Homosexuality Is A Mental Issue - Chief Psychiatrist

Dr Akwesi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service has openly stated his conviction that the practice of homosexuality is a mental issue which must not be allowed to flourish in Ghana.

He said the excuses given by many western nations in support of the homosexuality are only borne out of political expediency and not a genuine belief that the sexual orientation is normal.

“Those who are in such situations they have a certain constituency in terms of numbers and in terms of voice,” he said.

Speaking to host of Breakfast XYZ, Emefa Apawu, on Radio XYZ 93.1 FM, Dr. Osei posited that “only for political reasons worldwide, [homosexuality] has been said to be normal but strictly speaking, I believe it is a mental health issue.”

“In the past, until some forty years ago, it was considered a mental health issues,” he said explaining that the powerful gay society of America in the 1960s started advocating to get the medical assumptions scrapped, which was eventually obliged by the American Psychiatrists.

“The bottomline of whether something is normal or not is whether it is a significant departure from normality or whether the departure brings about pain to the individual or the society. If something is a significant departure from the norm and causes pain to the individual and the society, then that is a mental health issue,” adding “a man going for a man is a significant departure from the normal and in our society; it causes distress to the society. It is a mental health issue.”

He said like HIV AIDS, anytime a disease takes roots in a country, it will be considered as normal, and that is what is happening with homosexuality.

He said the fact that the practice is accepted in Europe does not mean that it should be accepted and allowed to flourish in Ghana.