Uju Anya, a Nigerian linguist and lesbian, has insisted that no amount or form of prayer can cure away the homosexual disposition of any individual who identifies him or herself as one.
Anya, a university professor and researcher in applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics, and critical discourse studies in the United States, said this in a series of Twitter posts on Wednesday while criticising a movie entitled: “Pray Away.”
According to her, the movie depicted a wicked lie of telling people that they can be cured of homosexuality, while actually loving a fellow man or woman could actually be their main disposition or preference.
The mother of two, who left her heterosexual marriage to turn lesbian, argued that no form of prayer invoked by any servant of God or even God himself can cure anyone from being gay, claiming that such teaching is instead creating hate, pain and oppression for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.
She tweeted: “That Netflix movie Pray Away is so heartbreaking. Wicked, immoral, predatory, lying scammers telling vulnerable people they can cure homosexuality. Being gay doesn’t need a cure, because it’s not a problem. Our problem is your hate and oppression against us. Cure yourselves.
“No God, no prayer, no holy man or holy water can make you stop being LGBTQ. Everyone who claims it happens or happened to them is lying (most cases) or in severe delusion and denial. Don’t waste your precious mental health with these charlatans. You. Are. Not. The. Problem.
“Your faith’s anti-LGBTQ teachings and community created this problem they now say they can cure. Your pain is from their rejection. Your isolation is from their stigma. Your feelings of worthlessness are from their abuse. Don’t let them sell you a cure to a disease they gave you.”
Anya said what homosexuals need instead is love, security, stability, safety from their communities, and said the society should accept and embrace the sexual preference of those who have come out as gays.
The Enugu-born scholar asked all homosexuals to reject the advice to renounce their sexual preference and disposition as advocated by the ex-gays depicted in the movie.
“No LGBTQ ‘cure’ will ever work for you. You don’t need a cure for being LGBTQ. You need love, security, stability, safety, and to live in community with people who won’t abuse, persecute, and kill you. The “ex-gay” ministries are actively causing your crisis. Please, reject them.
“And you conversion therapy torturers and “ex-gay” ministry swindlers, fuck all you sadistic liars. May the wounds you so mercilessly cause others inflame your own. May your putrid, fetid mind never rest until you leave this despicable business and atone for all the harm you do,” she wrote.
