Proud mother of trans woman vows to march naked to parliament if anti-LGBT+ bill passes in Ghana
Ghanaian singer Angel Maxine and her mother Araba Forson (Instagram: AngelMaxineTV)
The proud mother of a transgender singer has said that she will protest naked if a harsh new anti-LGBT+ bill is passed into law in Ghana.
Gay sex is already illegal in the west African nation due to a law that dates back to the colonial era, however, a new proposal aims to criminalise LGBT+ people further.
Led by the MP for Ningo Prampram, Sam George, the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021”, plans to criminalise everything from sex toys to trans medical care, to simply being an LGBT+ ally.
It has been described by Rightify Ghana as the “most homophobic document the world has ever seen”.
In a studio interview with Ghanaian media company MyJoyOnline, transgender singer Angel Maxine and her mother Araba Forson opened up about the situation that they and other LGBT+ people and their families are facing in the country.
Maxine explained how growing up as a trans woman in a religious, anti-LGBT+ country had impacted her, saying: “I started feeling uncomfortable even when I was small. I grew up with a life or torment, hate, depression, stigmatisation and all that. And through all of those things I knew I was just somebody different.”
She added that she tried to take her life multiple times, and said that if the LGBT+ law goes ahead she may well make another attempt, shocking the interviewer.
Angel Maxine opened up about the difficulties she has faced as a trans woman in Ghana (MyJoyOnline)
Speaking about the intolerance she’s faced, she said: “I feel people should get closer to people like us… understand us. Why do people keep doing this thing? Just get close to people.”
She said that she was insulted at school everyday, and that she couldn’t mingle with her schoolmates. Sometimes she would wake up at 3am to avoid the bullies that made her life so difficult.
Her mother Araba Forson said that the family have been regularly targeted too, with rotten tomatoes thrown at them on one occasion, adding: “Standing with her by the roadside when she comes to visit me, people look at us and some of them will be pointing at us. I feel for her as a mother, it’s not easy.”
Forson also said that threats are commonplace, but fiercely explained that she’s “not afraid of anybody. We have seen your face, we will find you”.
She also pointed out that the anti-LGBT+ bill doesn’t promote “proper human sexual rights”, it actually encourages hate.
The pastor’s wife said she therefore does not understand why some churches in Ghana have issued press statements condemning the LGBT+ community, saying that it doesn’t fit with Christ’s views on love.
As part of her angry rebuttal of the bill, she also threatened to walk naked to parliament to protest if the bill was passed into law.
“I don’t care … oh yes! Why do you have to criminalise somebody’s sexuality?” she said, when asked if she really did intend to do that.
“Look at the bill they are passing, so will you sit down for somebody to just kill your child? I think that boy called Sam George is a mad man,” she angrily exclaimed.
Conversely, a regional chief in Ghana recently threatened to storm the country’s parliament with 10,000 people to force through the anti-LGBT+ bill.
Earlier in the month, Angel Maxine praised her mother on Instagram, saying: “Even the mother tigress will not dare to hold the throat of its young tiger rather its cubs. I don’t measure her love in hours spent with me. I measure it in hours spent understanding me.”
