Ghana counselors see business opportunity in anti-gay uproar

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Some anti-gay counselors and psychologists in Ghana have decided that the nation’s ongoing anti-LGBTQ uproar is a good time to publicize treatment of what they call “LGBTQIA+ Disorder”.

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For information about what many nations’ associations of psychologists and psychiatrists have to say about the damage done by therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation, see the article, “‘Ex-gay therapy’: What reputable experts have to say”.

The Ghana-based African Equality Centre commented on the new promotions of “ex-gay therapy” and the tactic of describing same-sex attraction a “disorder”:

“By labeling #LGBTQ as a ‘disorder’, homophobes in Ghana are aiming to cash in through activities that may contribute to ‘gay conversion therapy’

“Following multiple weeks of homophobic discussions in the Ghanaian media, some agencies are taking advantage of the negative narrative.”

Ghana has been in an uproar about homosexuality since last month’s opening of a new office and safe house of the advocacy group LGBT+ Rights Ghana.

Police raided the new LGBT+ center on Feb. 24, after which gay-rights activists called for a boycott of anti-LGBT leaders and celebrities in the West African nation.

Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, declared this week that parliament will soon pass a strict anti-LGBTQI bill.

Ghanaian law already provides for sentences of up to three years for homosexual activity. In a meeting on Monday with Bagbin, member of parliament Sam George Nartey said that the new bill should plug “gaps” in that law by criminalizing “trans genders, queers, binary etc.”

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