Angelic Troublemakers: Edafe Okporo

We had the pleasure of speaking with activist and author, Edafe Okporo. Edafe was born in Warri, Nigeria. He migrated to the United States in 2016 as an asylum seeker and is now a refugee of the United States. He is a global gay rights activist, the founder of Refuge America, and one of the country’s most visible voices on the issue of displacement. We spoke about the issues of detainment for immigrants in the US, especially difficult for trans people seeking asylum and LGBTQ people. Edafe’s story is inspiring and powerful, reminding us that our work for equality must include marginalized people in the immigrant community. Edafe is the author of the book “ASYLUM: A Memoir and Manifesto.” He brings a personal commitment to his refugee work and the premise of his book- that home is not where you feel safe and welcome only but also how you make others feel safe and welcome.

 

Learn more about Edafe:

• Web: https://www.edafeokporo.com/
• Linktree: https://linktr.ee/edafeokporo
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/edafeokporo
• Order your copy of ASYLUM, A Memoir & manifesto: https://www.edafeokporo.com/book

To learn more about the immigration detention system in the U.S:

• https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/
• https://www.refugeamerica.org/

 

Resources:

• Join our online community at  Sanctuary Collective Community 

If you want to support the Patreon and help keep the podcast up and running, you can learn more and pledge your support at patreon.com/queertheology

 

This transcript was generated by AI and may contain errors or omissions.

Rubrik (0s):
AI agents are everywhere automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents not risk. Accelerate your AI transformation@rubrik.com. That’s R-U-B-R-I k.com.

American Giant (30s):
With the state of today’s economy, it is more important than ever to invest in products that last for years to come. As the season shift and get cooler, make sure your closet is stocked with durable layers that stand the test of time. From American, giant American giant’s, clothes work harder and are wearable season after season, their greatest hoodie ever made is made of the highest quality materials that are cut and sewn right here in the United States. So your investing right back into your local community. Choosing American Giant means taking a stand for American manufacturing and hardworking Americans, something other mega corporations don’t care about. From fleece to knit, all in a range of colors. For versatile daily wear, American Giant delivers everyday pieces designed for everyday life. Feel the difference of quality made to last close from American Giant. Get 20% off your first order with Code Staple twenty@americangiant.com. That’s 20% off your first order@americangiant.com with code Staple 20.

3 (1m 40s):
Welcome to the Queer Theology Podcast. I’m Brian G. Murphy.

4 (1m 43s):
And I’m Father Shannon TL Kerns. We’re the co-founders of queer theology.com and your hosts

3 (1m 47s):
From Genesis, revelation. The Bible declares good news, LGBTQ plus people, and we want to show you how

4 (1m 53s):
Tune in each week on Sunday for conversations about Christianity, queerness and transness, and how they can enrich one another. We’re glad you’re here. Hello and welcome back to the Queer Theology Podcast. This week we are continuing our series on angelic troublemakers. Last week we talked to a veteran of the fight, and this week we’re talking to someone who’s newer. We’re delighted to be interviewing Afi Ro AFI is the author of the book Asylum, a memoir and manifesto. And in it he brings a personal commitment to his refugee work and the premise of the book that home is not where you feel safe and welcome only, but also how you make others feel safe and welcome.

4 (2m 34s):
Aada Porro was born in Wari Nigeria. He immigrated to the United States in 2016 as an asylum seeker and is now a refugee of the United States. AFI is a global gay rights activist, the founder of Refuge America, and one of the country’s most visible voices on the issue of displacement. Leading an organization with a vision to strengthen as a place of welcome for the L-G-B-T-Q, displaced people, a graduate of a NoGo State University and the School of business at NYU. He currently lives in New York City. This is an amazing conversation. We’re so excited to invite you in to learn more about a dafis work.

5 (3m 12s):
Well welcome. Thank you so much for being here today. So excited to dive in and dive, hear more about you and your story and your work. I would love to, to start out with just asking, can you tell us a little bit about where you grew up and and what that was like for you and if, if there was any kind of religious upbringing that was a part of that.

