Attitudes toward Homosexuals: Assessing the Structure of 

Prejudicial Attitudes and the Moderating Effects of 

Religious Commitment and Morality 

 

 

By  

Angela Anarfi Gyasi-Gyamerah 

 

 

 

 

This thesis is submitted to the University of Ghana, Legon, 

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of 

PhD Psychology degree 

 

 

December 2014 

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Declaration 

 I, Angela Anarfi Gyasi-Gyamerah, author of this thesis, hereby declare that except 

for references to other people‘s works which have been duly acknowledged, the work 

presented here was done by me as a student of the Department of Psychology, University 

of Ghana, Legon, under the supervision of Professor S. A. Danquah, Professor C. Charles 

Mate-Kole, Professor J. Y. Opoku, and Professor Charity S. Akotia.  This work has never 

been submitted in whole or in part for any degree elsewhere. 

 

 

…………………………………    ...................………… 

Angela Anarfi Gyasi-Gyamerah      Date  

 Student  

 

…………………………………    ...................………… 

Professor S. A. Danquah      Date  

 Supervisor 

 

…………………………………    ...................………… 

Professor C. Charles Mate-Kole     Date  

 Supervisor 

 

…………………………………    ...................………… 

Professor J. Y. Opoku      Date    

            Supervisor 

 

…………………………………    ……………………… 

Professor Charity S. Akotia      Date 

 Supervisor  

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Dedication 

To my Sweethearts – Kwasi Gyasi and Nana Kwaku.   

You make it all worthwhile.  This is for you! 

 

And to my parents – Prof. John K. Anarfi and Mrs. Agnes Anarfi. 

But for the sacrifices you made to ensure that I got all the care and support needed to train 

me up the way I should go, I won‘t be where I am today. 

 

Words cannot convey how much I love you all.  

 

Thank you for being there for me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Acknowledgements 

 Although this thesis was authored by me, I received support from many people 

through the process and would like to thank all of them.  To my supervisors, Prof. 

Danquah, Prof. Mate-Kole, Prof. Opoku, and Prof. Akotia, I say a heartfelt thank you for 

your constructive feedback on the many drafts I sent to you all throughout the process.  

Your insights and invaluable advice have contributed to the quality of my work and for 

this I am very grateful.  Prof. Danquah and Prof. Opoku, but for the two of you, I would 

not have been in academia and therefore would not have gotten this far.  Thank you so 

much for believing in me and for ensuring that I got all the support and encouragement 

needed in my career and for the completion of this thesis.  I am most indebted to you both.  

God richly bless you all! 

 Prof. Akotia, you have not only been a supervisor to me, but a mother and a friend.  

No matter how busy you were, you always found time to listen to my whining when the 

journey got tough and provided encouragement that always got me back on my feet and 

believing that I will accomplish this.  Maggie, colleague extraordinaire, I say thank you for 

always checking up on me and my progress and prodding me along every now and then 

till I reached the finish line.  You are a true friend.  Inusah and Osafo, I could not have 

made it without your support as colleagues but it is your friendship that I cherish the most.  

Thank you both!  Chris, Donald, Kakra, Bill, Evans, Elias, Hannah, Julia, and DK, I owe 

you all a wealth of thanks for being there for me.  Sister Circle members, sisters of my 

heart, thanks for your support, prayers, and encouragement.  We are only about a year old 

but your impact on my life and therefore on my work cannot be time bound. 

 Daddy, you are who I aspire to be in my life and in my career.  Thank you for 

showing me the way and for ensuring that I never settle for less than God‘s best.  Mom, 

thank you for being my number one cheerleader and always urging me on.  I could not 

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have asked for better parents than you two.  Kwasi Gyasi, my loving husband and best 

friend, thank you for your immeasurable support and willingness to shoulder a lot of the 

responsibility in managing our home in spite of your own schooling and work schedule 

especially when I needed to meet my deadline.  Nana Kwaku, you came when I had just 

started this work, and although I agonized about leaving you so I could finish up, you 

quickly became the reason why it was worthwhile to accomplish this.  Thanks to you and 

your Dad for being such a blessing to me.  Afia, dearest daughter, what would I have done 

without you?  This process would have been even more difficult without your help.  God 

richly bless you. 

 I would also like to thank all the students who participated in my study, especially 

those who shared their sexual orientation and details of their personal lives with me.  This 

thesis would not have been possible without all of you.   

 And last but not least, to God Almighty, who saw it fit to cast my lot in the same 

age and place as all the people mentioned here, be glory, honour, and praise for ever more.  

Amen!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Abstract 

Homosexuality has been a topic for debate for quite some time in Ghana and a lot of 

negative sentiments have been expressed publicly about it.  This study therefore examined 

the structure of prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuals and the extent to which these 

attitudes are moderated by religious commitment and morality. It also examined the role 

of attributions in determining attitudes toward homosexuals and how homosexuals in turn 

view societal attitudes toward themselves.  To achieve these, three studies (Ns = 190, 183, 

159) were conducted using mixed methods to gather data from students of the University 

of Ghana.  Overall, participants were found to have prejudicial attitudes that are solely 

driven by stereotypic beliefs and moderated by religious commitment and moral values.  

Both Study 1 and Study 2 found that attitudes toward homosexuals are negative regardless 

of personal characteristics.  Unlike was the case in Study 1, in Study 2, the attitude 

components were associated with each other and their effects on the evaluation of 

homosexuals were moderated by religious commitment and moral values.  Additionally, 

evaluation of homosexuals was relatively more favourable in the post-test condition 

although still negative and the most favourable behavioural intentions were towards the 

vignette 3 person.  In Study 3, it emerged from the FGDs that religion permeates all 

aspects of Ghanaians‘ lives although their religious commitment and morality is low albeit 

with justification.  The negative attitudes found in Studies 1 and 2 were replicated here 

also as was the favourable behavioural intentions toward the vignette 3 person.  The IDIs 

with homosexual students generally confirmed these findings.  Limitations of the study 

and their implications for future research are discussed. 

