Legalising homosexuality in Ghana will worsen our plight – Gay man

With the constant push for the legalization of homosexuality particularly by the Western World for African Countries like Ghana amidst discrimination, one would assume that members of the LGBT community, in order to feel accepted would want homosexuality de-criminalised and their rights acknowledged but a Ghanaian gay who identifies himself as JayQuameh, frankly disagrees.

For him, discrimination against homosexuals has been in existence for years and therefore has become a norm, he believes the legalization of homosexuality rather, will only make matters worse for gays and lesbians as it would be a situation where the laws accept but the people under the laws resist.

“I think it shouldn’t be accepted here in Ghana because whether it is accepted or not things are not going to change, rather, it’s going to be worse” …Let’s say now it is accepted, we can go about doing our own stuff, it will be accepted by the law but not accepted by the people”

“I don’t want it accepted at all, we should just leave things the way it is because it’s been there, it’s not a new thing, it’s been there way back”, he said to Joynews’ Israel Laryea on JoyNews Prime.

JayQuameh believes homosexuals should be free to go about their duties and live out their preferences without being attacked once they are not ‘publicly displaying’ their intimate details; it’s what works for him.

“I don’t go on the streets chasing my fellow guy, I don’t go on the streets making out with a fellow guy, what happens is indoors, I don’t go about doing crazy things on the streets so why do you have to attack me. It’s different if I go out wearing crazy bad stuff, making out with people on the streets, that’s when the community can actually attack me. But I go out doing my normal duties as a casual person, having fun, I won’t be attacked”.

Meanwhile Legal Practitioner Moses Foh-Amoaning who is an anti-gay rights activist believes UK Prime Minister was ignorant and disrespectful by suggesting to help African Countries including Ghana change its laws against homosexuality.

He believes homosexuals have a problem which should be identified and strategic steps taken to help them out of it.

“When Theresa May says that the British gave us a law 40-50 years ago and that law was wrong and that they’ll help us to change it, what you forget is that before the English brought the law, we had our own law, we Africans we live our culture, our customary law and that’s who we are and it is against it”

“We must know the plan and put out our view, our view is Africans don’t believe in it, we don’t think it is right, if somebody has got that penchant, we help that person, we don’t throw him out, we don’t cut off his head, we don’t beat him up but the propaganda from the Western media is that we are killing them etc. of course if you do something and it is not right, society will react, if they criminalise polygamy and we say we don’t like homosexual rights, why do they say it is discriminatory”, he said.

Homosexuality has been vehemently opposed in most African countries particularly Ghana and Nigeria. Discrimination against same-sex relationships in this part of the world is quite on the rise. Currently, under Ghanaian criminal law (Chapter 6 of the Criminal Code, 1960, as amended by The Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2003) same-sex sexual activity among males is illegal.



Whilst many gay rights activists have advocated equal rights for the gay community, majority of Ghanaians in general continue to push against the agenda of legalizing homosexuality.