6 (3m 36s):
Hi, my name is a, I grew up in war Nigeria, the south of Nigeria. My family come from the African traditional religion of Du State and they were worshipers of Shang Western Godde. My father still practiced the African traditional religion until 1999. So in 1999 there was gonna be the Y 2K, the dawn of the new millennium. So on December 31st, 1999, I still remember I was like nine years old. We all run into a church. It does the church in my community like a big Ezra.

6 (4m 21s):
We went there, we were praying till 12th and 12th. They like, happy New Year, you survived the white two. This is not a distraction. My father left the African traditional religion and baptized as a Christian, but my mom in 2003, I baptized as a Christian too and went through the confirmation process and I was taking communion until I was matured and I became a Pentecostal. I left the Anglican church when I was like 16 or so.

7 (4m 57s):
Yeah. And what was it that sort of drew you from the Anglican Church into the Pentecostal church?

6 (5m 4s):
It’s interesting because I didn’t know the driver in particular. When I left, I went to a boarding school and I got admitted to college at 17 or so and everybody in my college were going to the Pentecostal church, so I decided to join them. Sure. And you know, if you are going to become a priest, you have to go a school and it’s a long process, but to become a pastor in the Pentecost Church, you have to tongues and you do to six weeks seminar and you’re a pastor.

6 (5m 46s):
And I wanted to be a pastor because I felt like me as a gay person, that I was possessed and maybe if I become a pastor to end every condemnation that I’m supposed to face and become this straightforward person. And yeah, so I, I left to join the Pentecostal church with my student groups and later became a pastor in the Pentecostal church because it was like easier a process compared to the Anglican Church.

5 (6m 19s):
And what was your experience as a pastor in the Pentecostal church?

6 (6m 23s):
At the beginning it was great. If you can lie, if you can hide, you’re in a perfect place. I, I love the Christian religion. I still do up to this day because I’ve gone through a lot of persecution in my life. But I, I think that the Bible has become like a comforter in times of crisis in my life because there are scriptures I could go to that reminds me that there are people who have had great suffering compared to what I’m going through. There are people who lost their entire family and all their goods, all their animals, everything, and they still survive.

6 (7m 8s):
And there are people who face great challenge like David and they still like Joseph and they still end up being rewarded for being nce with the religion. So when I was in the Pentecostal church, I didn’t have any kind of like social life. ’cause I go to church on Sunday. I, I go to church as early as 5:30 AM I join in cleaning the church, I do bible study, I take a Bible study class, then I do worship. And after church I still end up cleaning the church. Then I leave around one.

6 (7m 48s):
So my entire Sunday I spend it from like 5:30 AM to one in the church. And when I come back home, I go back for like a bible group by 6:00 PM in the evening to 8:00 PM So all my community around me then were members of the church. So I felt very close relationship with members of the church and it was difficult to like deviate because if you deviates you’ll lose all the people you have because everything you have is tied to the church while is going good. It was great. I, I have friends, if I don’t have food in my home, they’ll prepare food and they would invite me to come and eat, like play games with people.

6 (8m 33s):
It was like one of the greatest experience of my life until, you know, I came out as gay and that was when it was difficult for me to be a member of the church as a gay person.

7 (8m 47s):
Yeah, I think your story, like that experience is one that so many LGBT LGBTQ people can relate to both, like looking for, you know, as a as as a, as a like safety, but also then it becomes a place of unsafety at the same time. So what was it that caused you to sort of risk it all by coming out as gay?

6 (9m 10s):
You know, I didn’t know that I would have the courage to come out as gay. My grandmother, when I was 11 years old, she used to take me to church and show all her friends. My grandmother was around 80 something years. She would show all her friends on Sunday, like older people to women. They would be like, oh, to meet my grandson, A that is going to become a pastor when he gets older. And you know, I’ll wear a, a tie and a pants and a tie and I’ll my, in my pocket I yes grandma, you know, like I have the favorite because I aspiring to be this person that is loved by my grandmother.

