Not too long ago,the issue of gay
unions in Africa was a trending story on the international scene. Almost if not
all African leaders expressed their opinion on the matter amidst
lynching,killing and mob actions on certain parts of the continent.
I stand to be corrected but to the
best of my knowledge when the Ghanaian president back then H.E John Atta-Mills
was interviewed on the issue. He clearly stated that he and his nation are
strongly against succumbing to western forces and recognizing gay rights . He
cited local moral values and religious doctrines of the majority of the
Ghanaian population as the reason. The story was no different in other
countries like Zimbabwe and Nigeria.
I understand that a young man was
beaten severely in Ghana due to his sexual orientation. I was however disgusted
to see people massively condemning the action by the mob on twitter but still
saying that he was at fault because of his sexual orientation with studies
showing that most people have no control over their orientation. Most people
"frowned on the act of gayism but don't support the fact that he was beaten ".
We witnessed a similar situation in
Paris when the cartoonist Charlie Hebdo was killed for the satirical depictions of
revered religious figures and leaders. Did he have the right to represent
another man's religion in an insulting manner? Are there any laws in France
that allow its citizens to express themselves in this manner? In other words
how Liberal is France as compared to Ghana.
Ghana frowns on gay unions but hasn't
declared whether they're criminal or not.We can declare that we are a country that takes our moral and religious values seriously and as such, anyone who doesn't live in adherence with our doctrines shouldn't be treated as a citizen. OR, We can decide to tolerate gay unions and prosecute those who in any-way intimidate others due to their sexual orientation. But we can't have a fine mix of both.
A policeman frowns upon stealing. A thief looks to stealing as the only means to an end in his life.As such, there shouldn't be a situation where a police man should be ok with a thief stealing but then comes out to argue when others who are against stealing try to "deal" with the thief when he his caught. If something of this sort happens, it means something major is wrong.
If we declare we are a homophobic state, we should either have laws to prosecute gay people or prosecute those who intimidate gay people. We shouldn't say we are homophobic or not but scared to prosecute offending parties.
Nigeria is the best example for this paragraph. together as a nation, they are against gay unions because Christianity and Islam are the most dominant religions in the country. They are therefore united on the homophobic front. The Boko Haram militant group claiming Islamic roots however has other propositions due to their religious roots they claim. There is a major problem in Nigeria because laws weren't made based on civil reasons.
The Pope was heavily criticized when he said we shouldn't condemn gay people but rather strive to bring them closer to God so that they may find reason to change their orientation if they can.
No man deserves to die because of how he lives. No man deserves to be punished because others aren't comfortable with the way he behaves not because he has violated their rights in a way.
BE BOLD AND TAKE A STAND BASED ON CIVIL RIGHTS