 

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Table of Contents 

Content           Page 

Declaration ............................................................................................................................. i 

Supervisor .............................................................................................................................. i 

Dedication ............................................................................................................................. ii 

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iii 

Abstract ................................................................................................................................. v 

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. vi 

List of Tables........................................................................................................................ ix 

List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... xi 

Chapter One ......................................................................................................................... xi 

Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 

Overview of the Study ....................................................................................................... 1 

Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................ 21 

Rationale for the Study .................................................................................................... 23 

Aims and Objectives of the Study ................................................................................... 24 

Chapter Two ........................................................................................................................ 26 

Literature Review ................................................................................................................ 26 

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 26 

Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 26 

Criticisms and Relevance of the Theories ....................................................................... 31 

Review of Related Studies............................................................................................... 33 

Summary ......................................................................................................................... 46 

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Conceptual Model ........................................................................................................... 48 

Hypotheses and Research Questions ............................................................................... 50 

Operational Definition of Terms ..................................................................................... 53 

Chapter Three ...................................................................................................................... 54 

Study One ............................................................................................................................ 54 

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 54 

Methodology ................................................................................................................... 54 

Results ............................................................................................................................. 62 

Discussion ....................................................................................................................... 72 

Conclusion and Observed Model for Study One ............................................................. 81 

Chapter Four ....................................................................................................................... 84 

Study Two ........................................................................................................................... 84 

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 84 

Methodology ................................................................................................................... 84 

Results ............................................................................................................................. 91 

Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 112 

Conclusion and Observed Model for Study Two .......................................................... 118 

Chapter Five ...................................................................................................................... 120 

Study Three ....................................................................................................................... 120 

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 120 

Methodology ................................................................................................................. 121 

Data Organization and Analyses of Interviews ............................................................. 127 

Findings ......................................................................................................................... 131 

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Discussion ..................................................................................................................... 200 

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 211 

Chapter Six ........................................................................................................................ 217 

General Discussion............................................................................................................ 217 

Overview ....................................................................................................................... 217 

Summary and Discussion .............................................................................................. 217 

Other Recommendations ............................................................................................... 230 

Conclusion and Final Observed Model ......................................................................... 231 

References ......................................................................................................................... 236 

Appendices ........................................................................................................................ 247 

Appendix A: Group Evaluation Questionnaire (GEQ) ................................................. 247 

Appendix B: Group Evaluation and Behavioural Intention Form (GEBIF) ................. 255 

Appendix C: Focus Group Discussion Guide ............................................................... 257 

Appendix D: In-Depth Interview Guide ........................................................................ 260 

Appendix E: Vignettes .................................................................................................. 261 

Appendix F: Informed Consent Forms .......................................................................... 267 

Appendix G: Ethical Clearance ..................................................................................... 280 

 

 

 

 

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List of Tables 

Table 1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents: Study 1 ......................................... 55 

Table 2 Evaluation of Target Groups: Study 1 ................................................................... 62 

Table 3  Bonferroni Multiple Comparison of Evaluation of Target Groups: Study 1 ........ 63 

Table 4 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining the Influence of Respondents‘ 

Personal Characteristics on Evaluation of Homosexuals ........................................ 65 

Table 5 Correlations among Attitude Components (Cognitive and Affective) .................. 66 

Table 6 Most Frequently Elicited Responses: Study 1 ....................................................... 66 

Table 7 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining Predictors of Evaluation of 

Homosexuals: Study 1 ............................................................................................ 67 

Table 8 Summary of Intercorrelations for Evaluation of Homosexuals, Attitude 

Components, and Moderator Variables: Study 1 .................................................... 69 

Table 9  Summary of Regression Analyses Examining the Effect of the Moderator 

Variables on the relationship between Stereotypic Beliefs
a
, Symbolic Beliefs

b
, and 

Evaluation of Homosexuals .................................................................................... 71 

Table 10  Demographic Characteristics of Respondents: Study 2 ...................................... 85 

Table 11 Summary of Experimental Design and Content of Vignettes .............................. 86 

Table 12 Participants‘ Behavioural Intentions .................................................................... 88 

Table 13 Cross-tabulation of Gender and Experimental Groups/Conditions ..................... 90 

Table 14 Evaluation of Target Groups: Study 2 ................................................................. 91 

Table 15 Bonferroni Multiple Comparison of Evaluation of Target Groups: Study 2 ....... 92 

Table 16  Correlations among Attitude Components (Cognitive and Affective) – Study 2

 ................................................................................................................................. 94 

Table 17 Most Frequently Elicited Responses: Study 2 ..................................................... 95 

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Table 18 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining Predictors of Evaluation of 

Homosexuals: Study 2 ............................................................................................ 95 

Table 19 Summary of Intercorrelations for Evaluation of Homosexuals, Attitude 

Components, and Moderator Variables: Study 2 .................................................... 97 

Table 20 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining the Moderating Effect of Religious 

Commitment and Moral Values on the relationship between Stereotypic Beliefs
 
and 

Evaluation of Homosexuals .................................................................................... 99 

Table 21 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining the Moderating Effect of Religious 

Commitment and Moral Values on the relationship between Symbolic Beliefs
 
and 

Evaluation of Homosexuals .................................................................................. 102 

Table 22 Summary of Regression Analyses Examining the Moderating Effect of Moral 

Values on the relationship between Affect
 
and Evaluation of Homosexuals ........ 105 

Table 23 Summary Statistics and Paired Samples T-Test on Evaluation of Homosexuals

 ............................................................................................................................... 107 

Table 24 Summary of Independent Samples T-Test on Gender Differences in Evaluation 

of Homosexuals Pre-test Scores ............................................................................ 109 

Table 25 Summary of One-way ANCOVA on Gender Differences in Evaluation of 

Homosexuals Post-test Scores .............................................................................. 109 

Table 26 The Influence of Experimental Condition on Participants‘ Behavioural Intentions

 ............................................................................................................................... 110 

Table 27 Tukey HSD Multiple Comparison of Influence of Experimental Condition on 

Participants‘ Behavioural Intentions ..................................................................... 110 

Table 28 Summary of Groupings ...................................................................................... 124 

 

 

 

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List of Figures 

Figure 1: Conceptual model showing the expected outcome of this study (Author‘s 

Construct). .......................................................................................................... 49 

Figure 2: Evaluation thermometer showing points corresponding with Study 1 

respondents‘ mean evaluation scores for the various target groups. O.C.P. = 

Orthodox Church Priests; S.C.L. = Spiritual Church Leaders; T.P. = Traditional 

Priests; CSWs = Commercial Sex Workers; H. = Homosexuals. ...................... 64 

Figure 3: Observed model showing findings of Study 1..................................................... 83 

Figure 4: Evaluation thermometer showing points corresponding with Study 2 

participants‘ mean evaluation scores for the various target groups.  O.C.P. = 

Orthodox Church Priests; S.C.L. = Spiritual Church Leaders; T.P. = Traditional 

Priests; CSWs = Commercial Sex Workers; H. = Homosexuals. ...................... 93 