6 (9m 56s):
When I was growing older, my grandmother and I had this strong bond with like religion. We pray together. If she eats food, she’ll keep the, the a portion of the food for me. And if anybody comes to you like, no, you don’t pray with me, it definitely would take the food like that. So even losing that, the fear of losing that relationship with my grandmother was the most frighten thing for me as a person. Not even the backlash from the greater society. But when I was in college, about 19 years old, I tried to meet somebody on a gay app. There was no app, a website called Man, I, I think Manja.

6 (10m 42s):
So the guy was d he d that doesn’t show his face. So I, I didn’t know what was like deal. It was like, I don’t show my face, but if you want to meet, we can meet in a market square and we go to my place together. You know, I, I didn’t, I haven’t met gay people a lot then and everybody was like hiding. So I, if I wanted to like meet somebody, I would’ve to take direct. So we, I was in a market, so market in Nigeria is different. People are selling food, people are doing stuff, everything is happening.

6 (11m 22s):
So I was standing there and somebody honk, it’s like a Toyota blue car and wind down the passenger screen. I was like coming. So I entered, I knew about the guy. So we’re driving is a little bit older than me. I was like 19, it was like 33 and we drove into like a dead road. We just continued driving and we parked the car and he told me that, I told everybody that is in friend, you’re younger brother to my friend and you’re gonna school and I’m gonna give you stuff to take to school. That is the story you have to tell everybody.

6 (12m 3s):
I was like, no problem. We drove about five minutes and entered into a compound. So it was like a church. I was like, wow, you live in a church? It was like, yeah, I’m leaving with a, a friend upstairs of the church, like the, the vestry. So when we got into the vestry, I discovered that his picture was on the wall, the rest, a priest in the church, but I didn’t want to tell me because he felt like it will lead to him being outed. So I, I said, oh, you’re a priest. I was like, yeah, I’m practicing to become a priest.

6 (12m 43s):
You know, he wanted to touch me. I was like, don’t touch me like you’re lying to me and stuff like that. I slept in his place The next morning I woke up very early and went to the church. He was doing a communion mass in the morning, you know, I went back, took my stuff, he already dropped transportation money for me in the decks. It, instead of me to go to school, I went straight to my grandmother because I saw the kind of person I was gonna become, this kind of person that hide to sexuality. And the first person I would’ve to comment to was my grandmother. So I told her that I think I’m gay, I don’t have the language, but I think I sleep, I prefer to sleep with men than women.

6 (13m 24s):
And my grandmother was like, it’s okay. She was very old then. I dunno if she understand what I’m saying. She was like, it’s okay, I’ll screw. I like, it’s fine. So after telling my grandmother, I came back to school and I told some of my friends in school that, you know, I, I was having, I had a girlfriend then I told them that I’m pretending like I like this girl, I don’t like her, I’m going to break up this relationship. And they’re like, oh, this girl, two of you’re in love. I was like, we’re not in love. Everything I’ve been doing is pretty, but I didn’t come to them that I’m gay. Yeah, I just, my relationship. So it was that moment that I made a decision that I’m not going to hide who I’m, but I’m not going to be open about who I’m, but after I came out to my grandmother and to myself, I tried to meet another person on a gay dating app and it was a mob.

6 (14m 17s):
They pretended like they were gay, but like they, they mob four people, like they striped me naked, beat me up, took my money, went to the bank, took money from my atm. After that incident, I couldn’t argue who I’m anymore. A lot of people in the community, they already know that I was that guy that was beating, trying to sleep it another guy. So I just have to come out and say I’m gay.

5 (14m 44s):
And, and how has life been different for you since coming out

6 (14m 49s):
The church? First of I, I I, I used to be a pastor, they told me that no, I can’t be a pastor anymore. It sub too, it was like you can’t come to the church, we have to reconcile and all those things. And you know, I left the church and I hated my sexuality for about three years because you know, just so shame food that I went through that experience. But later on I moved to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory in Nigeria and I found the underground gay community. So it’s like very interesting community. So people who fled different cities, they’ll come to Abuja.

