By Prince MacDonald

October 12, 2004: "The louder we will sing" has been chosen as the theme for this October's LGBTI get together party in Ghana.

The planning all started with discussions among the gay and lesbian community about the need for to get organized and to find a common voice and be heard. Few people have seen the need to get organized while others want to wait behind to make sure there will be no problem starting such a movement.

The condition of gay and lesbian people here has not been the best and health issues of the LGBTI community have not been talked about. Young people who feel the LGBTI community should not be eliminated in Ghana continue to face harassment. We feel there is the need to get organized on the birthday of the founder and president of the only registered organization working to help the gay and lesbian community in Ghana on sexual health issues and human rights. The party has Mr. John Dickens from South East UK as it special guest. The programme will also be graced with the presence of US Peace Corps volunteers and a Canadian lady working with journalists for Human Rights Ghana.

The programme also seeks to create awareness on the use of condoms and the use of lubricants among the Ghanaian LGBTI community.

As part of the get together, we have arranged with a number of organizations here in Ghana on Human rights and HIV/AIDS to present brief information of what they do and the services that they have for the LGBTI community. Some of these organizations are UNAIDS, Theatre for a Change (TFaC), West Africa Project to Combat HIV/AIDS and STI (WAPCAS), Young People's Experience for Change (YPEC) and volunteers from the California University in Ghana.

The programme will start in the evening and end at midnight. It will let gay men and lesbian women walk home with condoms in packets and with the meaning of the rainbow flag in their minds. This time, the flag will be raised higher.

In order to sustain our programmes, we will announce our monthly meetings and get people to write names and contact addresses so that they can be reminded of other events that will be coming up.

We are trying our best to get a huge number of lesbians represented at the party. We are also trying to get materials on HIV-AIDS and STD/STI's targeting the LGBTI community since the ones in Ghana are only for the heterosexual community and not enticing enough for the gay man and the lesbian.

We have already received threats through mobile phone text messages and emails, but this time it's not going to stop us from doing what we want to do. "The Louder We Will Sing" will be the order of the day. After the party, people will walk to their homes filled with hunger for more such parties.

For the event we chose a community that is familiar and accepts the LGBTI community and helps us to prevent people from being harassed.

Feature attractions will include a performance by the popular Theatre Group and the Perfect Stars dance drama group, all from the Theatre for a Change. The song for the day will be "Something inside so strong" by Labi Siffre.

Email: lgbtghana@yahoo.com, gaytourghana@yahoo.com