Home » The church in Kigali that welcomes lgbtq + people – Ivan R. Mugisha

The church in Kigali that welcomes lgbtq + people – Ivan R. Mugisha

by admin

November 26, 2021 11:41 AM

When he revealed his homosexuality, the popular Rwandan singer Albert Nabonibo lost everything overnight: work, friends, family… Expelled from his parish, he found an unexpected welcome in an evangelical church in Kigali.

For several years, the Church of God in Africa in Rwanda (Edar) has publicly manifested its openness to LGBTQ + people, challenging general conservatism.

Homosexuality is not a crime in Rwanda, but gay, lesbian or transsexual people
they are often victims of discrimination: they are fired, disowned by their loved ones, deprived of medical care or even beaten.

Albert Nabonibo experienced it on his skin in 2019, when he declared during an interview that he was gay.

“They used to invite me to sing at Christian events and in church. Many people loved my music. But when I came out, everything changed, ”says 38-year-old gospel musician Nabonibo.

“They twisted the Bible to give the impression that God hates us. But why should God hate what he created? “

Immediately the job offers disappeared, and his Pentecostal church let him know he was no longer welcome unless he “repented.”

“I have lost all my friends. Most of my family members no longer speak to me, ”he adds. Then, one day, Nabonibo discovered the Edar church and its pastor Jean de Dieu Uwiragiye.

“I was surprised, it was very different from how other Christians had treated me, in my family and among my friends.”

A longtime supporter of the lgbtq + cause, Jean de Dieu Uwiragiye took over the direction of his church four years ago and decided to open the doors to the lgbtq + community.

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“I was convinced that we had to oppose the conservative views of the church and involve LGBTQ + people, because I knew that many of them suffered and that the churches rejected them,” explains the 45-year-old cleric.

His choice caused a sensation.

Kigali, November 14, 2021. He pastores Jean de Dieu Uwiragiye.

(Simon Wohlfahrt, Afp)

Within a few weeks, many faithful left the church, considering his choice an abomination.

The pastors of other churches have declared that Uwiragiye was possessed by the devil, and a shower of insults from the faithful but also from complete strangers fell upon him.

Today the Edar has two homosexual pastors and a community of two hundred faithful, the majority of whom claim to be heterosexual.

“I was mistreated and opposed by other Rwandan shepherds because they were afraid of what I represented. But this is my calling, ”explains Seleman Nizeyimana, one of the homosexual pastors. “They twisted the Bible to give the impression that God hates us. But why should God hate what he created? ”.

On the occasion of a recent function, the first after the advent of the pandemic, with the church enveloped by music, the choir sang with energy inviting the faithful to stand up.

“This church offered me something that no one has ever offered me: acceptance and understanding,” says Cadette, 23, a transgender member of the choir.

“I love to sing, but other churches judge you and don’t offer a person like me the chance to serve God. Here I had this opportunity and I found other people who feel like me.”

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Lo stigma
Rwanda is one of the African countries that in 2011 signed a joint UN declaration condemning violence against LGBTQ + people.

But abuse and stigmatization are widespread.

The Health Development Initiative (IDH), a non-profit organization in Kigali, examined 36 cases of alleged human rights violations against LGBTQ + people committed in the capital of Rwanda in 2019.

Victims of abuse rarely report complaints, because they fear being further humiliated by the police and think that “it is unlikely that the reports will be followed up”, explains the director of the IHD, Aflodis Kagaba.

The IHD and a coalition of NGOs have lobbied the government to introduce laws that protect LGBTQ + people from arbitrary arrests and detentions.

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Jean de Dieu Uwiragiye organized an anti-discrimination training course for other church leaders but also doctors and nurses.

The pastor does not abandon his optimism. People “need time to change their beliefs,” he says. “It seems to me that they are slowly becoming more tolerant.”

For Albert Nabonibo the very existence of this church is a source of hope, and even allows him to dream big. “In Rwanda no church authorizes homosexuals to marry, but we can imagine that in the future this too may change …”.

(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)

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