Malawi: Adventist Uproar Over Cross-Dressing Soccer Fan Sporting Dorcas Outfit
20 August 2018 | A cross-dressing fan of professional Malawian soccer team, Be Forward Wanderers has infuriated Adventists in the country after he was pictured wearing the uniform typical of female Adventist Dorcas community service volunteers at a soccer match on Saturday, August 18. The Blantyre, Malawi-based team was playing the Azam Tigers, also from Blantyre, in a premiere division match in the city’s Kamuzu Stadium.
Malawi 24 reported that an image of the unnamed cross-dresser went viral on social media. Emily Egolet, the women’s ministries director for the Malawi Union of the denomination released a statement about the cross-dressing incident:
“In my personal capacity and as Director of Women’s Ministries in the Seventh-day Adventist Church and on behalf of all Dorcas Women in Malawi, I would like to register our serious disappointment and anger over this picture of a male Be Forward Wanderers supporter who wore the full Dorcas Uniform to a football match on Saturday. We find it disturbing to see a man dress in a woman’s clothes, is this a demonstration of something we are failing to understand? We find it very disturbing for a man to use a well-known church uniform to a football match and we find it very disturbing that the attire was used on a Sabbath day.”
Egolet spoke for Adventist women in the country saying, “we feel this young man has insulted our dignity and has demeaned our faith and has generally insulted the SDA Church in Malawi. We do not understand the motive behind such an action but we must say we will not condone this because it’s totally unacceptable and uncalled for.”
She added, “Our thoughts and prayers are with this young man for the Holy Spirit to talk to him in a very special way and we pray that FAM (Football Association of Malawi), Sulom (Super League of Malawi) and Be Forward Wanderers find it necessary to address this concern which has caused so much pain to the Dorcas Women in Malawi.”
According to the Adventist denomination’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research, Malawi has 530,767 Adventists and 1,434 churches.
