Abstract
Research on lesbian women and their sexuality has increased since the adoption of a democratic constitution in South Africa. Yet a large part of the research has focused more on the prevalence of rape on Black lesbians in South African townships, while a substantial amount focused more on the lived experiences of Christian gays. The available body of work above has been taken into consideration and, therefore, this paper documents how Black lesbians construct their spiritual identities. This exploration involves an examination of how the research participants manage to integrate their spiritual/religious identities with their different sexual orientation. For this enquiry, a qualitative research approach was used, and phenomenology was identified as the best approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants who identify themselves as Christian, and who also self-identify as lesbian. Key words: Christianity, sexuality, spirituality, lesbian, identity, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
Highlights
In 2017 an interesting development took place in one of the big and well-known South African Charismatic Churches, the Grace Bible Church in Soweto (TshisaLIVE1, 2017)
This study examined the lived experiences of lesbians in relation to faith and spirituality
The study revealed stories of painful and isolating experiences when sexual identities are negotiated with religious identities. This was, in part, the impact of the homonegativity that were experienced by the participants in the churches that they were members of
Summary
In 2017 an interesting development took place in one of the big and well-known South African Charismatic Churches, the Grace Bible Church in Soweto (TshisaLIVE1, 2017). This Church is currently under the leadership of Pastor Musa Sono and it is one of the Churches that are attended by several South African celebrities and wealthy Black South Africans. Some people were blaming Somizi as a disobedient Christian who does not want to repent, while others argued that the incident demonstrates that the church is still one of the most intolerant institutions towards sexual minorities. Somizi‟s reaction gave an impetus for deeper discussions about the intersecting, stigmatised, and multiple identities of lesbian and gay individuals within religious institutions
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