Deconstructing homosexuality in Ghana

Marginality and otherness: the discursive construction of LGBT issues/people in the Ghanaian news media

“…To reinforce the immorality and amorality of LGBT issues, their purported consequences are highlighted: ‘would attract the wrath of Allah’ (1) and would ‘would destroy God’s best formation, that is the human being’ (3). The use of religious beliefs to justify the discriminatory discourse promoted is unsurprising because as shown in various studies, the contempt for LGBT issues, especially in media discourses, is rooted in Judeo-Christian-Islamic beliefs, with eschatological references that imply that LGBT people risk eternal damnation (Mohammed, 2020; Tettey, 2016). As one news report explains, citing a reverend minister: ‘there are implications for misusing any gift that pertains to your body.…”

“…Assertions such as ‘homosexuals do not have any right’ (6) and ‘the human rights arguments often advanced for such rights are not tenable’ (7) can be analyzed as an oversimplification strategy rooted within binary, dualistic thinking that enables the media to express simplistic and dominant views that align with the status quo. In so doing, the media avoid a more nuanced discussion on LGBT issues and instead present homophobic discourses as normal (Mohammed, 2020).…”

“…The choice of this pronoun further contributes to the conversationalization of the discourse, thereby minimizing the social distance between the news content and especially Ghanaian readers who are represented as the ones to suffer from the negative consequences caused by LGBT issues. The stereotypical characterization of LGBT issues as foreign/Western and hence anathema to Ghana is not surprising because studies have shown that many African leaders promote anti-LGBT rhetoric in order to oppose Western leaders’ advancement of what is thought to be an ‘LGBT agenda’ (Mohammed, 2020). Consequently, the legalization of homosexuality, for instance, in certain Western countries has received public backlash in many African countries, including Ghana, and has sometimes resulted in calls for the criminalization of homosexuality outside of Africa.…”

“…Existing research on LGBT people in Ghana adopts a sociological (Baisley, 2015; Gore, 2018), postcolonial (Asante, 2020; Mohammed, 2020), an ethnographic (Banks, 2011; Dankwa, 2009), and an experimental approach (Gyasi-Gyamerah and Akotia, 2016; Gyasi-Gyamerah et al, 2019). Arguing that attitudes toward LGBT people in Ghana are invariably negative, these studies have examined anti-gay sentiments in traditional and new media, people’s perception of LGBT issues and interventional measures for change.…”