Figure 5: Moderation graph showing the moderating effect of participants‘ religious 

commitment on the relationship between their stereotypic beliefs and their 

evaluation of homosexuals. .............................................................................. 100 

Figure 6: Moderation graph showing the moderating effect of participants‘ moral values 

on the relationship between their stereotypic beliefs and their evaluation of 

homosexuals. .................................................................................................... 101 

Figure 7: Moderation graph showing the moderating effect of participants‘ religious 

commitment on the relationship between their symbolic beliefs and their 

evaluation of homosexuals ............................................................................... 103 

Figure 8: Moderation graph showing the moderating effect of participants‘ moral values 

on the relationship between their symbolic beliefs and their evaluation of 

homosexuals ..................................................................................................... 104 

Figure 9: Moderation graph showing the moderating effect of participants‘ moral values 

on the relationship between their affect and their evaluation of homosexuals. 106 

Figure 10: Evaluation thermometer showing points corresponding with Study 2 

participants‘ mean evaluation scores in the pre-test and post-test conditions. . 108 

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Figure 11: Observed model showing findings of Study 2................................................. 119 

Figure 12: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under ‗Religiousity 

and Religious Commitment‘. ............................................................................ 137 

Figure 13: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under ‗Morality‘.

 .......................................................................................................................... 150 

Figure 14: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under 

‗Homosexuality‘. .............................................................................................. 160 

Figure 15: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under Vignettes 

1A and 1B. ........................................................................................................ 166 

Figure 16: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under Vignettes 

2A and 2B. ........................................................................................................ 171 

Figure 17: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under Vignettes 

3A and 3B. ........................................................................................................ 176 

Figure 18: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes under Vignettes 

4A and 4B. ........................................................................................................ 181 

Figure 19: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes derived from 

interviews with male homosexuals. .................................................................. 192 

Figure 20: Thematic map showing summary of themes and sub-themes derived from 

interviews with female homosexuals. ............................................................... 199 

Figure 21: Conceptual model showing a proposed sexual orientation continuum pertaining 

to Ghanaians. .................................................................................................... 214 

Figure 22: Observed model showing findings of all parts of this 3-in-1 study. ............... 233 

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Chapter One 

Introduction 

Overview of the Study 

Homosexuality is the sexual orientation in which one‘s emotional and sexual 

attraction are directed toward members of his/her own sex (Strong, DeVault, Sayad, & 

Yarber, 2002).  LeVay and Valente (2003) agree with Strong et al.‘s definition but further 

added that the way homosexuality is defined has changed over time and is currently 

thought of as people‘s sexual feelings that are predominantly directed toward persons of 

the same sex as themselves.  This current definition presupposes that any given person can 

exhibit any of the sexual orientations, but might lean more towards or be more 

comfortable with one of them and therefore exhibit that particular orientation more often.  

It also means that sexual orientation is not a dichotomy but a continuum with human 

beings falling on different points on it.   

The view of sexual orientation as a continuum should however not be seen as an 

exclusively modern notion as Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) stated as far back as 1905, 

that everyone is born with bisexual tendencies and that expressions of homosexuality can 

be a normal phase in a person‘s heterosexual development.  He however maintained that 

adult homosexual behaviour is due to ‗arrested‘ psychosexual development (Drescher, 

2009).  Arriving at the notion about the existence of different sexual orientations did not 

just happen.  The term ‗homosexuality‘ itself did not exist until 1868 when it was coined 

by Karl Maria Benkert, a Hungarian writer, to describe same-sex attractions and sexual 

behaviour in humans (Feray & Herzer, 1990; Gulia & Mallick, 2010).  According to Katz 

(1995), the term ‗heterosexuality‘ was coined even later, but before then, the concept of 

‗sexuality‘ and the attractions, behaviours, and relationships that are now characterized as 

‗heterosexual‘ or ‗homosexual‘, were understood quite differently from today.  Currently, 

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the concept of sexuality and the fact that different sexual orientations exist, are well-

known.  

According to Kottak (2004) and Strong et al. (2002), there are four (4) sexual 

orientations found across the world, including homosexuality, heterosexuality (i.e. 

emotional and sexual attraction between men and women), bisexuality (i.e. emotional and 

sexual attraction to both men and women), and asexuality (i.e. indifference toward, or lack 

of attraction to, either sex).  However, due to the efforts by sexual minority individuals to 

avoid sexual labels and also to generate more inclusive terminologies to describe 

variations in human sexuality, new terms have emerged.  These include such terms as 

pansexual, humansexual, mehsexual, pomosexual, and bi-curious (Crowley, 2010; 

Thompson, 2008).  Drobac (1999) stated that pansexuality includes heterosexuality, 

homosexuality, bisexuality, homoerotic and heteroerotic play, sexual aggression, and other 

sexual behaviour such as masturbation, celibacy, fetishism, and fantasy.  Based on this 

definition, one can deduce that Drobac is also of the view that sexual orientation is a 

continuum, especially considering her assertion that all human beings are pansexual 

because each individual has the ability to manifest more than one form of sexuality.  Many 

people cannot be pigeonholed into heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual categories, 

especially because for some people, these subcategories fail to describe them adequately, 

since their biological sex and/or gender itself is in transition (Drobac, 1999). 

The etiology of homosexuality.  Human sexuality, as shown in the above 

discussion, is a complex concept.  Byer, Shainberg, and Galliano (1999) acknowledged 

this fact, stating that human sexuality is regarded by most scholars as a complex 

biopsychosocial behaviour, but perhaps what is even more complex is the etiology of these 

various forms of sexuality.  As homosexuality is what is of interest to this study, this part 

of the discussion is limited to its etiology.  According to Byer et al., in Plato‘s Symposium 

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(360 B.C.E.), one of the participants (Aristophanes) gave an account of creation to explain 

the existence of different sexual orientations.  In this account, he stated that human beings 

originally consisted of double creatures having four arms, four legs, and two sets of 

genitals so that they were double females, double males, or male-female hybrids.  These 

double creatures were eventually cut in two by an angry god (Zeus) to form the two-legged 

humans we are today and since sexual desire is basically the desire to reunite with one‘s 

other ancestral half, those descended from the double females became lesbians, those 

descended from the double males became gay, and those descended from hybrids became 

heterosexual men and women. 

