Consequences of Imposing the Homo/Hetero Binary

and the Prospect For Decriminalisation

of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Contemporary Ghana

Odo Nnyew Fie Kwan Love never loses its way home

Master Student: Mathias Søgaard Supervisor: Associate Professor, Niels Kastfelt

Submitted: August 2013 Defended: September 2013

Copyright © 2013 Mathias SøgaardAll rights reserved

Centre of African Studies

University of Copenhagen

Mathias Søgaard

Table of Content

Acknowledgements…………….………………………...…………………………………..…page 3 Acronyms……..……………..………………………………………………………………….page 4

Summery (Danish)……………………………………………..……………………………...page 5

Introduction………………….…………………………..….…….…………………………..page 6

Part I - Background Information..…………..….………………………..…...………….…..page 7 About the Author…………….….………………………………………………………………page 7 Methodology………….…..……..…….…………………………………..……………………page 7 Problems………………………….……………….….…….………………..………………..page 10 Homosexuals?…………………….……………...………………..…………………………..page 15 An Introduction to Contemporary Ghana…..……………...………………………………….page 18

Part II - Who Are the MSM and WSW?……………………….………...…………….…..page 24 Network and Acceptance.………..…………………………………………….……………...page 24 Who Are They?……….………………………..…………...……...………………………….page 27 CEPEHRG………….………………………………...……………...………………………..page 36

Part III - Perceived Empowerment and Disempowerment…..…………….……………..page 41 Colonialism and the Creation of the Other…………………..…………..…………...……….page 41 Unnatural Carnal Knowledge…………………………...………….………………………....page 44 Why Homosexuality Gains Importance……………..………………………………………..page 46 Homosexuality as Empowering and Disempowering……....………………...……………….page 54

Part IV - The Prospect of Decriminalisation of MSM……………...……………………..page 60 Informants…………………………….………………………………………...………….….page 61 Voices in the Public Debate………………………...……………………...………………….page 63 The Impact of External Threats on Political Legislation and Decision-Making…...………....page 66 Popular Culture...……………………………………………………………………………...page 71

Conclusion……………………..……………..………………………….…...………………page 73

Bibliography…………………………………….……………………………………………page 74

Appendix…………………….…………………………………………………………….…page 79 Questionnaire used when interviewing non-MSM/WSW……..……….……….…………… page 79 Questionnaire used when interviewing MSM/WSW…………………………..…………...…page 80 A1: Daily Guide, 2013, Rights Vetting, Jan. 31……....…………...………..………..………..page 82 A2: Daily Guide, 2013, Gana: Human Rights, Feb. 4……….……………...…..…………….page 82

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Mathias Søgaard

Acknowledgements:

Before you begin to read this thesis, I would like to thank the people who made this happen. I

would personally like to thank every single informant, who believed I was important enough for

them to dedicate their precious time with me, for some that meant hours of conversation. You gave

me an insight into your world and let me into your hearts. Without your help, this thesis would not

have been possible. I owe you everything.

I would like to thank the Headmaster of Christ Jesus Educational Centre, Mr. Michael Kumi, and

the Headmistress at McCarthy Hill Basic School, Mrs. Lydia Asare, for accepting me as a volunteer

in 2006, and for our friendship ever since. I would like to thank the headmistress, Mrs. Mary

Amankwaah, and teacher, Mr. Robert Asante, at Odorgonno Senior High School, who allowed me

to interview their students. I would like to thank the Minority Rights Officer, Mr. Samuel Azumah

Nelson, and the Programmes Manager, Mr. Robert Akoto Amoafo, at HRAC for having time to talk

to me in the midst of Mrs. Nana Oye Lithur’s acceptance as Minister. I would like to thank the

entire Ndubisi family for letting me into your home and hearts in 2006 and for always being

supportive, The Sackey and the Obour family for always having your door open, especially Sam

John, who invited me to his village, and by doing so, he created an everlasting memory. And at last

the Afriyie and the Dickson family for your endless hospitality and understanding. I would also like

to thank Dr Akosua K. Darkwah from the Department of Sociology at the University of Ghana and

Ph.D. Serena O. Dankwa who came with helpful advise in relation to materials relevant to this

thesis, and law lecturer at the University of Ghana, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, for elaborating on the

implications of the criminal code of section 104(1)b.

Then I would like to thank virtually everybody, who has been around me for the past two years for

accepting my, at times, endless talking about homosexuality and “doing.”

I hope you will all find my thesis worth the trouble.

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Mathias Søgaard

Acronyms AI - Amnesty International AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation CAHG - Coalition Against Homophobia in Ghana CEPEHRG - Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights, Ghana CHRAJ - Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice CPP - Convention People’s Party CRC - Constitution Review Commission CSC - Communication for Social Change GAC - Ghana AIDS Commission GALAG - Gay and Lesbian Association of Ghana GII - Ghana Integrity Initiative HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus HRAC - Human Rights Advocacy Centre HRW - Human Rights Watch IGLHRC - International Gay And Lesbian Human Rights Commission ILGA - International Lesbian and Gay Association LGBT - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people MARPs - Most At Risk Populations MP - Member of Parliament MSM - Men who have sex with men NDC - National Democratic Congress NGO - Non-Governmental Organisation NPP - New Patriotic Party OSSA - Odorgonno Senior High School, Accra PCG - Presbyterian Church of Ghana PNDC - The Provisional National Defence Council SHS - Senior High School (formerly abbreviated SSS - Senior Secondary School) UCK - Unnatural Carnal Knowledge UK - United Kingdom UN - United Nations UNHRC - United Nations Human Rights Council USA - United States of America USAID - United States Agency for International Development WHO - World Health Organisation WSW - Women who have sex with women

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Mathias Søgaard

Summery (Danish)

I de senere år er der kommet et voksende fokus på homoseksualitet i Afrika, hvor litteraturen som

ofte diskuterer, om denne praksis er importeret, oftest fra Vesten, eller om denne praksis har

eksisteret på det afrikanske kontinent fra før kolonitiden. Dette diskuteres stadig, men der er

fremkommet så mange beviser fra blandt andre antropologer, såsom Evans-Pritchard (1970), at

homoseksualitet, forstået som et intimt forhold mellem to af samme køn, ikke længere kan anses

som værende importeret. Dette speciale ønsker derfor at bringe debatten videre om hvorfor, at

mange ghanesere italesætter homoseksualitet som værende importeret, når dette ikke er tilfældet.

Gennem feltarbejdet i primært hovedstaden Accra, interviewede jeg ghanesere, der havde sex med

deres eget køn, men problemet var, at mange ikke identificerede sig selv som værende

homoseksuelle, hvorved dette speciale hurtigt måtte reevaluere sin terminologi og overveje, om det

var muligt at bruge det homo/hetero binære system i en ghanesisk kontekst. Konsekvensen blev, at

termen “homoseksualitet” blev udskiftet med termerne MSM og WSW i dette speciale.

Ved at bo blandt ghanesere giver dette speciale et unik indblik i, hvorfor homoseksualitet anskues

som værende importeret, da det blev muligt at observere hvilken funktion og kontekst begrebet

homoseksualitet blev brugt. Ghanesere bruger blandt andet homoseksualitet til at skabe sig en

platform, hvor de kan kritisere magthaverne i et samfund, hvor korruption opleves som et stigende

problem. Diskussion om homoseksualitet i Ghana handler derfor ikke om homoseksualitet, men

dette er et middel til at udtrykke befolkningens afmagt, hvorved et fokus alene på en misforstået

homofobi, er at glemme konteksten for den artikulerede vrede mod de homoseksuelle, som ikke er

befordrende for at forbedre situationen for de mange ghanesere, der omtales som værende

homoseksuelle af det omgivende samfund. Dette speciale forsøger derfor at forklare årsagen til

vreden mod de homoseksuelle, og hvad der skal gøres for at fjerne denne vrede, og om ghaneserne

og den ghanesiske stat er interesserede i at fjerne love, der kan fortolkes på en sådan måde, at MSM

forbliver en strafbar handling.

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Mathias Søgaard

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to provide an insight into the dynamics between the MSM and WSW and

the surrounding community, to analysis the impact of the belief that MSM and WSW are imported

and the implications politically and individually. This paper consists of four parts. Part I presents the

methodology, problems involved in the making of this thesis, and an introduction to Ghana and the

Ghanaian society. Part II provides the reader with information about how MSM and WSW portray

themselves, and how they navigate within a Ghanaian landscape that to a large extent frowns upon

such relationships. It also consists of an analysis and discussion of CEPEHRG, one of the largest

LGBT-organisations in Ghana, to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of such an organisation

in a Ghanaian context. Part III discusses from where the belief that MSM and WSW are imported

originated, the judicial implications, and the functionality of the usage of homosexuality by

Ghanaians, where it is foremost used to create a space which allows Ghanaians to criticise the elite,

who is viewed as becoming increasingly corrupt, and how the West is seen as a culprit in the

enrichment of the perceived corrupt elite. Part IV provides a prediction of the prospect of Ghana

decriminalising MSM in the future. The paper ends with the overall conclusion.

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Mathias Søgaard

Part I - Background Information

About the Author

I am a white, male, heterosexual Dane in my mid-twenties, and my first visit to Ghana was as a

volunteer for the NGO named American Field Service in 2006. During my six months stay with a

host-family in Accra, I experienced opinions that differed significantly from the ones I knew from

Denmark. Among the numeral conversations, homosexuality was one of the more frequent issues

that came up during these discussions. Several of my Ghanaian friends expressed a strong aversion

against this practice and against those who were involved in this practice. Therefore, I found myself

surprised that suddenly one of my friends, Kwabena , came forth that he felt grief that he had 1

feelings toward men. When I returned to Denmark I was enrolled at the course in Comparative

Religious Studies at the University of Southern Denmark. After I received my bachelor degree, I

was enrolled at the Centre of African Studies at the University of Copenhagen in 2010, which

enabled me to return to Ghana in 2011 and again in 2012 to conduct fieldwork on this very issue.

Each fieldwork approximately lasted six months.

Methodology

The prime target was the youth between the ages of 16 and 28 in Accra, where the majority of the

people, I interviewed, came from Awoshie and Santa Maria that are the names of two suburbs in

Accra. The interviews conducted in those suburbs were due to my stay in A-Lang, which is located

in Santa Maria in a walking distance to Awoshie. The opinions expressed among this age group

would provide an indication if Ghana will move toward South Africa, which is the only country on

the African continent that has legalised same-sex marriage, or if Ghana is drifting toward Nigeria

and Uganda, where the parliaments want to criminalise homosexuality further

The selected informants were chosen based on the age group, and that they lived in one of the

aforementioned neighbourhoods, because that would enabled me to know the informants better and

it would be easier to find time to conduct interviews (Spradley 1979:51). This would create a better

fundament to build trust between myself and the informants, which was essential to gather

trustworthy information. Supplementary, my informants and I would live in the same environment,

which meant that we could converse about shared experiences. The problems created by electricity

Names of informants in this paper have been altered to secure their anonymity.1

7

Mathias Søgaard

failure [light-off] was (and is) a common subject of conversation. I would as well engage in

participant observation by participating in the daily lives of my informants, which included visiting

their church, their family, watch a football-match and/or to share a local meal . In the end I 2

interviewed forty people, where ten were doing MSM and one was doing WSW. Qualitatively the

interviews differ, some informants I only met once, others I met on a regular basis, and hence the

information became more comprehensible. Among the forty people I interviewed, fourteen were

students, seven males and seven females between the ages of 16 and 20, who came from OSSA, a

larger public SHS located in Awoshie, where I was allowed to interview students for two days only.

Because of the sensitivity of the subject, the door was not allowed to be shut completely to the room

where the interview took place. The negative implications were that the students were less talkative

and I refrained from asking certain questions, since I did not want the students to get into trouble if

a teacher overheard a question he disliked. On the other hand, I obtained information from people

who came from outside the neighbourhood, which provided an insight to how the issue of

homosexuality was perceived outside of Santa Maria and Awoshie, and information on how it was

to be a student in Ghana from both boarder and day-students.

The sampling of people I interviewed, who were engaged in MSM and WSW, were found across

Accra. The natural cause for this was the use of the snowball sampling (Hammersley and Atkinson

1995:135 cited in Groes-Green 2010:59). MSM-informants would give me the number of their

MSM-friends, and their network was not linked to one specific location but rather to various

locations.

A second methodology applied was the usage of social networks such as Facebook. Facebook

proved not only to provide a space to follow the discourse of Ghanaian self-identified homosexuals,

but also as a place to find potential informants such as Edmund, who sent me a private message, if I

would like to meet him, where we decided to meet at the Accra Mall, and later he invited me to a

party.

Thirdly, I collected data through a rather unstructured approach inspired by Jordan Smith (2008).

This methodology allowed me to become part of the community, which included to sit in a bar and

have a conversation with the other customers and to participate in friends’ birthday-parties and

I experienced that Ghanaians began to accept me, when they observed that I ate the local food, often following with 2

the phrase that I was now becoming a real Ghanaian.8

Mathias Søgaard

church-related events, since people would often be more open and be in a good mood. Frequently,

people would ask what I was doing in Ghana, where I, depending on the location and the person,

would reply that I was here to learn more about how Ghanaians viewed homosexuals to observe

people’s reactions to my response. When taking the taxi casual conversations between the driver

and I would include everything from marriage, remarks on a recent football match to the popular

complain that the “big men” were “eating alone”, referring to the common belief, that the rich elite

failed their obligation to share their wealth, and hence the belief that the elite kept the wealth to

themselves.

Fourthly and lastly, I kept myself oriented through articles from the local media. Shortly before my

arrival, an unknown NGO wrote that there were 8000 homosexuals in Central- and Western

Regions, where the Minister of Western Region, Mr. Aidoo, called for the arrest of all

“homosexuals and lesbians” (Ghanaweb 2011). The implication was that the issue of

homosexuality made headlines in the local media. The media included the printed press from

mainly the two nationwide newspapers the Daily Graphic (state-owned) and the Daily Guide

(private), but also the ones available on the internet such as www.ghanaweb.com. The coverage of

homosexuality exploded after remarks from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, in October

2011, when he declared, that Britain might cut its aid to Ghana, if Ghana did not adhere to “proper

human rights” in relation to end prosecution of sexual minorities (Daily Graphic 2011; Daily Guide

2011). The second public roar occurred in January and February of 2013 in relation to President

Mahama’s (NDC) nomination of Mrs. Lithur, the executive director of HRAC . She stressed that 3

human rights included homosexuality, and hence the homosexuals were protected under the law

(Lithur 2011). In both cases pastors, politicians, scholars and NGOs expressed their thoughts on this

matter. Data from the media is therefore comprehensive, and it would be used in the analyse.

Interviews

Interviews were semi-structured, since the questions were prepared, but each informant was

provided a room to change the path of the conversation if (s)he wanted to. The negative implication

was that I did not manage to go through all questions with every informant because of time-

limitations. Positively, this methodology allowed informants to form their own path to a wider

A local Accra-based NGO that provides judicial help for all Ghanaians3

9

Mathias Søgaard

extent, and hence I became aware of underlying discourses I had not thought of prior to the

research, and it created a space in which informants could use their own terminology to describe

their reality. Thereafter, I would incorporate their verbatim in future interviews (Spradley 1979:19,

73). Before every interview, I promised each informant full anonymity and confidentiality.

The interview was built in sections, where questions about MSM/WSW and emotions relating to

this issue were deliberately placed at the end inspired by Ph.D student Oxlund (2010:91), who had

conducted researches on intimacy in South Africa and Rwanda. I would start to ask the informant

about how his or her day went and about his or her dreams for the future, which included questions

relating to marriage, children and traveling. This served two purposes: it would make them talk

about issues that were not considered taboo to make them feel less tense, and I would be able to

paint a biographical picture of the person sitting in front of me to be able to connect that

information to what the informant would say about his/her notions relating to sexuality. I brought a

voice recorder to each interview, but the majority of the interviews are not recorded. Before I started

an interview, I would ask the informant if (s)he accepted the interview was recorded, and if the

informant declined or displayed any discomfort, I would not turn the recorder on, and the interview

would not be recorded. Another reason why few of my interviews are recorded, was, that I was

nervous about bringing up the issue of tape recording in fear of scaring an informant, or the

informant would withhold information fearing a third party would hear the interview. As I gained

more confidence, I began to bring forth the recorder more frequently, and I discovered that my fear

was often unfounded. However, all MSM and WSW-informants expressed concern about having

their voice on tape. The result is that I do not have any interview with an MSM or WSW on tape.

Informants, who were not involved in MSM or WSW, I did, however, manage to record, which was

helpful, when I needed to listen to an interview to hear how I preformed and to listen to what the

informant said, and how it was said.

Problems

The main problem is that the collected data are from people from the capital of Accra, with the

result that statements and opinions shared by my informants cannot be assumed to be shared among

all Ghanaians. To compensate for the limited coverage, this thesis makes references to other

researchers such as Hengeveld (2012), who interviewed WSW in Cape Coast, Ph.D. student

Dankwa (2009), who did research on WSW in a medium-size akan town in southern Ghana, and Dr 10

Mathias Søgaard

Attipoe (2004), who analysed 150 questionnaires and interviews of self-identified MSM from

across Ghana.

Finding an Informant 4

In Ghana you are confronted with a different notion of time. I have spent numerous hours waiting

for an informant to show up. As Hengeveld also experienced during her fieldwork among WSW in

Cape Coast (Hengeveld 2012:39), informants would for various reasons not show up without prior

notice. Reasons for why informants would not show up, were often that they had to run errands for

their parents. This made it difficult to conduct interviews, and some informants became overly

unstable that they could not be used as informants.

Another problem was the widespread (mis)conception that I was rich. I have spent incalculable

hours, where I tried to convince people that I did not owe a car, that my parents were not wealthy,

and they did not send me money. The patronage system is still strong in Ghana, and I was perceived

to be a possible strong patron. When I went to the marked or I took a taxi it became the norm that

the price offered was “obroni-price” [white man’s price], because the perception was that I had

money and hence I could afford paying extra. When I hang out with my friends’ peers it was not

unusual that one or more of them asked whether if I would “dash” [hand over] a phone, a laptop or

a VISA. As a consequence, money became a factor in finding an informant, because an informant

could be disappointed, when I did not share the wealth, I was perceived to possess.

The element of flirting (Groes-Green 2010; Spradley 1979:45) caused some minor problems. Near

Kaneshie Market, which was half an hour’s drive from A-Lang, I met Sarah, 18, who tried to be

casted for a local film-production. The three conversations we ended up having always ended with

her expressing her love for me followed by a request for a smaller amount of money. It provided an

insight into the art of flirtation of some females, and how they used that for personal gain, but as

Groes-Green (2010) argued, her interest was to present herself as good as possible with the

consequence that she would tell me what she believed that I would like to hear, which generated

bias in the gathered information. Another example was from my first interview with John (2011),

who traded sex in favour of economic gain. During the first interview, he mentioned, that he

Because of close and frequent interactions between many of my informants and their closed relatives, I am restricted 4

in how well I can describe each informant to uphold their anonymity.11

Mathias Søgaard

preferred to “fuck” white people. This information could be correct, but the colour of my skin could

also have influenced his answer, where I noted several times that part of our conversation was akin

to a sales-speech, where I could be perceived to be a potential customer. This problem leads to the

most fundamental question, when we are discussing sexual taboos, because how trustworthy is the

data collected? Parker writes:

“There is perhaps no area of social research that poses greater challenges than the study of

intimacy and intimate experience - on topics such as gender identity, sexual desires and

practices, emotions and affairs of the heart - has been one of the least developed areas of

investigation in nearly all the social sciences over the course of the twentieth and early

twenty-first century.” (Parker 2010:viii)

When I began to engage in conversations with friends and people in the neighbourhood about my

research, the most frequent warning was, that I should be aware that I should not become a

homosexual. Out of the fourteen students I interviewed at OSSA, nine students concluded that if

you surround yourself with homosexuals or support them, you would be(come) one of them. The

people I interviewed from the neighbourhood from outside OSSA, four out of twelve related this to

the state of being possessed by a spirit. These notions did make it difficult for people to confirm that

they knew an MSM or WSW by fear of being categorised as one or to be one, since that could mean

they could be possessed by a spirit and a spirit is contagious. These notions further complicated the

task in meeting MSM or WSW, and to make such a person to open up. MacDermot expressed his

frustration with lying informants, when he discovered a Nuer man dressed as a woman, which was

“so totally against what the Nuer had been telling me”, he argued (cited in Epprecht 2006:193).

Groes-Green shared a similar experience. A female respondent first argued, that she always made a

partner use a condom before engaging in intercourse. When Groes-Green talked with her privately,

she changed her answer.

“You [female respondent] once told me [Groes-Green] that there is no way you would allow a

guy to have sex with you without a condom? Clearly annoyed she answered, “Yes, I know, but

you do not seem to understand. Do you think I will just tell you everything, just because you

ask me? Please. There are some things you do not understand unless you are there, unless you

are in my shoes.” (Groes-Green 2010:63)

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Mathias Søgaard

Bleek describes how after he has interviewed informants and gained their trust, the information

differed from the answers the same informants provided when they were asked to fill a survey

handed out by nurses (Bleek 1989).

“They had been interviewed without realizing that their responses would eventually come

under my eyes. When I compared their answers with what I knew about them, I was

abashed. They had lied lavishly, presenting themselves in terms that they expected would

make the nurses respect them. Some of their answers were so far removed from the facts as I

knew them that I was confounded.” (Bleek 1989:319)

He argues that people lie to protect themselves in order to present themselves as a respectable

person. That provides an informant with an incentive to lie. However, Bleek notes that when he

engages in personal interviews, informants would present a more trustworthy image of themselves

(Bleek 1989).

