In recent times, one could be forgiven for thinking homosexuality has suddenly been ‘invented’ or discovered in Ghana. And the righteousness and ferocity with which people take to the various media outlets to denounce it, equating it with all kinds of vile and immoral acts akin to human society makes me wonder whether there is a collective sense of ostrich-like mentality or a question of ignorance and cowardice that stops us facing the truth. Or quite possibly a simple explanation that goes to the very core of human psychology, ie the rather uncomfortable and painful feeling when facing the truth about ourselves.

I have read in places, not least this forum where people have suggested three young men recently arrested by the police for allegedly being involved in homosexual relationship, not caught, whether in public or private involved in homosexual acts and are about to be arraigned before the courts, should be imprisoned for life with hard labour. I wonder what punishment this blood-hounds will prescribe for armed robbers, child-killers, paedophiles, rapists etc who by-the-way also prevail in our society.

And this brings me to another point. People, in their ignorance often say homosexuality is a foreign/Western import. It is responsible for their moral decadence, and we don’t want it here. It is against our culture etc. Yet another example of ignorance and/or failure to admit the truth to ourselves. I wonder if such people ever attended boarding school in Ghana. What was/is the meaning of the term ‘supi’? For their education, it simply meant/means the act of two females involved in sexual acts. In male dormitories where the more crude term of ‘sodomy’ was used, it meant the same thing. The West did not export it to Ghana and it isn’t a recent phenomenon, whatever the moral crusaders will like us to think. It has been part of the society for decades, if not longer. That it wasn’t reported then the way it is being now does not mean it did not happen.

As a country I find it quite amazing that we are prepared to be accepting of reprehensible behaviour that directly impacts on our ability to improve the wellbeing of all and instead train our moral outrage on issues that frankly pales into insignificance when properly examined. I have never heard anyone ascribe the economic and moral rot in the country to those isolated acts of homosexuality I have mentioned but I challenge anyone to tell me whether our dire economic straits have nothing to do with the endemic corruption that have dogged our society since independence. As a country we seem to be happy to laud people in positions of influence who are engaged in high level corruption even as they attend church services every Sunday resplendently dressed and driving in expensive cars. We somehow think such people are not as bad as two adults preferring the sexual company of each other in the privacy of their rooms.

Anyone trying to clear their goods from Tema harbour will have experienced the filth in corruption that prevails there, the consequences of which the entire country has to bear. Somehow the moral crusaders in the land seem oblivious to the detrimental effect on individuals and the wider economy that the actions of those custom officials and the posse of agents wreak. And that is just one example. Day in day out, we read about unscrupulous individuals acting in ways that undermine the fabric of our society. From teachers engaged in illicit relationship with pupils and students, public officials using their position to enrich themselves at the expense of the work they are paid to do, police officers openly soliciting bribes at road-sides while allowing dangerous and unsafe drivers/driving to go unpunished often resulting in deaths and tragedy for innocent people etc. Where is the outrage that should rightly be engendered? Where are all those moral crusaders? Is the moral fibre of a society only defined in sexual currency, hell, no?

The so-called moral decadent West who’s chief export appears to be homosexuality, if you believe the ignorant moral crusaders, somehow have worked out that corruption has a greater impact on the development of a country than what two gays or lesbians choose to do in the privacy of their settings.

This brings me to another point – rights and equality. In a modern 21st century, why should it be a crime to accord rights against discrimination to minorities of a different sexual orientation? It is said that the decency and civility of a society can be measured by how its minorities and the vulnerable are treated. Why should it be too much to ask for equal protection under the law for all citizens regardless of our differences, tastes, backgrounds, tribes, educational achievement etc? I would be offended by the actions of two adults in public flaunting their sexuality, be they homo- or heterosexual, and rightly so because I am of the school such intimate affairs ought to be engaged in behind close doors, not as an exhibition. Anyone flouting such moral code ought to be dealt with by the law irrespective of their sexuality. What others choose to do in their bedroom, I have no interest in prying in order to make an issue of it.

As for those who cite the Bible to justify their hatred, I have just this to say. I would preach against homosexuality but like other spheres of life, I would rely on individuals to make their own decisions in the same way my mother and dad have not managed to drag me to church because they recognise that I am an adult and I am capable of making my own decisions. On the day of reckoning, it will be just me and my maker, likewise every homosexual, heterosexual, hypocrite, pastor, layman etc. Somehow I find it hard to believe the lord will be merciful towards the murderer, the rapist, the child-killer than he will be to the homosexual who did not seek to harm anyone.

In the current climate, it would appear I am in the minority with my views, perhaps so, although the loudest and most adept at haranguing are hardly ever right. Nevertheless I fully expect to be vilified by some people who disagree with me. That is their prerogative. For those interested in intellectual debate, I welcome counter-arguments. Please let us get the blinkers off our eyes if we are serious about national development and stop fuffing over issues that are less important in the great scheme of things. There are huge challenges weighing the country down. Homosexuality is frankly not one of them now, anymore than it has ever been. Revolution in media technology has made it possible for a lot of society’s hitherto unmentionable issues to come to the fore but they are no more toxic today than they were. And for God’s sake, haven’t we ‘grown-up’ to be able to deal with issues in a more civilised way than some of the barbarity being advocated?

Naasei Akoto Sarfo

London