Same-sex relationships and recriminalisation of homosexuality in Ghana: A historical analysis

• Ernest Yaw Ako ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Cape Coast

     University of Cape Coast

     Ghana

     
• Localización: Sociolinguistic Studies, ISSN 1750-8649, Vol. 17, Nº. 1-3, 2023 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Gender and sexuality in African discourses), págs. 45-65
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Most Ghanaians conveniently ignore or vehemently deny the existence of homosexual relationships in precolonial Ghanaian cultures. The denial of these relationships in preco-lonial Ghanaian cultures has gained attention due to section 104 of the Criminal Offences Act of Ghana which criminalises ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’ and the ‘promotion of proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values bill, 2021’ (anti-LGBTQI+ bill), currently being debated in Ghana’s Parliament. Historical evidence suggests, however, that Western European researchers who first visited Africa and Ghana suppressed evi-dence of homosexuality, while indigenous people unwittingly concealed homosexual relationships because of a ‘culture of silence’ surrounding sex and sexuality in pre-colonial Ghana. From a decolonial theoretical perspective, this article argues that the non-appreciation of precolonial Ghanaian (homo)sexual history partly accounts for the criminalisation of same-sex sexual relationships, homophobia, violence, and violations of the rights of sexual minorities in contemporary Ghana. The paper connects the pres-ence of same-sex sexual intimacies in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), and the absence of criminal sanctions as a basis for rethinking current attempts in Parliament to recrimi-nalise homosexual relationships, in order to chart a path of the equal legal protection of every person, regardless of their sexual orientation