Last week witnessed a resurrection of the vexed subject of LGBTQI+. Not that the subject died anyway; it rather went into a hibernation.
Now a full-fledged political issue, it has popped up with a fresh sense of urgency.
Given the sensitivity of the subject and in the light of ease of children’s access to social media, related discussions, we request, must be measured by all who consider themselves as responsible and interested in the progress of the country.
If for sincere and productive reasons the subject must be on the front burner of public discourse, there must be a layer of veneer to such discussions bereft of explicitness.
We pray that this suggestion is acceptable in the interest of our traditional values as Ghanaians. The explicit discussions in the media leaves much to be desired by persons who should know better the limits to which we can go as far as such matters are concerned.
The resuscitation of the subject occasioned by the alleged distribution of a teachers’ manual on ‘Physical Education and Health (Elective) for Senior High Schools’ and the reaction of the Minority in Parliament has effectively opened the floodgates for a public conversation on LGBTQI+.
Under such circumstances and against the backdrop of public opprobrium against anything related to homosexuality, the outcome is bound to be a free-for-all affair and unmeasured at that.
The Minority in Parliament while giving fuel to the incendiary subject is of the opinion that the subject has been smuggled, as it were, into the school curriculum, charge which the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) disagrees with.
We find it difficult to comprehend the ongoing debate between the Minority and Majority in Parliament on a subject which touches our traditional and cultural values.
It is a subject which has remained a conundrum on our socio-political space for the past few years. A few years ago, it was on the front burner with the dominant political parties trading accusations about their handling of the subject.
Has a book been authored on the subject besides the manual and ready to be distributed to students in senior high schools as being alleged?
If indeed the 2024 Physical Education and Health core teacher manual focuses strictly on physical health, wellness, fitness and recreation but the subsequent one dated 2025 includes sexual identity, gender expression, sexual rights or protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation, then we spot an integrity challenge.
The Ministry of Education should, considering the seriousness of the subject and in the light of the vociferousness with which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) tackled the subject when they were in opposition, go beyond merely telling Ghanaians that ‘government only recognises male and female gender.’
Ghanaians, given our proclivity to politicising every subject under the sun, would need further efforts at convincing that there is no cause for alarm.
We are open for convincing about the legacy content of the manual as claimed by NaCCA.
We need as many more participants in this debate as we had when the subject was being pushed around by those who claimed to be opposed to any semblance of giving LGBTQI+ a traction in Ghana.