By participating in the daily lives of my informants, I tried to put myself in their shoes to create a

bond of trust, which would generate more accurate answers and thereby produce more reliable data.

Especially the MSM and WSW often narrated stories that would have been almost impossible to

gather through a questionnaire.

My Appearance and Problems It Creates

I am a white, heterosexual Westerner, who’s native tongue is Danish, whereas the informants were

mainly speaking Akan as their native tongue. However, it was not a problem during interviews,

which were conducted in English. The people were fully capable to describe their opinions in a

colourful and descriptive manner, which is due to the fact that English is the official language in

Ghana with the implication that English is taught in schools from an early age. But it excluded me

from having conversations with Ghanaians who did not master English well. The problem became

immediate when I tried to listen to people’s conversations. An example of my limited vocabulary

was the lack to capture the pronominal distinctions of genders in Twi. When two females in public

would talk about “that s/he knows how to do it”, a listener does not know whether they refer to a

man or to a woman (Dankwa 2009:198). I was also excluded from several radio channels, where

mainly Akan or Ga was spoken, which could have provided me with valuable information during 13

Mathias Søgaard

the heated debates on homosexuality that peaked at the press conference held by former President

Mills on November 3, 2011, on the threat made by Prime Minister Cameron one month previous.

My colour could also have influenced some answers from my informants positively and negatively.

The colour signified that I was a stranger, who did not present a threat to the everyday lives of my

informants. Thereby by being categorised as a stranger, I represented a safe space, which allowed an

informant to be more open (in Simmel’s “the Stranger” cited in Gammeltoft 2001:277). My

appearance was an advantage in relation to MSM and WSW, because homosexuality was regarded

as an imported practice from the West, which I represented, hence I could be viewed as being more

tolerable of this practice, which made some Ghanaians more willing to talk to me, where some

Ghanaians revealed, that they fantasised about doing MSM, something that they had not told

anybody because they feared the response from their surroundings.

On the other hand, especially after Cameron’s threat, rumours began to spur that I was a

homosexual trying to convert others to become homosexuals as well. On two occasions, I was

verbally attacked by people who loudly condemned me for being one.

Prior to my arrival to Ghana I was concerned if the fact that I am not a homosexual would have a

negative impact on answers from MSM and WSW because I was not one of them, which could have

helped in generating trust and therefore to generate more reliable data. However, I did not

experience my sexuality as a problem in the gathering of information. The issue was the

confidentiality handed over to me by the MSM-informants; often I would be around their closed

relatives, who “did not know”, meaning that they were unaware of the sexual “doing” of an MSM-

informant. Thereby, I tried to be extremely careful not to expose any of the MSM-informants

unintentionally. However, it also created a shared and secluded space, which was hidden from the

people who “did not know” from those who “did know”. That made the bonds between the

informants and myself stronger, where none-verbal language was used to exchange information

(Dankwa 2009:198; Hengeveld 2012:30).

During my six months’ stay in 2011, I rented a room at a local family in A-Lang, where rumours

began to emerge that I was a homosexual. In September 2012, I returned to follow the presidential

election to observe if the issue of homosexuality would become an issue, and to meet with

informants. I rented a room at the local guesthouse, Eno, located in A-lang as well. The rumours 14

Mathias Søgaard

grew in strength where at a certain point I felt that I had to inform the landlord that the rumours

were false. I feared the landlord could be forced to throw me out in order to protect the respect of

his family and his guesthouse. This fear is not uncommon as noted by Gaudio, who did research

among the ‘yan daudu [men who act like women] in Northern Nigeria. They have to keep a low

profile to avoid being evicted by the landlord (Gaudio 2009:114). I became part of the community

with all the benefits that spurred from rich conversations and the ability to follow the everyday life

of Ghanaians, but also with the realisation that I did not transcend the community, but I was a part

of it, and I had to take into account the attitude of my persona to remain a part of it.

Homosexuals?

Massad criticises the homo/hetero binary, that states that either you are a heterosexual or a

homosexual. He argues that homosexuality belongs to a Western discourse and therefore represents

Western hegemony. Consequently, to be a homosexual does not make sense to the majority of

people that live in none-Western countries. Western LGBT-organisations are “heterosexualizing”

the world with the implementation of this binary, which creates homosexuals where none previously

existed (Massad 2007). Massad does not argue that same-sex practices did and do not occur in non-

Western societies, but people, who engage in what organisations, such as ILGA, define as

homosexuality, do not necessarily identify themselves with those terms. He further argues that

scholars and activists transform MSM and WSW into passive subjects, they label in order to

promote their own personal agenda (ibid:189). In Nigeria ‘yan daudu riga [skirted dan daudu]

regard that to be a ‘dan daudu is like a shirt, you can pull on and off at will (Gaudio 2009:9).

Gaudio argues sexuality is not about what you are, but what you do. The “doing” is also highlighted

among Ghanaian MSM and WSW, who describe themselves by stating, that they “do it”, when they

talk about their sexuality (Hengeveld 2012; Dankwa 2009).

“It also lends support to scholarly arguments that gender, sexuality, and other ”identities”

should be seen as practices rather than the essences, as things people do rather than things

people are.” (Gaudio 2009:65)

This is supported by Christensen, who did research in the Gold Coast, today’s Ghana, among the

Fanti. The belief was, that those born with a light soul would desire men, and those born with a

heavy soul would desire women. If a man desired another man, it was because he was born with a 15

Mathias Søgaard

light soul. The result was that their relationship would still be viewed as to be between a man and a 5

woman (cited in Murray and Roscoe 1998:105). This is to exemplify that in parts of the world 6

sexuality is fluid by being attributed to what people do, and, therefore, sexuality shall not be viewed

as representing a stable identity. As Massad, Epprecht questions whether the world can be seen as

fundamentally heterosexual, where he joins hands with Gaudio (2009) in understanding sexuality as

fluid, that cannot be reduced to a binary system. The word homosexuality has a historical

etymology, that cannot be understood as transnational, transhistorical, and misunderstood to be

“self-explanatory unaffected by language” (Epprecht 2008:113). The implication is, that it is not

self-evident that we can call an MSM or WSW for a homosexual, because we do not know if the

person would identify him or herself as being one (ibid:17). Even if a person defines him or herself

as being homosexual, we cannot naturally assume the word connotes the same understanding for the

informant and for the researcher. The implication of the wording “doing” also implies you can stop

“doing” it, which underpins the fact that sexuality is understood dynamic that is defined by your

actions. The flexibility of “doing” possesses a problem to the queer theory. Butler (1999) and

Sedgwick (1990) challenge the sexual binary by arguing in favour of the existence of a third gender

or a third sexuality. However, they still define you in relation to something that you are rather than

an identity that you can take on and off like a shirt at will. For this reason this paper does not find

the queer theory useful to fully understand the concept of “doing sexuality” in contemporary Ghana.

In Ghana, one of Dr Attipoe’s MSM-informants notes, that he likes both anal and vaginal sex,

because two is better than one, and “people will not suspect what is going on.” (cited in Epprecht

2008:129). In Ghana -as in other parts of Africa- children play an immense role within society,

where to have children is not a choice but an obligation. As Dr Attipoe’s informant notes, to have a

relationship is not necessarily a matter of affection, but can be a strategy to keep the affection

toward your own gender hidden from your family. We could label an informant a bisexual, but

bisexuality requires sexual attractions for both sexes (see Gustavson 2009 among other scholars),

but when to have children is a social and moral obligation, to have sex with a person of the opposite

gender is not a choice. Thereby to have sex with one from the opposite gender cannot be defined as

bisexuality (Gaudio 2009:10). Consequently, to have a spouse of the opposite gender does not

logically follow that you are sexually attracted to him or her. A research from USAID in co-

The belief is still present in todays Ghana, where one of Hengeveld’s WSW-informant living in Cape Coast, argued, 5

she was born with a “man soul” (Hengeveld 2012:37).

Evans-Pritchard noted the same fluidity of gender among the Nandi. A barren woman could claim to be a man and 6

hence demand to be respected as such (cited in Carrier and Murray 1998:258).16

Mathias Søgaard

operation with CEPEHRG and Maritime argues that nearly two-thirds of all MSM have had sex

with at least one female partner in the past year, and one-third with multiple female partners

(USAID, CEPEHRG and Maritime 2010:4). As a consequence, it would be wrong to label an

informant a homosexual or a bisexual without knowing how the person labels him or herself. For

this reason I have chosen to replicate Epprecht’s terminology by using MSM and WSW (Epprecht

2008). These terms will be used unless a person or group defines themselves otherwise. However,

the usage of these terms has a built-in problem with the element of sex. The anthology “Boy-Wives

and Female Husbands” enumerates accounts from missionaries and anthropologists, from people

who did not define what they were doing as sex, but e.g. as “playing”. From Ghana Ajen writes:

“Nearly all the men admitted to having played with other males at least at that stage in their

life [childhood].” (Ajen 1998:132).

Or sex constitutes penetration. When Kendall interviewed women in Lesotho, she asked a local

woman, if she knew of women who shared blankets together [to have sex]. The woman replied:

“It’s impossible for two women to share blankets (…) you can’t have sex unless somebody has

a koai [penis].” (Kendall 1998:228-9)

But when Ghanaian men talk about sex, it does not necessary connote the act of penetration, but it

can as well be the squeezing the breasts of the woman (Bochow 2009:402).

Despite the problem in defining sex, whether a penis is required or not, and whether penetration

must occur or not, the terms MSM and WSW are the best ones in describing the people this paper

wants to examine, because these terms allow for a fluid understanding of sexuality, whereas the

term homosexuality signifies a stable identity that stands in opposition to heterosexuality.

The fluidity of gender and sex further complicates the task of interviewing. The interviewer can

establish a safe space by gaining the confidentiality of his informants but without gathering accurate

data, if the interviewer is unable to ask the right questions. To overcome this problem, I lived in the

same milieu as my informants to get into their shoes, to try to learn the language, and to understand

their culture. In relation to this paper, the complication in gathering accurate information about sex

and partnership was that I could not instinctively use words such as sex or homosexuality, because 17

Mathias Søgaard

the informant might not recognise those words in relation to his or her reality, or the informant and I

would have diverged interpretations of these terms. This was why such words were avoided, unless

the informant used these terms him or herself during an interview.

An Introduction to Contemporary Ghana

The borders of Ghana were a product of the scrabble for Africa at the Berlin Conference in 1884-85.

Ghana was named the Gold Coast by her British colonial power, and changed to Ghana after her

independence in 1957. The name Ghana dates back to the ancient Ghana Empire, that was located

in today’s Mali (Mensah 2010:45-6). Kwame Nkrumah (CPP) declared Ghana independent on

March 6, 1957, and since independence Ghana has suffered under numerous coup d’état (Cooper

2002:162-3). The first coup d’état occurred in 1966, which removed then-President Nkrumah from

power, and the last one happened in 1981, when Rawlings (PNDC) launched his second coup d’état

to remove the short-lived Limann administration. His military regime ended in 1992, where a new

constitution was written, which transformed Ghana into a multiparty democracy, and Rawlings

(NDC) won the elections in 1992 and 1996. In according to the constitution he drafted, he stepped

down in the year 2000, and John Kufuor (NPP) took office. In 2008 Mills (NDC) won the election,

and after Mills’ death in 2012, vice-president Mahama (NDC) ran for office and won . 7

The Ordinary Ghanaian

In Accra the first thing a foreigner will notice are the numerous billboards and posters for a broad

variety of churches. 83 % of Ghanaians define themselves as Christians, 11 % as Muslims, and the

remaining are predominantly traditionalists (PEW 2010:20). The vast majority of Ghanaians in my

neighbourhood proclaimed they went to church every Sunday, which corresponds with the findings

of PEW (ibid:23). In the last decades, Christianity in Ghana has become more charismatic (Gifford

2004:23-6, Dickson 2003), where the interpretations of the scriptures underpin the importance of

prosperity, where God blesses a good believer with wealth. Several pastors preach about a future

with big cars, and they promise that you will “receive more than you can carry” (Gifford 2004:49).

Sermons take place virtually every day of the week including evenings and nights , a church can be 8

President Mahama’s victory was contested by the NPP at the Supreme Court. The hearing started on April 16, 2013, 7

and on Aug. 29, 2013, the nine judges unanimously dismissed the case filed by the NPP (Supreme Court 2013).

I joined an all night service at Tema, October 2011, which started at 8 p.m. and ended at 6 a.m. the following morning.8

18

Mathias Søgaard

a massive building to a tent in a backyard, and it is customary for visitors to introduce themselves

for the congregation. The only church where I did not do so was, when I visited the International

Central Gospel Church (ICGC), which is one of the largest churches in Ghana sermoned by pastor

Mensa Otabil . Religion is also present in radio and TV, and on my bus-rides to Tema Station, a 9

pastor would often preach inside the bus where passengers could buy his CD or booklet.

Additionally, pastors can be observed -and heard- in some of the major bus-stations, while they are

preaching in a microphone supported by loudspeakers. Shops frequently have a quotation from the

Bible or the Quran above the entrance, and trotros [minibuses] have stickers on or inside the vehicle

with quotes from the Bible or the Quran as well. The belief in spirits is widespread, where pastors

proclaim that they can deliver a person from evil spirits. A spirit can look like a person , and be the 10

cause of your misfortune, and spirits or the person who casted the spell can show themselves in

dreams (Gifford 2004:100; Pew 2010:30). In this reality pastors also serve as protectors from a

world inhabited by spirits everywhere. Despite the overwhelmingly presence of religion, football is

an issue that can compete with the importance of religion. The majority of Ghanaians has a team

they support, and several drinking spots offer their costumers the opportunity to watch matchers

from Champions League and the local Ghanaian league live.

However, you can observe that shop-owners do not watch a church-program or football while

waiting for customers, instead they are watching one of the many soap-operas from mainly India

and Mexico synchronised into English or local movies from Ghallywood and Nollywood, and 11

people with access to cable watch popular series from the USA such as “The Big Bang Theory.” In

the evening, drinking spots play local as well as international music, where the youth goes clubbing,

when they want to enjoy themselves. This is to underscore that even religion plays an important

role, it is evenly important to emphasise that Ghanaians are influenced by and part of the

international community as everybody else.

It is not unusual his two sermons on Sundays can attract 7000 people (Gifford 2004:24), and each New Year’s eve, 9

Otabil fills the entire football station opposite the Black Star Square [formerly known as the Independent Square].

In the movie “Behind the Mask” (2011) a spirit, guised as a boy, protects the family from evil, because the family 10

takes good care of him. Spirits are not only bad, they can also be good.

Churches are deeply involved in the Ghanaian movie industry, which makes some movies difficult to separate from 11

mainly the pentecostal churches. On the other hand, there is no one controlling the movie industry. Consequently movies can also be used to discuss taboos (Meyer 2004).

19

Mathias Søgaard

Society

“It is the blinding gleam of beautiful new houses and the shine of powerful new Mercedes

cars.” (Armah 1968:56)

The presence of patrimonialism is ubiquitous. As argued by Chabal and Daloz, you become

accustomed to the existence of mansions in slums and the view of shiny cars on unpaved roads

(Chabal and Daloz 1999:42). Achebe argues, that Africans want to be oppressed in style. If you

have power, then you must display your wealth for others to know, that you are a big man (Achebe

1988:138-9). Armah narrates a scene, where a professor holds a lecture to the party men of CPP in

how to achieve growth. A party man present cannot remember what the professor said, only that he

fell asleep because the professor looked poor (Armah 1968:132-3). Thereby, to display your wealth

is to display your power, and the lack of public display of wealth is a display of your lack of power.

To be perceived as a strong patron [a big man], you must display your wealth, which nourishes an

ostentatious living (Chabal and Daloz 1999:15; Smith 2007:141-2). Patrimonialism is based on a

patron’s ability to gather resources and redistribute it to his cliental. Smith argues that patrons feel

burdened by the demands of their clients. On the other hand, clients complain that patrons fail their

obligation to distribute their wealth. Instead it is argued, that patrons keep the wealth to themselves

(Smith 2007:141-2), which is supported by the research on corruption by GII (2011) . The 12

implication is that corruption is not when you give your clients access to resources, it is when you

refrain from doing so. A patron that denies his cliental access to resources will experience hostility

and suspicion (Chabal and Daloz 1999:38;107; Smith 2007:11). Today, patrimonialism is

institutionalised by being incorporated within state apparatus in relation to the Weberian description

on the shift from traditional to rational-legal legitimacy, a shift which is referred to as neo-

patrimonialism (Chabal and Daloz 1999; Therkildsen 2005), which was vocalised through the

immortal words of Ghana’s first President Nkrumah: “seek ye first the political kingdom.” (Cooper

2002:67). It is common among Ghanaians to express certain acts by referring to bodily functions

such as the big men are accused of “eating alone” or that a person “vomits money” (Mbembe 1992;

Smith 2007:157). In 2011, GII asked Ghanaians how they perceived corruption in the country. 92 %

agreed, it was a serious problem, and the police were rated as the least trusted institution, and the

politicians as the least trusted individuals (GII 2011). This situation leaves the youth handicapped,

because they have not accumulated enough wealth in order to become strong patrons, they feel

The conclusions from GII are reiterated by the latest report conducted by Transparency International (2013) 12

20

Mathias Søgaard

disempowered by the perception, that the rich elite prevents them from obtaining wealth (Chabal

and Daloz 1999:33-4), and the police protect the elite. Additionally, the Ghanaian society is to a

large extent gerontocratic. This is observable by the frequent usage of titles you are obliged to give

to a person older than yourself. Titles are often “uncle” or “auntie”, or “sister” or “brother.” The

titles do not necessary refer to a biological relationship but refers to your internal hierarchical status.

You are expected to respect an elder ; if your father asks you to run an errand, you do as you are 13

told to show him respect. By re-articulating titles on a daily basis, the hegemony of the elderly is

ubiquitous and internalised from an early childhood. The implication of a hierarchic society based

on patronage is that people expect more from their vertical relationships than of their horizontal

ones (Chabal and Daloz 1999:17; Cooper 2011:170). When the vertical relations is perceived to be

broken, it further sidelines the youth. Not only do they not have the wealth to position themselves as

big men, they are disenfranchised by a gerontocratic society, where patrons do not give them access

to wealth. With a low or no income the youth is more often forced to pay bribes to get access to

state institutions and organisations compared to the patrons (GII 2011:11-12).

The Importance of Children

Miescher explains how important parenthood is by referring to the meaning of “cpanyin”, which

has two primary understandings. The first one is becoming a man , which stands in opposition to 14

being a child, and secondly, to become a so-called big man. A Ghanaian man tells an anecdote from

his childhood of a man, who was impotent; he became the laughingstock of the entire community

because, “he was the antithesis of the cpanyin”, because he could not become a father (Miescher

2005:155). Gaudio reports a similar account when he analyses his findings from video recordings

where older ‘yan daudu behave in a manner, that are expected in order to be considered big men,

which implies to have children (Gaudio 2009:144-6). In the Nigerian movie “Ibro Dan Daudu”, the

comedian playing a dan daudu expects to be treated as a man. When he enters his home he demands

respect from his wife and his daughter despite his feminine dressing and the dislike it generates

from his family (Gaudio 2009:147-8).

This notion is also embedded in the African Charter (African Charter 1990: article 31a)13

A further issue in relation to categorise people in connection to what they do. To be considered a member of the youth 14

is not solely related to your age but as importantly to your marital status, and more narrowly being a parent. As Miescher points out to have children marks the transgression from being a child to becoming a man, thus making the term “youth” elastic.

21

Mathias Søgaard

This thesis and the thesis from Hengeveld (2012) argue that Ghanaians additionally see children as

a safety net when they reach old age. The children will take care of you and carry on your family

name. To have children is your safety net, when you grow old, and they are a guarantee that you are

not forgotten. Sophia, 27, explains this by referring to the circle of life. When the child is young it

needs help from its parents. When the parents become old, they need help from their child. If

parents do not have children, whom would help them, she asks (Sophia 2011). A man who has sex

with another man is still a man, and he wants to be treated as such, as the movie “Ibro Dan Daudu”

illustrates, and to be a man you must procreate. As Miescher notes, the lack of having children

connotes that you cannot become a cpanyin, and thereby, you are neither a man nor a man worthy of

respect. As aforementioned, this is the reason, why this paper refrains from using the term

bisexuality, because procreation becomes an obligation for both genders (Gaudio 2009:10;

Hengeveld 2012:61-62).

Relationship and Sexual Affairs

During a visit to the Accra Mall, Clement, 17, a Catholic and a SHS-student told me, when he was

looking at some expensive shoes, that he was searching for a sugar mommy (Clement 2012). A

sugar mommy is ordinary an elderly woman, who will act as a patron in return for sexual favours.

Clement would like to have some nice shoes, and a sugar mommy could buy him those shoes. The

need for a sugar mommy or a sugar daddy if the patron is an elderly man, is shared by a number of

young Ghanaians. The papers P&P (short for People and Places), Da Vibe and My Joy all have

sections where men and women explicitly seek a sugar mommy or a sugar daddy. The need for such

can be due to the fact that many students complain about fees for school, uniforms, books and food.

Some also complain that teachers request money for items teachers are supposed to hand out for

free. If a student fails to pay the requested fees, the student would not be allowed to take the exam

and/or allowed onto school properties. Several of my friends who suffered from financial problems

would stay home for days or even weeks until they could pay the requested fees before they could

return to school. This creates a situation for the need to have a sugar mommy or daddy, who can

help you to pay the necessary fees and, as Clement notes, to pay for items you cannot afford, but

also to take you out to see a movie for instance. This also enables you to exhibit your wealth, which

improves your social status.