6 (15m 31s):
Abuja is like DC Washington DC is a federal capital erritory. And in the evenings you, your friends would be like, oh we’re gonna a party. When you get to the party and you go like, there’s like regular party up on top, but underneath is like gay guys who brought their clothes, their wigs and everything and they change underneath. So it’s called the underground gay scene in Nigeria. It was then I found like a community, a group of people who are like openly gay with each other and life was really great because you know, I was like, I found a community.

6 (16m 12s):
But in 2013 the government of Nigeria passed a law called Marriage prohibition act, which criminalizes gay relationship by 14 years imprisonment activist, 10 years imprisonment, cohabitation of suspected gay men imprisonment, public imprisonment. So that safe evil in Abuja became like a, you know, in 2014 January we tried to do a that during like that. But somebody reported to the police and the police came and arrested everybody that were there. So there was just constant crackdown of any spaces where you could be gay in Nigeria.

6 (16m 57s):
But you know, in spite of that crackdown, there was a gay religious community in Abuja. So people come to this church in Abuja nearby straight people come to gay people come to, but the gay people coming to the church knows that majority of the guides there again. So that church was like a safe even for gay people especially where we started doing HIV and AIDS testing and providing access to medication for people. Because because of that law, most people are HIV as suspected to, so they couldn’t go to clinics.

6 (17m 38s):
But it’s that su that church community is where we can masque and we’re providing I testing C and that’s where people who test positive can get treatment access to condom and other forms of protection. Yeah. But my life quickly changed from the church boy to the anti anti kind of spaces like that because I had to, I had to be outspoken about things like this for other members of the community to pick point and say if is gonna that church, that means maybe that place might be safe for me to go.

6 (18m 22s):
But it wasn’t really a church, it was just a safe Yeah,

7 (18m 27s):
I know that now, right, that you are an act like a gay activist. And so I’m wondering can you, you’re, it sounds like you’re starting to touch upon that, but I would love for you to just share a little bit more about your activism and and your work.

6 (18m 42s):
Yeah, so as circumstances we have it, I continue doing activism in Nigeria for access to healthcare treatment for LGBTQ community members. And in 2016 I won an award by an organization called they advocate for micro vaccine for HIV positive people, people and my name and photo publish as a grassroots activist in Nigeria here in the US. So that to further in my own country, like a mob broke down my apartment and stuff happened. So I couldn’t live in my country anymore.

6 (19m 24s):
I had to flee. So I came to the US to seek asylum in 2016 and I was detained for about six months. After I was granted asylum, I became homeless. And it’s a situation many people face when they come to the us they experience a form of homelessness after they’re being released from the detention center. I started working first for an organization in New Jersey doing HIV testing and peer education. But I discovered that that wasn’t a big problem in the US as it was in Nigeria. So I created the first organization in New York City, a shelter for LGBTQ displaced people in 2018.

6 (20m 11s):
And my work surrounded providing access to housing for LGBTQ people are displaced in America and you don’t, when you do something that affects the population that you’re part of, people speak about you. So like other LGBTQ people speak about me in the community, that it created a space whereby I couldn’t come and this was where I was able to build my life. And I think media came in to do a media interview with me as a result of somebody we helped to became an MT in 20. And since then I’ve been using my platform to speak up about the issues LGBTQ displaced people face in America and the broader sense of what equality would mean for LGBTQ displaced people who find themselves in America.

6 (21m 3s):
And that is the work I’ve been doing for roughly four years now, is creating awareness on the issue of detention for LGBTQ identified people. Because we face an historic marginalization in our own country, we persecution to come to the US detention is a form of torture. And while I was at the detention center, one trans person from Honduras, female male to female, but because they couldn’t change their birth certificate in Honduras, they put them in a male detention center with me. And when they were released from the detention center, they came to stay in the shelter I created. So I, that was the first person we were advocating for why trans people should not be locked up in detention center.

