Afrikaans celebrity lay preacher slammed for dangerous views on homosexuality
Gretha Wiid’s claim that homosexuality is a developmental aberration caused by an unloving father, which can be cured if caught in time, has gone viral.
Wiid is a popular public speaker, lay preacher and relationship ‘expert’ in the Afrikaans community and has been described as a female version of controversial preacher Angus Buchan.
She and her husband have appeared in numerous magazines as a supposedly shining example of Christian ideals. She also sells various products on her website, including relationship, teen and family advice books and even her own perfumes (In2Him for women and Inspire for men).
This week, a Facebook post highlighting a section in one of Wiid’s books advising parents on homosexuality outraged the LGBTQ community. In it, she writes:
“Some say that gay people are born gay. That’s something I disagree with. I believe with my whole heart that God made men and women to love each other…”
Wiid goes on to outline the bizarre theory that homosexuality comes about because young boys are not loved by their fathers or are beaten and treated badly and thus develop feelings of hurt and pain towards other men.
“They will therefore not want to be like men who prove their masculinity through muscles and strength. These boys also withdraw from the group (and don’t want to be part of the boys’ group at school). Many of these boys feel that they are different and believe at the end of the day that they are gay.”
Wiid explains further: “I believe with my whole heart that such boys could one day be wonderful husbands to their wives, but they did not speak to someone about these things in time – before it is too late.”
She also writes that some boys are teased by other children “because they play the piano or chess and don’t like things like rugby. They begin to call these boy moffies (faggots) from an early age…”
It is not clear what qualifications Wiid has to be able to make these assertions or to give advice and counselling to people.
The book excerpt was met with disbelief and anger from members of the LGBTQ community. Activist Christina Engela commented: “Gretha Wiid has obviously gone beyond the effort of NOT researching sexual orientation or gender identity issues to simply spout her own bigoted, ignorant and biased views on LGBT people.”
Makeup artist and drag performer Bernard Buys added: “Really Gretha Wiid? People like you are the problem in this world! I come from a very normal and loving home. What’s your explanation on it? #Justasking #GrethaWiid”
Enrique Grobbelaar said he’d lodged a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission “about the rubbish that Gretha Wiid is teaching our youth about the LGBT community”.
Like Buchan, who runs ‘Mighty Men’ conferences, Wiid hosts ‘Worthy Women’ events that assert the primacy of the man in marriage and that relationships must be based on Biblical values. Like Buchan, she believes that homosexuality is sinful.
She also endorses Buchan’s view that through prayer, gay people can be converted to heterosexuality. The book excerpt indicates that she supports these interventions among LGBTQ youth.
Melanie Nathan, the US-based South African-born mediator and Executive Director of the African Human Rights Coalition, sent Widd a letter urging her to apologise and to revise her publication.
“Our organisation was constructed as a direct result of the persecution caused by Christian Evangelicals, who in the name of Jesus and God invoke lies and myths which have resulted in the direct persecution of LGBT people,” said Nathan.
She continued: “What makes your publication even more insidious is the fact it’s directed to parents, who are often on the frontline of the love and care needed to nurture children/teens when they come out. You direct your work at these parents who, when believing homosexuality is a choice, often kick kids out of their homes, resulting very often in homelessness and worse yet, suicide.”
Well known Pretoria attorney and LGBTQ activist Coenie Kukkuk told Mambaonline that he’d had enough of the bigoted and dangerous views promoted by evangelists like Wiid.
He noted that “gay cure” conversion therapy targeting minors is banned in several states in the US and in Malta, “yet people like Angus Buchan and Gretha Wiid espouse it on every possible corner in South Africa”.
He pointed out that LGBTQ rights, “implying the right to NOT be attempted to be so-called ‘converted’, are entrenched in the Constitution”.
Kukkuk argued that, “Conversion therapy should be a crime in South Africa and hopefully the courts will put an end to it”.
For an academic view of Wiid’s ideology, click here.
