gay life in ghana

By Mac-Darling Cobbinah

May 2004: Gay life in Ghana is as it is in most African countries but has some differences too as to; the way gay men behave and societal reaction to people perceived to be gays. Gays in Ghana face many problems.

Stigma
There is a lot of stigma towards gay men and lesbians living in Ghana, due to what is called societal rejection of the act of homosexuality. Living in Ghana as a gay/lesbian or homosexual is very hard since you have to live all your life trying to gain acceptance from people who don't know you and don't understand you. People think here that being a gay is about being promiscuous, or a pedophile, but that is not the case. Gays in Ghana, are right people who pay our taxes and do every thing as good citizens of Ghana. We are not criminals we are not evil, we are not devil, its only when it comes to sex that our sexual orientation is different and this is not one person or two to force us to change but there are thousands of Ghanaian gays here and out there.

Violence
Gays / homosexuals in Ghana are living in the state of fear which we think is a form of violence. We have been isolated and our issues are not important enough to be discussed. We are beaten, even when we attend funerals, by young men who think being gay is foolish. We are attacked and robbed and all people say to us is, what where you doing there by that time and who invited you there? There is lots and lots of name-calling and most of these people call as "supi boys or Kwedjo Besia". This leads some few bad young ones to take advantage of us and rob us and the police do nothing.

There is a situation where if you are known to be gay in school, no one comes/plays with you or wants to talk to you and all see you as a different person and points fingers at you.

I was approached by a friend who has been asked why he walks or talks with me? People see him with me and think because of that, he is evil and will never go to heaven; because gays are evil men.

I was evicted from my first room that I rented, because they said no woman visits me and that means am gay.

I was beaten by a man who thought I have no rights to reply the wife when she insult me for being gay because gays are "nothing" and want to know how I got that power to reply to the wife. He used this "who are you? Homosexual talking to my wife like that?"

Gays in Ghana suffers psychological, physical and emotional and verbal abuse.

Poverty
Poverty is an important issue for us as gays because most of us have been evicted by parents or family and we are staying with friends and most to this because they want money and because they are poor and think this is an area where they can make money.

Most of the gay men in Ghana are not into any good job and those working in the big places don't want to be associated with gay group but they still want gay sex. Most people come from the other regions of Ghana to Accra to work and when they don't find it, they turn to prostitution. Most people don't have and can't get a little money to start a business.

Prostitution
Prostitution is common in Ghana since most of us have to survive and think prostitution is the only way out. There are lots and lots of gay men into prostitution and this comes in different forms by the different people. Most people do this at the beaches, while others in bars and clubs.

Human Right
Gays are not recognized in Ghana. The rights of gays are not rights and are not talked about since no one thinks its right to be gay. Gays are not recognized when it comes to issues relating to medical care and HIV-Aids. Even though the constitution of Ghana gives everyone the right to association, gay men can't meet to discuss issues that affect them in Ghana since it is believed that gays are not humans.

Medical
Medically gay men don't go to the hospitals for treatment especially if it is a sexually transmitted disease. Most of these diseases, you are asked to bring with you your sexual partner before treatment and gay sex been describe as criminal, most men come home and forget the hospital and fall on friends for help.
There are most cases where gay men have died of sexually transmitted diseases because they feel shy to disclose their sexuality to the doctor.

Gays get sick and we can't talk to them about HIV because even if we mention it, where is he going to get the test and when asked to provide the partner for test too what is he going to do?

Apart from leading to despair and illness, this also leads to poverty because the livelihoods of LGBT people are greatly affected when they become ill. This is exacerbated by the fact that they are often ostracised by our families because of our sexual orientation, and therefore often have very little family support when we become ill.

Law
The Ghanaian constitution has nothing to say on people sexual orientation since it among one of the oldest constitutions in the world that as not been amended. The constitution has a portion that talks about human right but does not talk about sexual rights.

Even though the criminal code of Ghana has not got any clear-cut definition on homosexuality or gay life style, the lawyer uses a portion that talks about "unnatural sex" which is sex with an animal.

Meeting places
Meeting places for gay men is not easy since the law is against "us", we can't meet or we'll be arrested by the police. Most people meet during parties and funerals of friends and love ones. Others meet in gay friendly bars and restaurants. There are few people who meet in homes. Others meet at the beaches.

Socializing places
There is lot of socialization that goes on in Ghana between LGBT's in Ghana and this is done in a similar way like in the meeting places.

HIV-aids prevalence
An interview we had with our people proves that most of them never use condoms during sex. There are few people who tell you they don't like sex with condoms and that they want it raw. There few who go round and say they want the biggest penis available and that if yours is not big, you should not try them. These are young people within the ages of 15 - 24. They are mainly the targets of adult customers who come to these places and they are made to do anything the adult says since there is the cultures of "do what ever the adult tells you to do here in Ghana" young people run after adult because they believe when they go with him they will get the money they want and when asked to get it without condom, they do it in the name of money. There are situations where you visit a friend sick and dying and you try to tell him to get HIV test, you are called names like devil and Satan.

HIV-Aids prevention
Even though there are lots and lots of HIV prevention going on in Ghana, the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transsexual) has been left out. The is no prevention or awareness targeting this community and this has caused lots of damage to us because there are most bi-sexual men in Ghana than any other groups since there is lots of discrimination, gay men go in for commercial sex workers and have sex with them in the anus. I will say that I can see the Ghana Aids commission is finding ways to reach out to MSM (Men having sex with men) in Ghana and some few clinics but not as a national programme.

contact: Ghanagay@yahoo.com or gaytourghana@yahoo.com
Site: www.geocities.com/popeducation