6 (21m 51s):
And that advocacy has proven successful. DE detention center was locked up in New Jersey, housed about 400 people, but now’s housing less than 25 people. And the state of New Jersey have signed an agreement to close private prisons for detaining immigrant by 2026. So that these are some of the kind of advocacy I do is advocating to end detention of LGBTQ people coming to America to seek protection, creating favorable policies that will give people who are released from detention center access to housing. Recently I founded a new organization separate from the shelter I founded.

6 (22m 31s):
The shelter is still running, they have about nine staff. But I left the shelter because direct service was very difficult for me because I have that direct experience of being a displaced person. I created Refugee America, we do 3 1 1 service for LGBTQ displaced people. So if you arrive in Tijuana and you are detained and you’re released from the detention center, if you go to Refugee America website and write us that you’re currently at the border in Arizona or Texas, we can pay transportation for you to move to a city like Chicago, Denver, and New York and find LGBTQ supportive services to support you if you’re also in transition to find healthcare providers that can help.

6 (23m 17s):
And recently we started creating a guide for welcoming LGBTQ displaced people because you know, if you come to a new country and you have been marginalized, you might find it difficult to talk to a service provider. So if a service provider seek now on their websites that they’re inclusive of LGBTQ people with a flag or their pronouns are, you might begin to feel like you can open up and receive services, this sort of organization. So that’s the work I’m currently doing.

5 (23m 49s):
It’s amazing. Yeah, I’m I’m wondering if you have, I I’m sure that for some of our listeners who are in the US who are maybe even unaware that people are being detained, if, if someone wanted to find out if that’s happening in their state and how to organize against that, do you have any resources for where they should start that work?

6 (24m 17s):
Yeah, the, the detention center in almost all 50 states in America. So if you go to ww, freedom for immigrant org, freedom for Immigrant have a visual display of all the cities and states in America via detection centers are currently being located. And we are trying to end the mandatory detention across America because, you know, private prisons facilitate the detention of immigrants and the federal government have signed a bill to end the use of private prison for federal crimes, but they have not the use of private prisons for immigrants.

6 (25m 4s):
And one of the biggest group is called GO, they were formerly called Correction Corps of America. And you know, the funny thing is that the US is the highest detaining, they have the highest amount of detention of immigrants in the world and it costs about 201 each day to detain an immigrant. For the six months I was in detention center, that was about 40 something thousand. US there are alternatives to detention like per bracelet people could wear and bail. And that is the service Canada is currently using community services whereby community will sponsor an immigrant and if community sponsor an immigrant, five gay people say we’re gonna sponsor or our church is gonna sponsor an immigrant.

6 (25m 57s):
So we’re trying to get the US government to use alternatives to detention for immigrant. There’s an historic, there’s an historic trail that follows detention of immigrants is mostly black and brown people that have been detained in America. The first time detention was used in America, A Supreme Court judge said that this is unAmerican to detain people in America. But 1980 during Reagan administration, the Cuban and Asian migrants who were coming to America, they wanted to repel them from coming into, so they started the use of detention. Again, it’s not the Trump administration or the administration, almost Clinton, Obama, George Bush, they all use detention for immigrants.

6 (26m 49s):
And this is the 21st century with looking at bail reform for Americans. We should also be looking at what other forms of reform can be applicable to immigrants coming to seek protection in America, especially the people. I’ll tell you something that happened to a friend of mine when I came to the US in 2016, after I was detained, a friend of mine who was working in the same organization with me came in 2017, you know, it, it was locked up in the detention center in de in at planter. And he was HIV positive, you know, it took them two months to get him on his medication.

6 (27m 30s):
He almost died because his viral load increased and he brought his medication from Nigeria. They said he cannot take the medication that he has, do the tests in the detention center. And he told me that one day he had issue with his, they had to do cleaning, so they had to take him from the detention center to a nearby hospital. You won’t from the detention center to he got to the clinic, they chain into his to share why the dentist was trying to clean his teeth. It’s like so terrible. Like how they treat people who come to America to see protection.

