Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Saturday July 30, 2011.
The Raging Debate
The issue of whether people have a right to practice homosexuality or lesbianism in Ghana has aroused mixed feelings, with a vocal public majority clearly against the practice.
Prominent public officials and religious bodies have come out to denounce the practice in no uncertain terms, and homosexuals are claiming random violence at the hands of the public. Human rights organizations, meanwhile, have not come together with a unified voice on the issue, even though most lawyers are of the opinion that their rights should not be violated.
A section of the Criminal Code forbidding “unnatural carnal knowledge” is popularly interpreted as anti-homosexuality.
However, those who practice the act insist they are Ghanaians. They say they deserve the same constitutional protections afforded their compatriots.
Hillary Afful, 26, from Accra is openly a gay and recounts a life-story of ostracization.
“My father didn’t seem to understand that his only son is behaving like a gay,” Afful told Daily Guide, in an interview granted provided his picture not be printed. “My father would always say, ‘He’s not my blood.”
The Christians Position
Religious bodies state blunt positions. Homosexuality and lesbianism are abominations, they warn, and will bring the wrath of God upon Ghana, making reference to Sodom and Gomorrah.
“The homosexual issue is becoming a problem, as our youth always emulate the lifestyle of the Western world, whether good or bad,” said Reverend Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, during a July 18 news conference. “In Ghana, we have witnessed gay marriages, and because these went unchecked, the homosexual community had even wanted to host a global conference on homosexuality. We as a Christian community in Ghana totally condemn this as an unnatural and ungodly act and call on all religious bodies and organizations, traditional leaders and all decent-loving Ghanaians to join this campaign.”
The moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Rt. Rev. Professor Emmanuel Martey, thinks that homosexuality and lesbianism could “override our cultural norms and values,” and said “it is a spiritual disease”, the sufferers of which need “spiritual cleansing.”
Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyina, chairman of the Church of Pentecost, struck a similar note, saying his organization is less concerned with advising government than promoting redemption.
But Rt. Rev. Matthias Modedues-Badohu, presiding bishop of the Anglican Church and bishop of Ho, said the act should be condemned.
“We speak against acts that go against the word of God,” he said. “It is abnormal and not good. Our objective is to condemn it so that people will not get involved.”
Several Christian leaders warned they would mobilize their congregations against politicians and political parties who defend homosexuality and lesbianism.
“We Ghanaians, and for that matter Africans, cherish our rich and strong values on issues such as homosexuality,” said Rev. Deegbe, “and we must not allow any one or group of people to impose what is acceptable in their culture on us in the name of human rights,”
Even though Ghana is a secular state, the population of Christians far outweighs that of other religious groups. Over 60 per cent of the population is said to be Christian and the threats from the faith must be worrying to political parties and their interests.
The Muslim Perspective
Muslims leadership has been very swift in condemning homosexuality as well. Sheikh Dr. Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutu, national chief imam of Ghana, warned homosexuals will face the wrath of Allah.
"Our country is on track for creating a better society, better living standards and better quality of lives devoid of poverty and illiteracy for its citizenry, if we reject this undignified and immoral act that is not even practiced by animals in the jungle," he said.
Maulvi Dr. Wahab Adam, ameer and missionary in charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, said homosexuality is not “a natural trait of man, but rather a habit which was acquired by some people who were confined for a long time without access to the opposite sex.”
He believes strongly that homosexuality and lesbianism cause HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and says, “It also runs counter to the natural order of creation.”
Government’s hesitancy
The John Evans Atta Mills administration has yet to make an official position on homosexuality, despite numerous calls from religious leaders to come out with more stringent laws.
President Mills reportedly went haywire when the Ghanaian Times ran a July 12 banner headline reading: “We’ll stop the Gays – President”.
The President personally telephoned the acting editor of the state-owned paper, to reprimand him over the story, even though the story was originally a Ghana News Agency item.
Western Region Minister Paul Evans Aidoo appeared to have heightened the debate recently, when he ordered the arrest of homosexuals in the Western Region.
On July 20, the minister said that security agencies, including the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), had been ordered to make the arrests.
“The security agencies, including the BNI, are on the ground,” he said on radio. “They are trying to see if people are practicing it. We even have volunteers who are on the ground studying the situation and providing us with information and we have also asked landlords to assist us to apprehend them.