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Mathias Søgaard

The issue of sex is foremost displayed in numerous magazines sold next to ordinary newspapers, 15

with stories on how to please your partner, the sex-position of the week, sex-novels and people can

write in anonymously to seek advice.

The aim of this section was to provide the reader with a background information of Ghana. The

next chapter will describe how MSM and WSW manage to navigate within the Ghanaian landscape.

I enlisted the magazines: De Vibe, Ebony, Funtime, Hello!, My Joy, P&P and The Spice.15

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Mathias Søgaard

Part II - Who Are the MSM and WSW?

Part two consists of three parts. The first part will cover the MSM and WSW-environment in Accra,

and part two describes whom the MSM are from information deriving primary from interviews with

a selection of MSM-informants. This part also includes a WSW-section, however, the information

on WSW derives primarily from secondary sources, since only one interview with one WSW was

conducted, and then participation-observation of Yvonne, a woman, who has defined herself as

“gay” since 2011, who very kindly borrowed me her couch during my first days in Accra in 2012.

The last and third part covers an analyse and discussion of the LGBT-organisation CEPEHRG.

Network and Acceptance

The MSM and the WSW meet through their created networks, these networks primarily stem from

friends that introduce you to his or her friends and so forth. Anna, 28, a WSW-informant argues,

that if she is lonely in a bar one nigh, she can make one phone call and thirty minutes later a woman

will show up to keep her company (Anna 2012). At parties they can disobey some of the socio-

cultural norms, which permit some of the more effeminate men to walk more femininely than usual.

I was invited to an engagement party by Edmund, whom contact me over Facebook, and worked as

a peer-educator for CEPEHRG. At the party, I observed how openly he and his friends conversed. In

2013, I celebrated New Year with two of my MSM-informants, and all the participants were MSM

or “knew”, meaning that they are not themselves doing MSM or WSW, but they “knew” their

friends did. It is normal to observe men dancing together at regular parties, but the audience allowed

the MSM to dance more freely. It was exemplified with the dance of two men, where one man

would move his buttocks toward the man dancing behind him, and his dancing partner would learn

his genitalia toward his buttocks to simulate intercourse. In Accra, there are a number of bars and

neighbourhoods , where MSM and WSW can go out to dance and to meet peers in more secured 16

spaces. At certain bars you may encounter female and male prostitutes also known as “moneygirls”

and “moneyboys” , who are males such as John, and Hengeveld interviewed a moneygirl who 17

probably offered sexual services to WSW (Hengeveld 2012:40). The existence of people offering

Names of MSM and WSW-friendly bars and neighbourhoods will remain disclosed, despite most of these are known 16

in the general public. To expose them do still represent a danger. The power of silence is that by not talking about it, we do not bring it into being and the respect of the owners and guests can remain intact (Dankwa 2009; Gaudio 2009:112).

Moneygirls and moneyboys do not offer sexual services to MSM or WSW exclusively, they do also offer sexual 17

services to the opposite gender.24

Mathias Søgaard

sexual services to other MSM and WSW signify that there is a local market of Ghanaians who enjoy

sex with one from their own gender.

However, when you are among people, you cannot tell who is doing it, and who does not.

MacDarling, the founder and chairman of CEPEHRG, tells, that he once went to a party with an

MSM-friend, but he tried to hide whom he was. It was not until later he discovered that the other

people present were all “doing it” or “knew” (MacDarling 2012). Norkor states that you cannot tell

“if she does it” (Dankwa 2009:199), so you try to flirt in secret. Norkor continues by stating that

you will begin to “build the relationship”. You and your friend will dress in the same room, and on

the third week she would make a move (Dankwa 2009:199). Edmund argues, that if you share a bed

with another man, you will try to touch him to monitor his response (Edmund 2011). Hengeveld

received suggestive messages, where her informants called her “dear” and “sweetheart” to await her

reply (Hengeveld 2012:29). These acts are socially acceptable behaviour, since it is not unusual for

two women or two men to dress in the same room or to share a bed. If an MSM or a WSW makes a

move that is rejected by the friend, (s)he can make the excuse that it was an accident, and the

transgression of the accepted social behaviour did not occur. It is also acceptable among women to

call each other “sweetheart” or “dear” to display their level of friendship. It does not denote that

there are any sexual tensions between them, but there might be (Dankwa 2009).

With the widespread access to the internet, either through modem or from one of the innumerable

internet cafés, dating sites and social media such as Facebook have become increasingly popular

means to contact other people. The problem is the widespread problem of fraud. The organisation

Gayghana warns that you can become a victim of internet scamming, and you must be aware that

the police can be culprit (Gayghana). Because of the law against UCK , you risk prison if you do 18

not obey the police and you face the risk to be exposed on tomorrows’ newspapers. Furthermore, if

a friend or a family member discovers that you are doing it, they can blackmail you, which can vary

from extortion of money to rape (MacDarling 2011). To be exposed you also risk to be ostracised

and prosecuted by your family and neighbours . A male student, 19, OSSA, argued, that his friends 19

used to beat up men that looked feminine to teach them a lesson . In response to this issue of 20

See page 43 for more information on and the implications of the law on UCK in Ghana.18

According to information from a member of staff from CEPEHRG, this was the cause for the suicide of a Ghanaian 19

man, 22, on May 30, 2013. People discovered that he was doing MSM, where the persecution rose in intensity, which forced him to commit suicide. This author knows the name of this man.

Appendix A2 on page 82 illustrates that male homosexuals are often viewed as effeminate.20

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Mathias Søgaard

robbery the group fakers2go emerged in 2009 to expose people who pretended to be homosexuals,

but in reality were robbers or scammers, according to fakers2go. These activities are also referred to

as an act of 419. Smith defines 419 as:

“In practices of 419, the perpetrators undertake actions to deceive others in schemes that

ultimately benefit only themselves.” (Smith 2007:223)

However, there tends to be a level of acceptance toward WSW in the Ghanaian society. An article

from The Spice explains to its readers how a man can enjoy a threesome consisting of one man and

two women. The paper advises how the two women can pleasure each other, where cunnilingus is

mentioned as an option, since the man in most of the shown positions can only pleasure one woman

at a time (The Spice 2011) and the magazine, Da Vibe, publishes a novel in which a fictive female

character narrates her sexual experiences with two other women (Da Vibe 2011). Additionally, I

observed a man near the Accra Mall, who openly tried to sell a pornographic movie featuring two

black women. In relation to MSM, I once noticed the American series “Queer As Folk” for sale near

Nkrumah Circle, but I did not observe any direct display or stories of acceptance of MSM in public.

To sum up, the MSM and WSW rely to a wide extent on their network, and they can move about in

certain neighbourhoods more freely than in others. On the other hand, they live in constant fear to

be exposed. Blackmailing, robbery and rape from strangers and from your own family and friends

can occur, which includes prosecution and ostracise, which can result in suicide. It is intensified

with the high level of distrust to the police, where Gayghana is explicitly hostile to the police, and

the law on UCK is said to be used as a remedy by perpetrators in order to keep victims silent of the

assaults. This forces the MSM and WSW to hide their feelings from outsiders, since outsiders

represent a potential danger. The distrust creates a space for vigilant groups such as fakers2go,

which is a symptom of the general fear the MSM and WSW feel is ubiquitous in their daily life, and

this fear has now moved into cyberspace. On the other hand, the public allows some homo-

eroticism to occupy the public space. However, in the past movies and Christian booklets warning

the public on the dangers of WSW had been issued (Dankwa 2009).

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Mathias Søgaard

Who Are They?

This part will introduce the reader to the Ghanaian MSM and WSW through a selection of

interviews to provide an insight into their lives and thoughts. But first this paper will briefly

introduce the main terms used by MSM to describe themselves. On the social media and among

MSM-informants, people commonly refer to themselves as being either bottom/queen or top/king.

To be bottom/queen refers to the male being the beneficiary during intercourse, and to be top/king

refers to the male being the benefactor. A man that enjoys both positions is a versatile. The term

“Kojo Besia” is used as a local synonym for an MSM (Ajen 1998) and usually by the media

(Boateng 2011a; Daily Guide 2013 ; Daily Guide 2013a ). Kojo refers to the name giving to a boy 21 22

born on a Monday , and Besia is Fanti for woman. The derogative term for an MSM is “trumutu.” 23

Kwabena and Kojo

Kwabena

Kwabena is a young man in his mid-twenties, unmarried and employed. I met him during my first

visit to Ghana in 2006, where he expressed great confusion concerning his feelings toward men. In

2011, we frequently met, where he came by for shorter visits, where we would often watch a movie.

When we were watching local movies, he would often declare that this or this actor was “gay”.

When I asked how he knew an actor was “gay”, he would reply that it was what the rumours said.

Once he brought an episode of the American series “Dante’s Cove”, where the protagonists are two,

white, male homosexuals. This illustrates that Ghanaians are aware of movies from outside Ghana,

and thereby Ghanaians are as much part of the international community as everybody else, and they

are influenced by the homo/hetero binary from various sources.

He began to realise that he had feelings for other men, when he was in primary six. He felt that he

was closer to his male than his female friends. He emphasised that he had not met any gays

beforehand, that could have influenced him. His first time with a man happened at SHS during

vacation, where most of the students had left. When he woke up the following morning, he endured

shame and he feared that some students had seen them together. He began to isolate himself and to

spend hours reading, where the books allowed him to escape the world around him.

See appendix A1, page 82.21

See appendix A2, page 82.22

It is a normal practice to name your children after the day (s)he is born. As a Sunday born I was named Kwesi.23

27

Mathias Søgaard

He is a member of a pentecostal church, which he visits in waves. For a month he can visit the

church every Sunday, and suddenly he would not show up for months. Sometimes, especially when

he was younger, he feels like he is the son of Satan, when he goes to church. The shame of his life

would break him into tears, when he returns home. To cope with the shame he has begun to write

poems, “I write best when I am sad”, he states (Kwabena 2011). At church he will meet with his

friends, where they will talk about work and school, but he keeps his feelings toward men a secret.

When I ask whether he believes this is a choice or if he is born with these feelings, he replies:

“If it was a choice, I would never have chosen this. I have to be two people. Imagine if other

people saw you as this Danish guy Mathias, but inside you felt like a South African. So every

time people were around you, you should speak and act like a Dane, even it is not you. If

there was a pill that could make me straight, I would take it. Why go through all this pain

and lies if it was a choice?” (Kwabena 2011)

The willingness to take such a pill is shared with his boyfriend Eric, who said the that sometimes,

he tells Kwabena, that he wished Kwabena was a girl (Eric 2011). Eric is known and accepted by

his family, where he has been introduced as a friend from their common workplace.

In order to hide whom he is from his family, he has girlfriends to lower suspicion. Often the female

and him are just friends, but he would define himself as bisexual , but he prefers to be with men. 24

He stated that he had been with eight men, one of whom he met online.

To keep his two identities separate, he has to keep this it a secret from his family, since he fears that

his family would not see him as they do now, and that they would not love him as they do now, if he

told them about his feelings toward men. The fear of revealing his secret and to risk being

ostracised from society has the implication that only five or six people know about his secret, and

he has not told any female about this. On the other hand, he declares that when he gets a good job

and has gained the respect of the community, he would be strong enough to come out which could

be in the year 2020.

Kwabena introduced me to Philip, a man in his early twenties, and Catholic, but he joined a

protestant church with one of his business-partners. He stated, that he had been with one man, but

When we met in 2012, Kwabena no longer defined himself as bisexual but with the word “gay”.24

28

Mathias Søgaard

he would not define himself as gay. He argued that his uncertainty could derive from his childhood,

where he was abused by his uncle. He believed the majority of “gays” chose to be this by choice,

and the practice was part of the African culture. In the past African fetish-priests did not marry, but

they still kept young men around, he smiled. He argued, that Ghanaians who criticise gays should

remember that the Bible said that “thy without sin, cast the first stone” [John 8:7] (Philip 2011).

Kwabena defines himself as a top, but he has been bottom twice. In the future he would like to get

married to a woman, who would know about his secret, and he would be faithful to her, with the

implication that he would suppress any feelings for men, which he could do, he believes.

Kojo

Kojo is a man in his mid-twenties, who is a friend of Kwabena. In October Kojo and his friend

Samuel picked me up at the Accra Mall, and this was the only time I met Kojo. They drove me to

Lapaz. This interview takes place during the drive from the Accra Mall to Lapaz. Samuel is the

driver, Kojo sits on the front seat and I am on the back seat. Samuel is one of his few non-gay

friends, who “knows”, Kojo says. Salomon does not like what he is doing, but he accepts him. He

defines himself a gay, however, he did not know about of the word “gay” until 2004. He used to

describe his behaviour as a feeling as something that develops, but “you try to fight it” (Kojo 2011).

He reiterates the same opinion shared by Kwabena and Eric:

“If there was a pill [that could make me straight], I would take it.” (Kojo 2011)

He elaborates, that it is because of the way he is treated, and just as Kwabena he finds this difficult.

None of his family members “knows”, but he believes that they might accept him if they did know,

but it would be awkward. When he is around friends, who “do not know”, they talk about football,

but gays prefer to talk about fashion, he argues. When he was younger his feelings made him feel

sad, but today it saddens him less, because of the support he receives from his partner. He would

like to get married to a woman within the next two years, where he declares, that he would like to

have one child and perhaps adopt one. At the age of twelve he had sex with a man for the first time,

and since then he has been with five women and ten men.

“There are some gays who only like guys. I am not like that, I also like girls.” (Kojo 2011) 29

Mathias Søgaard

He defines himself as a versatile, and on his mobil and computer he has a lot of pornographic

materials. When the questions relating the use of condoms, he declares, that he always uses a

condom, except when giving a blow job:

“How can you use a condom, when giving a blow job?” (Kojo 2011)

He is a member of a pentecostal/charismatic church that he visits every Sunday. The pastor is his

neighbour, but he emphasises that he goes to church because he really wants to. He argues that he

does not believe what he is doing is a sin? He reads the Bible generally, meaning that he does not 25

dwell at specific events like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and he believe that he will

“definitely go to Heaven”. We arrive at Lapaz, and the interview ends.

Kofi and John

Kofi

Kofi is a man in his early twenties, whom I met a November evening, when I was heading home

from Odorkor. Because of the traffic he offered that we could walk together instead. He asked what

I was doing in Ghana, and I replied, that I was in Ghana to talk to young Ghanaians about their

attitude on same-sex relations. He smiled and replied that he knew a lot of people, who were doing

it. I asked if he had any feelings toward men? He smiled, but he did not answer, but when we were

almost home, I asked him again, if he had feeling toward men, and this time he smiled and nodded

(Kofi 2011). He showed me his house, where I was introduced to his family, who did not know

about these feelings. Before we departed we exchanged numbers, and the following weeks I tried to

contact him, but his phone was switched off, and his family did not know about his whereabouts.

One evening, Kofi unexpectedly knocked my door and asked if he could stay here for the night, so I

invited him in. The following morning, we walked together to the station, where we began to talk.

He mentioned that his priest [Catholic] recently asked, if he had slept with other men, because one

from the congregation had raised that allegation. Kofi denied the allegation that he had slept with

other men, but he confirmed to his priest that he was gay. The pastor pleaded him to stop and,

according to Kofi, nothing else. Kofi exhibited great fear that he would go to Hell, when he died.

He told me to add a question mark to that statement, because he was not completely sure.25

30

Mathias Søgaard

He turned to me and asked what I thought about Hell and homosexuality. I replied that in the Bible

Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, and that the Bible also condemned fornication and adultery,

which many Ghanaians did, so in worst case, he was not a greater sinner than an average person. I

changed the subject and asked him about his thoughts on marriage. Since he was only attracted to

men he did not have any plans in getting married in the near future, but that his family would start

to ask questions, if did not find a girl before a certain age (Kofi 2012). He got into a trotro, and I did

not met Kofi again.

John

John is an effeminate man in his late teens. He has four siblings, and he is the fourth born. We met

in a hotel where he approached me by asking if I “wanted” something. We decided to exchange

numbers and to meet the following week. Before our first meeting, I clarified the fact that I was not

interested as a costumer. At the beginning of the interview, he talks about that his elderly brother is

also gay, and since John found out, they had been best friends. He joins a pentecostal/charismatic

church, but he has to join a differently youth ministry, because that one offers choreography

practices. He goes to church every Sunday, but later on he corrects himself by saying that he has not

been in church for the past two weeks. He believes that what he is doing is a minor sin, that it is

worse to kill a gay than to be one (John 2011), and only God knows if he would go to Heaven.

He argues that he is gay because, when was in primary six, he was fighting with his cousin, and

during the fight the cousin stuck something in his anus . He states that if it was a choice to be gay, 26

he would still choose to be gay, since most of his friends are females, and he feels like a female

trapped in a man’s body. By being gay you can “find your own feelings”, he states (John 2011). He

is very proud, that he can walk like a female, but in public he tries not to.

“I can walk like a lady, but I don’t do it. People will shout: Gay! Gay! Gay! And I would feel

ashamed. That is why I try to act like a man, when I am in public like in church.” (John 2011)

His first real relationship happened at the age of thirteen, when a twenty-two years old man asked if

he would like to be his girlfriend. They were together for a year and a half, but they had to break up,

because the boyfriend became jealous, and the boyfriend began to beat him. He has had around six

This is likely a personal ad hoc explanation, why he has these feelings.26

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Mathias Søgaard

boyfriends and no girlfriends, and at the moment he is just having a boyfriend for fun. When he is

having sex, he is always the queen (John 2011), however, when I talked to him in 2012, he had

become a volatile, which means that he can be both the king and the queen, but he still prefers to be

the queen (John 2012). He is currently a boarder student at a mix SHS in Central Region, but he

does not have boyfriends at the place, since it can be dangerous, he says (John 2011). He mentions

that a fellow male student had a profile on Facebook, where this student explicitly sought men to

sleep with, and John advised him to be careful (John 2012). His female friends know about his

boyfriends, and they tell him to be careful and to use a condom. His pastor will never know about

this, because that would make him shameful. His father knows, because he once walked in while he

was with another male, but the father never talks about it, and john believes that his dad has told his

closest relatives, but that they act as though they do not know about it (John 2011).

He stays around hotels to find clients, where most of his clients are Ghanaian men, and he explains

that elderly men prefer blow jobs, while the younger ones prefer “fucking”. The whites prefer that 27

sex is more soft, and they are better at getting him in “the mood” (John 2011). In contrast Ghanaian

men prefer sex to be harsh, and if the sex is not harsh enough, they will beat you, he complains.

He charges 40 GHc for a blow job and 60 GHc for sex. He insists, that he always uses a condom, 28

but after a while he states that if a person offers him 100 GHc, he sometimes does it raw [without a

condom]. Furthermore, if there are no flavoured condoms available, he sometimes preforms fellatio

raw as well. Because of this he gets tested for sexually transmitted diseases every three month at

CEPEHRG (John 2011). Even if he was not paid for sex , he would still continue to have sex with

other men, because this is a part of him, he argues. But he accuses many of the men who also offer

sex for not being real gays, but they just want to earn some money. These men hate him, because he

is real, and they do not like real gays, he argues (2011). At the Accra Mall John introduces me to his

friend Peter, who also earns money through sex, however, John is his mentor. They have divided the

hours between them, where Peter looks for clients in the afternoon, and John will start to look for

clients by nightfall (John 2011) . The last time John and I met was in 2012. He wanted to show me 29

a porn movie he has on his phone, after he discovered a porn movie on my laptop from Edmund,

My skin colour could have influenced his answer, since I could be seen as a potential customer.27

1 GHc roughly equalises 3 DKK or 2 GHc equalises 1 USD. The exchange rate is from the last quarter of 2011.28

Peter was shy and John appeared to be more interested in his phone, so the interview was short and my notes sparse.29

32

Mathias Søgaard

who gave it to me in exchange for “Dante’s Cove “, which I got from Kwabena. Thereafter, he

returned to his boarding school.

WSW - Doing Supi

Traditionally, the term “supi” relates to the relationship between a female junior, which is a first 30

year student, and a female senior, who is a last year student at SHS. The junior will wash the

senior’s cloths and run errands for her, and in return the senior will show the junior around the

school area and provide help, when or if the junior needs it. The relationship between a junior and a

senior, also known as a supi-relationship, can be very close with the element of exchange of gifts

and at times very personal letters, but the term supi did not use to connote any intimate relationship

between the junior and the senior. However, when Dankwa interviewed Mensah, a woman, who

went to boarding school in the 1960s, she distinguished between two kinds of supi-relationships; the

normal ones, where supi related to that of a close friendship, and then the sexual relationships,

where a junior might be lured into sex by her senior (Dankwa 2009:196). However, Mensah did not

denote lesbianism to the term supi until the 1990s. During the 1990s, the locale movie production

produces several movies which portrayed women engaging in the practiced of supi as lesbians, who

were a danger to the social and biological order (Dankwa 2009:197). These movies gave supi-

relations a bad name, and it became associated with lesbianism. As a consequence, today, supi is

understood in relation to the act of WSW. A further implication is that SHS are regarded as breeding

institutions for WSW but also for MSM (Modern Ghana 2003; Daily Graphic 2006; Krampah

2011). However, the majority of the women Dankwa interviewed were not boarding students, but

they met their partner at regular social gatherings such as in church, at school or on the football

field (Dankwa 2009:198). I interviewed Anna, a woman in her late twenties, who worked for

CEPEHRG. She met her first love, Monica, at her boarding school, but Monica was not her senior

but a fellow student (Anna 2012). Hengeveld interviewed seven WSW in Cape Coast, among the 31

WSWs was Mavis, who noted, that she knew she has had those feelings before she met her senior.