Today, researchers are also interested in determining the etiology of homosexuality 

in a much more scientific manner.  According to Sheldon, Pfeffer, Jayaratne, Feldbaum, 

and Petty (2007), among the scientific studies examining the etiology of homosexuality, 

much work have focused on the possible influences of one‘s genetic make-up.  Viewing 

the origins of homosexuality as genetic implies that it is immutable and uncontrollable.  If 

so, then it is not a choice or an alternative lifestyle.  Sheldon et al. (2007) noted that the 

factors contributing to an individual‘s sexual orientation still remain poorly understood by 

science, a fact that is evidenced by the use of general terminology in this field.  While the 

use of the term ‗sexual orientation‘ presupposes a relatively neutral stance on etiology, the 

use of the term ‗sexual preference‘ presupposes a certain degree of individual choice.  

Furthermore, scientific explanations that have been proposed to explain the origins of 

homosexuality fall into two major categories including biological theories and 

psychosocial theories.  Biological theories proposed anatomical, hormonal, and/or genetic 

factors (e.g. Bailey & Pillard, 1991; Brown, Fin, Cooke, & Breedlove, 2002; LeVay, 

1991) but a lot of such studies have been critiqued as having problems with sampling bias, 

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reliability of measures, generalizability, representativeness, controls, operationalization of 

variables, and lacking replication (Sheldon et al., 2007).   

These studies have not been able to pinpoint a single specific gene as responsible 

for homosexuality and have not been able to identify any genetic region in lesbians as 

linked to their sexual orientation.  The situation is the same for studies that have tried to 

put forth psychosocial theories (e.g. Bem, 1996; Cass, 1979; Peplau & Cochran, 1990).  

Such studies have investigated the roles that individual choice and decision making, 

identity development, societal hierarchies, gender role stereotypes, role expectations, and 

conformity play in the etiology of homosexuality (Sheldon et al., 2007).  According to 

Haslam and Levy (2006), the scholarly debates on the etiology of homosexuality are 

between constructionists on one side, and essentialists on the other.  The argument of the 

constructionists is that sexual orientations are socially constituted identities and sexuality 

is subject to wide cultural and historical variations.  Essentialists on the other hand argue 

that sexual orientations are ―objectively occurring categories that are grounded in biology, 

difficult to change, and likely to appear, with limited cultural shaping, wherever and 

whenever people have lived‖ (Haslam & Levy, 2006; p. 472).  Obviously, each pair of 

biological theories and essentialist beliefs, psychosocial theories and constructionist views, 

is referring to the same ideas, but as Sheldon et al. noted, none as yet has the complete 

approval of the scientific community. 

 Social history of homosexuality and homosexual experiences in the Western 

world.  Societies and cultures the world over, especially the western societies, have gone 

through various stages of defining and redefining sexuality and sexual roles.  Pickett 

(2011) in discussing homosexuality gave a comprehensive picture of how this notion of 

the existence of different sexual orientations came about through a review of the social 

history of homosexuality.  He suggested that the social history of homosexuality could be 

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divided into three eras, notably the Ancient Greece, the Medieval, and the Modern eras.  

The following discussion of the social history of homosexuality therefore follows these 

specific eras. 

The Ancient Greece era and similar cultures.  According to Pickett (2011), in the 

Ancient Greece era, the assumption was that individuals can respond to beauty in either 

sex erotically and so the gender that one was attracted to was not important.  What was of 

importance were other issues including status concerns, whether one exercised 

moderation, and whether one took the active or passive role in sexual relationships.  The 

concerns with status dictated that free men could not have sexual relations with other free 

men, but only with women, male slaves, or male youths.  Only free men had full status and 

every other person was inferior.  Pickett adds that within that era, the cultural ideal of a 

same-sex relationship was between an older man in his 20‘s or 30‘s, known as the erastés, 

and a boy whose beard had not yet begun to grow, known as the eromenos or paidika.  It 

must be noted that even within this cultural ideal, the eromenos often avoided penetration 

and rather opted for what is known as intercrural sex which involved the partners facing 

one another and the erastes placing his penis between the thighs of the eromenos.  Hans 

Licht (1875–1929) explained in his book titled Sexual Life in Ancient Greece, translated 

and published in 1932, that the word ‗boy‘ should not be understood merely in the modern 

colloquial sense as: 

it is never a question of boys (as we mostly use the word), that is, of children of 

tender age, but always of boys who are sexually matured, that is, who have reached 

the age of puberty.……corresponding sometimes to what we should call ‗a young 

man‘….[today] (p. 369). 

 It must be noted however that this sexual relationship between man and boy was 

not regarded as pedophilia, at least not in the sense that the word is used today.  According 

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to Pickett (2011), such relationships between a man and a boy were to be temporary.  As 

such, during the courtship ritual (which usually happened before such relationships are 

contracted), the erastés had to show that he had nobler interests in the boy and the boy was 

not to submit easily, but to show discretion by picking a more noble partner if his attention 

was sought by more than one man.  Also, in accordance with the dictate that such 

relationships were to be temporary, relations were broken when the boy reached adulthood 

(Dover, 1989).  The eromenos, upon reaching adulthood and having the opportunity then 

to be an equal citizen, was expected to discontinue being in a submissive role.  Failing to 

do this was considered troubling, although some adult male same-sex relationships existed 

and were noted, but not strongly stigmatized (Pickett, 2011).  Considering all these, it is 

obvious that during the Ancient Greece era, although the passive role was seen as 

problematic and therefore stigmatized, a man‘s attraction to other men was often taken as 

a sign of masculinity and therefore not conceived as homosexuality and also not labeled as 

such.   

 Kottak (2004) described other cultures that have some similarities to the Ancient 

Greece era, including the Etoro and the Kaluli, both of Papua New Guinea.  The Etoro 

believe that men naturally have a limited supply of semen which can be depleted through 

frequent heterosexual activity, thereby sapping the man‘s vitality.  They also believe that 

young boys cannot produce their own semen and therefore need to acquire this source of 

male vitality orally from older men.  Based on these beliefs, Etoro boys are, from the age 

of 10 to adulthood, inseminated by older men.  This practice by the Etoro is governed by a 

code of propriety that discourages same-sex activity between boys of the same age, 

because the boy who gets his colleague‘s semen is believed to be sapping his life force and 

thereby stunting his growth.  So, a boy seen to be developing more rapidly than his peers 

is suspected to be ingesting semen from other boys and is therefore branded a witch.  The 

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Kaluli on their part believe that semen has a magical quality that promotes knowledge and 

growth.  As such, when a boy reaches the age of 11 or 12, an older man who is not a 

relative is chosen by his father and the boy forms a sexual relationship that entails anal sex 

with this man.  A peach-fuzz beard that appears on the boys‘ faces after the start of such 

relationships is cited by the Kaluli as evidence that the relationships promote growth.  

