The Great Debate!

Homosexuality

The subject, homosexuality, appears to have dropped upon us from the sky, gaining an uncanny and cacophonous currency not only on the airwaves but in street-corner parleys.

Not even the churches are spared the noise, unseemly as the lines of some of the arguments have been so far.

Its descent upon us was unexpected, becoming almost a national issue and seemingly competing with the more critical matters of bread and butter.

No day dawns without reference to it in the media. A few days ago, a prominent personality who sought to speak for those with the unusual hormone which instills in them the urge to be different perhaps, was descended upon so heavily that we could only sympathise with him even as we faulted him for his guts at this time.

It is being debated with such vigour and gusto that one can bet it is a matter of life and death. As you read this commentary, the Christian Council of Ghana has scheduled a press conference for Monday, 18^th July 2011, to state its position on the subject which is threatening to tear the Ghanaian social fabric apart.

Oh yes, the matter has reached that stage and even beyond. The National Chief Imam could not be left out of the debate too as his office issued a statement frowning upon the unusual trait, certainly in line with Islamic scriptures, as it is with Christianity. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is common to both Islam and Christianity anyway.

The foregone references are not intended to usher us into the arguments in anyway but just to underscore the scale of the heat being generated by the great debate.

It is no longer a cut-and-dry affair or a sort of fait accompli regarding the traditional Ghanaian abhorrence for it. One can no longer just condemn it without stepping on the toe of a neighbor or a stakeholder deeply sympathetic to this rare breed of Ghanaians who think they too have their rights and must be protected.

They recently enjoyed the legal argument put forth by one of the human rights groups supportive of their cause.

When President Mills joined the debate somewhat, he quickly rejoined the           Ghanaian Times report fearing the backlash from gay activists and human rights groupings on their side.

This is how far Ghana has become- sophisticated- a new feature which has diluted our cultural norms, making them almost irrelevant in some circles in the face of invading developments on all fronts.

With the country racing to catch up with the rest of the world by the hour, minute and even second, we are in for more wonders. As we sit in awe of the unfolding development, the old school conservatives can certainly not adjust and could just like Chinua Achebe’s tragic hero, Okonkwo, in his classic, Things Fall Apart, commit suicide in the face of the advent of colonialism.

Our conservatives won’t take that ultimate and abominable path, thanks to Christianity and Islam. But under the compelling circumstances, they might just put up or shut up.

Most Ghanaians, we can bet, are not ready to have their kids show any proclivity towards same sex relations; but should they, what can we do? Admit them for what they are? Or live in denial as homosexuality and lesbianism have become new features in our country? Hmm!