For Naana it was the opposite situation, she was the junior, who was flirting with her senior Esi

(Hengeveld 2012:43-44).

Boateng (2011) refers to WSW as “Obaa Berema”, and Hengeveld (2012:56) cites her informants for calling it “sasu” 30

and “sot”.

Hengeveld got access to the WSW through a male informant from a local teaching facility. He identified himself as 31

gay (Hengeveld 2012:28). The implication is a possible bias in her collection of data. Due to this informant’s education and current position, he was more likely to fraternize with students, which would have an impact on the WSW he knew and therefore could introduce to Hengeveld.

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The junior-senior relationship displays a general cultural advantage for WSW in Ghana. It is

socially acceptable for two females to form very close bonds, which manifests itself through the act

of writing letters to one another, sharing a bed, to hold hands and to sit on each other’s labs, and 32

Dankwa further notes that it is common for two females to share a bucket shower at compound

houses where neighbouring tenets are to share one bathroom (Dankwa 2009:200). These activities

do not allude homoeroticism (Dankwa 2009; Hengeveld 2012). On the other hand, it creates a space

for WSW, where they can be together, because the community will perceive these activities as part

of a normal female friendship. When Anna talks about her relationship, she says that she and

Monica used to be together all the time.

“My parents just thought we were the best of friends.” (Anna 2012)

Three of the women, Hengeveld interviewed, declare that they are virgins. To have sex involves

penetration with a penis, and until they have been with a man, they have not had sex (Hengeveld

2012:51). When WSW talk about their sexuality, they generally reference to the word “doing”,

which, as with the MSM, strongly demonstrates the understanding of the flexibility of sexuality.

The implying of “doing” is that you can start to do it as well, as Norkor explained, that she can

make every woman to do it (Dankwa 2009:199).

The reference to God is common among WSW. Tereza prays to God every day, and Esi declares that

religion is the single most important thing in her life (Hengeveld 2012:35-39). However, Anna has

stopped going to church, but she views herself as religious (Anna 2012). Esi, as Kwabena, often

finds herself crying after church, when she walks home by thinking about that she is having a

girlfriend (Hengeveld 2012:39). As with the MSM, very few people know about their sexual

endeavours. Mavis fears literally, that her parents would kill her, while Lee notes that many people

“do not know her.” (Hengeveld 2012:33-35). Anna states that only a few people “know”, and she

would never tell her mother, since she fears it could kill her mother (Anna 2012).

It is common to observe people holding hands with peers of the same gender in public. It is a normal social conduct, 32

that does not necessary connote any homoeroticism (Ajen 1998). However, this practice is becoming less common (Hengeveld 2012:46). In 2006, several men took my hand, when they wanted to show me around, and it was normal to observe two females or two males to hold hands in public. In 2011-12, not a single man tried to hold my hand, and I observed that sometimes two males would let their hands go, when they entered a more crowded scene. On the same hand, I noticed, that several couples holding hands in public, which did not use to be common. An indication the paradigm in holding hands is beginning to change toward been more sexually charged.

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Mathias Søgaard

To summarise, the MSM and WSW appear to fear three things: family, friends and God (Hengeveld

2012:30). Most of them mention that they began to have their feelings before they had their first

sexual encounter. Dankwa’s remarks that most of her WSW-informants were never boarding

students disproves the popular theory that boarding schools should be breeding grounds for MSM

and WSW.

The tool of silence works on two levels; the silence allows Kwabena and Eric to participate in social

gatherings, but John brings forth a different notion of silence. His father caught him, with the

implication that his family most likely knows as well. But by refraining from talking about their

son’s sexual encounters, they do not bring it into being, and the respect of the family in the

community can stay intact.

Many of the MSM and WSW are well-informed of what is going on in the outside world. Kwabena

is fan of the series “Dante’s Cove”, and he also watches series such as “Queer as Folk” and “Noah’s

Arc”, while Yvonne, who borrowed me her couch, enjoys the British series “the L Word.”

Several of the MSM and WSW express regret, shame and sorrow for what they are doing, and the

limited number of people who know about it can have severe negative implications. John gets

beaten up by his customers, but he cannot confide in the police or his family. Kwabena and Esi

express a deep personal burden by trying to unite their love lives and their religion, a burden that for

a period of time led to isolation for Kwabena. If an MSM or a WSW finds a violent lover, as John

did, they have few people that can come to their aid. Despite many of them characterising sexuality

as “doing”, some MSM identify with the term “gay” as well (Edmund 2011; John 2011; Kofi 2012;

Kojo, 2011; Kwabena 2012), and some WSW refer to themselves as lesbians, however, in more

flexible terms (Hengeveld 2012:39-42; Anna 2012). In relation to HIV/AIDS, it must raise some

concern that John opens for the possibility that he can have sex without a condom, if a client offers

him a sufficient amount of money, a practice that is not unusual among people trading sexual

favours (GAC 2010). Furthermore, several MSM switch between having girlfriends and boyfriends,

which aggravate the risk of spreading HIV/AIDS. Also Kojo’s comment about fellatio can have

negative impacts on the national combat of HIV/AIDS, which is worsened by the fear visiting a

health clinic, a problem emphasised by Dr Attipoe, who calls for the removing of laws that hinder

people from visiting health clinics (IGLHRC 2007: 2, 70). 35

Mathias Søgaard

CEPEHRG

CEPEHRG is a local NGO founded by MacDarling, who is a self-identified homosexual, in order to

give the homosexuals in Ghana a voice. The first time MacDarling was named a “gay-leader” was

in 2006 in relation to the so-called “Gay Convention” in Accra. MacDarling dismissed this

convention as false propaganda created by the media to stir homophobia (Ghanaweb 2006). Since

then, he has been named the gay-leader of Ghana, when the media wants to know about the

situation for gays in Ghana (Honderich 2011; Pink News 2011), and MacDarling is also referred to

by international LGBT-organisations . In relation to HIV/AIDS, CEPEHRG is one of the most 33

popular NGOs used to collect data on the issue of MSM. An example of this is the report on

condom-usage by MSM (CEPEHRG 2011), which was supported by organisations from the USA.

According to a source working for GAC, peer educators working for CEPEHRG are secretly hired

by GAC to assist them in collecting data on MSM in relation to GAC’s fight on HIV/AIDS. This is

to demonstrate that MacDarling is among the most used sources by international and national

organisations concerning MSM in Ghana.

CEPEHRG and MacDarling are active on Facebook, where they provide their followers with advice

in how to engage in safe sex, and how to deal with the national authorities. People who come to

their programmes, are provided with free condoms and lubricants, they offer HIV-tests, and since all

the people working there are either doing it themselves or show acceptance toward MSM/WSW,

people feel more safe to visit their office. Kobby, who is a peer educator, puts it this way:

“If you go to the hospital and the doctor feels you are gay, they will look and treat you

differently.” (Kobby 2012)

As aforementioned, John gets tested every three month by CEPEHRG, CEPEHRG uses peer

educators to arrange meetings and programmes, and to inform their friends about CEPEHRG. I

visited one of their programs in 2011, where the majority of the visitors were younger men. Images

of different kinds of sexually transmitted diseases were shown, and a wooden penis was used to

demonstrate how to put on a condom correctly. When the meeting came to an end, the vast majority

accepted to do a blood test to know their HIV-status.

MacDarling’s (2011) paper on blackmailing of homosexuals in Ghana was published by IGLHRC.33

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Mathias Søgaard

CEPEHRG provides a safe haven where people can meet potential partners in a safe environment,

and each member can discover that there are others who share the same feelings they do

themselves. Anna states that when she and Monica visited a CEPEHRG-program for the first time,

she felt amazed by discovering that they were not the only ones experiencing those feelings.

However, there are several problems in a priori accepting CEPEHRG, and in particular MacDarling,

as the primary source of MSM and WSW in Ghana. If we did so, we would overlook different

agendas MacDarling has in promoting himself as the legitimate spokesperson for the MSM and

WSW, and the possibility to ignore his personal and economic advantages in having an NGO.

Ferguson argues that we shall not see an NGO and the state as occupying two contrary oppositions,

instead they occupy the same space and several NGOs are deeply interwoven financially with the

international community just as the state (Ferguson 2006; Chabal and Daloz 1999:23-4). We can

therefore not presume an NGO represents a bottom-up approach, or that an NGO should be

analysed differently or less critically, than we would analyse a state-operating agent.

In the articles written by Honderich and Pink News, the situation for MacDarling, and homosexuals

in general, is described negatively. The articles are not incorrect, but they also function as an

intermediary for sympathy from the outside world in order to raise funding and to mobilise support

for MacDarling (Ferguson 1994; Hoad 2009:83-85; Massad 2007). As a consequence, he has an

interest in promoting a biased presentation of reality to legitimate his NGO, which increases his

accessibility for funding. In none of the articles does MacDarling mention that neither the Attorney

General and Minister for Justice, Mr. Martin Amidu (NDC), nor the Head Commissioner of 34

CHRAJ, Mrs. Lamptey, argue that homosexuality is a criminal offence in Ghana (Daily Guide

2011a; Lamptey 2011). Amidu said it most clearly by stating that:

“Your house is your castle; your room is your castle, what you do there is nobody’s

business.” (Amidu 2011)

CEPEHRG evolved from GALAG, also founded by MacDarling, but GALAG did not attract

enough donors, so MacDarling decided to establish CEPEHRG to replace GALAG. Today, GALAG

is no longer in use, Anna argues (Anna 2012). However, GALAG appeared on an open letter dated

He was forced to resign in January 2012.34

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Mathias Søgaard

November 3, 2011 in response to Prime Minister Cameron’s threat (African Activist 2011), and

again in May, 2012, praising President Obama for supporting same-sex marriage in the USA

(MacDarling 2012a). This begs the question, why MacDarling keeps GALAG alive, at least on

paper, when CEPEHRG should be its replacement. MacDarling is the chairman of four

organisations, GALAG, CAHG, CEPEHRG and CSC, and they all revolve around the issue of

homosexuality. By running multiple organisations , he can apply multiple times under different 35

names, which further increases his chances of getting access to funding. He advocates that donor

countries should increase aid to LGBT-groups, which would benefit himself economically.

MacDarling also refers to the users of CEPEHRG as “LGBT-people” on ILGA (2011) among other

places, because he has an interest in been framed as a gay-leader, because it increases his

accessibility to funds even further.

The problem, with referring to MacDarling as a gay-leader, is, that ILGA, and other LGBT-

organisations, has an interest in re-articulating the homo/hetero binary. By publishing articles from

people as MacDarling, they prove their legitimacy to get access to resources (Massad 2007). The

money that MacDarling receives comes from the outside, and by articulating a reality into being

that fits the Western homo/hetero binary, he addresses a problem, that Western donors can relate to

in order for him to raise awareness and create sympathy for donors to understand, that this is an

urgent problem (Hoad 2007:80-85; Massad 2007). For that reason, ILGA and MacDarling reaffirm

each other which benefit them both financially. By labelling people as homosexuals in parts of the

world where sexuality is understood as flexible, they succeed in creating homosexuals where

previously none existed (Massad 2007).

LGBT-organisations traditionally work within the structures in defining your sexuality as “being”,

but the majority of both the WSW and MSM define their sexuality in terms of “doing,” which does

not fit the Western perception, and it is therefore unclear who the LGBT-people in Ghana are, and

how many they are. Furthermore, Kobby bemoans that lesbians do not know of the existence of

CEPEHRG (Kobby 2011; 2012). Additionally, CEPEHRG - and the other organisation set up by

MacDarling- is primarily Accra-based, however, it has to be noted that CEPEHRG is trying to

expand their organisation to Kumasi and Ho. The reason could be to avoid having a list of members

Some NGOs solely exist on paper in order to function as resource-accumulating agents, but they do solely exist on 35

paper. Such NGOs have been giving different names to emphasise the scam said NGOs reflect (Gifford 2009; Ferguson 2006; Fisher 1997:448; Smith 2007:103).

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Mathias Søgaard

which could potentially put their members’ lives at risk if the list became known in public . On the 36

other hand, we do not know how many or how few people CEPEHRG actually represents, and

thereby his status as “gay-leader” is questionable, also related to the fact that his organisations are

primarily located in one region, and a significant numbers of Ghanaians do not adhere to the

Western binary.

However, it must also be remembered that the money allocated to CEPEHRG is used to cover

numerous expenses such as employees, various projects, condoms, pamphlets, research and HIV-

testing equipment. But they also cover expenses such as MacDarling’s four-wheel vehicle (Chabal 37

and Daloz 1999:23-4). CEPEHRG hands out free condoms at the program and in January 2011, I

observed that several men were taking three or more boxes of condoms each. Some of my MSM-

informants argued, that these condoms were sold below market price by the people attending

programmes held by CEPEHRG .

Here the issue of patrimonialism becomes part of the picture. MacDarling is the patron, and he has

to nourish his cliental. He has to display his wealth so his cliental can observe, that he is a so-called

“big man”, and he has to redistribute wealth not only to the employees but to the participants as

well, who expect free condoms in large quantities, which he has to provide. This might explain why

he runs multiple NGOs, at least on paper, and his reluctance to close GALAG.

On the other hand, CEPEHRG does run several projects to help MSM, MSM are coming to their

clinic to get tested for HIV, the distribution of condoms promotes safe sex, which is necessary to

combat HIV/AIDS, and you can ask CEPEHRG questions over Facebook.

But MacDarling and his employees do not transcend the patron-client relationship, it means that

money from various donors is also used on four-wheel cars, iPods and other electronic devices that

donors might not perceive as appropriate spending. A counter-argument would be that if

MacDarling did not drive a big car and nourished his cliental, it is a possibility, that nobody would

come to the meetings, and CEPEHRG would not reach their target group. We must not forget that a

Uganda can be seen as an example of deterrent. In October 2010, the Ugandan paper “Rolling Stone” published an 36

article under the headline “Hang Them” with pictures, names and addresses of 100 people accused of being gay. It resulted in the murder of Mr. David Kato, a leading member of the Ugandan LGBT-organisation “Sexual Minorities in Uganda” (SMUG) on January 26, 2011 (The New York Times 2011; Call Me Kuchu 2012).

Locally referred to as a “4x4”.37

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Mathias Søgaard

person who does not display his wealth displays his lack of power (Armah 1968; Achebe 1988).

MacDarling cannot and should not be seen as a spokesperson for MSM or WSW in Ghana.

According to several now former peer educators, CEPEHRG has a problem with attracting WSW.

The terminology, such as the usage of “LGBT-people”, and the medium of information by

MacDarling, such as ILGA and IGLHRC, strongly indicate that his primary target group is not the

local scene. When MacDarling raises his voice, it is rarely in the local media, but rather aimed at an

audience located in the West, for whom the homo/hetero binary is more meaningful. On the other

hand, MacDarling does represent a voice of the MSM and in a more narrow sense the voice of

Ghanaians who do define themselves in relation to the this binary, where access to international

series revolving around self-identified homosexuals, and access to the Internet in general have an

impact in how MSM and WSW begin to identify themselves. In addition, the increased coverage of

homosexuality in the media spreads the binary of being rather than doing sexuality. When the media

refers to several practices as being “homosexual”, it enforces the binary sexual paradigm upon the

population at large. The influence from the outside world is also a critique of Massad. The Ghanaian

MSM and WSW are not passive recipients to whom Western countries impose their binary

paradigm as otherwise suggested by Massad (2007:172). They are active subjects, who are

influenced by their interactions with the world around them in the same manner the rest of the

world is. However, it is still questionable how many Ghanaian MSM and WSW, who would label

themselves in a static understanding of “being” homosexual. Justina calls what she is doing is

“lesbian”, but she does not want to be called a lesbian (Hengeveld 2012:42). In general, the wide

usage of “doing” conflicts with MacDarling representing himself as a spokesperson for a LGBT-

community in Ghana.

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Mathias Søgaard

Part III - Perceived Empowerment and Disempowerment

Part III will try to discuss and analyse how and why the term “homosexuality” has become an issue

in Ghana. This paper follows in the footsteps at the general and increasing body of knowledge

(Dankwa 2009; Epprecht 2006; 2008; Evans-Pritchard 1970; Gaudio 2009; Hengeveld 2012; Hoad

2007 and Murray and Roscoe 1998 among others) that argues that MSM and WSW are not

imported terms or a Western invention. The Professor at the Institute of African Studies at the

University of Ghana argues, that “there is ample evidence”, that homosexuality is not a foreign

practice (Ampofo 2011). Therefore, this paper will not include a discussion whether MSM and

WSW are imported practices or not, since this would be a quasi-discussion. Instead this paper aims

to illustrate the power relations that are articulated in contemporary Ghana and the functions

homosexuality serve for the local Ghanaians and what the functions reveal about the power

dynamics internally within Ghanaian society and externally between Ghana and the outside

community. The following chapter begins by locating the origin of the source for the widespread

belief that MSM and WSW are imported and hence un-African.

Colonialism and the Creation of the Other

Most of the data we have about colonial Ghana - and Africa - derive from European missionaries

and scholars who reported back home about what they have observed (Epprecht 2008:31). The

impact is, that our historical knowledge of Ghana’s past is to a large extent coloured by past

European paradigms that were present in the 19th and 20th centuries. These paradigms manifested

itself in both Africa and what was known as the Orient, which is why this paper refers to scholars,

such as Said and Buruma in analysing the impact on colonialism in Ghana.

One of the methods in legalising colonialism was the idea of white superiority, where the white man

should enlighten Africans, who were seen as being inferior (Gaudio 2009:37). Africans were 38

children while the white man was the adult, who had to educate the children to make them become

adults as well (Hoad 2007:5), which created the (in)famous idea of the white man’s burden (Gaudio

2009:37). The world was seen in binaries: the primitive versus the civilised, the uncultured versus

the cultured, the child versus the adult, the pure person versus the corrupted person.

White is still viewed as a superior colour in Ghana and across Africa. Bleaching agents are still popular as a remedy 38

to imitate the white skin. A problem discussed by Prof. Akosa (2005), Fanon (1968) and WHO (2011).41

Mathias Søgaard

This discourse was highly dominated by the thinking of evolution, which argued, that we evolved

through stages. The erroneous conclusion became that the white man was more evolved than the

black man, and hence the white man represented the higher and final evolutionary stage, which the

black man should strive to achieve.

“Orientalism, therefore, is not an airy European fantasy about the Orient, but a created

body of theory and practice in which, for many generations, there has been a considerable

material investment.” (Said 1979:6)

Significant investment was put forth in relation to prove Africans were children, and that Africans

and Africa were considerably different from Europeans and Europe. As the Orient (Said 1979;

Buruma and Margalit 2004:148), Africa was lumped together and portrayed as a radical other, and

as a created mirror in order for Europeans to create their own identity, where Africa became the

negative image of what Europeans were not (Ferguson 2006:1-13; Mbembe 2001). It became an

instrument to demonstrate European civilisation and legitimise the act of imperialism. When

immoralities were observed among Africans, such as MSM and WSW, the Muslims and the white

man himself became explanatory for such moral decay (Ajen 1998; Epprecht 2008:70-5, 132-144;

Hoad 2007:4-5). Such belief was visible by scholars such as Sir Burton, who wrote:

“The negro race is mostly untainted by sodomy and tribadism.” (cited in Gaudio 2009:184).

This created the paradox, that on one hand, Africans were seen as primitive children that needed the

help of Europeans to evolve. On the other hand, Africans were portrayed as pure and untainted

children that must be protected from the Europeans. In both images, we found “the other”, who

stood in opposition to the white man. The created image of “the other” was used by Europeans to

legitimise a racial dominance. Today these images are constructed by Africans, the same people, the

paradigm previously ascribed as children. In the book “The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies”,

Buruma and Margalit argue that for many people in the Middle East, the West is believed to be

tainted, from which the people must be protected from. They refer to the phrase “westoxication”, a

combination of the two words, the West and toxication, to demonstrate the belief that the West is

seen as inherently toxic (Buruma and Margalit 2004:29, 109). The racial rhetoric, which was

previously constructed and articulated among Europeans has been internalised by the colonised,

who re-articulate the racially embedded rhetoric in construction of a self. The belief that MSM and 42

Mathias Søgaard

WSW are a pollution imported from the West as false, is best argued by Dr Attipoe, who analysed

150 questionnaires and interviews of self-identified Ghanaian MSM from across Ghana. He

conclusively states that the sexual choice of MSM is “homegrown”, and the impact of foreigners

and prostitution are “insignificant” (Attipoe 2004, also cited in Epprecht 2008:128-9).

Simultaneously, the old version of the white man’s burden is kept alive by the West, by the creation

of being developed or underdeveloped. The economic binary gained populace with the speech held

by President Truman in 1949, in which Truman divided the world into these two realms. Hundred of

millions of people became underdeveloped overnight (Esteva 1992:6), but the original discourse

remained: Africans still lack behind Europeans, and Africans still need the help from Europeans to

strive for the final stage of becoming developed. The consequences are as paradoxical as the idea of

Africans being children. On one hand, Ghanaians perceive themselves to represent a higher stage in

relation to morality, because of the myth that they have stayed untainted from the polluted West. On

the other hand, the West is viewed as what Ghanaians must strive toward to achieve economically.

Ghanaians have to protect themselves from the West, but they should also mimic the West to reach

the same economical stage. This paradox is visible, when we observe long queues of people trying

to obtain a VISA to a Western country (Masquelier 2007). The vast majority of the informants state,

that they would like to travel to the USA or the UK, which is interesting considering the fact that

people often ascribe countries that legalise homosexuality would be subjected to God’s wrath, but

when the focus is on economic gain, this view no longer applies.