“We want to get rid of these people from the society. We want to get them so that we can test the strength of our laws.”
CHRAJ as Human Rights Protector
The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the independent body constitutionally mandated to protect the rights of all persons, irrespective of status, does not want to be drawn into the debate.
“The commission is not taking a stance on the (unnatural carnal knowledge) law,” Richard Quayson, deputy commissioner of CHRAJ tells Daily Guide. “As far as the commission is concerned, all persons are entitled to protection under the laws of the country. And therefore we treat everyone equally under the law. The law does not allow anybody to take the law in his hands.”
“If a homosexual lodges a mob-justice complaint with the CHRAJ, Quayson said an investigation will be launched”.
Civil Society Organizations and NGOs
The position taken by Amnesty International seems neutral.
“Our position is simply that we do not either support or stand against it,” said Lawrence Amesu, director of the Ghana chapter. “For us, it is an individual choice, and even if a person decides to be a gay or lesbian, they should still enjoy their human rights.”
Daniel Asare Korang, programs manager with Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC), is much more vocal.
“We are committed to promoting the rights of homosexuals in Ghana,” he said.
He said HRAC has a ‘healthy relationship’ with the gay community in Accra and went ahead to disclose that HRAC secured funding from the UN to research the relationship between police and homosexuals. He said the report is not yet public.
Mr. Korang revealed HRAC was very active during the constitution review process, when it was able to bring together several homosexuals to present their position before a panel committee of the Constitution Review Commission.
“A case was made to include sexual orientation as a forbidden cause for discrimination in the current constitution,” he said. “There’s nothing like that in the Constitution.”
If sexual orientation becomes a constitutional ground for non-discrimination, it would be a legal landmark in the debate.
Individual Views
There are some pro-rights voices appearing in media, such as lawyer and lecturer Ernest Kofi Abotsi, with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and Professor S.T. Sai, former presidential advisor on HIV/AIDS.
Appearing recently on Joy FM, Abotsi insisted that the current constitution protects against arrest for a breach of morality. He also said the “unnatural canal knowledge” law is ambiguous and not necessarily a reference to homosexuality.
Prof. Sai, a population health expert, waded into the debate on Citi FM. He held that homosexuals have the right to practice their sexual preference within their constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy and autonomy, so far as they do not infringe on the rights of others or break any laws.
“There are constitutional provisions which talk about autonomy,” he said. “So why should what two people do in their privacy, without confronting anybody, be subject to the law when the law itself has got all of these provisions? It is really not appreciating what the law provides, or we are limiting the interpretation of the law to suit ourselves or our circumstances, rather than making it free for people to enjoy the provisions of the constitution?
He said he himself would not practice homosexuality, but he is not prepared to judge anyone who does.
“Especially as a doctor,” he continued, “I don’t know whether there is a biological basis for it, a psychological basis for it, or simply a person’s choice. I don’t know.”
Health Hazards of Homosexuality
The health effect of homosexuality has been bandied about the debate. According to health experts, risky sex practices greatly increase the incidence of serious and incurable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including hepatitis, HPV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS.
Dr. Akwasi Osei Chief Psychiatrist at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital in a recent media interview described homosexuals and lesbians as suffering from ‘mental illness.’
"Condemning and stigmatizing the people involved in the act will not help us,” he was quoted as saying. “Rather, we should deliberate more on the issue and think of a way to let them know that they are not well and that they could be treated.”
When Afful was 15, he became a prostitute. He had been rejected by most of his family and, with the death of his accepting grandmother, felt hopeless.
“I contracted a lot of infections,” he said, “genital warts, gonorrhea a
nd all that.”
However, those kinds of infections are often more associated with risky sex – such as prostitution – then homosexual sex. There are plenty of practicing homosexuals in the world who do not contract diseases.
Paying the price for supporting Homosexuality/Lesbianism
Korang admitted civil society organizations aren’t speaking clearly for the rights of homosexuals because there is a fear of being branded.
“I believe in Ghana it’s difficult to get civil society organized to come out and say, ‘We support homosexuality’, because the fear is they are likely to be associated with it,” he said.
Meanwhile, homosexuals themselves can only sit and wait for this latest flashpoint in the debate to run its course, whatever that may be.
“Now that all this noise is going on, we are in hell,| said Afful. “We are going through hell. We meet and we tell ourselves it’s no more safe,” Afful lamented.
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