Gay in Ghana?

One thing you may well gleam if you pop over here regularly, is that I love Ghana. I think as places go it’s bloody brilliant: amazing environment, awesome food and outrageous people.

On a continent too stereotypically associated with war, hunger and corruption, Ghana is a beacon of light, going against the trend, proving us all wrong. Politically stable and morally strong: it was one of the only countries that held it’s ground in outcry against the genocide in the dark days of April 1994 in Rwanda, when the U.N. wanted out; all good reasons and all, no doubt, aided by the fact I used to live there.

But this week, Ghana’s been in the news for a bad reason and it’s in an area that has to make me think.

On Friday, the Ghanaian Government banned a planned conference for the country’s gay and lesbian community. The conference was due to kick off tomorrow at the Accra International Conference Centre in Koforidua. It was clearly well organised and the fact the organisors had booked a major venue would hardly suggest it was an underground gathering. But the government’s Information Minister Kwamena Bartels banned the meeting at the last minute, saying “[the] Government does not condone any such activity which violently offends the culture, morality and heritage of the entire people of Ghana.” In Ghana, homosexuality is illegal.

Some things about this are strange. Firstly the fact that the government stepped in right at the very last minute, rather than when it was firstly planned. Secondly the stone faced silence (so far) from the usually vibrant Ghanaian media.

It’s also an interesting issue, because the Gay and Lesbian Association of Ghana claimed a couple of weeks ago that the gay population in Ghana is huge. Prince MacDonald, who runs the association, said in an interview on the 24th August that thousands of people have joined his group, including prominent politicians. “There are a lot of people with this orientation when you move all over Ghana. When you go to Kumasi there is a large population, when you go to Sunyani, when you go to Techiman, in the North, in the Central, there are whole lot of young men and old men, young women and old women who are engaged in same sex attraction” he said in that typically Ghanaian way.

Ironically, the Ghanaians have an overt friendliness that sends any unsuspecting outsider’s gaydar into a spin. When you meet a Ghanaian man he will no doubt shake your hand and then lightly hold onto it throughout your conversation. Men holding hands in the street isn’t an unusual sight either.

It’s easy for western groups, bloggers and journalists to attack the government’s decision. The Black Star Journal - a U.S. based blog, for example, compared African homophobia to the american segregation in the deep south, suggesting gay people in Africa face lynchings. Over-exaggeration if you ask me. And what such criticism forgets is that in Ghana at least, 69% of the population are devout Christians. And the other 31% are either devout Muslims or traditionalists. Either way, homosexuality, in the minds of many God-fearing Ghanaians is bad.

So what must this make life like for Ghana’s growing gay population? Certainly not as bad as Jamaica, where it’s a matter of life or death, but it certainly can’t be easy. The government’s decision is explicable, but in a country that is progressive in so many other ways it seems unfortunately paradoxical.

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• Nick Winbush Update From Ghana: Days One and Two