Life changed for Giselle when she started posting videos to TikTok a year ago. In a few months, the 21-year-old Ghanaian built a following of more than 375,000 with a mix of lip-syncs, vlogs, dances and brand collaborations.
“There's nothing more meaningful than doing what you love, but also using it as a source of income for yourself,” Giselle told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
There's just one problem: posting videos as an openly trans woman could soon land her in jail in Ghana.
Ghana's controversial anti-LGBTQI+ bill, which would toughen colonial-era laws criminalising same-sex relations, was resubmitted to parliament by a group of lawmakers in February.
The country's speaker of parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said he is determined to see the bill passed into law this year.
Originally passed in February last year, the bill was not signed into law by then-president Nana Akufo-Addo.
His successor John Dramani Mahama opposes same-sex marriage but has not committed to signing the bill, an act that could jeopardise billions from international creditors.
Along with targeting same-sex intimacy, the bill would make it a crime to identify as LGBTQI+, to undergo sex-reassignment surgery, fund or sponsor LGBTQI+ rights organisations and promote the rights of sexual and gender minorities.
For out LGBTQI+ content creators like Giselle, being themselves online could reap penalties of at least five years in prison for spreading LGBTQI+ “propaganda”.
“Why put someone in the cage for who they are?” she said in a phone interview from Accra.
A 2024 survey by Afrobarometer research group found more than 80% of people in Ghana did not want homosexual neighbours. It is this sort of pervasive animosity that has prompted many LGBTQI+ Ghanaians to go online in search of a different community, support and inclusive services.
“A lot of people are visible and vocal online but they don't show their faces,” said Berinyuy Hans Burinyuy, communications director at LGBT+ Rights Ghana.
“They fear being outed to their families, being chased down and beaten up.
The internet is a different story, a place where public figures, at least a handful, openly advocate for LGBTQI+ rights.
One is Angel Maxine, a trans performer whose song Wo Fie with Wanlov the Kubolor and Sister Deborah, two outspoken supporters of LGBTQI+ rights in Ghana, is widely shared every Pride month on platforms from TikTok to YouTube.
Declaring “your plumber could be LGBTQ, your doctor could be LGBTQ, your teacher could be LGBTQ”, the lyrics aim to counter a chorus of voices castigating LGBTQI+ people as “un-African”.
People who need HIV-related care reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook and we follow up with them to direct them to facilities that can help
— Ebenezer Peegah, director of the LGBTQI+ charity Rightify Ghana.
“People saw me living, thriving and speaking, and that gives people hope,” said Maxine, who fled Ghana to escape bullying and harassment and won asylum in Germany last year.
“I’ve had parents who thought their child had a problem or a mental health disorder reach out to me, thanking me for helping them see we are born this way and there's nothing wrong.”
Visibility is not the only thing at stake.
In a country where LGBTQI+ people struggle to access healthcare, education and housing due to widespread stigma and discrimination, LGBTQI+ organisations often use social media to connect users with service providers they can trust.
“People who need HIV-related care reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook and we follow up with them to direct them to facilities that can help,” said Ebenezer Peegah, director of the LGBTQI+ charity Rightify Ghana.
In addition to offering leads to HIV medication or tests, online help may also mean counselling for abuse victims or posts that debunk anti-LGBTQI+ misinformation.
The non-profit LGBT+ Rights Ghana has set up WhatsApp groups around key topics, some with hundreds of members, others only dozens, to share practical information and pass on links to professionals who can help.
“If the bill passes, helping them would be a criminal act,” Peegah said.
“We share affirming messages to support people, and this helps them deal with societal pressure.”
Ghana's ministry of communication, digital technology and Innovations, which has jurisdiction over online communications, did not reply to several requests for comment.
The ministry is led by Samuel George, lead proponent of the bill, who has said the law “will fight against the scourge and perversion that homosexuality has brought into the country”.
Together with criminalising those who post, the bill would also hold the owners of the platforms criminally liable, raising the question of what tech companies would do if authorities prosecute creators or activists.
Instagram and Facebook's owner Meta, YouTube's owner Google and TikTok did not reply to requests for comment.
“The government, through a regulatory body, could require a social media company to remove the content or provide them with information about the user to help them in a criminal investigation,” said Jaimee Kokonya, Africa campaigner at the digital rights non-profit Access Now.
Kokonya pointed to a rash of laws restricting gay rights, from Russia to Uganda, and cautioned against seeing Ghana's bill as a colonial throwback unique to the West African nation.
“It's important to understand this in the context of the general backsliding of rights globally,” Kokonya said.
Despite the risks, Giselle said she has no plans to stop posting videos about her life as a trans woman.
“I’m not changing who I am or what I stand for,” she said.
“The only thing that might change is the country.”
Reuters
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