The positive focus on economy has the impact, that culture can be viewed as counter-productive.

This often includes a debate on the patriarchy system, which hinders women in pursuing their worth

(Awuni 2011; Adichie 2013). Cultural norms that stand in opposition to modernity and development

are articulated as obstructions religiously by the focus on prosperity (Gifford 2004:26; 49). The

importance of preserving the “authentic” culture of Ghana becomes important when culture is used

rhetorically as a bulwark to speak against MSM and WSW to maintain the belief that Ghanaians are

at a purer stage than that of the Europeans. Following the retirement of former Pope Benedict XVI,

the Ghanaian Cardinal Appiah Turkson argued that homosexuality was inherently against the

cultures of Africa (Turkson 2013). The same rhetoric can be found among educators in Ghanaian

tertiary level of education. Professor Annum held a speech at the Kwame Nkrumah University of

Science and Technology (KNUST), where he referred to homosexuality as imported (Annum 2011).

This belief is also articulated by the use of pseudo-science, where the Ghanaian Chief Psychiatrist,

Dr Akwasi Osei (2013), and the President of the Ghana Mental Health Association, Reverend 43

Mathias Søgaard

Godson King Akpalu (2011), argue that homosexuality is a mental disorder , that requires 39

treatment. Thus the belief that homosexuality is un-African is kept alive by African intellectuals

referring to European sources to legitimise a selective, authentic culture.

”The irony is deepened by the fact that today in debates about sexual rights it is often

African intellectuals citing Western sources who authenticate African customs and supposed

family values that were absolutely and essentially intolerant of homosexualities.” (Epprecht

2009:31)

A more direct influence of colonialism is visible in Ghana’s code of law concerning sexual conduct.

Unnatural Carnal Knowledge

Large parts of Ghana’s criminal offences act are based on the criminal code from the British

Common Law (HRW 2008). In relation to same-sex intimacy, section 104(1)b says: 40

“Whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge of any person of sixteen years or over with his

consent is guilty of a misdemeanour .” (Mensa-Bonsu 2008) 41

Lawyer and lecturer at University of Ghana, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, enlists several problems with

section 104(1)b. Firstly, there is the ambiguous term “unnatural carnal knowledge”. To understand

what UCK means, he defines what natural carnal knowledge is. The act of natural carnal knowledge

is the act in which the penis of a man penetrates the vagina of a woman. This denotes, that UCK is

when the penis penetrates something besides the vagina. As a consequence, WSW is legal, since

carnal knowledge, natural as unnatural, needs the penis of a man, hence the reference to “his” in

section 104(1). Furthermore, fellatio is prohibited, and so is anal intercourse between a man and a

man, but as noteworthy, also between a man and a woman. Traditionally, the law has been

understood to target MSM, but it is not directly stated. Despite the confusion, penetration must

occur, and if two or more adults, with consent, engage in UCK, it is difficult to present evidence in

To view homosexuality as a mental disorder was also used to be common in Scandinavia (Rydström 2000).39

This paper concerns sex with consent, so section 104(1)a which refers to UCK without consent, and section 104(1)c 40

which refers to the act of bestiality, are not relevant in relation to this paper.

According to Section 296 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a person guilty in committing a misdemeanour can face 41

imprisonment for not more than 3 years (Fahamu Refugee Programme).44

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court that penetration did in fact occur, Mr. Agyebeng argues (2011), since often it takes place

behind closed doors. Furthermore, someone must file a case before the police can investigate. If it

happens with consent, it is unlikely that the adults engaging in the act will file a case to the police.

“The law is just hanging there symbolically”. (Agyebeng 2011)

In connection to the unverified rumours that 8000 homosexuals were to be found in Western and

Central Regions, the Minister of Western Region, Mr. Aidoo, called on the security forces for “the

immediate arrest of all homosexuals” in July 2011 (Aidoo 2011). Mr. Agyebeng denies that such an

action is legal, since it is legal to be a homosexual in Ghana, and it is legal for two men to kiss in

public (Agyebeng 2011). Since the court requires evidence of penetration in according to the law

concerning UCK, it would be difficult to obtain evidence that a given person has engaged himself in

the act of UCK.

The ambiguous nature of the law is a reason why several human rights lawyers argue that

homosexuality is legal (Lamptey 2011; Lithur 2011; 2013). The law on UCK is based on sexual

morality present during the British Victorian Era in the 19th century, in which sexuality was

considered a taboo, but the taboo began to take its shape already from the 17th century (Foucault

1976). The act of homosexuality was punishable by death, and to refrain people from engaging in

what was viewed as unnatural it became a taboo and criminalised (Epprecht 2008: 38-40; Hoad

2007:76). The law on UCK in Ghana is a vestige of the oppression of sex and the desire to control

the bodies of its subjects, a vestige from her former British colonial power.

“To deal with sex, power employs nothing more than the law of prohibition. Its objective:

that sex renounce itself. Its instrument: the threat of a punishment that is nothing other than

the suppression of sex.” (Foucault 1976:84)

When Ghana became a sovereign state in 1957, Ghanaian politicians decided to replicate large parts

of the Common Law, the consequence is that section 104(1)b is imported from Britain. Today, it is

merely judicially symbolic due to its embedded limitations, but it has factual consequences. It

prevents MSM and WSW from contacting the police in the case of a violent spouse, and the law

forestalls especially MSM from visiting a health clinic, as Kobby argues. Furthermore, the law

makes life easier for robbers and 419-perpetrators in general to take advantage of the situation. A 45

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robbed MSM cannot tell the police how it occurred in fear of facing prosecution for violating the

law, with the additional threat of appearing on the front page of tomorrow’s newspapers. As a result

robbers can sleep safely at night knowing their victims cannot confide in the police (MacDarling

2011), and MSM and WSW live in fear of being exposed, humiliated, harassed and beaten up every

day.

To sum up briefly, the idea homosexuality is imported is deeply interlinked to Africans’ interactions

with their colonial powers. During colonialism it was the European powers that believed they had

the right to define the paradigms that determined how the world should be understood and

constructed. Whereas today, Africans demand a place in the international hegemonic body, where

they want to define whom they are themselves. The irony is that the sources which Africans refer to

in defining what is African and what is not, originated from the era of colonialism which colours the

interpretation of how Africans and Europeans are portrayed today.

Why Homosexuality Gains Importance

This part will mainly focus on the time from the Fourth Republic and onwards, which begins with 42

the end of dictatorship and the beginning of multipartyism in 1992, when Rawlings (NDC) took

office democratically after ruling Ghana for more than a decade under military rule.

Prior to the establishment of the Fourth Republic the issue of MSM did not cause headlines in the

newspapers, or was it a subject for discussions among the average Ghanaian (Appiah 2010; Dankwa

2009:196). Additionally, it was not perceived as something specifically un-African or a virtue

interpreted as imported. This is connected to the absence of the homo/hetero binary, and therefore a

discussion of homosexuality would have been void. Today, this is proven by the fact that several

MSM and WSW did not know of the term homosexuality or to the Western understanding of the

homo/hetero paradigm until very recently.

The First Republic was under President Nkrumah from 1960 until Nkrumah and Ghana experienced its first coup in 42

1966. The Second Republic was under President Akufo-Addo, but with Busia as the de facto head of state from 1969-1972 until it was overthrown by a second coup. The Third Republic came into being after Rawlings first coup, which brought President Limann into power from 1979-1981. Limann was also coup by Rawlings, which ended the Third Republic. The current and Fourth Republic began in 1992 with the reestablishment of multipartyism.

46

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Instead to explore the causes for the increased focus on MSM, this thesis will start to argue what the

causes are not.

It is not the sexual act, that is the cause for the hostility toward MSM or WSW. Neither the article

from the Spice on how to have a threesome in which two women sexually please each other, nor the

story from Da Vibe caused any public disturbance. When Da Vibe published another article

featuring a man and his wife engaging in anal intercourse, people did not take notice.

“She raised her legs up to my shoulders and uttered the words I never thought I would hear

her say…”I want your cock in my ass”.” (Da Vibe 2011a)

In relation to sexual intercourse, particularly the act of MSM, is linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS

(Duodu and Ahenkro 2011), an argument also used by the Ghanaian Ministry of Education

(Krampah 2011). But HIV/AIDS cannot be used as explanatory against MSM. Studies from the

1980s show that men and women in Africa are infected equally frequent (Smith et al. 2009). Since 43

2001, Ghana has experienced a decline of 66 % in the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS

(UNAIDS 2012), and CEPEHRG (2011) argues, that MSM are aware, that they need to protect

themselves from HIV/AIDS by using condoms. Peace FM (2012) reports that the sale of condoms

has increased, and Ghanaians’ life expectancy is raising significantly (World Bank 2011). In the

same period of time, the presence of drinking facilities promoted among MSM to be “gay-friendly”

are increasing, and with access to the social media through the internet on phones, it has never been

more convenient to find a partner. This contradicts the idea that MSM is the main cause of HIV/

AIDS in Ghana, since we should expect the rate of HIV/AIDS would increase with easier access to

meet with other MSM-peers.

The obligation and importance of having children and strive to become an cpanyin has neither

changed significantly, which the current desire to have children is a strong indication of, regardless

of what sexuality people are doing. This is the reason why this cannot be used as an explanation,

why Ghanaians have become more hostile toward people doing MSM and WSW.

However, in a report from IGLHRC, Dr Attipoe argues that there is a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS among 43

Ghanaian MSM than among the general population, which is supported by amfAR (2008). Dr Attipoe recommends, that laws preventing the mobilisation of MSM to contact the health sector should be removed, because it is the law that criminalising MSM that is counterproductive and not the practice in relation to the fight against HIV/AIDS (IGLHRC 2007:70).

47

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It could be argued that homosexuality is viewed as a problem that needs to be addressed, but also

this answer is negative. The biggest problems that the informants enlist are the high level of

unemployment, electrical failure , poor sanitation and corruption. These issues also recur thorough 44

the Presidential Election in 2012, where the issue of homosexuality was virtually non-existent.

Religion has also been used as an explanation for the rise of hostility against homosexuality.

However, the current interpretation of the practiced religion is changing (Gifford 2004), which this

paper will argue is because religion is a reification, since it is a practice of man. When a practice

changes so does the religion, and, therefore, religion is subjected to the change of man. As a

consequence, the cause of the change toward MSM and WSW among Ghanaians shall be found in

what caused the change of man that made him alter his interpretation and his practiced religion , 45

and we do not find the cause by looking at the concept of religion itself. Religion is merely a tool to

legitimate the level of antipathy toward homosexuality.

Consequently, we have to look elsewhere for the causes for the gaining populace of the belief, that

homosexuality is an imported practice from the West, which the following chapter will elucidate.

This chapter will firstly discuss the creation of belonging and the feeling of becoming an Ghanaian,

where homosexuality is utilised by the common man as a weapon to create a history which the

binary paradigms during colonialism robbed him from having. Secondly, homosexuality as a mean

to criticise the elite, whereby homosexuality can be seen as a symptom of a general distrust toward

the local elite as well as the West.

The supplier of electricity in Ghana is called “The Electricity Company of Ghana” abbreviated ECG. Ghanaians often 44

make joke that ECG stands for “Either Candle or Generator” to underpin the need to get light through other means, because of the irregularities of the supply of electricity by ECG. In February 2013, several radio-channels published this song, which was an alternated version of the national anthem to address the problem of and to ridicule ECG. “God bless our darkland Ghana, and make our generators great and strong. Hope it stays on forever, because of fridges and of lights. Make our houses too be lighted up, make us cherish, fearless, airconning.” “And help us to resist mosquitoes too with all our will, every night for evermore.” 2x

Some spirits are said to possess WSW, who are portrayed as being “obsessed with wealth, power, and modern” in 45

some of the movies from the 1990s (Dankwa 2009:197). This is possibly connected to the increased influence of the prosperity gospel, which is an example in how the practiced religion is changing in Ghana.

48

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Autochthonous - Creating Ghana

When the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the

patronage system in Africa collapsed as well. The Western powers did no longer need to support

their patrons in several African countries financially that had caused several proxy wars across the

African continent (Chabal and Daloz 1999:116-7; Cooper 2011:159; Smith 2007:97-9). The patron

lost access to resources, which he formerly used to redistribute to his clients, so patrons began to

search for a new source or revenue. The international community refused to continue to send aid to

Africa, unless African leaders vowed to change their manner of governing. As African leaders still

wanted to receive aid, this meant that many allowed democratic elections and the creation of

multipartyism to take place (Chabal and Daloz 1999:118-9).

In Ghana, President Rawlings called for election in 1992, which ended nearly 10 years of

dictatorship. Several candidates could now run for election, and at the same time the country 46

secured its access to foreign aid. One of the methods, in order for a candidate to get the majority of

the votes, is, to decide what it means to be Ghanaian. By having the ability to decide what is

Ghanaian, you can decide what is not Ghanaian. This sparks a national need to define what Ghana

culture is. The problem is that the borders of Ghana was done by the colonialist regardless of the

ethnic groups occupying the space. Ghana is in this regard a miniature of Nigeria thus making it a

cosmopolitan state (Fardon 2008). It consists of several ethnic groups, with different languages,

histories and cultures, which impedes the creation of a nation-state. Today, Ghanaian scholars are

discussing in how to create an inclusive Ghanaian self. Scholars from humanities argue Ghana

should construct their own language in singular (Lauer, Amfo and Anderson 2011), and Otabil

stresses, that a local Ghanaian name can also be your Christian name, which disparates the custom

of naming your child with a Ghanaian name and a name from the West such as John, Daniel or

Charles (Otabil 2004:15).

Nguyen (2010) underlines that the issue of morality, in particular sexual morality, has become a

barometer for the authenticity of the truth, and thereby used as an indicator of what authentic

culture is or is not in West Africa. Barth (1969) argues, that people are more inclined toward group

affiliations where they feel rewarded. By formerly being categorised as primitive but untainted

Since 1996, the Ghanaian election has been a competition between the two parties, the NPP and the NDC. In the 2012 46

Presidential election, eight candidates ran for office. However, the NPP and the NDC got more than 98 % of the total votes (Ghanaweb 2012). Thus making Ghana de facto a two-party state.

49

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children, and later as underdeveloped in contrary to the developed West, Ghanaians has created an

identity of being morally uncorrupt in comparison to the imagined corrupt West (Amoako 2011;

Daily Guide 2011b). By doing this, Ghanaians turn the international hegemony upside down, which

provides a space of power on the international scene, where they have historically been placed

beneath Western countries, they now place themselves above by articulating an identity where they

are morally superior compared to Europeans. The focus on morality has in the recent years target

what the general public refers to as homosexuality as imported from the corrupt West, and therefore

it threatens the imagined unpolluted social fabric of Ghana.

But the creation of an authentic culture has exclusive ramifications. In an understood binary

autochthony/allochthony (Ceuppens and Geshiere 2005), you are considered to be allochthonous, if

you are a homosexual, and you can no longer reclaim the benefits of belonging. Furthermore, you

are viewed to be contagious (Foucault 1976:118), which a Ghanaian writer documents by

comparing the act to rotten fruits and cancer (Ogboro 2013). As such you have to be removed from

society, and such rhetoric ignites threats of violence, oppression and hatred, not only toward the

supposed homosexuals, but also against those who express support for them or their case.

“If you support them, you are part of them.” (OSSA, male, 19, 2011).

“you know birds of a feather flock together.” (Stephen, 2013)

Consequently, people who express support of homosexuals risk to be condemned as being

homosexuals themselves. Programs Manager at HRAC, Robert Amoafo, comments, how he is

struggling to make his family and friends to understand that his profession is to protect the human

rights of all Ghanaians, because not everybody has come to terms that homosexuals also have

human rights. The implication is that because he assists them judicially, there are some who

believes he must also be a homosexual (Amoafo 2013), why else would he help them. The day after

Mills‘ press conference on Nov. 3, 2011, Mrs. Lithur published an article in which she argued

homosexuals also had human rights that must be respected. Within the same day, more than a

hundred Ghanaians had commented on the article online, in which several openly accused Mrs.

Lithur of being a lesbian (Lithur 2011).

The Ghanaian born and associate professor at the University of South Florida, Edward Kissi, held a

lecture in Ghana themed: “On Human Rights and the Debate over Dignity and Social Order in

Africa”, on June 5, 2013. During his lecture, he called for the acceptance of diversity, where he 50

Mathias Søgaard

declared that sexuality was as immutable as the colour of our skin (Kissi 2013). 47 48

The harsh treatment and insults from even your own family creates a hostile environment, which

expectedly intimidate some people from engaging in the public debate in fear of the repercussions

and confrontations they could face, if they, in public, displayed support for the homosexuals.

A female student from Ateco High School cites John 15:6 that argues that those who do not believe

in Jesus should be treated like a useless branch that shall be burnt, which she translates that

homosexuals should be killed. The belief MSM is a foreign practice and the people practicing this

are polluted also affect the rhetoric of chiefs and the police, which are reported to encourage

extrajudicial violence (My Joy Online 2012; Dawuni 2013 . When the media, politicians and 49

clergy repeatedly refer to MSM and WSW as homosexuals, they articulate the Western homo/hetero

binary into existence by categorising MSM and WSW as being homosexuals in contrary to

heterosexuals (Massad 2007), and thereby also transforming sexuality into being rather than doing

sexuality. As a result, the Ghanaian public becomes culprit in popularising the binary, which

validates the agenda of LGBT-groups such as CEPEHRG in hetereosexualizing the world, which

provides a space for groups such as CEPEHRG and ILGA. The problem is, that this narrative does

not wholly describe the perceived reality shared by several MSM and WSW, where the Ghanaian

public and CEPEHRG transform MSM and WSW into passive rather than active subjects, they label

to pursue a personal agenda. On the other hand, the usage of homosexuality in the Ghanaian public

does create homosexuals, as Kojo narrates, he did not know of this terminology before 2004, which

he now uses in describing himself. By articulating the binary into existence MSM and WSW begin

to identify themselves in according to this paradigm, which justifies the existence of CEPEHRG,

and validates the homo/hetero binary in the general media. Furthermore, it is still the West that

decides what the authentic culture of Ghana is. Intellectuals maintain to select sources that to a large

extent reflect the racist paradigms present during colonialism in order to define what they are not.

Barth argues that culture as:

He reiterates this in an open letter to the president of Equatorial Guinea. As a historian of profession with speciality in 47

genocide, Professor Kissi draws parallels to using the Bible to dehumanise homosexuals in how Whites used the Bible to dehumanise Blacks, and how Nazi-Germany dehumanised Jews. Dehumanisation leads to demonisation that can lead to genocide (Kissi 2013a). When Ghanaweb published his “Open Letter”, it generated nearly 150 comments within the first 24 hours, where the majority of the comments were hostile (Ghanaweb 2013).

Shortly after his lecture Professor Kissi forward a six page long list, predominantly of insults, including the 48

misperception that he should be a homosexual. Several Ghanaian papers reported on his lecture, and the comments were predominantly made in comment sections on these articles available online.

The Country Director of AI, Lawrence Amesu, condemns the Chief of Tamale, Mr. Dawuni, for his endorsement to 49

lynch homosexuals (AI 2013a).51

Mathias Søgaard

Since culture is nothing but a way to describe human behaviour,” (Barth 1969:9)

The consequence is that culture does not make man, but man makes culture, and by people doing

MSM and WSW, it ipso facto becomes part of Ghana’s culture. However, informants are unable to

define, what they believe the Ghanaian culture is. The most common answer is either silence or that

Ghana has many cultures, that are defined by what people eat, dress and what language they speak,

which neither MSM nor WSW threaten. It is when the issue of homosexuality appears during a

conversation or interview that people add procreation , which can be linked to the significance in 50

becoming an cpanyin. But the vague understanding of what a Ghanaian culture is, makes it possible

for people to define what is not the “authentic” culture of Ghana, which can have severe

repercussions for those who are excluded by the local discourse. Supplementary, Ceuppens and

Geshiere argue, as the world becomes more global, the need for a local identity increases (Ceuppens

and Geshiere 2005:387), where homosexuality is used in defining what Ghana culture is not, to

form a “self” independent from the global world. The problem is to define what a Ghanaian culture

is instead of mirroring a perceived monolithic West in what a Ghanaian culture is not. As a result

the issue of defining an “authentic”culture has become a battleground, where different positions try

to claim ownership of what represents the true culture. The moderator for the PCG , Reverend 51

Emmanuel Martey, is outspoken in defining what Ghana culture is not (Amidu 2011, Martey 52

2011). Thereby, Reverend Martey’s argument is obliquely supported by the journalist , which 53 54

emphasises the influence opponents of homosexuality enjoy in the local media, but also the struggle

in constructing a Ghanaian self in opposition to their colonial legacy (Hoad 2007:77).

MacDarling points out that the law used to prosecute homosexuality is imported (Ghanaweb 2006,

HRW 2008), consequently, both sides try to legitimise their arguments embedded in a pre-colonial

BBC held a debate in Johannesburg, South Africa, where intellectuals and politicians from across Sub-Saharan Africa 50

met in order to discuss if homosexuality was un-African. The most common answer from the live audience and certain participates was that procreation is African, and because homosexuals cannot procreate, it was un-African (BBC 2011).

PCG decided to sever its partnership with the Presbyterian Church (USA), September 2, 2011, when the USA 51

denomination accepted ordination of homosexuals (PCG 2011).

The journalist, Mr. Ansah-Addo, quoted Reverend Martey as it was a historical fact that Ghanaian culture opposes 52

homosexuality (Amidu 2011).

