Christians call for vote against gay supporters

ACCRA, Ghana, Monday

Ghanaian politicians who may want to push the idea of human rights far to include open support for homosexuals are in trouble because the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) has finally taken a stand on the issue and is preaching that its congregants “vote out of Parliament, law-makers who would show support for homosexuals.”

The CCG’s position stems from fears that, international human right groups may lobby Parliament to pass a law that would recognise homosexuality in the country. But in a country where voting patterns have shown that people vote on the basis of parties rather than individuals, it is not clear how the CCG’s dream could materialise.

General Secretary of the CCG, Reverend Fred Deegbe said, the Churches were aware of the country’s commitment to international protocols that it had signed to protect human rights and other values, but added that, “we would not want foreign cultures that the people do not like to be imposed on them in the name of human rights.”

The CCG position does not seem to deter some of the people who are engaged in this practice. Arnold Adjettey (not his real name) is just 18 years and walks in a way to suggest his sexual orientation.

A high school drop-out, Adjettey is not ashamed of whom he is. “I am gay and l love whom l am. My parents noticed this some two years ago and have decided to live with it. For those who have a problem with it that is their headache,” he told Africa Review.

The CCG came out after weeks of intense media interest in homosexuality following reports that there were about 8,000 registered homosexuals in the country’s western region alone.

Even though some civil society groups have questioned the figure, Reverend Deegbe said, “it is not how many we have in the country.

The practice has health implications and already that the health service is in distress and no action should push it into further distress.”

“We do not by our condemnation of the practice asking communities to either stone or kill those who are found to be homosexuals,” Degbee said.

“Their stand is discriminatory and should be condemned,” another practicing homosexual (has asked not be identified told) Africa Review.

He does not in anyway look someone who could be identified as homosexual and is graduate engaged in his own business in Accra.

“There is something that people should understand. Nobody decides his sexual orientation because it is not a lifestyle you decide on by choice.

“I am a man, go to the gym, like football but have taste for men when it come to sex and should that make anyone condemn me?” he asked.

The onslaught has not been against males who practice homosexuality alone. It is also known that a number of women also practice lesbianism and this has been linked to what is known in all girls secondary schools as “Supi.”

Adjettey said, “there are women l know who are married but have kept girl-friends whom they visit and no one is talking about these.

“It is as if there is a calculated attempt to just fight the men alone, if single sex relationship is seen as bad, they must talk about women involved in this as well.”

Deegbe however said, “as Christians we are not stigmatizing homosexuals and do not want them to be victimised. But, we want to accept them and provide the necessary help they may require to heal them.”