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LGBTQ people are strongly encouraged to proceed and lay a charge at the SA Human Rights Commission by merely filling in this form: http://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/what-we-do/lodge-complaints/own-complaint
Done!
Do it please, guys & girls… it takes 5 minutes!
It is people like this that make me delighted that I am GAY OUT PROUD and Catholic. I am the first to admit that the Pope is way short of where we would like him to be but I am so tired of this rubbish that gets dished out by these so called christians. They are as awful as those who preached about the the wonders of apartheid in the sixties. Racism and Sexism are from the same cloth wake up !!!
Indeed. Succinctly put.
Amen to that
Public speakers carrying this level of non-insight into the subjects they speak/write on, should be prevented from addressing the youth at all costs. The damage they are doing is immeasurable.
This woman doesnt know her facts.
She definetly know God will! Hope you wil also someday
Shame I feel for her #Family that is … ooops… did I say tooo much… #NoLove #JustSaying!!
sy is reg n mens word nie gay of les gebore nie. dit wil dan se GOD het n vout gemaak!!!!. dit is demone wat manifesteer. niks anders nie
Wie se vir jou dat jou god even bestaan? Watse konkrete bewyse het jy vir sy teenwoordigheid?
Watter bewyse het jy dat Hy nie doen nie? Ek kan na persoonlike kennis verwys wat ek opgedoen het deur die jare, jy moet kan bewys dat Hy nie bestaan nie
Excuse me Tiny Ford. Did you not understand the question? Proof, is something that is tangible, it means that you can touch it, see it, smell it, it’s used to differentiate between fact and fiction. You do not attempt proving fiction, BECAUSE THE POINT IS THAT IS WHY ITS REFERRED TO AS FICTIONAL, you have but your belief. So I ask again, what PROOF do you have of your gods existence? Anything????
So om te bewys dat iets bestaan, moet jy aan dit kan vat en sien? Reg. Jy het suurstof nodig om te kan leef. Vat gou aan die suurstof wat jy inasem! Voel aan daardie suurstof wat jy inasem. Ruik daardie suurstof! Kyk daarna! Bestaan die suurstof nou wat jy inasem??? Maar tog sal jy al te graag daarvan gebruik – al kan jy dit nie sien of vat nie.
Maar moet jouself nie daaroor bekommer nie. God sal jou vind, en wanneer Hy doen sal jy besef Hy is AWESOME!!!
Maak ‘n effort om Hom te leer ken, dan sal jy weet!
Voed jouself op – eers deur te lees, en dan kennis oor die onderwerp in te samel, en hou op om te glo aan feëverhale. Maak jouself vry van die tandmuis en Xmas Vader – en demone. Jy is nou mooi groot, los die poppe en karretjies en feetjies en dwergies en spoke.
HAHAHHAHAHAA!!! What a load of misinformed fairy tale cr@p.
Sad.
I agree 100% with Gretha and uncle Angus. We do not like the sin, but will love the person. And at the end…What does The Bible say. Thats it….
Very hypocritical of you. Do you eat bacon? Pork tjops? Shrimp? Do you sometimes wear a silk blouse with cotton pants or skirt? Then you are defiling the laws of your god and your bible, because the “sin” of homosexuality is mentioned in the same breath by god as these sins I just mentioned.
Stephan you obviously have no clue on what the bible teaches. Refereing to judaic laws and pressing them on Christians is like me arresting you for not bowing to the Ceaser, You aren’t an ancient roman so you don’t need to keep up with their culture, Christians aren’t jews, we don’t need to uphold their laws
You can take your “hate the sin, but love the person” mantra and stick it. We don’t need your half baked patronising concern. A person’s orientation is woven into their being, so you either accept LGBTIQ+ people in their beautiful completeness or not at all. Stop hiding behind that bullshit hateful statement.
