The goal: “a space in West Africa where persons from diverse faiths, cultures, class and sexual orientations can convene, work with faith leaders and communities to create a world in which everyone enjoys all human rights irrespective of class, religious belief, culture and sexual orientation.” Late last month, West Africa moved a step closer to … Continue reading
Modestly edited items from ILGA’s LGBulleTIn and UNAIDS’s Equal Eyes news summaries: Continue reading
Gay men who seek companionship online frequently fall victim to extortionists and blackmailers, especially in homophobic countries and especially in Africa. Police rarely intervene, and sometimes they’re partners in the schemes. A recent incident in Ghana was an exception. Continue reading
“Man Bonks SHS Boy In Hotel” was how one homophobic news website in Ghana reported the arrest of two men last week after they allegedly had consensual sex at a hotel in Accra, the capital city. Continue reading
German embassies have repeatedly stymied the LGBT support group Hamiam when it invites human rights activists for training in Cologne, Germany. One of the latest activists to be blocked is the founder of a Mauritanian human rights advocacy group. Continue reading
A year ago something remarkable happened in the Global Anglican Communion (GAC), but most persons missed it, even senior Anglican clergy. This miraculous event occurred on Jan. 15, 2016, when the Primates representing all the Provinces in the 80 million+ denomination agreed, for the first time, that criminalizing same-gender intimacy is wrong. Continue reading
U.S. foreign aid and loans from the International Monetary Fund are being used as leverage to encourage fair, unbiased treatment of LGBTI people in homophobic countries. But not without pushback. Consider the case of Ghana, which is troubled about a $918-million IMF loan that comes with a requirement of preventing discrimination against LGBT patients and … Continue reading
Progressive faith leaders and activists from West Africa have joined forces to work to end anti-LGBTI bias in the region and seek “a world governed by respect and dignity.” The new Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa (IDNoWA) includes members from Nigeria, Togo, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Liberia. The network’s founder and co-chair is Anglo-Nigerian … Continue reading
By Yaw Amanfoh What leads a person to ruin the lives of other people for nothing but a paycheck? This year, on Feb. 26, Ghana’s Flex Magazine published an article called “Exposing Gays and Lesbians in the Showbiz Industry.” Its author, Ebenezer Narh Affum, stated in the article that there was a “dire need” to … Continue reading
Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made progress in recognizing the human rights of LGBTI people, but much work remains to be done in the region’s 29 countries that still have laws against same-sex intimacy. LGBTI rights in those African countries are the focus of the following excerpts from the 2015 edition of the U.S. … Continue reading
