GHANA: Major Anti-Gay Protest; Calls for New HIV Criminal Law

Anti-gay sentiment is spreading across Ghana, which is celebrating the first victory for Africa in World Cup 2010.

On Friday June 4, an estimated 3,000 young people took to the streets of Sekondi Takoradi Metropolis in the nation's first anti-gay demonstration. The protest followed reports "alleged gay marriages and parties" in the mostly Muslim city.

"The protest’s organisers are calling on the government to criminalise homosexuality, calling it an ‘ungodly act’. 'Ghana will suffer more than the experience of Sodom and Gomorrah, should we embrace this practice in this country,' said the rally’s leader Saeed Hamid. He urged the protesters not to take the law into their own hands and attack alleged gay people – but promised to gather up a nationwide protest movement if the government did not take action to punish homosexuality in Ghana."

The report at GhanaWeb is somewhat  sensational, claiming "over 2,000 registered homosexuals are said to be roaming" the city and young boys are being "lured" into sex parties. A recent op-ed on GhanaWeb in support of gays and lesbians and criticizing religious fanatics prompted hundreds of extreme anti-gay comments.

In related news: The Ghana AIDS Commission is calling for a new HIV-specific criminal law against "deliberate" transmission, according to Ghanian radio station JOY. The report claims deliberate HIV transmission is "very prevalent" in Ghana and some poz persons "even go to radio stations to boast of their escapades."

At least 25 African countries now have HIV-specific criminal laws, reports the blog Criminal HIV Transmission.

Comments

[FREELEO]

I wonder how much money American evangelicals are pumping into that country to spread their message of hate?

[FREELEO]

p.s. Will someone please tell these backward bible thumpers that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is about being inhospitable to strangers and not a cautionary tale about homosexuality? The myth states ALL the people of the city were wicked.

[iByron]

"Ungodly." "Sodom and Gomorrah." They traded tribal hoodoo for the white man's religious hoodoo and are no more advanced at all.

[Jim]

“I wonder how much money American evangelicals are pumping into that country to spread their message of hate?”

Good question, FREELEO.

I can tell you part of the answer at least: No more than half of what they’re collecting. These pastors are in the BUSINESS of hate, and they’re in it to get rich. So at least half of what they collect goes right into their own bank accounts. They’ve even created their own theology—they call it “prosperity gospel”—to provide moral cover for their own greed.

So we have one of the few things in our country that still manages to serve Justice:

Wherever there is evangelical Christianity, there is sure to be financial corruption, and that corruption undermines the very causes the evangelicals are supposed to be fighting for.

[Kwame]

Being a gay black man living in Ghana I do believe the threat to gays is very real. With such a high rate of unemployment, corruption and a zealot attitude for religion. If it were not for the Black Stars playing a football match on Saturday this news story would be front page and all of the FM radio stations would devote hours and hours of insidious commentary especially by the popular DJ Black Rasta a true homo-hater. To keep this issue in check the foreign ad donors would most likely place a human rights stipulation within their aid packages...and low and behold Ghana political machine would silence the masses

[brohemian]

thanks, kwame, for your courage in the face of these daunting times. what can your brothas and sistas abroad do to support y'all?

[Account Deleted]

Is stupidity is a disease?