BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — Ghanaian media report that two of the country’s leading high schools have dismissed more than 50 students for either “practising homosexuality” or “engaging in lesbianism.”
A Radio XYZ online report says that 19 students at the Opoku Ware Secondary High School, a Catholic institution, who were expelled had “managed to form a society on campus and regularly meet to discuss how to convince more students to practise the act.” The XYZ report and another one in the Ghanaian Herald also referred to the recent dismissal of 34 girls from the Wesley Girls Senior High School in Kumasi for “engaging in lesbianism.”
In an April 12 report, XYZ also referred to “gay practice” gaining “notoriety” in some boys’ schools, saying “in most cases, it is the seniors who allegedly introduce and force their juniors into the practice.”
The Ghanaian Herald also revealed its outrage about same-sex relations and relationships in its coverage of the Wesley expulsions.
“The Kumasi Wesley Girls’ Senior High School, popularly referred to as ‘K Wey Gey Hey,’ one of the revered and leading second cycle females’ institutions in the country is on the brink of losing its social and moral standing in the Ghanaian society over the despicable act of lesbianism,” the report says.
“A months long investigation carried out by The Herald has established a worrying revelation that at the time religious groups and civil societies are waging a relentless war against same sex sexual intercourse, the students of the school established by the Methodist Church, have been indulging in the bestial and detestable act of lesbianism.”
The report continues that a source who helped The Herald in its investigations says “the practice of lesbianism among the students has become a ritual, but the authorities of the school always shrouded this in secrecy.”
Gay Star News says school authorities reportedly contacted the parents of the 19 Opoku Ware students prior to their dismissal, a move that outrages Mac-Darling Cobbinah, director for Ghana’s Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights (CEPEHRG), who told GSN that outing students to their parents was irresponsible and dangerous.
Cobbinah also told GSN that expelling young people is “unacceptable and cripples these young people’s futures.
“Many youth whose education is incomplete could end up on the streets and eventually be pushed into a life of crime. The religious school mishandling of the students is the problem, not their sexuality.”
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