That is such an old story. You read a chapter in a book of 66 chapters and you think you know the whole story. Read from the beginning to the end. Study Scripture before coming across as so ignorant. I’m more than happy to qualify my statement so please feel free to engage…. but with this argument you have already lost it
And your comment in itself proves your hypocrisy. You point out hate in someone else with hate spewing from your mouth. I’m not able to love you or anyone irrespective of their sexuality without Christ. By all means dont accept the love shown towards a human while at the same time disagreeing with their behavior but that merely makes you intolerant.
By all accounts Jesus was a Jew not a christian.
If this woman reads the bible and applies it, what the hell is she doing ?? The god of islam and christianity FORBIDS a woman to speak of god in public and NEVER in front of men. This is typical christian psychosis, inflicted on innocent children by demented parents about invisible friends. My advice to ALL religious people, READ the Qorqan and Bible, UNDERSTAND it and you too will become atheist like me. ALL religions should be banned as it is mental abuse of children
Rom 16:1-3
While working retail in Kolonnade i had the pleasure to meet Gretha as one of my regular customers, at first i did not even know who the hell she was, but everytime she and her daughters entered my shop she was a ray of light, she would joke and chat with me, especially each time i tried to sell a new product to her we would end up laughing and making jokes, i am a very open gay person and she has shown me nothing but respect, not once had she brought religion into a conversation, why is everyone so hell bent on destroying her now that she made a wrong statement, allow her to have her views, as long as she does not force it onto us.
…and there’s the problem… she actually IS forcing it, by making the claims in her book. Don’t you see that conservative parents will follow her unqualified advice??
Read what “Houpoloy” wrote a few comments below…
* Hoypoloy
Regtig! Wat is die gesegde – die wat sonder sonde is kan die eerste klip optel en die sondaar doodgooi.
Ek het vriende wat gay is en nie een van hulle pa’s was of is liefdeloos en afwesig nie. Ek is ook nie volmaak nie,hoekom sal ek ander oordeel?
Ag ! Koekie ! Jou koppie raas! Pasop dat een van jou kinders of kleinkinders gay word! Dan praat Ons weer ! In die spirit world is no gender ! U r just an spirit!
Come on, Jan! This woman paints gay people as an abomination. Something to be ridiculed and something that needs to be fixed. It’s all good that she’s friendly to you, but you don’t seem to realize that she is stabbing you in the back while smiling in your face. Her archaic rhetoric feeds an outdated, unscientific and dangerous notion that gays are something that needs fixing. Instead Christians like her need fixing!
I’ve seen biased ill informed dimwits but this is just another dimension !!!!
Dit is Nuwe Testamenties.
Haat die sonde wees lief vir die mens. Gretha se sy GLO met haar hele hart dat dit so is. SY GLO DIT.
1 Kor 6:9-10 “… moenie julleself mislei nie…”
Gal 5:16-21
Kol 3:5-10
Rom 16:17 ‘n waarskuwing hierteen.
I just shake my head and smile at people like this.
Stem ongelukkig nie saam met Gretha Wiid nie geen kind wat hardhandig deur sy pa wat sy rolmodel moes wees hanteer is nie sal ooit weer na ‘n man draai. Die is slegs my opinie! God is ‘n God van perfeksionisme en sou nie gays skep nie lees in Deuteronomium wat GOD sê oor homoseksualisme. GOD het ‘n gruwel aan homoseksuele!!
Hierdie vrou het haarself nou lekker in die voet geskiet met haar uitlaatings.
Just going to leave this here ?
https://www.facebook.com/GayWorldCulture/posts/785245958307978
Stem ook nie saam met Gretha nie, om gay of lesbies te wees gaan nie oor hoe jou kinderjare was nie. dit is baie meer kompleks as net die woord gay self. My opinie is dat ons nie mense moet haat of judge oor hoe hulle anders as ons is nie. elkeen is verantwoordelik vir sy eie lewe. hoe jy uitdraai as jy groot is het n persentasie te doen oor hoe jou ouers jou opgevoed het, maar die res is jy jou eie mens. jy maak jou eie keuses. doen aan ander soos jy aan jouself gedoen wil he en wees gelukkig met wie jy is. Ek weet in elk geval te min van dna en gene ensevoorts om enige kommentaar te lewer! oor hoekom ons verskil van mekaar, so wees net jouself en geniet die lewe!!!
