Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion Ghana’s tragic turn toward anti-LGBT extremism

Columnist|
June 10, 2022 at 4:23 p.m. EDT
Ghana's president, Nana Akufo-Addo, addressing the U.N. General Assembly in 2019. (Frank Franklin II/AP)
5 min

Under the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana has been meticulously exporting an image of the country as a safe destination for Black people and Ghanaians in the diaspora. For years, the nation known as the Black Star of Africa has been seen as a beacon of tolerance and peace.

But no matter how bright stars shine, they all fade and die eventually. A horrifically repressive anti-gay bill in Ghana is a tragic example of how my father’s homeland is rapidly succumbing to the gravitational pull of fundamentalist hatred of LGBTQ people.