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr. Monney, urged journalists “to take an anti-gay stance”, which 53

was refuted by Media Expert, Professor Mrs. Gadzekpo (Ghanaweb 2013a).

Gustafsson (2008) argues, that the Ghanaian media, on purpose, tries to link homosexuality to non-related issues, 54

such as pedophilia and prostitution in order to create negative associations to homosexuality. An example of this was shown on e-Tv (2012) under the headline “My Life As a Gay Prostitute” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faWnU14eXmA.

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historical context representing an authentic truth. Ghanaian culture stands in opposition to their

colonial legacy. Their aim is to discharge the colonial impact from the pure Ghanaian core, so the

undiluted matter is left. Reverend Martey argues homosexuality is imported, while MacDarling

argues the laws against homosexuality are imported, which includes him in the discourse in being

Ghanaian, whereas the discourse presented by Reverend Martey excludes MacDarling and a large

number of Ghanaians from belonging. The arguing is therefore not about homosexuality but part of

a larger discourse in defining a self.

The issue of belonging as an exclusive discourse is not only about to create a sense of belonging,

but also to construct a world, where homosexuality represents the West, thus to support or to be a

homosexual is akin to supporting the West, whereas to be against homosexuality is to display your

belonging to Ghana. The Daily Guide makes this abundantly clear, when President Mahama stood

accused of being homosexual after he appointed the human rights lawyer, Mrs. Lithur, as minister.

The newspaper began to run campaigns suggesting that the appointment of Mrs. Lithur was

connected to President Mahama’s American and homosexual friend, Mr. Andrew Solomon. The

conspiracy was, that Mr. Solomon allegedly paid 20,000 USD for a copy of Mahama’s book, and by

this act Mr. Solomon had bribed the Ghanaian President, and for that reason Mahama was no longer

loyal to Ghana (Daily Guide 2013b; 2013c). All accusations were dismissed by Mr. Solomon (2013)

in the New York Times, which was published in Ghana as well.

Reverend Martey re-articulates the colonial paradigm that dictated over the lives and bodies of

Africans (Hoad 2007:67), whereas MacDarling subscribes to the Western binary homo/hetero

paradigm. Thereby, they are both deeply intertwined within a colonial and contemporarily

discourse, while they claim to represent an authentic pre-colonial culture. But they do also both

challenge the binaries created under colonialism. When Europeans placed Ghanaians on the first

evolutionary stage, Ghanaians were robbed of having a culture or a history in contrast to Europeans.

By Nkrumah changing the name from the Gold Coast to Ghana, a Ghana comes into existences that

transcends the colonial binaries, and thus challenged the hegemony by giving Ghanaians a history.

The debate between MacDarling and Reverend Martey is a continuation in the creation of a

Ghanaian “self” independent from colonialism. By arguing there is a Ghanaian culture that existed

prior to colonialism, they challenge the racial binaries by creating a Ghanaian culture and hence

making Ghana akin to European countries, and hence dilutes the image of an “other”. The problem

is, as Epprecht aforementioned illustrated, the interpretation is largely based on Europeans’ 53

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conceptions of Africans, and therefore the culture that is said to be authentic is a product of how

Europeans once viewed Africans.

Homosexuality as Empowering and Disempowering

This section will focus primarily on the consequences of Prime Minister Cameron’s threat to

suspend or cut its aid to Ghana, if Ghana did not stop to prosecute their sexual minorities by the

Autumn of 2011 . The prosecution of sexual minorities in Ghana is also documented by the US 55

Department (2010). The threat to suspend aid stirred a criticism of Cameron, that this was an act of

neo-colonialism, by reviving the belief that Europeans still believe they are superior to the African

man. The implication was, that this move was met with hostility from the Ghanaian population at

large, which the open letter written by LGBT-groups across Africa to Prime Minister Cameron

exemplified (African Activist 2011), and a shared feeling of fighting colonialism emerged. In

newspapers, TV, radio and among the common man on the street stood united in what they saw as a

continuation of the West treating them as they did when Ghana was a colony. When President Mills

came forth on November 3, 2011, to announced that “[W]e Will Not Support Homos” (Mills 2011),

he sent three messages. Firstly, that he displayed his loyalty and belonging to Ghana. Secondly, that

he showed bravery by standing up against Ghana’s former colonial power, and thirdly, that he was

not a homosexual.

Empowering

The resentment of the move by Prime Minister Cameron is visible in articles such as “[O]pen Letter

to The Right Hon. David Cameron” (Brazi 2011), where Mr. Brazi compares the situation to the era

of slavery, where even slaves were said to throw themselves overboard than to engage in being

“sodomized” by the British brigades, when transported to America. Professor and second deputy

The threat is understood differently. Several Ghanaian commentators confused the issue of Cameron’s threat that 55

Ghana should not prosecute people based on their sexual orientation is equal to the acceptance of same-sex marriage. The confusion occurred in multiple articles e.g. in the one by Ahinful (2011). The Ghanaian media shall also be criticised for manipulation of statistic to facilitate a personal anti-homosexual agenda. In 2012, the media presents the story that 82 % of all Ghanaians “abhor homosexuality” (Ghanaweb 2012a). The figure derives from data obtained by adding up the people members of a Christian denomination, and a priori assume all Ghanaians that are member of a Christian denomination abhor homosexuality. It cannot be stressed enough, that there is no support at drawing such a conclusion. This is proven by the fact that several MSM and WSW are Christians and their friends as well. That 82 % of Ghanaians are Christians cannot be used to conclude how many Ghanaians support or abhor homosexuality.

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speaker of the house, Mr. Ocquaye, defies Prime Minister Cameron by referring to the belief, that it

contradicts the culture of Ghana, where to give in to Cameron’s demand would demise the very

foundation of Ghana (Ocquaye 2011). The magazine “The Sage” creates a historical linkage to the

fight against homosexuality with the fought for emancipation (The Sage 2012). The threat of Prime

Minister Cameron also united LGBT-organisations across Africa against Cameron, among these

organisations were CEPEHRG, CAHG and GALAG (African Activist 2011).

As aforementioned, the level of corruption is perceived to have increased over the past three years 56

(GII 2011). Smith (2008) argues that the “big men” are believed to keep the money instead of

sharing it, which has resulted in the collapse of the quid pro quo based patrimonial system. The

consequence is that people express a growing distrust to the patronage system. Nguyen (2010)

argues the patrons are perceived to be intertwined to the moral decay, a belief also reflected in

Ghana by the common man. The greed of the rich has entered the moral sphere, where they engage

in “predatory sexual practices” (Nguyen 2010:161). In September 2011, I conversed with two

young men in their mid-twenties. When the issue of homosexuality came up, one of the men raised

his voice and said:

“You see, a gay will never suffer because the big men are supporting him. A friend of mine

living in this neighbourhood is gay, and because he did that he got a car, nice house. He will

never miss anything.”

Nana, 27, an unemployed man, argues, that men who have sex with a rich man would earn 10,000

to 20,000 USD per night ( Nana 2012). James, 18, SHS, defines homosexuals as a clan, where the

clan-leader recruits members in order to accumulate money (James 2012). Other Ghanaians

describe that men and women engage in MSM or WSW with rich people do it in order to get access

to a spiritual power that is transferred sexually (see Dankwa 2009:197), where sex that transgresses

the cultural-social norms transfers the spirit, which is a symptom of the immoral sexual practices

the rich are believed to practice in order to obtain wealth and power. The belief that homosexuals

receive money in exchange for sexual favours share similarities with the existence of sugar

mommies and sugar daddies. This is to point out, that the idea of having sex in favour for financial

The issue of corruption is pervasive. Newspapers bring a new story on corruption on a regular basis. One of the more 56

serious cases is that of Alfred Woyome (NDC), who is accused, in co-operating with the former Mills administration, to have robbed the state coffers for millions of cedis, and every fourth year the amount of ex-gratia giving to MPs resurfaces. These are examples of the incorporation of neo-patrimonialism within the state apparatus.

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gain is not something new, but it is a well known practice.

Therefore, rumours of alleged homosexuality often involve a person from the rich and powerful

elite. Especially Vice President, Amissah-Arthur, has been publicly alleged to be a homosexual. 57

The rumour began in early 2012, where the paper the Daily Guide interviewed Mr. Owusu-Sekyere,

who confessed that a minister and he had been “gay lovers” since SHS. Mr. Owusu-Sekyere

explained that he confessed, because the minister had not paid him the agreed amount of money

(Owusu-Sekyere 2012). The article confirms the popular public beliefs: SHS are breeding grounds

for homosexuality, the rich men are involved, and they are greedy. The belief the name of the secret

minister was Amissah-Arthur gained populace, and in August 2012, Amissah-Arthur was forced to

defend his name in public. He agreed that Mr. Owusu-Sekyere and he knew each other from SHS,

but the accusation, that he should be “gay” was a “fabrication” to “extort money” (Amissah-Arthur

2012).

In February 2013, President Mahama got involved in what the media named the “Gay Pal

Scandal” . Mahama rejected that he knew the American homosexual activist Andrew Solomon 58

prior to his book launch in the USA. However, in his book “My First Coup D’Etat”, Mahama

included Solomon, among other people, he thanked personally in the making of his book.

“Andrew was also quite generous with his referrals and other such literary resources. I will

always remember the fantastic dinner party Andrew hosted for me in his Manhattan home

that set the ball rolling.” (Mahama 2012:316)

The Minister of Information and spokesperson for the President, Mahama Ayariga, apologised on

the behalf of the President for incorrect information (Daily Guide 2013d). Simultaneously, President

Mahama tried to get his minister-nominee Mrs. Lithur accepted as Minister of Gender, Children and

Social Protection in parliament. Mrs. Lithur is a human rights lawyer and the executive director of

HRAC, and she is known for arguing that human rights also protect the homosexuals (Lithur 2011;

2013). It was rumoured that the nomination of Mrs. Lithur was connected to the USA, that was said

Mr. Amissah-Arthur was appointed as Vice President by former Vice President Mahama, who became President after 57

Mills’ death on July 24, 2012.

When the story peaked, I enlisted approximately ten different newspapers and/or magazines reporting on the issue of 58

homosexuality on the front page. These were: The Ghanaian Observer, The Heritage, The Publisher, Public Agenda, Daily Guide, News One, Sadness and Joy, The Crystal Clear Lens and The New Statesman. News stand at Kwashieman morning, on February 4, 2013.

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to have supported the nomination of Mrs. Lithur. The presumption the USA was connected to the

nomination of Mrs. Lithur was created by President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage in May

2012 (Obama 2012). President Obama was believed, that he wanted to promote homosexuality by

the use of President Mahama (Daily Guide 2013e). The rumour Mr. Solomon allegedly paid 20,000

USD for Mahama’s book fits the narrative that Western lobbyists have taking over the country by

the greed of the rich elite, who indulge themselves in sexual misconduct and they can be easily

bought.

To connect sexual favours for personal financial gain is known, as the practice of sugar daddies and

sugar mommies display. These stories illuminate the empowering discourse, where the topic of

homosexuality creates a space which permits Ghanaians to articulate critique of the elite that is said

to become increasingly corrupt, and the youth can challenge the gerontocratic structures, which is

not possible under normal circumstances. The rich elite is connected to the global scene, where

homosexuality also creates a space for Ghanaians to criticise Western countries, which are observed

as culprit in their leaders becoming increasingly wealthy. The perception that the elite does not

share the money is articulated in the unrealistically amount of money the elite is said to spend on

sexual favours, where it is believed that a rich man can pay up to 20.000 USD per night, when John

notes he is paid 60 GHc. The presumption the elite is incredible rich is also attributed to include the

people from the West, where several Ghanaians ascribed my colour to wealth symbolised through

the common phrase “dash me.” Thereby homosexuality becomes a mean to criticise the perceived

corruption, but it also contributes to the perception of the disempowerment of the ordinary

Ghanaians, which the next section will try to cover.

Disempowering

The issue of self-victimisation by the discourse that Ghana -and Africa as a whole- is untainted of

homosexuality is ubiquitous. The image creates a Ghana that is the victim of Western pollution

means that the people engaging in the act of MSM have fallen pray to Western influence, and

therefore they have to be rescued. People described as homosexuals, become passive objects

without a free will, that shall be protected from the active subject, the West. In the article by Brazi,

he refers back to the era of slavery, thus creating a historical linkage to present day, where

Ghanaians are still oppressed by the now Western powers. Ghana is not up against Britain alone, but

they are up against a mighty monolithic block named “the West” that Ghanaians should try to 57

Mathias Søgaard

protect themselves from. By Ghanaians comparing themselves to the age of slavery, they reiterate a

hegemony where they place themselves beneath the West, which further links the fight on

homosexuality to the fight for emancipation, which again connotes a self-inflicted victimisation.

The same belief that connects homosexuality to corruption, which creates a space for verbalising

critique of the rich men, has a disempowering component embedded (Smith 2007:153). By

constructing an image of the extreme wealth of the elite, the average Ghanaian makes him or herself

more poor that intensifies the perception of the wealth the elite believe to possess. This is

exemplified by the belief how much money a rich person is willing to offer for sex, which connects

the belief a homosexual will never suffer financially, and the perception the rich are willing to sell

to the highest bidder, which proves the perceived moral corruption of the elite.

Hence, Ghanaians express their own powerlessness by their shared mistrust to the mechanism that

drives patrimonialism, which is embedded in the phrase “eating alone”. By creating a world where

the elite enrichment stems from perceived hidden and mysterious acts in co-operation with the

outside world, Ghanaians create a narrative of a connection between homosexuality and enrichment.

Ghanians end up protecting the big man-institution, “since the ultimate source of inequality remains

mysterious, hidden, and possible unknowable.” (Smith 2007:153).

To sum up Part III, the change of attitudes toward homosexuality is intertwined within the historical

interactions between Europeans and Africans, where the predominantly European paradigm that

transformed Africans unto uncivilised but also innocent children is internalised, which is caused by

the sources available in Ghana are written by Europeans, which are the sources African intellectuals

utilise in creating a national belonging independent from colonialism, which Epprecht characterises

as ironic. In addition, the influence of colonialism is visible in the Ghanaian code of law concerning

UCK. The current predominantly paradigm divides the world into being developed or

underdeveloped, which preserves the previous hegemony, where Ghanaians continue to be placed

beneath the West. By creating a Ghana untainted of homosexuality, the paradigm is turned upside

down, by Ghanaians placing themselves above the West by referring to the West as corrupt, which

creates a space for them to stand up against their former colonial master, which is observable in the

rhetoric used, when Prime Minister Cameron threatened to suspend aid to Ghana.

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Homosexuality functions as a created space for Ghanaians to voice their critique of the broken

system of patrimonialism, where the patrons are deeply interlinked with the outside world, which

the “Gay Pal Scandal” illustrates. On the other hand, the discourse on homosexuality also

disempowers Ghanaian. By articulating their moral superiority by reminding themselves of what

they are not, and the critique of the elite preserves the system by the common belief that the means

in how the rich elite obtain access to resources remain hidden and mysterious. Ghanaians continue

to articulate a reality into being in which they are still beneath the West, and the common Ghanaian

feels deprived of the ability to change the situation. So homosexuals are subjected to the frustrations

to the elite, whom the common man cannot touch.

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Part IV - The Prospect of Decriminalisation of MSM

This last chapter will foremost include some of the interviews where some of the informants

express rather positive views of what they call homosexuals, the progressive voices in the debate,

how politicians react when the issue of homosexuality is present in the media, and the impact the

heated discussions have had on politics, and how homosexuality is portrayed in popular culture.

This will pave the way for a broader and more nuanced understanding in what direction Ghana

might take in relation toward legalising or criminalising homosexuality in the future, and to

illustrate that the choice is not naturally given, due to the many discourses present in contemporary

Sub-Saharan African

Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have taking very different positions in relation to this sensitive 59

issue. South Africa decriminalised homosexuality completely in 1994 by the transition from

Apartheid to democracy, and it legalised same-sex marriage in 2006 . The former President of 60

Botswana, Festus Mogae, has called for decriminalising of homosexuality in Botswana (BBC 2011;

Mogae 2011). In Uganda politicians are working on an anti-homosexual bill, which could sentence

a person to a life time in prison, and Nigeria has passed a bill further criminalising homosexuality

by increasing the punishment from up to five years in prison to up to fourteen years in prison. This

move is said to be because of Prime Minister Cameron’s threat (Reuters 2011). The bill was re-

introduced in May 2013 (Reuters 2013), but it has not yet been signed into law by President

Goodluck Jonathan. In the twelve Nigerian northern regions, that incorporated shariah into their

code of law shortly after the end of the military regime in 1999, capital punishment is applicable,

but it has reportedly not been taking into practice in relation to a man or a woman found guilty in

the act of homosexuality (HRW 2004).

The different stances on the continent are best described when former South African President,

Thabo Mbeki, criticised the Ugandan MP, Mr. Peter Bahari, one of the leading architects behind the

bill which aims to criminalise homosexuality further in Uganda. Mr. Mbeki drew parallels to the

anti-homosexual bill in progress in Uganda to the situation in South Africa under Apartheid (All

Africa 2012). Mr. Mbeki turned the issue of whether homosexuality was un-African around, where

decriminalising of homosexuality became African whereas criminalising became a continuation of

Apartheid. African writers also begin to include acceptance of homosexuality into their stories. The

AI lists the judicial situation for MSM and WSW in Africa in their latest report (AI 2013b:76-95).59

In comparison, Sweden legalised same-sex marriage in 2009, Argentina in 2011 and Denmark in 2012.60

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Nigerian-American writer Mrs. Adichie narrates in one of her short stories, the story of the Nigerian

man, Mr. Chinedu, living at Princeton in the USA, who tells the love-story between him and the

Nigerian man, Mr. Abidemi. Mr. Abidemi ends up leaving Mr. Chinedu because he has to fulfil his

customary obligation by marrying a local woman. The short story is told without condemnation to

the reader, who is represented through the female character, Mrs. Ukamaka (Adichie 2009).

Informants

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the informants expressed dislike toward homosexuals,

predominantly against male homosexuals, they also disliked the idea, that homosexuals should be

sentenced to death. Among the fourteen students from OSSA, only one female believed the death

penalty should apply, if the person kept committing the same offence, and one female student would

not exclude the possibility the death penalty could be necessary. On the other hand, three students,

one female and two males, argued, that homosexuals should not be punished, they should be

informed on the consequences of their acts, but it was their choice.

A striking point among informants, who tended to be more positive toward people informants

referred to as homosexuals, was, that they had friends, who were doing it. These informants would

more often deny the belief that you could become a homosexual by being around one, and

expressed disbelieve that a male homosexual would need to use pampers due to the else common

perception that anal intercourse would destroy your anus (also see Akpalu 2011 and Anyani-61

Boadum 2011). Informants who have at least one MSM or WSW-friend denied that they had

changed sexuality and they refuted that their friend had tried to “lure them” into doing it. The same

male student, 19, from OSSA, who described how his friends used to beat homosexuals, confessed

that he had a male friend who is a homosexual. He argued, that it was against the Ghanaian culture,

which he briefly defined as a marriage between a man and a woman, but he also argued, that they

were humans, and therefore they had rights.

Another interesting point of view was that often when informants argued in favour of a punishment

for homosexuality, they tended to change opinion, when the question involved a person they

I did not encounter a single MSM who had experienced such a problem or had heard of a friend with such a problem.61

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personally knew.

Female, 16, OSSA, argued that a homosexual should spend life time in prison, however, when the

question was what she would do, if her best friend told her, that she was a lesbian, then the female

informant argued their friendship would continue, and she would keep her friend’s secret.

James, 18, also argued a homosexual should spend life time in prison, and that he hated them. When

the question changed to what he would do if his best friend told, he was a homosexual, he nearly

mimicry the answer from the female student from OSSA. James would continue to befriend him,

and he would keep the secret. During the interview, James confessed, that he knew of four males

from his university, who were homosexuals , and he continued to befriend them. He clarified that 62

he did not hate them, but he hated what they were doing, which allowed him to maintain their

friendship (James 2012), which divided them as friends from their sexual practice.

David, 27, a graduate at the University of Ghana and a youth minister at his local evangelical

church, stated, that he used to believe that you could become a homosexual by being around one.

When he got hired by GAC to conduct interviews in relation to a then on-going mapping of MSM

in relation to MARPs and HIV/AIDS, he had to meet and talk to Ghanaian MSM. He continues to

believe that homosexuality is caused by spirits, but he has become more tolerant toward them,

which is emphasised by the fact that he referred to one MSM as his “brother”, and that he has

stopped believing that you can become a homosexual by spending time with one (David 2011).

Anabell, 20, student, described how she had heard and seen lesbians at her SHS, because the female

students shared rooms, but that she would never report lesbianism to the headmaster, because it was

more important for the students to finish their education than to be thrown out of school (Anabell

2011).

Ghanaians also tend to have two and rather conflicting positions toward homosexuals. On one hand,

they advocate homosexuality should be punished, on the other hand, they also refuse to execute the

punishment they just advocated, when a homosexual turns into a person with an identity, such as a

This proves the importance in building the necessary trust between the interviewer and the informant. I had been 62

talking to James several times prior to the interview. He provides me with the standard answer, that homosexuality must be punished, but because of our mutual trust, he also provides me with otherwise hidden information, such as the fact that he has homosexual friends, and he expresses second thoughts about the punishment of homosexuality.

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personal friend. None of the informants were willing to expose a friend if the risk was death, and at

worst they would start to ignore their friend. Nana, 27, an unemployed man, revealed that a

homosexual should serve either 30 years in prison or face the death penalty. When the question

concerned what he would do if a friend told him, that he was a homosexual, Nana would leave the

person alone, but he would not expose him.

