The elusive rights of gays and gay rights dichotomy

I've just had a call from a pastor of the Church of Pentecost who was a classmate of mine at Saint John's School, Sekondi, pleading that I told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to "sign the anti-gay bill, else, the NPP will lose the elections".

And my response to him was very simple: let us calm down because the President, as I know him, will surely do what is very right by the good people of this country, after carefully and critically, considering all merits and demerits, pertaining to the bill.

But if I were the president, I would address the nation and make it clear that, as people governed by laws, every citizen, irrespective of sexual orientation, is imbibed by God, what's called INALIENABLE RIGHTS, which are right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Asuch, we have every right not to accept homosexuality, but do not have any right to harm a homosexual. And this is where it is impossible for people to understand, because the debate has been hijacked by emotive spasms, and not intellectual critique.

So let's look at it this way: you may be the most homophobic person but wouldn't refuse to board a flight because the pilot is gay; that's respect for RIGHTS OF GAYS. But if this pilot invites you to his marriage ceremony, you'll turn him down; that is GAY RIGHTS.

We eat at restaurants and chop bars where the food might have been prepared homosexuals; we ride in trotro, buses, taxis and okadas, where those behind the wheels might be homosexuals but we don't complain because we're not aware. So why the noise!!!

In effect, what two consenting adults do with their bodies behind closed doors is none of anybody's business. It is when this act is done in the open that it goes beyond the boundaries of RIGHTS OF GAYS into the realms of GAY RIGHTS; and who does it in the open?