LGBTQ+ people need psychiatric help, build clinics for them – Anyaa-Sowutuom MP

LGBTQ+ people need psychiatric help, Anyaa-Sowutuom MP Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi has said.

Speaking on CTV’s Anopa Dwabre Mu show on Monday, 1 March 2021 on the raging debate about LGBTQ+ sexuality following the recent opening and subsequent closure of a community space for them, Dr Adomako Kissi said: “In a nutshell, I’d say it is a sexual preference and I think our society or our culture frowns on certain preferences and we cannot forget it.”

“I heard the tag ‘Kojo-besia’ while growing up”, he told host Nana Yaw Adwenpa, adding: “It has been there. The community saw homosexuals as people who walk, talk and behave differently.”

He said: “From the medical standpoint, I think they need help.”

“If someone has mental issues, the approach in tackling them must be different,” he advised.

“I think the gay and lesbianism issue, we have to come to terms that it is real and the approach has to be carefully thought-out because they are people in the country and in a way, the country has to find a way to address the issue,” he pointed out.

In his view, “Ghanaians need a lot of counselling to address this issue, to counsel pupils and students in schools and workplaces to understand why they prefer that sexuality and then find ways of getting them out of it,”

Concerning alleged discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, the first-time lawmaker said: “It is not right to beat someone because he’s chosen that path.”

“Personally, I’ve seen videos of gays being beaten. I don’t support that. Counselling and finding ways to help them are what I am for but I am not for terminating the appointments of people because they are gay. I am not too happy about that because some of them, like all of us, are very good at what they do and, so, we should not outcast them but we need more psychiatrists and sociologists to come and really attend to them in that fashion,” the medial doctor noted.

“It is the same way we have to deal with drug addiction. We cannot go beating drug addicts. No. It will not solve the problem. But rather, counselling sessions and then maybe a hospital or clinic to attend to that particular, that peculiar problem. So, from the legislative standpoint, what Ghana can do might be to help do clinics for them because either way, it is depressing to be gay and then society is trying to kill you,” Dr Adomako Kissi noted.

“All of those things have to be looked at,” he said.

“So, the first thing we might be able to do, as much as Nsawam Prisons needs expansion, the psychological component of lesbianism and gayism, also needs to be looked at from a psychiatric standpoint, mental health standpoint and also from a sociological standpoint because their problems affect the community. And I must comment the President. He’s been very bold and clear saying that he will not legalise same-sex marriage but I want it to be looked at from a mental health standpoint.”