Rizi Nasele Timane’ was born in Northern Nigeria, West Africa in a fundamentalist Christian home and taught from an early age that Homosexuality was a sin that would lead her straight to hell. After much soul searching and research, Rizi, like many gay Christians today, discovered that nothing is wrong with her and her sexuality is a natural God-given trait. Her struggles and persecution identifying openly as an out lesbian in Africa are the inspiration behind all of her music today.
Rizi, through her music, challenges the Status-quo and encourages the LGBT Community to continue to move towards achieving FULL Human Rights while at the same time, asking our opponents to stop their hatred, ignorance and persecution of our community. Her lyrics in the single, “Come Out” and songs like, “Do you know” provide a direct confrontation to the religious fundamentalist notion that God/Bible Condemns homosexuality and strives to educate the public about what the Bible really says and does not say about homosexuality. Rizi’s ultimate goal is to enable any LGBT person who wants to know God but has been turned off by Religion to know that God loves them just as gay as they are and also to help those who are struggling with their spirituality and sexuality, like Rizi did herself for many years (watch video of her story of “exorcism” and cocaine addiction by clicking the “video of Rizi’s story” link here http://www.rizigospel.com ) to finally find complete RECONCILIATION and AFFIRMATION. Presently, a series of Rizi’s 30 second TV commercials geared towards promoting this important message are airing locally in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Bravo Tv, E Tv and CNN (with a nationwide campaign on Logo Tv to follow shortly). To watch the commercial, visit www.rizigospel.com or www.youtube.com/user/COMEOUT2009