Another practice that is seen as part of the growing process is the extended period of time 

spent at hunting lodges by young Kaluli men and older bachelors.  The older bachelors use 

this time to teach the young men the lore of the forest and hunting and also have 

homosexual intercourse (Kottak, 2004).   

 Evidently, the Etoro and the Kaluli, as well as the Ancient Greeks, believe that 

same-sex activities are very vital for the growth of young boys into manhood and it is also 

obvious from their beliefs and the reasons behind these practices that they do not see 

homosexuality as a sexual orientation that one may ascribe to per se.  They may not 

compartmentalize sexual expression into various forms at all but see their sexual practices 

as the way things should be because they believe that it is essential for the growth of the 

males within the society.   

The medieval era.  This era, according to Pickett (2011), was quite different from 

the Ancient Greece era and by extension, from the Etoro and the Kaluli way of life as well.  

He noted that the gender of one‘s sexual partner was more important in the medieval era 

and so, a person who engages in same-sex activities was referred to as a sodomite.  This 

label was however not reserved for same-sex partners only as any person who succumbed 

to the temptation of engaging in certain non-procreative acts was seen as a sodomite.  This 

was an era where sexuality was defined against the backdrop of a broader theological 

framework that set the standard of morality.  This standard of morality was drawn by the 

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Catholic Church such that homosexual sex, extramarital sex, non-procreative sex within 

marriage, and masturbation, were forbidden.   

This meant that even for married couples, any sexual relations other than for the 

sole purpose of procreation, was forbidden and seen as immoral.  As such, those who 

engaged in heterosexual anal sex were also considered sodomites.  However, a person who 

had same-sex desires but never actually had same-sex sexual relations and a person who 

was a sodomite but had repented of his sin and vowed never to do it again, were not 

sodomites.  Clearly, it was engaging in the act that put a person in a particular category as 

the emphasis was on a ‗committing sin versus refraining from sin‘ dichotomy (Pickett, 

2011).   

The modern era.  This era developed steadily through the 18
th

 and 19
th

 centuries 

when, according to Pickett (2011), the discourse about same-sex attraction was no longer 

dominated by a theological framework but by secular arguments and interpretations.  The 

modern era brought the rise of the notion of ‗homosexuality‘, which placed a person into a 

specific category even when the person does not act upon his/her inclinations towards 

same-sex relations.  The field of medicine (including psychology) was therefore the most 

important domain for the discussion of homosexuality; a situation which was occasioned 

due to doctors being appointed by courts to examine sex crime defendants as professional 

witnesses.   

With this rise in the prestige of medicine came the explanation of human sexuality 

as innate or biologically driven.  So, unlike the medieval era where the sodomite is defined 

by his actions in choosing sin, the homosexual at the start of the modern era is shown to 

have a physical and mental make-up that makes him/her solely attracted to a person of the 

same-sex.  Nonetheless, the homosexual was usually portrayed by society as somehow 

defective or pathological.  This idea of pathology meant that the ‗homosexual‘ was seen as 

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someone who is diseased and therefore needs treatment.  Psychiatrists then worked 

towards gaining a repeal of criminal penalties for consensual homosexual practices but at 

the same time proposed interventions to rehabilitate homosexuals (Pickett, 2011).   

It is not surprising then that the first and second editions of the Diagnostic and 

Statistical Manual (DSM), published in 1952 and 1968 respectively, listed homosexuality 

under the category of sociopathic personality disturbance and sexual deviation 

respectively (Drescher, 2009; Pickett, 2011).  For this reason, many gay people and 

lesbians were hospitalized for treatment, where they received very intense and sometimes 

very damaging medical counselling services (Robertson, 2004).  According to Robertson, 

heterosexuality was seen as the only normal and natural sexual relation for humans.  

Having received this stamp of normality, and with the decline of theology‘s power over 

human sexuality, heterosexual sex lost a lot of its moral inhibitions that existed in the 

medieval era.  The 1960s saw a redefinition of sexual roles and premarital sex gradually 

became more common and socially acceptable (Pickett, 2011).  According to Herek 

(2007), ―love and sex came to be viewed as intimately related, and heterosexuality was 

understood by psychiatrists to be their mature, healthy expression‖ (p. 2).  Before then, 

certain gay and lesbian rights groups had already been formed but were virtually secret 

societies.   

Gay rights activism and the depathologizing of homosexuality.  The very first gay 

and lesbian rights groups worthy of note are the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of 

Bilitis respectively (Hay, 1996; Gallo, 2006).  Although these two societies performed 

quite well in terms of organizing gays and lesbians, albeit in a low-key manner, it was not 

until the Stonewall Inn riots that occurred in New York City‘s Greenwich Village in 1969, 

that the gay liberation movement started full-force (Carter, 2005).  Such activism led to an 

increased pressure on the fields of medicine and psychology to look at their definition of 

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homosexuality but it was the famous study conducted by Evelyn Hooker (1907 - 1996) 

that actually got the reforms in the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the 

American Psychological Association (APA) started eventually.  It is important to note that 

before Hooker‘s study, Alfred Kinsey (1894 - 1956) and his colleagues had done research 

in the area of sexuality, and reported that homosexuality was more common in the general 

population than was generally believed, stating that it was 10% of the population 

(Drescher, 2009).   

Hooker (1957) compared 30 gay men with 30 heterosexual men using the TAT, the 

Make-a-Picture-Story test (MAPS test), and the Rorschach inkblot test with the aim of 

comparing the psychological functioning of the two groups.  She intentionally chose a 

non-clinical sample of homosexuals with the assistance of the Mattachine Society so as to 

ensure that they were a match for the heterosexual sample.  Based on her findings, she 

concluded that homosexuality was not a clinical entity and therefore was not inherently 

pathological.  Herek (2007) stated that faced with such empirical evidence from Hooker‘s 

study and with the changing cultural views of homosexuality (which most likely were 

occasioned by the increase in gay activism), psychology radically changed its stance.  The 

American Psychiatric Association‘s Board of Directors had voted to remove 

homosexuality from the DSM in 1973, and soon after, the American Psychological 

Association passed a resolution that stated in essence that homosexuality is not 

pathological and urged all mental health professionals to lead the way to ensuring that 

homosexuals are not stigmatized (Herek, 2007).   