6 (28m 11s):
I think that there’s a complicated relationship with like immigrants and like the rights of immigrant in America because Americans are like, why should we focus on the rights of immigrants when we too have our issue? There’s a trans legislation all across America, don’t say gay in Florida, but I think that if we really want to achieve equality in America, it has to be for everybody and not just one set. Because if Americans are treated differently from immigrant, that means we’re permiting LGBTQ people to be, to to be on the end of persecution.

6 (28m 54s):
Why we Americans are like, we’re safe not to be persecuted.

5 (28m 58s):
Yeah. Wrong. And historically all of these different oppressions and marginalizations are all connected and so we have to work for all of them at the same time, not just one or the other.

6 (29m 11s):
I, I think that it’s like surreal that Americans don’t think about outside America. If you are married as a gay person, you have gay rights in America, you and your husband cannot be transferred for work stuff to Nigeria because your marriage will not be accepted there. We can’t go Saudi Arabia, not that we’re gays and what is equality for us when we’re still restricted to be able to do things around the world. So if we’re gonna change what it means to be a free gay person in America, we have to also influence other parts of the world.

6 (29m 60s):
And this is one thing I want to say about being a religious person in America and also thinking about where your money goes to around the world. Homophobia in Africa is flawed by the west. There’s a dark money channel that moves from evangelical churches in America to Africa. The first anti-gay bill that was passed in Africa was in 2012 in Uganda. The bill was written by a white evangelical from America handed to a senate official in Uganda and sponsored the bill. And the bill was passed after Uganda passed their bill in 2012.

6 (30m 43s):
Nigeria passed their bill in 2013 and that has for anti LGBTQ eight across Africa, there are still evangelical churches that preach that being gay is bad and you know, the, the strong sense of homophobia in Africa is fought by Pentecost star evangelical Christians who come to preach that the west is already destroyed, don’t allow Africa to be destroyed.

7 (31m 13s):
Yeah. So if, if someone is listening and they’re like enraged by what they’re hearing, they’re also inspired by what they’re hearing. What is like the next action that you would tell someone to take to get involved and make a difference?

6 (31m 31s):
I think that we tend to think about it too big to show it’s like this is a systemic problem. There’s nothing I can do. When I came to America, I was expecting to be accepted by the gay community in America because from afar on Facebook, YouTube, I see gay people celebrating pride. I, I wanted to leave that true utopia of being a gay person. But when I came here in the gay community, I’m a refugee and in the refugee community I’m black in the black community, I’m African and Africans, I’m gay.

6 (32m 13s):
There is no integration or intersectionality between gay Americans and gay immigrants. There is this like large division of like we have HRC, we have glad we have Gleason, but they’re only focused on like gay American rights. I think that there need to be more intersectionality between gay Americans and gay immigrants who are coming here because when we come to this country, our one big dream is to be a part of that equality agenda. So I think that they need to be more inclusivity between gay Americans and gay immigrant.

6 (32m 57s):
That is one that reduced the division. Secondly, when I came to America after I was released from the detention center, a church group in New Jersey, they contributed two 40 for me to get a shelter at YMCA in new for two weeks. You know, they gave, there are gay people who are trying to support people here, but I think many gay people do not know that they’re gay immigrants locked up in detention center. And I was visited by this church group from Riverside, a straight lady about 80 something years old and a straight guy about seven something years old.

6 (33m 37s):
They were visiting me, they were writing me letters like pen. There’s so many gay people who have been historically marginalized who are in detection center that we gay Americans can write them letters to say that you are part of us, you’re welcome here and when you get outta this detention center you’ll be welcomed in America. You know, the first time I visited gay, it was like a shock for me. I’ve never visited gay. I was like, oh my God, you could do this. Like there so many immigrants who would love to be to their first day by America or you know, there’s so many people having isolation when they come to America that if you’re organizing something you can say, oh I’ll invite this set of immigrants to join me.

