Key politician in Ghana defends LGBTQ citizens: ‘Leave gays alone’
The leader of Ghana’s current ruling party has spoken up for the nation’s LGBTQ citizens, who are currently under threat from homophobic politicians and religious leaders pushing for passage of a bill that has been labeled “the worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever”.
“Leave gays alone” was the message from Freddie Blay, chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Blay’s remarks come at a time when billboards promoting tolerance in Ghana have been torn down and when human rights activists have sued the Ghanaian police and attorney general over the unjustified arrest of 21 human rights activists on homosexuality charges last year.
In addition, popular Ghanaian singer Reggie Rockstone urged his fans to treat the LGBTQ+ community with respect. “When you talk about LGQBTI, I just know that my children have no hate in them, I don’t raise my children to hate”, he said.
Blay’s comments in favor of LGBTQ rights were phrased in language that is common in many African nations, but not among Western progressive circles. They included references to “gayism”, to sexual orientation as “their own decision”, and to “Nature’s law of a man marrying a woman”.
This is how Blay’s remarks were reported in Ghana’s MetroLens Online:
Leave Gays Alone – Freddie Blay
The Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Freddie Blay has urged rights activists to allay their protest against the activities of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex plus LGBTQI+ group in the country.
He explained that, there was no need to interfere in their activities since they have taken their own decision to thwart Nature’s law of a man marrying a woman but his fellow man.
“I think there’s too much hypocrisy about it. Emotions have been excited over it to the extent that we are not sober over it. I honestly do not see the hullabaloo about it. We should allow them if they want to”, he noted.
To mark Pride month, LGBTQ+ activists mounted billboards in the capital Accra and two other cities with the inscription “Love, Tolerance and Acceptance.”
Rights activists in Ghana who protested after a crowd, urged on by some MPs and opinion leaders, tore down the billboards that promoted tolerance toward the LGBTQ community.
Talking to Kwaku Nhyira-Addo on Townhall Talk on Asaase Radio (17 June), Blay said there is too much hypocrisy surrounding the issue in Ghana.
“If people want to be gays, it should be their own problem. I won’t go ahead to be a persecutor of those who want to be together as man and man or woman and woman,” the former MP said.
“I think there’s too much hypocrisy about it. Emotions have been excited over it to the extent that we are not sober over it. I honestly do not see the hullabaloo about it. We should allow them if they want to.
“I don’t subscribe to gayism as a choice because I’m not attracted by that, but I don’t want to go into people’s bedrooms. I don’t want to see what they are doing,” Blay said.