Virtually none of the informants who did not do MSM or WSW advocated that homosexuality

should be legalised, because they argued that it would promote it, and a significant majority

advocated punishments often prison for a definite or indefinite period of time. In general, some

informants state that they have friends who are doing it, and all the MSM and WSW informants

state they have friends who are not doing it, which strongly indicates that a segment of Ghanaians

tends to be more friendly toward the MSM and the WSW by the result that they befriend each other

without fearing they will become homosexuals themselves. When I interviewed Kojo, his friend

Samuel drove the car, and even Samuel expressed dislike for what Kojo did, he accepted him.

Yvonne shared an apartment with her female roommate who did not do WSW, but she accepted that

Yvonne did, which allowed her to invite her girlfriend over, where her girlfriend could stay for one

or more consecutive nights.

Voices in the Public Debate

This section will focus on the progressive voices in the Ghanaian debate in relations to the heated

debates that ignited in the aftermath of Prime Minister Cameron’s threat and during the nomination

of Mrs. Lithur.

The internal conflict in relation to Ghana has already been described briefly with the example of

Mr. Amidu (2011), who argued in favour of property, which practically negated section 104(1)b,

while the Minister of Western Region Mr. Aidoo (2011) called for the national forces to arrest all

homosexuals. Following the statement from Mr. Aidoo, Mr. Kofi Wayo, the founder of United

Renaissance Party (URP), declared his condemnation of homosexuality, but he emphasised that

they were human beings, and, therefore “should be treated with respect.” (Wayo 2011).

The day after President Mills had declared that he would never support legalising homosexuality in

Ghana, Professor Ampofo, said that Ghanaians were hypocrites and thereby declared that:

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“We have become a very intolerant nation.” (Ampofo 2011a)

Human Rights lawyers often argue, that homosexuals have rights, where Mrs. Lithur is one of the

more vibrant voices , but also the lecturer of law at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public 63

Administration, Ernest Kofi Abotsi, is active. He supports the opinion of lecturer of law, Mr.

Agyebeng (2011), that homosexuality is legal (Ghanaian Chronicle 2011; Abotsi 2013). Lawyer and

MP, Dr Dominic Ayine (NDC) refers to the Ghana constitution article 35(5):

“The State shall actively promote the integration of the peoples of Ghana and prohibit

discrimination and prejudice on the grounds of place of origin, circumstances of birth,

ethnic origin, gender or religion, creed or other beliefs”.

Dr Ayine argues, that this article clarifies the lack of a proper definition on UCK (Abotsi 2013).

Mrs. Lamptey, the head commissioner of CHRAJ, concurs that homosexuality is legal, however,

she states that it is legal as long as you do not practice UCK, and that the act should stay illegal until

Ghanaians are ready to change the law. However, she expresses support for decriminalisation of the

act as well (Lamptey 2011; 2011a), which is the support to abolish section 104(1)b.

The female writer, Ms. Mardey questions, why Ghanaians care about the issue of homosexuality.

“We have people who are dying from malaria, people without clean drinking water, high

unemployment, and people dying from diseases that are so simple to treat. All this and we

worry about what somebody else is doing in their bedroom.” (Mardey, 2012)

She calls Ghanaians “proverbial bullies”, who take on the weak, and thereby Ghanaians forget the

armed robber, the murder, the pedophile and those who squander Ghana’s resources. These are the

people who deserve the anger and not the homosexuals. She reveals, that she knows of a friend,

who has a wife, but he also has a boyfriend, whom the wife is unaware of, and Mardey is not

willing to treat that person differently, because a friend’s preference differs from hers (Mardey

2012).

The day Mrs. Lithur was vetted in Parliament her supporters welcomed her by their presence (Lithur 2013). This 63

exhibits the problem in relying on articles. Several Ghanaians do not show their support in writings but by their feet. They appear at events, when they want to display their support for a cause or a candidate. Thereby the support from the ordinary Ghanaian is absent in articles, but it does not necessary reflect the absence of the ordinary Ghanaian.

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Another writer, Ms. Boateng, profoundly criticises the churches for their hatred against

homosexuals. She indirectly argues that those who worry about what is happening in other people’s

bedrooms, are the same people who suffer from a sexual deficit (Boateng 2011a). In another article,

she argues that homosexuality is Ghanaian, because the Ghanaian ancestors did not discriminate

based on a person’s sexual orientation (Boateng 2011). Therefore, she declares, that homosexuality

is Ghanaian, and the hostility toward homosexuality among certain Ghanaians conflicts with the

true culture of Ghana.

During the debate following the nomination of Mrs. Lithur, the Country Director of AI, Lawrence

Amesu, defended Mrs. Lithur by stating that Ghana was part of the international community with its

membership of the UN, which represented the foundation for human rights, which stated that a

person cannot be discriminated against based on “sexual orientation.” (AI 2013)

President Mahama’s nomination of Mrs. Lithur received support from politicians from a broad

spectre of the political sphere. From the CPP, the Director of Communication, Mr. Nii Akomfrah

(2013), from the NDC Ashanti Regional Secretary, Mr. Joseph Yamin (2013), and the NPP, MP for

the Assin North Constituency since 2000, Mr. Kennedy Agyapong (2013) who all declared their

support for Mahama’s nomination of Mrs. Lithur.

Despite the numerous heated debates, Mr. Kwesi Amoafo-Yeboah, who ran for president as an

independent candidate in 2008, declared his full support for “gay rights” on his Facebook . He 64

explained his position by stating that he had gay friends, who died in the 1980s of HIV, because his

friends were afraid to visit a doctor.

“It makes no sense to me that in this day and age some of us would rather hunt down gay

people while armed robbers and corrupt leaders go free.” (Amoafo-Yeboah 2013).

Nearly two years after Mr. Aidoo ignited the debate about homosexuals in Ghana, Professor Kissi

gave a lecture in which he discussed homosexuality. After the lecturer, he received positive

acknowledgements from the audience, which he described as “quite encouraging” (Kissi 2012).

Among the responses on his wall, he was also faced with allegations concerning his sexuality.64

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To sum up briefly, despite the anti-homosexual stance in the media, and the risk of public

prosecution, there are people who come forth to support homosexuals and/or to remind people that

they are human beings that deserve respect. However, the fact that Professor Ampofo and Mr. Wafo

need to reiterate, that homosexuals are human beings underpins the trepidation for homosexuals,

MSM and WSW in Ghana.

It is important to note that several of the MSM-informants are beginning to associate themselves in

relation to the homo/hetero binary, e.g. since 2011, Yvonne has described herself as “gay”.

Interactions between Ghana and the international community are observable concerning the

influence in relation to seeing the world as inherently heterosexual, and thereby those who are

viewed as different are categorised as homosexuals. Hence, we can begin to apply the Western

homo/hetero binary, however, not universally. Despite the fact that several scholars air their voice in

the local debate, it is worrying that several scholars remain silent. Most noticeable is the absence of

former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, who has supported decriminalisation of

homosexuality since 2003 (Annan 2003). Laymen are present in comment sections on several

internet forums, but the ordinary Ghanaian is virtually absent in the local media, and they do not try

to calm the masses in the midst of heated debates involving homosexuality in the printed press.

The Impact of External Threats on Political Legislation and Decision-Making

This will be divided into three sections. Firstly, the external threats in relation to the impact of the

threat from Prime Minister Cameron, secondly, the impact of the pressure from primarily the clergy,

and lastly, how the threats affect political decision-making.

The Impact of the Threat from Prime Minister Cameron

The threat of Prime Minister Cameron forced President Mills to declare on November 3, 2011, that

he would not legalise homosexuality. However, on July 2011, Mills called the editor at the

Ghanaian Times to personally complain that one of their journalists wrote that President Mills and

his administration were working on criminalising homosexuality (Daily Guide 2011c). The story

sparked a debate on President Mills’ stance on homosexuality, and this added to the then mounting

powder keg on the debate on homosexuality, which Prime Minister Cameron ignited in October

2011. The initial debate began July 2011, with the false report of 8000 homosexuals allegedly living 66

Mathias Søgaard

in the Central and Western Regions, followed by the comments of the Minister of Western Region

Mr. Aidoo of their immediate arrest. The threat from Prime Minister Cameron became what some

MSM and scholars defined as a witch hunt on homosexuals. Editors, social commentators, pastors,

imams, politicians, and “experts” such as the Ghanaian Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, and

scholars came forth to criticise Prime Minister Cameron and to portray homosexuality as something

unnatural and imported that stood in opposition to the rich culture of Ghana. The debate

transformed into “them” versus “us”, where “them” were the Ghanaians who supported the

homosexuals and the West, whereas “us” were the people who tried to uphold and defend Ghana.

Hence the binary of autochthonous and allochthonous was articulated, which forced President Mills

to express an official stance, which had to be in opposition to Prime Minister Cameron to be

categorised as being an autochthonous, defending an imagined -and constructed- Ghanaian culture,

promoted as authentic. The need for Mills to hold a press conference, at which he distanced himself

from Cameron, was, furthermore, necessary in relation to the up-coming election, where Mills had

to attract votes, which limited his flexibility in relation to the issue of homosexuality. If Mills had

not held a press conference, the suspicions revolving the elite being accomplices in homosexuality

would have grown in strength, which would have created a space for his political opponent Akufo-

Addo (NNP). Furthermore, rumours that Mills could have received money from the British deriving

from the public belief that the West wants to promote homosexuality and the big men are greedy,

could have further destabilised President Mills and the administration. 65

Prime Minister Cameron’s threat brought the issue of homosexuality back on the front page which

ignited the discourse of the tainted and corrupted West versus the untainted and pure Ghana. As a

consequence, the situation for the sexual minorities in Ghana have to continue to live in fear of

being exposed, which prolongs the state in which people such as Kwabena will have to act as being

two different persons and the fear to visit a health clinic as expressed by Kojo. The anti-homosexual

rhetoric also risks to increasing the stigmatisation to this group of people, which can intensify hate

crimes as documented by the U.S. Department (2010).

Despite the fact that President Mills was forced to publicly denounce homosexuality, the

government did not enforce an agenda to criminalise homosexuality, which Nigeria did (Reuters

Rumours are a powerful tool. I felt the need to clarify to my landlord, that I was not a homosexual to avoid the risk of 65

being evicted from the guesthouse, Vice President Amissah-Arthur (2012) had to defend his integrity in the press, and the popular stand-up comedian, known as Funny Face, had to go public to refute rumours, that he was the lover of the Togolese football player Emmanuel Adebayor. The rumour began to spread when said football player bought him a car as a birthday present (Hello! 2012).

67

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2011). It is also important to notice that neither President Mills nor his political opponent Akufo-

Addo tried to harvest political points from the discussion on homosexuality. Mills waited more than

a month to comment, and when he did comment, he did not advocate a criminalisation of

homosexuality, and Akufo-Addo did not display any interest in discussing the issue. During a brief

meeting between Prime Minister Cameron and Akufo-Addo in the aftermath of Mills’ press

conference, Akufo-Addo politely requested Prime Minister Cameron not to repeat the error to touch

upon the sensitive issue of homosexuality, but argued it was an issue Ghanaians must negotiate

within on their own terms.

“Democracy is successful where it enjoys domestic ownership. It must not be seen as an

imported governance culture, even though its values are of universal validity.” (Akufo-Addo

2011)

Today, the impact of Cameron’s threat still lays under the surface, where a spark can ignite the

debate on homosexuality, however, none of the two main parties, the NDC and the NPP, display any

interest in such a debate. However, a spark from an external threat, akin to Prime Minister

Cameron’s, can change the political landscape, which could force the political elite to publicly

condemning homosexuality to save their political career as Mills did in 2011, which could reverse

any progress for sexual minorities, who would risk further exclusion, stigmatisation and violence,

while providing fuel to the flames of the anti-homosexual voices (Søgaard 2013).

Threats from Ghanaians against Politicians

The threats from especially clergy grew in strength following the threats by Prime Minister

Cameron, which forced President Mills to hold his press conference. Throughout the Autumn of

2011, articles from clergymen advocating that Ghanaians should abstain from voting for any

politicians supporting homosexuality (Dreegbe 2011; Martey 2011). Deegbe argued, it was

homosexuality that caused the Roman Empire to collapse , which will happen to Ghana if 66

homosexuality is accepted. Such threats might have prevented politicians from calming the masses

in fear of being viewed as a supporter of homosexuality and hence lose votes. However, despite the

rumours of the Vice President allegedly homosexuality, Mr. Amissah-Arthur did not become a

A historical fabrication populace through “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Gibbon (cited in Ajen 66

1998:129).68

Mathias Søgaard

subject of interest during the last months of election, when more serious issues that Ghanaians faced

in their everyday life were the subject of discussion in the presidential debates, where issues such as

education, irregular supply of electricity [dumso dumso], poor sanitation, infrastructure and

corruption were deemed more pressing. The result of the election was that President Mahama and

his Vice-President Amissah-Arthur won the election, and hence the NDC stayed in office.

Following Mahama’s nomination of Mrs. Lithur as minister in January 2013, the voices of the

clergy rose. The Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana stated that the parliament was betraying

Ghanaians if President Mahama did not withdraw the nomination of Mrs. Lithur (Wood 2013). The

National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) declared:

“We would like to send out a word of caution that, should Nana Oye Lithur be approved, the

Union would have no other option than to unleash the full force of Ghanaian students onto

the streets such as not even the gates of Hell can contain.” (Gyan 2013)

President Mahama also faced the “gay pal scandal”, but despite the antagonism from certain editors,

clergy and politicians from his own party (Mubarak 2013), on February 1, 2013, Mrs. Lithur was

approved by the parliament and became the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, and

the threats giving prior to her acceptance were not carried out, and the debate died afterwards.

The Impact on Decision- Making

In October of 2012, Ghana was subjected to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UNHRC,

that would examine Ghana’s human rights record for the past four years. Representing Ghana were

Mr. Amesu from AI and Mrs. Lithur from HRAC, who were also involved in collection material for

the UNHCR. They advocated the decriminalisation of laws that affected MARPs (Amesu and

Lithur 2012). MSM are part of MARPs, and section 104(1)b mainly targets MSM and as a

consequence of that, this proposal can be understood for a support of decriminalising for

homosexuality in Ghana. One of the recommendation from the report from the UNHRC is:

“The decriminalization of sexual activities between consenting adults and awareness raising

in that regard and consideration of the recommendations in the report of the High

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Mathias Søgaard

Commissioner of Human Rights on sexual orientation and gender identity.” (UNHRC

2013)

Under President Mills the CRC was establish on Jan 11, 2010. Its job was to undertake a review of

the Ghanaian Constitution from 1992, and based on the review to “make recommendations to the

Government for possible amendments (…) ” (CRC 2010). On December 20, 2011, CRC published

its recommendations, which included a longer statement on section 104(1)b. The nine delegates 67

emphasised on the “overwhelmingly” submissions they had received from third parties of why

homosexuality should be criminalised (reasons are enlisted on CRC 2011:655, section 120). They

concluded, that they could not make the decision on whether section 104(1)b should remain or

should be removed. The disagreement is created due to a clash of human rights. Article 17(1) within

the Ghanaian Constitution states that:

“All persons shall be equal before the law.”

However, Ghana shall also adhere to the African Charter of Human Rights, which focuses on the

group rather than the individual, where a practice can be prohibited if it challenges the perceived

socio-cultural norms of Africa (CRC 2011:565-7). Therefore, CRC recommended the case should

be moved to the Supreme Court (CRC 2011:657, section 129). On July 16, 2012, the Government

decided to adopt the recommendation from the CRC and they transferred the case to the Supreme

Court. Despite consistent and mounting pressure from the clergy and from other voices in the public

debate, neither then-President Mills nor current President Mahama have made any effort to

criminalise homosexuality. The leader of the main opposition-party, Akufo-Addo, has not displayed

any sign that he or the NPP would like to criminalise homosexuality either.

Bishop Wood (2013a) argues that 98 % of all submissions to the CRC were against homosexuality,

but the CRC resisted the pressure by deciding to take the case to the Supreme Court. The advantage

for the Government to leave the process of decision-making onto the hands of the Supreme Court is

intelligible. By this act the Government can excuse a possible decriminalisation of homosexuality

on the Supreme Court, and thereby they do not risk a smear campaign by the clergy, which could

jeopardise the career of the politicians. A politician could not only lose his seat in parliament, but s/

he could also lose access to resources, which would affect his or her patronage status.

Dr Raymond Atuguba, who was one of the nine delegates, was berated for accepting homosexuality due to his refusal 67

to recommend stricter laws on homosexuality, according to the Concerned Clergy Association of Ghana (Wood 2013a).70

Mathias Søgaard

Popular Culture

In the last section, a short presentation of how the issue of homosexuality is depicted more nuanced

in the local movies will be discussed.

The different portrayal of homosexuality is revealed in movies, such as the local movie “Bonsam

Gue Mu” [Satan has been arrested] (2011). In this movie the actors are speaking in their local

language, which means the segment is primary for an local audience, who might not comprehend

English well. We follow two female angels, who observe the consequences for people who have

sinned against God. Several sins are numerated, and among the sins is MSM. In one scene we see

two men involved in this act, and how they are sent to Hell, where the two men scream in agony

while flames of Hell devour their bodies.

However, in the same year the movie “4Play ” (2011) was released, starring some of the most 68

popular actors in Ghana, among others Jackie Appiah, Majid Michel and John Dumelo. This movie

takes place in Accra, and the audience is the ones who are capable to comprehend English well.

Each character bears a secret involving lies, sex and deceit, which the movie unfolds for the

audience. The character Ruby, played by Yvonne Okoro, is married to Daron, played by Omar

Sherif, suspects her husband for cheating on her, so she decides to visit her husband in his hotel

room in East Legon. When Ruby arrives, Daron stands half-naked and defies any allegation, that he

is cheating on her with another woman. Ruby is very surprised when an effeminate man, referred to

as “the Gay” in the credits, arrives from the bathroom. Daron confesses, that he has been cheating

on her by sleeping with another man. We follow how the wife and the husband get divorced, and

how she changes her stance on her husband’s sexuality. At the beginning, when Daron and Ruby

each hires a lawyer to agree on whom gets the custody of their daughter, she refers to her husband

as a “beast”. However, as the movie progresses, Ruby becomes less hostile to Daron, and in the end

of the movie, she accepts that Daron drivers her and their daughter home after her car broke down.

Foremost, throughout the movie Daron is mainly portrayed in a positive lights. He cares about his

family, his wife, he is willing to help his family in need, and his language is not ripe with insults.

Furthermore, Daron is capable to hire a lawyer, who argues that his client’s sexual preferences

should not play a role in the decision on the issue on custody. The elements of sin, damnation and

Nigeria also has similar movies such as “Men Who Love Men” from 2010, starring Ghanaian actor John Dumelo and 68

the Nigerian actor Muna Obiekwe, who plays the “gay”. He also refers to himself as “bisexual”.71

Mathias Søgaard

spirits are absent, the act is not articulated as a threat to the biological order, and Daron is allowed

to see their daughter occasionally.

4Play represents a schism in comparison to the movies from the 1990s (Dankwa 2009:197) and it

stands in fierce opposition to the movie “Bonsam Gue Mu”. Especially the movie 4Play exhibits the

space the movie industry creates in addressing taboos within the shared public space (Meyer 2004).

To summarise, the Ghanaians’ views on homosexuality in Ghana are nuanced. There are strong

segments within the Ghanaian community, that believe in harsh punishments for being or doing

homosexuality. On the other hand, several informants argued that they would not expose a personal

friend. The political elite does not display any interest in utilising the hostility on homosexuality for

political gain unless they are forced by external agents such as the one of Prime Minister Cameron.

The clergy does serve as a deterrent for politicians, on the other hand, primarily scholars come forth

criticising the tone of the debate, where it is argued that the rights of homosexuals must be upheld.

The politicians also seem to be less intimidated by the clergy when there is not an election in the

horizon, which President Mahama’s nominations of Mrs. Oye Lithur illustrates. The limited power

of the clergy is also observed by the fact that the people decided to vote in favour of the NDC

despite the rumours of the Vice President’s alleged homosexuality. It is unlikely that same-sex

marriage will be legalised in the near future, but the possibility that Ghana removes section 104(1)b,

which illegalises UCK with consent, is realistic depending on the verdict by the Supreme Court.

Ghana is not drifting toward Uganda, that is moving toward further criminalisation of

homosexuality, but neither is Ghana moving toward South Africa where homosexuality represents a

political and ideological shift from Apartheid to democracy. Ghana is taking a third road, where

decriminalisation is done behind closed doors by means of the Supreme Court, and thereby the

political elite can defuse possible smear campaigns from religious voices, which represent a threat

in relation to be re-elected.

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Mathias Søgaard

Conclusion

When Ghanaians describe homosexuality as imported, they adhere to a paradigm originating from

Europe. Thereby Ghanaians internalise the belief that Europeans are the corrupted adults, whereas

Africans are the innocent children, which is used in the articulation of an “authentic” Ghanaian

culture. The focus on homosexuality in the general public is connected to the perceived corruption

of the “big men”, who are accused of “eating” their money. Homosexuality is thereby used by

Ghanaians to create a space for criticising the elite and the West, furthermore the youth creates a

space which allows them to challenge the gerontocratic society. However, the critique also

illustrates the perceived disempowerment shared by Ghanaians.

Despite the critique of homosexuality, the political elite does not display an interest in gaining

political points by bringing the issue of homosexuality on the public agenda, which is observable by

the silence of the NNP in relation to comment on the alleged homosexuality of the Vice President,

and President Mahama’s friendship to Mr. Solomon

Despite it is the rich elite that is subjected to criticism, it is the common MSM and WSW that are

subjected to stigmatisation, violence and harassment, which have severe social implications. The

anxiety also keeps them from seeking medical help, where CEPEHRG is one of the few places

where MSM feel comfortable to go and get tested. The anxiety to seek medical help can have

negative implications on the national fight against HIV/AIDS.

