There is one thing I hear again and again in all situations of daily life: “This is a free country.” “Feel free.” “You are free, my brother.” “In
Ghana, you are free.” “I am free.” There are more variations to this theme, but Ghanaians are usually very proud of their tolerant and open society.
Quite often being free means being free to do whatever you want given that you can afford the bribes. You can litter, build a house without a permit, and drive cars that would be sent to the dump in every other corner of the world. You are free.
Maybe this seems like a cynical summary, but than I’m not Ghanaian. So what do you expect? My negative preconceptions were seemingly affirmed when Ghanaian government banned an International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Rights that was to be held in Accra in September. The official declaration by the Information Minister Kwamena Bartels was straight forward. He said homosexual practices were illegal in Ghana and would “violently offend the culture, morality and heritage of the entire people of Ghana”. I read the press statement when I went for a chat with someone in the German embassy. The lady said, they had sent the press release to the headquarters in Berlin without any comment. What could you probably add to phrases like, "Unnatural carnal knowledge is illegal under our criminal code. Homosexuality, lesbianism and bestiality are therefore offences under the laws of Ghana.".
The clamp down made the conference a headline and people were debating homosexuality and gay rights 24/7 on TV, in radio shows and on the streets. Here is one example out of many articles published during the time: Our culture will not be sold out for gay lifestyles. Mind you, this is a moderate one. Basically, people said, if they want to do it, they should go outside the country. Most people were arguing from a religious or traditional perspective saying things like ‘Ghanaian men don’t sleep with other men’ or ‘God created Adam and Eve for a reason’. The more elaborate among the commentators highlighted Ghana’s AIDS problem saying that gay men are the most vulnerable and that Ghana was becoming a destination for gay sex tourism.
That is the background, now comes the catch. Everyone I spoke to condemns homosexuality, still Accra has quite a number of gay bars and they are not hiding. Jones, a Ghanaian, took me out to Henri’s Palace. I had met him weeks ago at a party on Oxford Street in Osu, the nightlife area of Accra. Weeks later I saw him again, this time with his girlfriend. She was called Beauty, which wasn’t all that wrong. That night the girl was drinking like a fish and hitting on every guy around. Jones didn’t seem to care. They broke up later. My guess is that she was just a cover up.
Anyway, back to Henri’s Palace. We were sitting on the street, drinking and talking. Some details seemed odd, but I didn’t get the picture straight away. There were no women, but it was around 9 pm and most drinking spots are crowded by men anyway. One guy was dancing in a very sexy, female kind of style. But Ghanaians love to dance and some of their movements look like pure sex. There was this one Arabic looking guy with a tiny, tiny shirt that barely covered his breast. But it wasn’t until, I stepped inside the club that the picture became clear. Just men, for sure, and they were smoking, very rare in Ghana. Some of them were slim, wearing tight fitting jeans and fancy T-Shirts. Others looked like well established businessmen who came to flee reality, a wife, and three kids. On the walls were black and white shots of Hollywood stars and an Audrey Hepburn poster. A sign was saying ‘Poppers available here 80.000 Cedis”. I felt like being somewhere in Berlin or London.
That’s Ghana for you - another Ghanaian saying whenever things turn out to be slightly different from what you had expected. And I think this is very telling of how Ghanaians go about their business. Maintain a high profile in public, do what pleases you in private. My friend Jones is a perfect example. Somehow he is living a gay life and somehow he is still holding on to the idea of marrying and having a family. Must be difficult to be torn apart like this. But this is Accra for you, a strange mixture of modern globalized life and old rites and believes.
# posted by Thilo @ 11:00 AM
