‘I am what I am’: Ghanaian trans woman defiant in face of anti-LGBT bill
By Reuters
06 February 2022 |
2:56 pm
In a dimly-lit room with racks of women's clothing, Ghanaian artist and LGBT+ activist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi prepares herself for the day, pairing a dress with carefully applied makeup. Transitioning is not illegal in Ghana, but it will become so if a new law is passed, intended to tighten already strict anti-LGBT+ regulations which render same-sex relations illegal. Homophobia is pervasive in the West African country and trans people are generally considered to be gay.
In this article
Related
13 Sep 2017
Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja where they both met behind closed-doors.
28 Aug 2018
Buhari welcomes Ghanaian President to State House, Abuja
22 Oct 2018
Ghana is emerging as an influential player on the international fashion scene and Accra-based designer Bri Wireduah has hopes of making it big.
18 Feb 2019
Jeffrey Kwabena Yeboah is helping transform waste in Accra, Ghana into household furniture. The entrepreneur uses old tyres to make coffee tables and arm chairs for sale. Yeboah did not want to waste time searching for employment so he decided to start his own business instead.
13 May 2019
A Ghanaian company is disrupting hair-grooming for Accra's men by shaving off precious minutes for their busy clients with home and office-based visits.
5 Jun 2019
Ghanaian educator Sackey Percy has found fame on Instagram as 'Percy Jackson', the teacher who uses dancing in class to make learning easier and more entertaining for his students.
30 Jun 2019
Ghana recorded a 6.7 per cent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the 5.4 per cent recorded in 2018. Collins Appiah, Economic Advisor at Services Integrity Savings and Loans joins CNBC Africa for more.
31 Aug 2019
The 9th annual Chale Wote Street Art Festival drew thousands of people together in an artistic celebration of the African continent and its history.
14 Dec 2019
Catch this week’s episode of Guardian Life’s weekly recap of the biggest entertainment news on GuardianTV. Join Violet Johnson as she brings you a fresh array of gist every week!
13 Jan 2020
Daniela Lourdes Falanga, her family's first male heir, was expected to follow the path of her mafia boss father. She overcame a brutal Naples childhood to become a prominent transgender rights activist.
30 Jan 2020
Traders in Ghana have labeled Abuja's decision to continue shutting its border as needless and un-African. On the contrary, Nigeria claims the border closure has spurred local production and reduced arms smuggling.
19 Apr 2020
Ghana is the seventh largest trading partner of China in Africa. Thousands of businesses and traders in the West African country rely heavily on products from China to serve millions of consumers but the outbreak of the Coronavirus especially in China means they can’t access goods to stay in business. They are beginning to feel the impact
Latest
1 day ago
We look at reactions to the nomination of Elisabeth Borne, France's first female prime minister in 30 years. How politically strategic is Emmanuel Macron's choice? Also, British footballer Jake Daniels comes out as a gay in a historic moment and is lauded by the British press. Finally, after manterrupting and mansplaining, beware of "hepeating" – when men get credit for women's ideas!
1 day ago
An annual surf competition was held at the weekend on Liberia's coast, in a fishing town that is gaining worldwide recognition for the quality of its waves.
1 day ago
The fast food giant said it was leaving because of the "unpredictable operating environment" and "humanitarian" reasons. McDonald's was quick to set up shop in the Soviet Union in the waning embers of the Cold War.
1 day ago
Australia is counting down to its next federal election on May 21. The environmental crisis is high on voters' minds and smaller parties and independents are gaining momentum by riding a wave of disillusionment over the conservative coalition's lack of climate action. With a hung parliament looking likely, these minor players could force the traditional parties to do more to tackle global warming. Climate change is an increasingly hot-button issue since the country's devastating bushfires of 2019-20. Our correspondents Richelle Harrison Plesse and Gregory Plesse report.
1 day ago
Brooklyn-based duo Bottler (aka producers Pat Butler and Phil Shore) have created a unique soundscape blending a myriad of styles including pop, indie rock, trip-hop and club music. In 2020, they released a double bill of EPs, "Clementine" and "Grow". Now the childhood friends are back with their debut album "Journey Work", in which they’re on a mission to explore and express the full spectrum of human experience. They joined us on Encore! to tell us more.
1 day ago
Israel's police chief has ordered a probe into the actions of officers at the funeral of reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Jerusalem. Germany's top diplomat, Annalena Baerbock, said she was "deeply shocked" by the events.