Lessons from Nature and the Import of Homophobia

Dr. Yvette Abrahams lives close to the earth, on an organic farm outside of Cape Town, South Africa and she cares deeply about the earth. As a LGBTI activist and an advocate for gender equality, climate change is her current ethical interest.

In nature, Abrahams reminds us that over 450 animal species exhibit homosexual behavior while only one is known to exhibit homophobia—the human species. In her article “Thank You for Making Me Stronger: Sexuality, Gender and Environmental Spirituality,” she locates species diversity in a pan-Africanist discourse which argues that the true cultural import is homophobia.

We are grateful to share this new article by Abrahams from the special issue “Sexuality in Africa” of the Journal of Theology for Southern Africa at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This special issues was published in July, 2016 and had its world premiere at the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa.

Photo of Dr. Yvette Abrahams from FINDING AFRICA Interdisciplinary Postcolonial African Studies.

Banner photo features view of Table Mountain. There are 9,000 fynbos species found in the Cape and 2,000 types on Table Mountain alone – more plant species than in the entire United Kingdom.