Why can’t this so called Christians let us be?Is this ever gonna end!We are brave enough to come out and love whoever our hearts choose,even with all this hate crime and criticism…
Sonde, sonde, sonde en kla!!! Gaan Lees julle bybels
Anybody “preaching the gospel” should be sharing a message of UNCONDITIONAL love. People who are condemning and accusing do not bear the fruit of LIFE. Accusations are born out of a need to proof superiority of one over another. Such need is egotistical and not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Condemnation leads to guilt which leads to death. Acceptance is acknowledgement of someone and in doing so a person is encouraged and inspired to experience love and thus live life to the fullest. Gretha, I hope you will become conscious of this as the universe is a house of many mansions and in the ultimate plurality is the perfect unity.
Grerha Wiid. Please read the following information before you say things you know nothing about.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/12/11/scientists-may-have-finally-unlocked-puzzle-of-why-people-are-gay?context=amp
Ek wonder net soms wat het van die oujongkerels en oujongnooiens geword van 50jaar gelede. Niemand het ooit oor hulle gewonder of vrae gevra nie. Leef soos jy goeddink en weet dat elke knie sal buig en elke tong getuig. Ek gaan ook nie die prosituut oordeel oor hoekom sy doen wat sy doen nie.
Al wat sy het is ‘n gladde mond en besigheidsvenuf waarmee sy duisende arme vrouens om die bos lei. Ek twyfel of sy enige akademiese agtergrond het waarmee sy haar bewerings kan staaf. Dit is in die ou dae ‘n lekeprediker genoem. Dit is ondenkbaar dat so baie mense daarvoor Val en dat sy so ‘n groot aanhang het.
This woman is ignorant and uninformed. As the proud mother of a gay son…..I know the difficult road that he has travelled due to bigots like her….that believe that they are holier and above all. My son has always been loved as he is. What about all the other children who have grown up being persecuted and judged by their families and friends due to the distorted and harmful opinion…and it is only an opinion…of a misguided woman like this. She is an embarrassment to all parents of gay children out there. I suggest she finds a new vocation in life….one where she is not entitled to speak at all.
Regtig Gretha….ek dink nie jy weet regtig waarvan jy praat nie. Wie sal nou ooit kies om Gay te wees. Gaan lees gerus Pieter Cilliers se boek ” ‘n Kas is vir Klere”. Miskien sal jy beter verstaan.
We are loving and dedicated parents to our gay son. How dare she make uneducated comnents and this is a slap in the face to many loving fathers. I wonder what her theory is on gay women?
Its because of comments like this that prejudice prevails
Every one has a right to an opinion. Whether you agree or not.
And we are all created HUMAN. Not perfect!
The fact that Gretha is well known to society does not make her perfect!
Who of you once had a different oppinion?
I am not perfect! You’re not perfect. And neither is she.
If she must(according to lots) first get to know God, then so must you! And me!!
Do not judge.
She judged all homosexuals and now we will judge her based on her statements with no evidence. I doubt she has the qualifications to say what she said. Religion makes people stupid, gullible and ignorant and she is a perfect example. My girlfriend still has to see a psychologist and psychiatrist to this day because of the rigid religious environment she was raised in – full of shame, guilt and forcing her to be something she is not. People need to open their minds to facts, clinical evidence and logic. PS There are many animals in the animal kingdom that practice homosexuality. It’s as natural as time itself.
Father sent his Son into the world, to save the world and not to condem the world. On the cross Jesus took on him all Sins, past, present and future sins. Rom 4:4, Rom 8:1-2, John 5:24. It is sad to see Christians and Teachers act like this in the Last days, Christians should be winning souls for the Heaven, not waisting time on Sin issues that have already been taken care of 2000 years ago. Act on the fruit of the Spirit, be caring and loving, time is to short for this. Gods Blessings on all.