The debate on homosexuality in the media influences some Ghanaians, who begin to define

themselves and others in relation to the homo/hetero binary. On the other hand, several Ghanaians

still refrain from labelling themselves as homosexuals because the binary does not fit their reality.

Depending on the verdict of the Supreme Court, Ghana could decriminalise MSM on paper within

the following years, but the hostility to homosexuality will continue to be present in the general

public as long as what the people define as homosexuality is connected to the moral decay of the

rich elite and corruption continues to be perceived as a serious problem linked to the distrust to the

patronage system. Hence, it is expected to see a decline of hostility toward homosexuality when the

level of the perceived corruption declines as well.

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Mathias SøgaardFisher, William F., 1997, Doing Good? The Politics and anti-politics of NGO practices, Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26. Foucault, Michael, 1976 (1998), The Will to Knowledge - The History of Sexuality:1, Penguin Books GAC, 2010, Annual Status Report - National HIV Response, 7.0, pp. 45-47, published March 2011 Gammeltoft, Tine, 2001 (2010), Intimiteten - Forholdet til en anden, (ed) Kirsten Haastrup Ind i verden: en grundbog i antropologisk metode, Hans Reitzels Forlag Gaudio, Rudolf Pell, 2009, Allah Made Us – sexual outlaws in an islamic African city, Wiley-Blackwell Gayghana, Tips for those foreign visitors who love Ghanaian boys & men http://www.gayghana.org/page/gay+visitors+to+ghana Ghanaian Chronicle, 2011, When Homosexuality Creeps Into the Ghanaian Society, June http://thechronicle.com.gh/when-homosexuality-creeps-into-the-ghanaian-society/ Ghanaweb, 2006, Gay Leader Asks: What Is Ghanaian Culture? Sep. 25 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=111095 Ghanaweb, 2011, World News: Ghana Orders the Arrest of All Homosexuals, Jul. 21 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=214382 Ghanaweb, 2012, Election 2012 (The National Result) http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/election2012/elections.results.php Ghanaweb, 2012a, Over 82 % Of Ghanaians Abhor Homosexuality-2010 Census, Jul. 27 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=246024 Ghanaweb, 2013, Bashing Gays Could Cause Genocide - Professor, Jun. 21 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=277507 Ghanaweb, 2013a, GJA President Under Fire for Anti-Gay Comments, Jun. 8 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=276321 Gifford, Paul 2004, Ghana's New Christianity – Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy, Indiana University Press Gifford, Paul, 2009, Christianity, Politics and Public Life in Kenya, London, C. Hurst & Co, Chapter Six, pp. 159-163 GII, 2011, The “Voice of the People” Survey (A National Survey of Corruption in Ghana), Published November. http://www.tighana.org/giipages/publication/Voice%20of%20the%20people%20Survey.pdf Groes-Green, Christian, 2010, Intimate Ethnography: Trust-building, Transgression and Sexual Cultures among Mozambican Youth, ed. by Barrett and Groes-Green in Studying Intimate Matters, Engaging Methodological Challenges in Studies of Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health in sub-Saharan Africa, African Books Collective Ltd, Fountain Publisher, Kampala Gustafsson, Linda, 2008, Nationellt identitetsskapande – en diskursanalys av framställningen av homosexualitet i ghananska medier, Mittuniversitetet, Master Thesis, January. Gustavson, Malena, 2009, Bisexuals in Relationships: Uncoupling Intimacy from Gender Ontology, Journal of Bisexuality 9:3-4, pp. 407-429 Gyan, Andrews Kofi, 2013, Reject Oye Lithur or Face Demo - NUGS, Jan 31 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=263721 Hello!, 2012, Funny Face: I’m Not Gay, Oct. 12 - Nov. 6, p. 3 Hengeveld, Wieke 2012, I “Know”, “Do” You? - to live, love and motivate your choices as a Ghanaian woman in female same-sex relationships, Master Thesis, University of Amsterdam (not published) Hoad, Neville, 2007, African Intimacies – Race, Homosexuality and Globalization, University of Minnesota Press Honderich, John, 2011, Taking a Stand for Gay Rights in Ghana, Nov. 19 http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/11/19/taking_a_stand_for_gay_rights_in_ghana.html HRW, 2004, V- Human rights violations under Shari’a in Northern Nigeria in ”Political Shari’a”? Human Rights and Islamic Law in Northern Nigeria, pp. 21-32 HRW, 2008, The Alien Legacy - The Origins of “Sodomy” Laws in British Colonialism, Dec. 17 http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/lgbt1208_webwcover.pdf IGLHRC, 2007, Off the Map - How HIV/AIDS Programming Is Failing Same-Sex Practices People in Africa, New York. http://www.iglhrc.org/sites/default/files/6-1.pdf ILGA, 2011, UK Foreign aid policy: LGBT Ghanians need 'more than speeches' http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/ndi1d7q1QX James, 2012, Private Notes John, Gospel, 1996 (2004), Holy Bible - New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers John, 2011, Private Notes John, 2012, Private Notes Kendall, 1998, When A Woman Loves A Woman - in Lesotho: Love, Sex and the (Western) Construction of Homophobia, ed. by Murray and Roscoe, Boy-Wives and Female Husbands – Studies in African Homosexualities, Palgrave Kissi, Edward, 2013, private email correspondence, June 13 Kissi, Edward, 2013a, An Open Letter To H.E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President Of Equatorial Guinea, Google Groups, USA African Dialog, Jun. 18 https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/usaafricadialogue/edward$20kissi$20guinea/usaafricadialogue/qAoz80Il_Eo/Es9cm-N2RaYJ Kobby, 2011, Private Notes Kobby, 2012, Private Notes

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Mathias SøgaardKofi, 2011, Private Notes Kofi, 2012, Private Notes Kojo, 2011, Private Notes Krampah, Paul, 2011, Ministry to Check Homosexuality in Schools, Ghanaweb, Dec. 1 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=224704 Kwabena, 2011, Private Notes Lamptey, Lauretta, 2011, Interview on Joy News, Aug. 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u03ZbBK27ms Lamptey, Lauretta, 2011a, New CHRAJ Boss Advocates Decriminalization of Homosexuality, Daily Guide Aug. 1 http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=21659 Lauer, Helen; Amfo, N.A. Appiah; Anderson, Jemina Asabea, 2011, Identity Meets Nationality - Voices from Humanities, anthology, Faculty of Arts, University of Ghana, Sub-Saharan Publishers Lithur, Nana Oye, 2011, Nana Oye Lithur: Gays Have Rights & Must Be Respected, Nov. 4 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=222923&comment=0#com Lithur, Nana Oye, 2013, Vetting Nana Oye Lithur, Citifm, Jan. 30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVqzeyyso_o MacDarling, 2011, “Because of you”: Blackmail and Extortion of Gay and Bisexual Men in Ghana, in Nowhere to Turn - Blackmail and Extortion of LGBT People in Sub-Saharan Africa, Published by IGLHRC pp. 60-74 http://www.iglhrc.org/sites/default/files/484-1.pdf MacDarling, 2012, Private Notes MacDarling, 2012a, Ghanaian Gays Welcome Obama's Same-Sex Marriage Decision, May 11. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=238599 Mahama, John Dramani, 2012, Acknowledgements in My First Coup D ́Etat - Memories From the Lost Decades of Africa, Bloomsbury Publishing, London Mardey, 2012, Are They For Real - Mardey Says:, The Globe, Jan. 17, p. 17 Martey, Emmanuel, 2011, Presby Moderator Fires David Cameron, The Globe, Nov. 11, pp. 1-2 Masquelier, Adeline, 2007, Negotiating Futures: Islam, Youth and the State of Niger, (ed) by Soares and Otayek, Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 243-263 Massad, Joseph A., 2007, Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World in Desiring Arab, University of Chicago Press, Chapter 3, pp. 164-190 Mbembe, Achille, 1992, Provisional Notes on the Postcolony Africa, vol. 62(1), pp. 3-37 Mbembe, Achille, 2001, On the Postcolony, Berkeley, University of California Press, pp. 1-23 Mensa-Bonsu, Henrietta J.A.N., 2008, The Annotated Criminal Offences Act of Ghana, Black Mask Ltd Mensah, Victor, 2010, A Realistic Approach to Senior High School History, Khovik Ghana Ltd, Revised Ed. Meyer, Birgit, 2004, “Praise the Lord”: Popular Cinema and Pentecostalite Style in Ghana’s New Public Sphere, American Ethnologist, vol. 31(1), pp. 92-110. Miescher, Stephan F., 2005, Speaking Sensibly: Men as Elders in the Twentieth Century in Making Men in Ghana, Indiana University Press, chapter six, pp. 153-199 Mills, John E.A., 2011, We'll Not Support Homos - President Declares, Nov. 3, Daily Graphic, p. 1 and p. 3 Modern Ghana, 2003, Stop Supi Practice - Rev Minister, Nov. 26 http://www.modernghana.com/news/45125/1/stop-supi-practise-rev-minister.html Mogae, Festus, 2011, Botswana HIV: Mogae in call legalise homosexuality, Oct. 19 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15368752 Mubarak, Muntaka, 2013, Oye Lithur was evasive on homosexuality, Jan. 31 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=263652 Murray, Stephen; Roscoe, Will, 1998, Boy-Wives and Female Husbands – Studies in African Homosexualities, Palgrave My Joy Online, 2012, James Town youth vow to eliminate gays from their midst, Mar. 17 http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201203/83226.php Nana, 2012, Private Notes The New York Times, 2011, Ugandan Who Spoke Up for Gays Is Beaten to Death, Jan. 27 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=0 Nguyen, Vinh-Kim 2010, Uses and Pleasures: The Republic Inside Out in The Republic of Therapy – Triage and Sovereignty in West Africa's Time of AIDS, Duke University Press, Chapter 7, pp. 157-175 Obama, Barack H., 2012, President Obama - Gay Marriage: Gay Couples 'Should Be Able to Get Married’, ABC- News, May 9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGMTPab9GQ Ocquaye, Mike, 2011, UK’s Threat to Anti-Gay Nations “Satanic”, Oct. 31 Ogboro, Agya K., 2013, Sin of Sodomy and Lesbianism - Letter to Abusuapanin, Daily Guide, Feb. 11, p. 4 Osei, Akwasi, 2013, Why the scientific community is wrong on homosexuality, Daily Graphic, Mar. 14, p. 7 Otabil, Mensa Anamuna, 2004, Beyond the Rivers of Ethiopia - A Biblical Revelation on God’s Purpose for the Black Race, DPI Print ltd., Accra, Ghana. Oxlund, Bjarke, 2010, Let’s Talk About Sex - Comparing Notes from Qualitative Research on Men, Relationships and Sex in South Africa and Rwanda ed. by Barrett and Groes-Green in Studying Intimate Matters, Engaging Methodological Challenges in Studies of Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health in sub-Saharan Africa, African Books Collective Ltd, Fountain Publisher, Kampala Owusu-Sekyere, Joseph K., 2012, Minister Is My Gay Lover, Daily Guide, Jan. 9, p. 1 and p. 3

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Mathias SøgaardParker, Richard G., 2010, Foreword, ed. by Barrett and Groes-Green in Studying Intimate Matters, Engaging Methodological Challenges in Studies of Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Health in sub-Saharan Africa, African Books Collective Ltd, Fountain Publisher, Kampala PCG, 2011, 11th General Assembly 2011 Decision - 9. The Assembly decided to sever relationship with any partner church that ordained homosexuals as ministers and allowed for same sex marriages (announced on Facebook), Sept. 2 https://www.facebook.com/notes/presbyterian-church-of-ghana/11-th-general-assembly-2011-decisions/10150310982824879 Peace FM, 2011, Condom Use Shoots Up, November 5 PEW, 2010, Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa http://features.pewforum.org/africa/ Pink News, 2011, Ghana Gay Rights Leader Urges UK Government Not To Cut Aid, Oct. 12 http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/10/12/ghana-gay-rights-leader-urges-uk-government-not-to-cut-aid/ Philip, 2011, Private Notes Reuters, 2011, Nigeria's Senate passes controversial anti-gay bill, Nov. 29 http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/29/ozatp-nigeria-antigay-bill-idAFJOE7AS0D520111129 Reuters, 2013, Nigerian lawmakers pass anti-gay bill, May 31 http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/05/30/nigeria-gay-law-idINDEE94T0EW20130530 Rydström, Jens, 2000, “Sodomitical Sins Are Threefold”: Typologies of Bestiality, Masturbation and Homosexuality in Sweden, 1880 - 1950, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 9(3), July, pp. 240-276 Said, Edward W., 1979, Orientalism, New York, Vintage Books The Sage, 2012, The Drive for Gay Rights, pp. 22-25, 1st Edition Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky, 1990 (2008), Epistemology of the Closet in Epistemology of the Closet, University of California Press, pp. 67-91 Smith, D. Adrian et al., 2009, Men Who Have Sex With Men and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, The Lancet, Vol. 374, Issue 9687, Aug. 1, pp. 416-422 Smith, Daniel Jordan, 2007, A Culture of Corruption – Everyday Deception and Popular Discontent in Nigeria, Princeton University Press Solomon, Andrew, 2013, In Bed With The President of Ghana?, The New York Times, Feb. 9 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/in-bed-with-the-president-of-ghana.html?_r=1& Sophia, 2011, Private Notes The Spice, 2011, 7 Threesome Sex Positions You Need To Practice This Month, Nov. 10 front and pp. 6-7 Spradley, James P., 1979, The Ethnographic Interview, Wadsworth and Thomson learning Supreme Court, 2013, WRIT No. J1/6/2013, August 29th. http://www.judicial.gov.gh/files/NANA_ADDO_DANKWA_AKUFO_ADDO__ORS__VRS__JOHN_DRAMANI_MAHAMA__ORS.pdf Stephen, 2013, Private Notes Søgaard, Mathias, 2013, Kommentar: Beskåret Udviklingshjælp Skader Homoseksuelle, Ræson, Feb. 11 http://raeson.dk/2013/afrika-det-hjaelper-ikke-de-homoseksuelle-at-skaere-i-udviklingsbistanden/ Therkildsen, Ole, 2005, Understanding Public Management Through Neopatrimonialism, A Paradigm for all African Societies?, (ed.) Ulf Engel and Gorm Olsen, The African Exception, London: Ashgate, pp. 35-51 Transparency International, 2013, Global Corruption Barometer, Jul. 9 http://www.naftemporiki.gr/cmsutils/downloadpdf.aspx?id=673276 Turkson, Appiah, 2013, Gay Priests to Blame For Church Child Sex Abuse, GhanaWeb, Feb. 22 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=265642 UNAIDS, 2012, World AIDS Day Report http://www.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/ epidemiology/2012/gr2012/JC2434_WorldAIDSday_results_en.pdf UNHRC, 2012, Universal Periodic Review - Media Brief, Oct. 23 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/Highlights23October2012pm.aspx The report can be read in its full length at A/HRC/22/6 (GE. 12-18736), Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review - Ghana, Dec. 13, 2012 USAID, CEPEHRG and Maritime, 2010, Ghana Engaging New Partners and New Technologies to Prevent HIV among Men Who Have Sex with Men, Jan. U.S. Department, 2010, The U.S. Department of State's Human Rights Report, April 8 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2010/af/154349.htm USA Embassy, Romance Scams http://ghana.usembassy.gov/romance_scam.html Wayo, Kofi, 2011, Homosexuality Should Not Be Legalised in Ghana, Aug. 8 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=215614 WHO, 2011, Mercury in Skin Lightening Products http://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/mercury_flyer.pdf Wood, Prince B., 2013, Parliament has betrayed Ghanaians - Concerned Clergy, Feb. 2 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=263905 Wood, Prince B., 2013a, Oye Lithur's Appointment Opposed Over Her 'Support' for Homosexuality, Jan. 14 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=262070 World Bank, 2011, http://data.worldbank.org/country/ghana Yamin, Joseph, 2013, Even Animals Have Rights Why Not Gays, Daily Guide, Feb. 2 http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=263885

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Mathias SøgaardYvonne, 2012, Private Notes (All websites were last visited on Aug. 1, 2013)

Movies Behind the Mask, 2011, Bandex Production, Ghana Bonsam Gue Mu, 2011, Mama CEE Production, Ghana Call Me Kuchu, 2012, American documentary on the struggle of the LGBT-people in Uganda Men Who Love Men, 2010, Devine Touch Productio, Nigeria http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1EKOFHDsFQ 4Play, 2011, An Abdul Salam Production, Ghana http://irokotv.com/video/1794/4play

Appendix

Questionnaire used when interviewing Non-MSM/WSW: A) General information Name * Occupation * Siblings * Parents (divorce/together)

B) Childhood: * Could you please tell me something from your childhood? Was it good? * Could you please tell me one of your best childhood memories? * Could you please tell me one of your worst childhood memories

C) Children * Do you want to get married? * How many children would you like to have? * At what age would you like to get married? *What are the benefits from having children?

D) Religion * How often to you go to church? * What makes you go to church? * Are all sins equal, or some sins are bigger than others? * Do you believe in the “end time”? * Do you believe in Hell and Heaven? * Where do you think you will go when you die?

E) Countries and Travel * Which countries would you like to travel to? * Can we compare London to Ghana? Yes/no – Can you elaborate? * Can you please tell me what you believe some of the biggest problems Ghana have?

F) Culture * How will you define Ghana‘s culture?

G) On MSM/WSW (homosexuality/gay/etc is the informant uses a different term) * Can you please define what an MSM/WSW/homosexual is? * What do you think about them? - are they good people? * Do you think a person is born this way or is it a choice? * Do you know people who are doing it? If yes - how did you find out? * Can you see if a person is doing it/is gay/homosexual? * Why do you think some people decide to do it? * Is it illegal in Ghana to be lesbian? * Is it illegal in Ghana to be gay? (to direct focus to WSW, since most informants would encircle around MSM) * Do you think they should be punished? - if yes -what punishment? * Further clarification - shall they be killed if they do not stop? * Do you think it should be legal to be doing it/be a homosexual in Ghana? * Do you think it should be legal in the future? * What would happen if it becomes legal? * Could you be friends to a homosexual? - would you share your meal/buy your meal from one? * Who are often doing it/doing homosexuality? (educated/uneducated, rich/poor) * Is it a sin to be one? * What would you do, if your best friend tells you, that (s)he is doing it?

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Mathias Søgaard* Would you still be friends? -Also if (s)he refuses to change? * Would you tell other people about it? * Are their negative consequences by doing it? (HIV/AIDS, pampers etc?) * Is homosexuality imported? - from where/whom? * Is it against the culture of Ghana? * if (s)she does not mention it in relation to ‘F’, ask how come (s)he die not mention it previously? * How many homosexuals do you think there are?

H) Voices in the debate * Do you know of organisations that want to legalise homosexuality? * Do you know of anybody who wants to legalise homosexuality? * Are People who support homosexuality are likely homosexuals themselves? I) Knowledge of Africa * Do you know any African countries where it is legal to be homosexual? * Do you know any African countries where they can marry?

Questionnaire used when interviewing MSM/WSW: A) General information Name * Occupation * Siblings * Parents (divorce/together)

B) Childhood: * Could you please tell me something from your childhood? Was it good? * Could you please tell me one of your best childhood memories? * Could you please tell me one of your worst childhood memories

C) Children * Do you want to get married? * How many children would you like to have? * At what age would you like to get married? *What are the benefits from having children?

D) Religion * How often to you go to church? * What makes you go to church? * Are all sins equal, or some sins are bigger than others? * Do you believe in the “end time”? * Do you believe in Hell and Heaven? * Where do you think you will go when you die?

E) Countries and Travel * Which countries would you like to travel to? * Can we compare London to Ghana? *Yes/no – Can you elaborate? * Can you please tell me what you believe some of the biggest problems Ghana have?

F) Culture * How will you define Ghana’s culture?

G) On MSM/WSW * Some people call you gay or homosexual, but what do you call yourself? (if (s)he mentions homosexuality then ask about when s/he heard that word for the first time) * When did you start to have feelings for other guys? (age) * Can you remember how you reacted to this feeling? * Do you think you were born with these feelings or is it a choice? * I know this is private, could you tell about the first time you were doing it with another guy/girl? * How did you feel afterward? * Do you define yourself as being top/bottom OR king/queen OR volatile? (only for MSM) * How many people know about this (Family/friends/pastor)?

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Mathias Søgaard* How do you manage to keep this hidden? * Is this a sin? - do you think you will go to Hell/Heaven? * How do you feel, when you are in church? * How do you meet other people, who are gays/doing it? * You say you want to get marriage, would you tell your wife/husband? * Do you have friends who are not doing it? * Are they afraid of been stigmatized by being around you? * There are rumours that MSM would need to use pampers, do you think that is true?* Do you have friends with such problems? * How many people do you think are doint it? (is it increasing/decreasing/status quo) * Do think this will be legalized in Ghana? * Do you believe this is imported e.g. by the whites? * Is it un-African?

H) Voices in the Debate * Do you know of people who wants to legalise it? * Do you know of organisations that want to legalise it?

J) Knowledge of Africa * Do you know any African countries where it is legal to do what you are doing/are? * Do you know any African countries where people like you can marry?

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Mathias SøgaardA1: Daily Guide, 2013, Rights Vetting, Jan. 31, p. 3

A2: Daily Guide, 2013, Gana: Human Rights, Feb. 4, p. 3

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