocritical animals cale heterosexuals ba febang le ho feta bohle.
Comment by Juan on 12 February 2010:
It needs to be said that ‘Rev.’ Rantle is not the head of the Methodist Church, he is not even a minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (he was discontinued for disciplinary reasons). The view that he states is not that of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa since the church has not made any ruling regarding same-sex relationships and certainly would never use the language that ‘Rev.’ Rantle used.
Comment by Great Bernie on 17 February 2010:
many thanks to ‘Muso and all of you having positive comments, its hight time people start minding their own businesses and who cares what others get up to? It’s their life and yes, let’s stop judging! I don’t care who thinks what? it’s their problem to sort out and NOT mine, I am happy with my homosexuality and that’s it!!
Ke tla khutla..
Comment by oalekapakapa on 24 February 2010:
botabane ke mashenene ntho engoe le engoe eo molimo a e bopileng it was ment for its own purpose not to do sth else…ke bona ba ba re tlisetsa mathata a tlala tlhobolo le seboko masimong…i dnt support their practice
Comment by Juno on 12 March 2010:
I think it is sad,pathetic and down right ignorant for people of such high standard to be thinking with such backward mentality…Someone please come up with a more applicable excuse than ‘it is an ungodly thing’…Homosexuality is not the problem,the problem lies with those profoundly refusing to respect and acknowledge diversity…
Comment by Lithabaneng #35 on 12 April 2010:
I would want to aknoledge that I fully respect human rights and choices, and most importantly, not to discriminate gays and lesbians.
Ntate Thelingoane, LCN is not CCL, full stop. If ever the meeting was that of CCL, then you were right to come with the idea of not incorporating the gays and lesbians association. The manner in which ntate is putting his side of story does not show christian ethics, he is vulger, ore batho ke ba satane???
Please learn from your mistakes.
Comment by Ndeki on 25 May 2010:
I agree with Lithabaneng if this what about CCL I would understand their views not fully but I would respect that. Ntate Thelingoane the meeting was not about that. If I understood it, it was on helping an NGO. LCN is a Council and they are not there to discriminate or pass judgement.
As far as I know God is love and that we are ambassadors for Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:20. If you say you are a Christian ask yourself “who do you look like when you shout and judge”?
Comment by keneuoe on 27 March 2011:
hmm kinda funny the way u find the same christians commiting adultry,TALKING EVEN MORE THAN THEY SHOULD..ARG,see the thing is yes we might be living in shame,called names and all this eveil stuff..i am not very good at the bible but if i remember quiet well it is said THOU SHALL NOT JUDGE,so ntate moruti mabeche why don’t you consider that law before you ungodly us..as a matter of fact basotho have gays and lesbians we did not inhibit it outsede our country we grew in it..whether you talk or you don’t that don’t make a change cos we STAY THE SAME..Please save your energy cos the drama is our daily meal..didn’t mean to be informal but i think i am happy the way i am and i am studying the bible thank you thats why i know the law PASTOR,SIR..WHATEVER YOU ARE.
Comment by kenny on 24 April 2012:
Lesotho is a free country so let people live freely. ha hona lebaka la hore ebe motho otla qosoa ka seo a leng sona empa a sa ipopa.batho ba nahana batho ke bona fela empa le bona ho ntsona le tse batho ba sa lirateng ka bona.
Comment by Teboho Thelingoane on 1 June 2012:
Ho thusa eng ho ba phehisanang kgang ka homosexuality,especially when there’s nothing or anyone who can change it.Only can can judge,let us not make ourselves his mouth peace,Nna le wena hare tsebe letho!Nna I am a straight guy and don’t have a problem with gays and lesbians,they pose no threat what so ever to human nature and our ways of living,instead I’m inspired by their desire and determination to livve.God said We are nothing without love,now tell me where is the love when one starts judging gays and lesbians?jwalo ka motho wa modimo,nthate ontshireletse lenna ke tla kgutlisa molemo oo!
Comment by KHASAKE LITEBOHO on 25 April 2013:
HAKE LE TLOHELENG HO ROHAKA LE HONA HO NYEFOLA BATHO, IF LE BONA EKA HOMOSEXUALITY E WRONG, NAA KE LONA KAPA KE MOLIMO EA TLA AHLOLA? NTHO E TENANG KE HORE BA IPITSANG BA-CHRIST KE BONA BA NYEFOLANG LE HONA HO SOMA HOMOSEXUALS, HA EBE KEE BONE BIBLE HANTLE, ERE LESE IKAHLOLELE….HOMOSEXUALS ARE PEOLE JUST LIKE YOU ASSHOLE, THEY DESERVE AS MUCH RESPECT AND OPPORTUNITIES LIKE YOU DO, SO STOP DISCRIMINATING…..VIVA HOMOSEXUALS VIVA
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