Consequently, the classification of homosexuality as an illness ended but this did 

not necessarily mean an end to it being seen as pathology (Drescher, 2009).  According to 

Drescher, the DSM-II and the DSM-III subsequently had in the place of homosexuality, 

Sexual Orientation Disturbance (SOD) and Ego Dystonic Homosexuality (EDH), 

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diagnoses that regarded homosexuality as an illness if an individual with homosexual 

inclinations found them distressing and wanted to change.  In spite of this, the fact that 

homosexuality was no longer seen as a mental illness, according to Herek (2007), 

crumbled one of heterosexism‘s supporting pillars, thereby influencing societal attitudes 

and providing a basis for reversing many of the antigay policies and laws that were 

enacted in the 20
th

 century.  This notwithstanding, the western world cannot be said to be 

totally accepting of homosexuality, although there is increasing evidence that changes 

have occurred.   According to Altemeyer (2001), people with certain characteristics have 

been known to be prejudiced against homosexuals.  These include racial and ethnic bigots 

and right-wing authoritarians.  Such people still exist, so researchers have tried to find out 

what accounts for attitudes toward homosexuals becoming increasingly accepting and 

tolerant (e.g. Altemeyer, 2001; Loftus, 2001).   

A major reason for this change in attitudes in the Western world is increased 

contact with homosexual persons but the effect of essentialist beliefs about the etiology of 

homosexuality is also a factor (Altemeyer, 2001; Haslam & Levy, 2006).  Altemeyer 

(2001) stated that another reason for the change in attitudes towards homosexuals is the 

fact that levels of right-wing authoritarianism have dropped.  This drop, according to 

Altemeyer, is attributed to four things, the first being that people are less religious than 

they used to be.  Parents of today attend church less than their parents did and therefore 

are not stressing family religion as much to their children.  Secondly, due to the influence 

of the mass media, many people have learnt that sexual orientation is affected by genetic 

factors and so homosexuality seems less unnatural to them.  Thirdly, HIV/AIDS (Human 

Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is no longer seen 

as a gay plague or an illness that is caused by homosexuality and affects only 

homosexuals, but as an avoidable and more controllable illness that can affect people of all 

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sexual orientations.  Lastly, certain religious groups have re-examined their condemnation 

of homosexuality [e.g. United Church of Christ; Presbyterian Church (USA)] and 

authourities such as the American government have revised its policy toward homosexuals 

in the military.  The perception that many straight and prestigious people attach no stigma 

to homosexuality has therefore spread, making people think that their beliefs about 

homosexuals may be wrong (Altemeyer, 2001).  Notwithstanding this, homosexuals in 

some parts of the world and especially in Africa still experience stigma mainly because 

their orientation is considered un-African. 

Homosexual experiences across Africa and Ghana.  Morgan and Wieringa 

(2005) noted in their book titled Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men and Ancestral Wives that 

generally same-sex practices have been difficult to research in Africa due to the fact that 

many African leaders deem it an un-African practice imported from the west and therefore 

a taboo.  Thus, with regards to the issue of homosexuality, the situation in other African 

countries is similar to that of Ghana.  Taking Uganda as a case in point, after the British 

Prime Minister David Cameron‘s comments in 2011, the Ugandan presidential adviser, 

John Nagenda, accused Mr. Cameron of showing an ex-colonial mentality and of treating 

Ugandans like children (BBC.co.uk, 31 October, 2011).  Søgaard (2013) has however 

disagreed with the assertion that homosexuality is un-African.  In his thesis aimed at 

challenging the perception about homosexuality being un-African, he concluded that 

homosexuality as a concept is an European import but same-sex intimacy is as African as 

the colour of the skin.   

In many African countries, homosexuals face the possibility of death among other 

atrocities meted out to them by members of the society because of their sexual orientation.  

Morgan and Wieringa (2005) focused on African women in same-sex relationships and 

emphasized that for the women they interviewed, secrecy equals survival.  The women 

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stated that they ran the risk of losing whatever support they got from their families, being 

evicted from their homes, and experiencing all sorts of hate crimes including rape.  

Despite this risk and the fact that homosexuality is deemed as against the culture in most 

African countries, same-sex experiences not only existed but seemed to occur at very early 

stages for most homosexuals.  For example, among the Kenyan women interviewed by 

Morgan and Wieringa, most had their first same-sex experience in primary or secondary 

school and the same is true for women they interviewed from other Southern African 

countries, including Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, and Swaziland. 

This is also true of homosexual experiences in Ghana.  Kramer (2003) stated that 

the male homosexual participants in her study conducted in Ghana generally noted that 

they had their first homosexual experiences in secondary school, especially the single-sex 

secondary schools.  These participants were students/graduates of the University of Ghana 

(UG) and University of Cape Coast (UCC) and for some of them, while in primary school, 

they knew they had homosexual tendencies, but did not follow up on their feelings until 

secondary school.  However, such experiences do not necessarily occur only between 

persons who are both students of a particular secondary school.  According to Kramer, 

some of her interviewees stated that they seek out new sexual relations from among boys 

in secondary school.  This statement can be said to support Attipoe‘s (2004) assertion that 

boys and young men are being recruited into homosexual practices in Ghana.  Banks 

(2012) in his article on the life of the legendary Ɔkɔmfo Kwabena noted a practice of 

sexual initiation or that can also be referred to as ‗recruitment‘.  Ɔkɔmfo Kwabena was a 

fetish-priest and leader of a community of queer men in a town in the Central Region of 

Ghana and their engagement in nteteɛ was to give young men access into their community.  

Nteteɛ is a Fante (a language of the Akan people of Ghana) term which means ‗training‘. 

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It should be noted that Banks (2012) did not interpret this practice as such, but his 

description of the practice as it is lived out by this community, who refer to themselves as 

Saso people, can be said to be open to varied interpretations; a fact he himself 

acknowledges.  Relating the experiences of one Saso man whose first same-sex erotic 

experience was with Ɔkɔmfo Kwabena, he noted that the man had:  

described an occasion when Ɔkɔmfo Kwabena had explained to him that some of 

his friends who are kojobesia engage in same-sex erotic practices and inquired if 

he would be interested in learning about it….he agreed because of his curiosity 

[and] upon acceptance, Ɔkɔmfo Kwabena initiated him into same-sex erotic 

practices, and for a while, was his exclusive Saso partner (p. 14).  

