Social media model and content creator Bolu Okupe is coming out to support other LGBTQ people and to thwart homophobic hate-mongering. That includes the words and actions of his own father.
Bolu Okupe is the son of a former Nigerian presidential advisor named Dr. Doyin Okupe. Earlier this week, Okupe released an Instagram photo of himself holding up a Pride flag while wearing Pride colored shorts and no shirt. To caption the post, he wrote, “Yes I’m Gay AF.”
Unfortunately, Bolu Okupe received several hateful and homophobic words as responses to his post, according to BBC News. This includes the words of Okupe’s own father. Dr. Doyin Okupe released a statement through Twitter.
“My attention has been drawn to a publication of my 27yr old son, Bolu Okupe, in which he declared publicly that he is Gay,” said the Okupe elder. “I have been aware of this his new orientation for a while now.”
“He knows that as a Christian and a witness for Christ (an evangelist) I am vehemently opposed to homosexuality as it runs contrary to the avowed precepts of my Christian faith,” he added. “For me, I look beyond the surface or the physical. Here I see a major spiritual challenge ahead but I know as my God liveth, this whole saga will end up in Praise to the Almighty Jehova who I serve day and night.”
I have been aware of this his new orientation for a while now.
He knows that as a Christian and a witness for Christ ( an evangelist) I am vehemently opposed to homosexuality as it runs contrary to the avowed precepts of my Christian faith.— Doyin (@doyinokupe) January 21, 2021
But University of Manchester, United Kingdom grad Bolu Okupe would not take the hate and homophobic pushback sitting down.
“Your whole mentality is tragic. I feel sorry for you,” Okupe wrote in response to one user who said that Okupe would be a corpse had he lived in Kenya. “Your religion has turned you into a psychotic imbecile that you think it’s okay to kill people?”
He then added, “Your religion has turned you into a psychotic imbecile that you think it’s OK to kill people? First, you said to stay in France with your stupidity – sir, who do you think gave Africans Christianity?”
Bolu Okupe then concluded, “The French and the English pushed the religion on you that you are calling.”
As Bolu Okupe notes, a lot of the homophobic rhetoric that several African nations support and advocate for were pushed onto them by European colonialism. Now, nations like Nigeria uphold laws within their penal codes that were established under the rule of British, French, Portuguese, and Spanish colonizers. These laws threatened 14 years of imprisonment and even a possible death penalty for being caught having gay sex.
Despite not often acting on the anti-gay sex laws, Nigeria has a conservative religious atmosphere that is threatening to LGBTQ people. In such a country, it’s important that someone with a large following and with connections to the country’s governmental heads has come out. Hopefully, Bolu Okupe can help start discussions that bring about visibility and change. But for now, he’s also facing homophobic backlash while doing it.
Source: BBC News,
