Popular Nigerian gay clergyman, Jide Macaulay, says “God Adores You, God Accepts You, God Anoints You, and God Assured You” is the real definition of gay as he has come to understand.
In a recent interview with The Huffington Post Jide Macaulay said this.
”Over the years, Gay has become powerful for me and as a person of faith, I believe that Gay means God Accepts You, God Adores You, God Annoints You and God Assured You” he said
The 54-year-old, who was ordained by the Church of England as an Anglican priest last year, recounted his childhood in a traditional Nigerian home and how he considered the text of the bible in Leviticus that abhor same-sex relations. He said he was struggling with it at the time but over the years, he started to overcome that portion of the bible ‘s religious confusion.
”Being a black gay man is never easy. My journey and education started at home. I was raised in a conservative Nigerian Christian Home and it was also around the time I also discovered the bible text on Homosexuality, particularly in Leviticus.
I struggled with it at the time but it took me years later for me to reverse the biblical or theological misunderstanding of who I am and what the bible says. The challenge for me is being able to communicate my feelings to my parents and also to my siblings. It did not happen until years later. ” he said
Jide, who founded Nigeria’s first gay church, House of Rainbow, which has since been outlawed, also spoke about how he got married to a woman, had a child with her and then divorced so that he could live his life as a gay man.
My emotional state was clearly quite complicated at the time of my separation and divorce over the fact that I had only come out as a gay at the time. And it was also quite complicated as a black man in England, because at the time I didn’t know a lot of people who were black and gay and also Christians and very proud to be a person of faith and their sexuality.
He said he hopes his experience will inspire queer people to believe they are still children of God, regardless of their sexual orientation.