Banks however added that even though some interpreters may view this as a form of 

‗homosexual recruitment‘, nteteɛ is best understood as a practice of community formation 

through which the Saso people expand and perpetuate their community while offering the 

initiates the opportunity to learn about and explore their own same-sex erotic desires.  

Another reason why, according to Banks, this practice should not be understood as 

recruitment, is the fact that if a man has no interest in same-sex erotic practices in the first 

place, the initiation will not be effective.  Members of the Saso community said, as noted 

by Banks, that any Ghanaian man can be positively responsive to nteteɛ if it is undertaken 

correctly and adapted to suit individual circumstances. 

Terminologies indigenous to the gay subculture.  Aside the term nteteɛ, there are 

other terms that are specific to the gay subculture in Ghana.  According to Kramer (2003) 

one of her interviewees explained to her that there are two types of gay males in Ghana, 

the Classics and the Locals.  The Classics are cultured, travelled, well-educated, wealthy, 

and classy Ghanaian gay males while the Locals are uneducated, poor, trashy, and 

stereotypically gay in their dressing.  Due to this tendency to dress stereotypically 

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feminine, the Classics refer to the Locals as princesses.  Banks (2012) also noted some 

terms, all in Fante, that are used by the Saso community he studied.  As the Saso people 

like to distinguish between men who like to penetrate and those who like to be penetrated 

during anal intercourse, they use the terms ɛsor and ase respectively to refer to them.  

Those identified as ɛsor are usually expected to dress and act masculine while those 

identified as ase are usually allowed to perform varying degrees of femininity.  The term 

kojobesia is also used to denote someone‘s identity as one who plays ase although it is a 

general term used to describe men who are effeminate.  Also, the leader of the Saso 

community is referred to as Nana Hemaa (Queen mother), a term denoting the 

motherhood status of the leader and his attributes as someone upon whom the members of 

the Saso community depend for emotional, financial, and intellectual support.  Ɔkɔmfo 

Kwabena was the Nana Hemaa during his lifetime. 

It seems that the use of special terminologies is part of the gay and lesbian 

subculture in various parts of Africa.  For example, of those interviewed in Uganda by 

Morgan and Wieringa (2005), some of them identified as men and preferred to be called 

Tommy Boys instead of lesbians.  In Ghana, lesbians are not easily noticeable as the gays 

because as Kramer (2003) found out, girls/women are affectionate in public whether they 

are lesbians or not, making it difficult to tell  who is lesbian while boys/men are easily 

noticed if they display the kind of affection displayed by women towards each other.   

The inevitability of marriage.  According to Kramer (2003), some of her 

interviewees‘ admitted that a lot of married men are gay and for one of them, married men 

were his only choice of sex partners because he felt being with a married man came with 

minimal health risks as the only other sexual partner the man has is his wife.  It seems that 

marriage in the traditional sense, that is, between a man and a woman, is not only seen as 

inevitable amongst sexual minority individuals in Africa but as a necessity because of the 

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protective cover it offers.  Two of Kramer‘s female interviewees, a couple themselves, 

stated that they had their separate heterosexual relationships, and that these relationships 

served to provide the cover they needed to keep their homosexuality a secret.  Some of her 

male interviewees referred to themselves as bisexuals because they would have to marry 

women in order to have children although they would have wished to marry men instead.  

They added that if society permitted same-sex marriage, then they would not have to 

marry women but only get them to bear their children since it is the only way they can 

have biological children.  

Morgan and Wieringa‘s (2005) interviewees also shared similar sentiments.  One 

Kenyan interviewee noted that she will have to get married to a man as the Kenyan culture 

equates having a lot of children to being wealthy and so pressurize women to get married 

when they are of age to do so.  In spite of this, some of them still held out hope of getting 

married to their same-sex partners. One interviewee in Uganda is noted to have said that 

though they cannot do it in public, she and her girlfriend plan to get married in future, 

perhaps secretly, in hopes that the government will eventually accept it.  Obviously, 

culture does have an impact on the experiences of homosexuals in certain parts of Africa. 

Religion, morality, culture and homosexuality.  The issue of homosexuality has 

been a topic of passionate discussion in Ghana for quite some time and even more 

especially after the nomination of a human rights lawyer as minister for Gender, Children, 

and Social Protection by the president of Ghana in January 2014.  This was because she 

had made some statements in the previous years that people within the Ghanaian 

community saw as evidence that she was sympathetic to homosexuals.  In the ensuing 

discussion on the nation‘s airwaves, it became increasingly obvious that the majority of 

Ghanaians are not ready to accept homosexuality and the main reasons often given for this 

stance is that it is foreign to our culture, morally wrong and against the nation‘s major 

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religions (i.e. Christianity, Islam, and Traditional Religion).  According to the 2012 Win-

Gallup International‘s Global Index of Religiousity and Atheism, Ghana is the first among 

the top 10 religious populations of the world with 96% of Ghanaians stating that they are 

religious.  

Atiemo (2013) noted that religion in Ghana is not only important because of the 

number of citizens that claim religious adherence but also because of its intense 

manifestation in the daily lives of the people and the extent of the impact of its ideas.  

Indeed, there is no doubt that religion does have a great impact on the daily lives of 

Ghanaians because religious beliefs in Ghana are not a matter of purely personal 

concerns but are always part of the issues debated on in public in that all public matters, 

such as politics, the economy, health and education, and of course homosexuality, are 

subjects of religious discourse.   Atiemo added that religion so permeates every aspect of 

Ghanaian life that even at workplaces and government organized programmes, prayers are 

said before the start of work or the start of the programme.  On the various public 

universities‘ campuses in Ghana, religious activities take students‘ time so much so 

that gardens and open spaces such as parks turn into prayer grounds in the night and at 

dawn (Atiemo, 2013).  According to Gyekye (2003), religion refers to ―the awareness of 

the existence of some ultimate, supreme being who is the origin and sustainer of this 

universe and the establishment of constant ties with this being‖ (p. 3).  Mish, Gilman, 

McHenry, Pease, Jr., Bollard, Collier et al. (1990), defined it as ―the service and worship 

of God or the supernatural‖ and as ―a personal set or institutionalized system of religious 

attitudes, beliefs, and practices‖ (p. 995).   

