Fact or frenzy? Who's checking?

Hi, Community! 

Did you miss me? How sweet! I told you we’d be back with more thoughts, opinions, and as always, receipts. They never lie, and neither do we. So are we ready to jump right in? To be honest, I let out a deep sigh as I drafted this blogpost, because the nonsense I had to read and listen to? Guy. Breathe with me as we begin. 

Today we review the bold-faced lies by homophobes in this unfortunate country. Some of them will change their stances years later, some of them will lie and make up stories to cover their hate when they need to travel or apply for some international job. The Digital Archive never forgets, though. 

Homophobia is nothing new; take one look at the Digital Archive Project website and you’ll see bigotry all the way from the 1960s, but today we’ll start from 2010. The Daily Graphic in this year published an article by Nurudeen Salifu titled “Gays and rights: Health, not morality”. I’m trying my best to take it easy on the writer, and perhaps consider the year the writing was published, but honestly the whole piece reads like a Social Studies essay by someone in Class 6. Nurudeen claims that the issue of “gays” goes beyond rights, and is a matter of health. It baffles me that people who don’t think queer people deserve human rights can pretend to care about queer people’s health. Make it make sense. But I digress — “The logic therefore is that anyone who attempts to force things through the anus would only be destroying this organ…”, Nurudeen writes. At that point, I took a break from reading; I took off my glasses because I had seen enough. The more I, as a queer person, hear and read opinions from cishet men, the more I remember the importance of feminist theory, and in this case, Comprehensive Sexuality Education. Why would sex involve “forcing” anything? Also, has he not heard of using lubricant during sex? Does he not know that the vagina isn’t the only organ that expands? Does he even know that the vagina expands? Friends, it was a painfully embarrassing read but, I did it for you. 

Let’s fast forward to 2018. This particular interview gave me a headache. Foh-Amoaning advises, “Do not give prominence to LGBT in Ghana”. There’s nothing more interesting than watching people fight for their right to be homophobic. Even the activists weren’t as loud and disturbed as he was on that call. In one breath he says queerness is a foreign import, and in another he cites a foreign case to back his claim that LGBTQ+ issues are not Human Rights issues. He says wanting to have anal sex isn’t a human rights issue and I sigh. Heterosexual people are so concerned about how gay people have sex, they’ve decided it’s all we’re about. A few of my issues with homophobic discourse in Ghana are like I said, the fixation with sex, and the very glaring erasure of women from the conversation of queerness. Obviously, queer women are begging to be recognised by homophobes, but it’s another reminder of the patriarchy and how strong and present it is, even in marginalised groups. Men are the focus, and women are a second thought. A tale as old as time. One good thing about this interview is that the interviewer did their homework, referred to Ghanaian law, and rightfully questioned Foh-Amoaning’s tone.

One thing I wish had been fact-checked was his reference to a study that found that there was no gene responsible for homosexuality. This is the finding Amoaning relied on to argue that queerness is unnatural, and is learned behaviour. Homophobes are very sneaky with their “findings”. These great findings are incomplete, if not completely false, and are often based on data from the same foreign countries they tell us not to to pay attention to. Will they ever make up their minds? A single google search will show multiple resources stating that while there is no single gay gene, there are a number of genetic variants connected to homosexual attraction. An honorary professor at the Genetics Institute of the University College, London said “even if homosexuality is not genetically determined, as this study shows, that does not mean that this is not in some way an innate and indispensable part of an individual’s personality.” Fah Sathirapongsasuti, senior scientist at 23andMe, added that “It's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual behaviour from their genome. This is a natural and normal part of the variation in our species and that should also support precisely the position that we shouldn't try and develop gay 'curism'. That's not in anyone's interest." Maybe homophobes read article titles instead of the articles themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised. 

Now you know we can’t mention Foh-Amoaning without mentioning his other half, Sam George Nartey. It’s either one or the other, isn’t it? Those two do more load-shedding than ECG. Pardon my lack of empathy. It’s probably very hectic work scapegoating marginalised communities at every opportunity. Amoaning is on a break, it seems, and Sam George was sure to pick up the slack. You’d think he’s allergic to hard work when you look at the state of his constituency, but I guess even bigots can be full of surprises. Did you ever hear of the time he said in an interview that South Africa has the highest crime rate in Africa because they “embraced homosexuality”? There’s something about hate that makes people speak carelessly, and something about confidence (if not audacity), that’s so convincing. This man continues to turn already frustrated Ghanaians against queer people, knowing exactly what to say to rile them up. The only significant link between homosexuality and crime is that queer people are more likely to be incarcerated due to homophobia. It’s the case for every marginalised group. Did anyone point that out to Sam George as he was speaking, or afterwards? Exactly.

Sigh. My community, it’s not fair that your eyes and ears suffer simply because mine did, so we’ll end our unfortunate trip down memory lane very soon, with a name we thankfully haven’t heard in a while. He’s not that much better but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, this week’s blogpost is a test of tolerance. Our final review: Counsellor Lutterodt says basic schools in Ghana produce homosexuality. What is the point of his submission, you might ask? The interviewer questioned, as well. Mr. Counselor went on and on about boys kissing in senior high school, pre-teens having masturbated for years, and how the purpose of the “male organ” is not pleasure. After being asked twice what the gist of his rant was, he blamed homosexuality on masturbation, and mastrubation on bad parenting. How very enlightening. Ghanaian media outlets have a habit of platforming people who have no business speaking into a microphone. Hopefully someday soon, they’ll value integrity and responsible reporting over engagement – but engagement means money, and thanks to you-know-who, we’re starving in this country. Will it happen in our lifetime? Who knows. Lutterodt says masturbation is a sign of insanity, and a gateway drug to homosexuality. I don’t know which was more absurd: that claim, or the fact that people think him wise enough to “help” their children. Homophobes, and anyone with such little knowledge on sexuality education, have no business counselling children or anyone, on sexuality and interpersonal relationships. Who’s checking, though? 

I can’t say enough how important the Digital Archive Project is. I’m extremely proud of the time and effort the Research Team clearly put into their work. If journalists and viewers had a fraction of that curiosity, maybe homophobes wouldn’t be bold enough to say certain things in public. With every article I read, every interview I convince myself to watch of Ghanaians speaking about the LGBTQ+ community, I ask myself who’s fact-checking. You’d think that that’s the least a journalist or interviewer could do, but you’d be surprised. Well, allow me to introduce you to Rightify Ghana, a human rights organisation in Ghana focusing on advocacy, empowerment and media monitoring of human rights issues in Ghana. The next time you read an article or watch an interview and ask yourself who’s fact-checking, think of Rightify Ghana. LGBTQ+ Ghanaians, while trying our best to survive, are putting in the work when it comes to advocacy and education. I can’t wait to see more organisations and projects by and for Queer Ghanaians in the coming years. Homophobes are a lot louder than they should be, and journalists and “Human Rights” lawyers seem to have forgotten what their work is, so we’ll have to do it for them– for us, really. Who better to speak for us, than us? That’s the answer to today’s question; we are checking.