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Former Amnesty International Ghana Country Director Robert Amoafo has refuted claims that LGBT + sexualities are a Western import and therefore should be rejected.
According to him, such claims are unfounded myths intended to misinform the general population and to arouse opposition against members of the LGBT + community.
Speaking on JoyNews’ News file On Saturday, he said that “no country called the UK, US or Canada has packaged homosexuality and come and poured it out on Ghanaians and said some Ghanaians would be gay.” And so we don’t have this discussion around the idea that homosexuality is a western import; it’s not.”
He added: “We’ve had gays in Ghana, even in Africa, since the beginning of the world and wherever it can be, and all the things that a lot of people have mentioned, even the underlying discussion from some of the supporters. of this bill make it clear that homosexuality is not something that was started by the West or introduced by the West, so this myth needs to be erased.
His comment came in response to an attempt by Ningo Prampram MP Sam George, who attempted to draw parallels between the criminalization of polygamy in some Western societies and the criminalization of LGBT + sexualities in Ghana.
Sam George had cited an article from a foreign news site about two Canadian brothers sentenced to 5 years for being involved in polygamy in their home country to support his view on the need to defend popular views. , customary and traditional of Ghanaians, just as Canadians had done.
However, reacting to the drawn parallels, which were further pointed out by host Evans Mensah, Robert Amoafo said it was wrong to draw such parallels because it creates the impression that LGBT + sexualities are a Western import.
He explained that even Western countries that now protect members of the LGBT + community have at one point had their own difficulties in accepting them; thus, it was even detrimental to present LGBT + sexualities as Western.
“That this myth about the West bringing something is wrong. It’s just the idea that we should understand that even in the West, if you look at the United States 50 years ago, this discussion was going on as we are now.
“There was a deputy just like we have Sam George sitting in your studios also doing the same thing as is happening now. So it’s not too foreign to them that they’ve had this discussion before, ”he said.
He pointed out that LGBT + people have been part of the social fabric of Ghana since time immemorial and have had no negative effect on society.
“They’ve been with the people for so long; they haven’t caused destruction to anyone, they haven’t done anything that destroys our economy or violates human rights, or rapes any person or causes violence against anyone, these are people who all exist the days they go to work, they’re human beings just like any other person.
He thus further underscored the need to alienate the idea that LGBT + sexualities are a Western import from the main discussion and view them as human.
“Sexuality is not a foreign thing, it is a spectrum, and we are all on a spectrum of sexuality. And so if someone is on the spectrum of homosexuality, the person is not wrong, the person is a human being and must be respected, and benefit from all the human rights and the expected protection, ”he said. he concluded.
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