Toyin Falola It would be enlightening to carry out a survey on current sexual practices as well as attitudes towards emerging practices/orientation, including homosexuality in African countries. That should lay to rest the arguments on the issue of homosexuality which has been in existence since humanity began but which is only beeing discussed publicly in recent times.
Prof Felicia A. D. Oyekanmi
Department of Sociology
University of Lagos
Akoka, Yaba,
Lagos Nigeria
Tel: {234} 1 7941757
Cell: {234}8056560970
--- On Wed, 20/7/11, Pius Adesanmi <piusadesanmi@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Pius Adesanmi <piusadesanmi@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ghana: Attacks on Gays
To: "usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, 20 July, 2011, 11:56
Edward:
When trouble sleep, yanga go wake am... You and Professor Toyin Falola are looking for wahala. When did the great Praetorian Guard of the Academie Afrikaine, Mwalimu Maurice Amutabi, authorize the two of you to post an un-Afrikan material that would appear to suggest that there is any such "thing" as gays in Ghana, Liberia, and Ethiopia? I smell a conspiracy against the purity of Afrikan culture and history in Professor Falola's post and your comments.
Pius
From: "Kissi, Edward" <ekissi@usf.edu>
To: "USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com" <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 20 July 2011, 9:53
Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ghana: Attacks on Gays
I spent five months (February to June 2011) on the African continent, principally in Ghana, Liberia and Ethiopia. What I found particularly striking and also disturbing is the vitriolic attacks on gays and lesbians on various television networks in Accra. The attacks are even worse on various FM stations. What is equally disturbing is the apparent ignorance with which people who choose to speak about Homosexuality in these various fora do so. They don't even seem to know, or care to read or find out the scientific and social science research on Homosexuality which they can obtain on the internet. People on television and radio should be sufficiently well-informed on the topics on which they elect to pontificate or else they mislead those who see them as the founts of knowledge. That is not the case in Ghana. What I found striking also is the proliferation of "televangelists" and "charismatic churches." These people and institutions have also joined the chorus against homosexuality. I am not surprised that elected officials who should have the good sense to tamp down these hatemongering sermons on television are themselves part of the cheerleading squad. Apples do not fall from the tree. The elected officials of Ghana, and many of the ignoramuses on radio, should reflect deeply on a statement the former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once made that the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation. I was expecting radio and TV personalities in Ghana to educate government officials and church congregations about humanity, human rights, natural dispositions and even the various choices and preferences people make in their lives that make human society a complex quilt. Humanity thrives in its infinite variety. It is hate and prejudice that lead people to assert the rightness, even Godliness, of their ways while denying the same to how other people lead their lives. Ignorance on the matter of homosexuality is breeding prejudice in Ghana. Open prejudice against gays and lesbians has become popular at the places in Ghana where one expected serious thinking and, at the minimum, interest in learning about the complexities of difference. But, I think I was expecting too much from the caliber of people I heard on radio and saw on TV on this subject-matter and even the caliber of elected officials who join the rabble in the loot. Edward Kissi From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Toyin Falola
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2011 9:12 AM
To: USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ghana: Attacks on Gays Homosexuals in Ghana in Touble, a news item from Ghanaweb.com The Western Region Minister Paul Evans Aidoo has ordered the immediate arrest of all homosexuals in the region.
He has tasked the Bureau of National Investigations and all security agencies to smoke out persons suspected to be engaging in same sex.
He also enlisted the services of landlords and tenants to provide reliable information which will lead to the arrest of homosexuals.
His directive follows months of campaigns against the practice of homosexuality in the country.
Only yesterday, the Christian Council of Ghana capped months of protestations against the practice of homosexuality with a strongly worded message against the practice and courting Ghanaians not to vote for any politician who believes in the rights of homosexuals.
The Western Region has been a beehive of activities linked with homosexuality. A recent media report claimed the Western and Central Regions together have a total of about 8,000 homosexuals and lesbians.
That report sparked a series of religious demonstrations with the Moslem and Christian communities in the region hitting the streets to protest what they claim is an ungodly and demonic act.
In an interview with Joy News' Seth Kwame Boateng, Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo condemned the practice but also contested the figure being bandied about in the media.
Whilst conceding that the practice actually goes on in the region and in people's closets, he said the 8,000 figure cannot be correct.
"I don't believe it; nobody believes it," he said, adding, "We do not see them; REGSEG does not see them."
He accused the NGO alleged to have registered the total number of gay and lesbians in the two regions of engaging in selfish practice.
Mr. Paul Aidoo minced no words at all in his dislike for the practice. He stated that "all efforts are being made to get rid of these people in the society."
He said once they are arrested they will be hauled before court to test the strength of the law which frowns upon homosexuality in the country.
But a Lawyer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has challenged the legitimacy of the minister's action.
Ernest Kofi Abotsie told Joy News' Dzifah Bampoh that no person can be arrested for breach of morality, explaining that the law on "unnatural canal knowledge" in the criminal code is still ambiguous and cannot necessarily be said to be the same as homosexuality.
He faulted the minister for directing the police to embark on the arrest of homosexuals, arguing that the police by their professional training must be seen to be carrying out their duty, if there is the breach of law, without being prompted.
But he pointed out there is need to test the law pertaining to having unnatural canal knowledge of another person and pursuit should be as far as to the Supreme Court. [Ghanaweb.com] -- Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
http://groups.google.com/group/yorubaaffairs
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