6 (34m 26s):
And that is what I try to do in New York City with my shelter. There’s so many gay people in New York from Wall Street to the financial sector, mostly the financial sector that because I was vocal, they’re like, oh, you’re my friend, I’ll invite you to my place. And when I get to their place, I’m like, you have a big space. Do you want to host an event? I lemme bring seven other immigrants to your place. And they’re like, do you think it’s safe? I’m like, okay, why do you think it’s safe for me and not the, so I think that we need to create a sense of belonging, safety and coming for people who are coming here and it be as lead to as helping a give person do their resume when they come to the us.

6 (35m 15s):
We recently launched the with 10th partnership for refugee, the TQ mentorship program for LBQ immigrants. So more 36 company sign up to reach from TD Bank to Deloitte and essential JP Morgan Chase, whereby they bring a few of their staff to mentor LGBTQ immigrant. There is no commitment to give them a job, but it’s just like, I’m meet you four times a year, talk about you. And recently we had a partnership with Facebook provided a training for LGBTQ people who wanna be digital ma marketers for them to be able immigrants who wanna be digital marketers.

6 (36m 2s):
And after the 12th training, some of them got employed by Facebook and other organizations. So I think it’s just more integration into the American society to create opportunity for not just immigrant, but for the LGBTQ community in America. We yeah, the immigrant community. Yeah,

7 (36m 22s):
A lot of our well centers are in the US but we also have folks listening from all around the world, including like some in Nigeria and Honduras and places like that. And so I’m wondering like what message do you have for folks outside of the US or Canada that might be in places that are less friendly to LBT rights than, I mean, the US is like, we have our own, we have our own problem. And so even saying that like us is also not always the most friendly, but to folks who might be listening from Nigeria or Uras or other, some of those places that you mentioned.

6 (36m 59s):
You know, when I was writing my book, that was the first thing I thought about is that when I was this 17 years old teenager struggling with my sexuality, the church was not a friendly place. I wish I had known somebody who was like me to just say to me that you are normal, you’re okay, you are not possessed. And literature kind of influenced culture too. Like podcasts influenced culture a lot and somebody is hearing my voice from somewhere and they’re relating to say that that person is telling my story, but it’s also giving me a sense of hope that I too can one day live in that reality of being a free gay person.

6 (37m 47s):
And I think that that is the only thing I can offer them at this point is that you’re seen and who you’re is completely normal. It’s not your faults, it’s just that society is built in a way that is meant to make us feel like we’re not normal.

7 (38m 5s):
Yeah. You mentioned your book. Can you share more about your book? What’s in it, where to get it?

6 (38m 13s):
Yeah, so I wrote a book called Asylum by Simon and Schuster. It’s gonna be out June 7th. You can get it in any bookstore across America. I I like to support independent bookstore, but some people outside America, there’s is gonna be available in English countries like Canada, uk, Australia, and even Nigeria and Kenya, Simon Schuster have different websites in different countries where you can get to the book. When I was writing the book, I was writing it for people like myself at the beginning.

6 (38m 54s):
I just wanted to have an influence towards someone growing up in a country whereby they’re gay, they’re Christian, they’re black, and they’re like, that is me. This is my struggle, this is my experience. But as I was continuing writing, I was thinking about it that now I live in America and many Americans are naive towards the fact that people living here when they get here, it’s not all rain, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There is still a lot of struggle. So I wanted to leave on the pages, the experiences of someone who came here who was largely naive towards IIII, I was biased towards a lot of things and I was naive about a lot of things.

6 (39m 40s):
I didn’t know that Jewish people existed. I I, I read the, the Jewish people existed when I came to New York and so that were Jewish people in Brooklyn. If I call my mom and tell another, oh, I saw a Jewish person, she’d be like, oh, you lying. So it’s that kind of like naiveness I grew up in. It was very religious, just anything outside of Christian religion was bad. Were gonna go, you’re gonna destroyed. So I think my memoir is also an opportunity for me to see how much I have grown as a person and how much we all grow as a person each day. And to give hope to people that despite the fact that things are difficult right now, I don’t imagine if I can be a gay person in like 90, 55 or if I could be out to be myself in like 90, 80 whereby I’ll be sacked for my job, for being gay.

