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Ghana: With blackmail list, gay men in Ghana fight conmen posing as lovers

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by Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu

ACCRA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Benson walked across the street towards his date in Ghana’s capital, Accra, he saw something was wrong - it was not the man he had been messaging on the popular gay dating app Grindr.

Sensing danger, Benson tried to get away but two other men grabbed him from behind, started beating him and ordered him to hand over his bag and mobile phone. When they threatened him with a knife, he also gave them the passcode to his phone.

“I gave them everything because life is more important,” the 27-year-old, who declined to give his full name, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“After beating me up and pushing me in the gutter, they left ... I went home with a broken jaw.”

Benson’s ordeal is increasingly common in countries where homosexuality is illegal. While the internet has made it easier for LGBT+ communities to find and build relationships online, it has also exposed them to new risks.

Alex Kofi Donkor, head of local activist group LGBT+ Rights Ghana, decided to fight back last year on Twitter and Facebook with the Ghana Gay Blackmail List, which exposes “notorious persons who steal, abuse & blackmail gay men”. Read more via Reuters