‘Gay-bashing Christians’ at medical school condemned
GAY is unholy. This is the message apparently being preached by the Medical School Christian Fellowship at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine in Durban.
The fellowship stands accused of institutionalising gay-bashing by targeting members of the gay community who are medical school students.
Students, who asked not to be named, said the church started targeting gay students last year. Unsavoury insinuations would be made against them during sermons, with the full knowledge that some members were gay, a student said.
“This matter is being handled by the SRC and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) forum is the complainant. We face persecution and discrimination for who we are. They persecute us for the choices we made when selecting who we want to love. Christianity is about God’s rule and who we are is not against Christian beliefs. They believe, and that is evident in their preaching, that homosexuality is not natural,” said a student.
He said the attacks on gays started last year when members of the fellowship made comments during sermons.
“We thought that this was going to be resolved at that time, but it dragged on. We have evidence in the form of video clips (taken during sermons) and a written testimony by one student who said it was through the word of God that he stopped being gay and became ‘normal’.
“Even with all the evidence handed over to the LGBTI forum, we are not allowed to speak to the media about this; that’s university protocol. We can get into trouble if we are caught talking about this.”
The persecution apparently did not end after sermons.
“It goes further, to residences when fellowship members do their rounds preaching the word of God. On numerous occasions, the preacher would touch his private parts and say ‘If you have this, then you are a boy’. People would be told that the fellowship exists to ensure that no gay or lesbian students existed.
“Towards the end of last year, one student wrote a testimony saying he was gay and, through the word of God, has been ‘cured’ and is now straight. For me that is not preaching the word, but a direct attack on the gay community,” said another student.
“Those Christian students view our orientation as satanic. The fellowship is in breach of both the university and the country’s constitutions. When this was first reported last year, at some stage they were barred from conducting services on campus. They conducted their sermons out of campus for two weeks, but I don’t know what became of that suspension.”
Fellowship chairperson Lindokuhle Mathenjwa said he was not prepared to talk about the matter at this stage.
Durban Lesbian and Gay Community and Health Centre spokesperson Sbo Khumalo said they were aware of the matter.
“We reported this to the Commission for Gender Equality and we were assured that the university would be requested to intervene. What makes this strong is the evidence in the form of video and voice recordings during the sermons,” he said.
The commission condemned the actions, “if they are true”.
Spokesperson Javu Baloyi said: “We condemn any form of discrimination against any person, regardless of their sexual orientation. South Africa is a constitutional democracy, and the rights of all individuals are safeguarded in the constitution.
“LGBTI should be afforded respect as their rights are enshrined in the constitution. We believe society should be educated on the rights of people, particularly those identifying themselves as gays and lesbians.”
Ahmed Raja, president of the SRC at the medical school, said he was very busy and could not comment, but promised to respond to questions e-mailed. When called again his phone was on voicemail.
UKZN spokesperson Norma Zondo said management deplored all forms of discrimination, and condemned “in the strongest possible terms” any offensive comments by members of the university”.