6 (40m 39s):
And it was those people who inspired us right now to be activists, to be who we’re, to be free and to be inspired to do something that will impact another generation. And it’s not left alone to us to leave for ourself. It’s left alone for us to leave for ourself, also for another generation to come in and reap the benefit of what we’re fought for. Like the way we’re reaping the benefit of what other people fought for. They lost their job, they lost their livelihood, they died in war. So that we can say that we’re gay, we’re bisexual and transgender and love is love and rainbow and everything.

7 (41m 19s):
Thank you for all of that. We’ll put links to your book and your website, your social media in the show notes of this episode of the podcast, that folks can contact you easily and find the, the find

5 (41m 33s):
The book if they wanna. Before we go, is there anything else that you wanna share?

6 (41m 40s):
Nothing really Recently, you know, the Ukrainian crisis brought a lot of limelight into the plight of refugees globally. And a lot of people of fates have been saying like, oh, this crisis is bad. It’s like we have to do everything we can to support the Ukrainian people, you know, but I’m very shocked, I’m very shocked that it happened in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in mamma, and people were not that because the US population and their empathy for immigrants is geared towards quote unquote a white institution.

6 (42m 25s):
So I think that those thing I would leave everybody with is including myself, is that we have to constantly check our biases when issues are happening around the world and say that what do I, what am I missing or what is not represented in the table? And how can we be more inclusive in terms of like creating a better world for everybody and not just a certain group of people.

5 (42m 52s):
One question that we like to end with all of our guests is to ask what is something that’s bringing you joy lately?

6 (43m 1s):
If you look behind me, I just got my diploma and today I got my commencement gown. I just completed my master’s from NYU School of Business and May 18th I’ll be doing my commencement. So it’s, I can be able to go to school and be myself in this country every day. It’s like a blessing.

5 (43m 26s):
I see you rocking your sweatshirt. Congratulations. I recognize them.

6 (43m 35s):
Yeah, the violence. Yeah. I say I’m just like NYU Journal. I love it. I have in my office table, you know, it’s cost me a lot of money to do the program, A lot of money. I could be their house with it. So, you know, that’s what alumni does to you, is that they sell you the promise. But I think that I, I, I’m just grateful that I’m able to live in a country whereby I can achieve my dream every day.

5 (44m 3s):
Thank you so much for, for being here and for sharing your story. It’s just so lovely to, to hear and to get more involved in, in the things that you’re talking about. So thank you for being here.

6 (44m 16s):
Thank you very much. Awesome,

5 (44m 17s):
Thanks.

8 (44m 19s):
The Queer Theology podcast is just one of many things that we do@queertheology.com, which provides resources, community, and inspiration for L-G-B-T-Q, Christians and straight cisgender supporters.

5 (44m 28s):
To dive into more of the action, visit us@queertheology.com.

9 (44m 31s):
You can also connect with us online on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. We’ll see you next week.

Rubrik (44m 40s):
AI agents are everywhere, automating tasks and making decisions at machine speed. But agents make mistakes. Just one rogue agent can do big damage before you even notice. Rubrik Agent Cloud is the only platform that helps you monitor agents, set guardrails, and rewind mistakes so you can unleash agents, not risk. Accelerate your AI transformation@rubrik.com. That’s R-U-B-R-I k.com.

Libsyn Ads (45m 10s):
Marketing is hard, but I’ll tell you a little secret. It doesn’t have to be, let me point something out. You’re listening to a podcast right now and it’s great. You love the host, you seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion and this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a preproduced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience and their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to libsyn ads.com. That’s L-I-B-S-Y-N ads.com today.

The post Angelic Troublemakers: Edafe Okporo appeared first on Queer Theology.