Vic Mensa is an American-Ghanaian rapper
American rapper Vic Mensa, who has Ghanaian roots, has questioned why several African countries maintain strong anti-gay positions, singling out Burkina Faso and Ghana.
In a video shared on his social media pages, Vic Mensa said he admires Burkina Faso’s military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, for his push to reclaim Africa’s resources. However, he said he cannot understand why the country recently passed a law that criminalises homosexuality.
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“Burkina Faso passed a law a little while ago criminalising homosexuality. I love Traore, I support his mission to reclaim Africa’s resources, but it made me think, people aren’t going to stop being gay because it’s illegal. Be real, the anti-gay stuff is some colonial thing. People try to act like that’s an inherently African point of view,” he said.
The rapper also pointed to Ghana, noting the country has seen a push for an anti-LGBTQ law in recent years. He recalled a moment when he and others, including the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh, publicly supported queer Ghanaians during the national debate on LGBTQ rights. According to him, that stance came at a cost, as he lost thousands of followers online.
“Take Ghana, for example. Ghana has had a major anti-LGBTQ push over the last few years. I remember before Virgil passed, there was a group of us pushing to support the rights of queer people in Ghana. I lost like a thousand followers overnight for posting a design Virgil made that said ‘Ghanaians for equality’ with a rainbow,” he said.
Burkina Faso’s anti-gay law was signed by Interim President Captain Ibrahim Traoré on September 25, after its adoption by the transitional parliament on 1 September.
It criminalises “homosexual acts or similar practices” and “behaviour likely to promote homosexual and similar practices,” with penalties ranging from two to five years in prison and fines up to 10 million CFA francs.
In Ghana, a group of lawmakers are also championing an anti-LGBTQ bill that proposes at least three years’ imprisonment for anyone who identifies as LGBTQ.
Watch the video below:
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AK/AM