Belonging to a particular religion requires a certain level of commitment in order 

to establish constant ties with the Supreme Being or whoever is the center of the particular 

religion that one ascribes to (Gyekye, 2003).  Worthington (1988) defined religious 

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commitment as the degree to which a person adheres to his or her religious values, beliefs, 

and practices and uses them in daily living.  These definitions and the extent to which 

religion permeates all aspects of Ghanaian social life as noted above, make it clear that 

religion is not just what people do in their places of worship, be it a Church, Mosque, or 

Shrine, but it is a way of life for people, in that it determines how they live and what they 

would consider right or wrong.  Having certain beliefs informs the kind of attitude a 

person will have regarding certain issues, and this will in turn affect how the person 

behaves and even what the person thinks is the right behaviour for every other human 

being.  Also, most religions have strict moral codes, and Christianity, Islam and 

Traditional African Religion are no exceptions.  As Drescher (2009) noted, official 

pronouncements on the meanings of same-sex behaviors were once primarily the province 

of religions and many of them deemed homosexuality as ‗bad‘.   

Morality, according to Gyekye (2003), is ―a set of social rules and norms intended 

to guide the conduct of people in a society‖ (p. 55).  He added that these rules and norms 

are based on people‘s beliefs about right and wrong conduct and good and bad character.  

This is in line with Mbiti‘s (1989) view that ―the essence of African morality is that it is 

‗societary‘ than ‗spiritual‘; it is a morality of ‗conduct‘ rather than a morality of ‗being‘.  

This is what one might call ‗dynamic ethics‘ rather than ‗static ethics‘ for it defines what a 

person does, rather than what he is‖ (p. 209).   According to Gyekye (2003), African moral 

values are derived from the experiences of the people in trying to live together in harmony 

and so these values have a humanistic basis rather than a religious one.  As such, what is 

morally good is that which brings about human well-being.  Gyekye also noted that 

procreation is a very important African cultural value and is viewed as the whole purpose 

of marriage.  In all the uproar about the issue of homosexuality within the public domain, 

one major point has been that homosexuality is a pattern of behaviour that is not good and 

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does not promote human and social well-being, because it does not allow for procreation.  

In Ghana currently, and in many other countries all over the world, homosexuals cannot 

marry, and even if they could do so by law, the problem of procreation still remains.  In 

effect, homosexuality is morally wrong.  This is a fact that, as mentioned already, is 

sanctioned by a lot of religions, and though African morality is not necessarily based on 

religion, it does play a role in the moral lives of individuals (Gyekye, 2003).   

Culture, according to Tylor (1958, p. 1), is ―that complex whole which includes 

knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits 

acquired by man as a member of society‖.  Geertz (1973, p. 44) also defines it as ―ideas 

based on cultural learning and symbols...that people gradually internalize [and use] to 

define their world, express their feelings, and make their judgements...[and also serves to 

help] guide their behaviour and perceptions throughout their lives‖.  Looking at these 

definitions, one can safely conclude then that religion and morality are concepts that are 

encapsulated by culture.  The culture of a particular people determines how they live their 

lives, the religion(s) they are likely to ascribe to and what they are likely to deem as 

morally right or wrong.  So perhaps it makes sense that the majority of Ghanaians, within 

the realm of public discourse, say that homosexuality is against our culture because unlike 

the Kaluli and the Etoro cited above, homosexual behaviour is not institutionalized in 

Ghana as it is in their society.   

Prejudicial attitudes.  As stated earlier, based on the content of public discourse 

on the issue of homosexuality, Ghanaians obviously have a negative attitude towards it, 

and as a result, are prejudiced against homosexual persons.  According to Kessler and 

Mummendey (2008, p. 292), prejudice can be defined as ―a derogatory attitude or 

antipathy towards particular social groups or their members‖.  Attitude, in itself, is defined 

as an overall evaluation of a stimulus object (Haddock & Maio, 2008) and any stimulus 

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that can be evaluated along a dimension of favourability can be conceptualized as a 

stimulus object or an attitude object.  With regard to the issue of antigay attitudes, Herek 

(2000) stated that the scientific analysis of its psychology could only be facilitated by the 

use of the term sexual prejudice.  This term, according to Herek, is broadly conceived as 

all negative attitudes based on sexual orientation, whether the target is homosexual, 

bisexual, or heterosexual, but he uses it to denote heterosexuals‘ negative attitudes toward 

homosexual behaviour, people with homosexual or bisexual orientation and Lesbian, Gay, 

or Bisexual (LGB) communities.   

Like other types of prejudice, sexual prejudice has three principal features 

including the fact that it is an attitude (i.e. an evaluative judgement), it is directed at a 

social group and its members, and it is negative (i.e. involves hostility or dislike).  In 

Herek‘s (2000) view, conceptualizing heterosexuals‘ negative attitudes toward LGB 

individuals as sexual prejudice is better than conceptualizing it as homophobia because it 

is a much more descriptive term.  According to Adams, Wright, and Lohr (1996), 

homophobia refers to an affective response, including fear, anxiety, anger, and discomfort, 

that a person experiences when interacting with LGB individuals, which may or may not 

involve a cognitive component.  This cognitive component is referred to as 

homonegativity and is defined by Hudson and Ricketts (1980) as negative attitudes, 

beliefs, or actions toward homosexuality.  

 Aside the affective responses mentioned above as markers of homophobia, another 

affective response that heterosexuals are likely to experience towards gay persons in 

particular is disgust.  For a lot of people, hearing the term homosexuality brings to mind a 

graphic image of two men having anal sex which they find disgusting and by association, 

they find a homosexual person disgusting too (e.g. Terrizzi Jr., Shook, & Ventis, 2010).  

According to Olatunji (2008), several domains of disgust, including core disgust, animal-

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reminder disgust, and contamination disgust, may relate to negative attitudes toward 

homosexuals.  Core disgust pertains to bodily products such as semen which are 

commonly associated with gay activity, animal-reminder disgust pertains to the forcible 

breach of the exterior envelope of the human body which is associated with anal sex, and 

contamination disgust pertains to concerns about diseases and infection (Haidt, Rozin, 

McCauley, & Imada, 1997; Haidt, McCauley, & Rozin, 1994).  Olatunji also noted that 

disgust appraisals may be more easily associated with gay sexual activity, but the 

consideration of lesbian sexual practices as ‗unnatural‘ may also motivate the same 

appraisals. 

 

Statement of the Problem 

Homosexuality has been a topical issue in Ghana for quite some time now but 

currently, although negative sentiments still prevail, they are overshadowed by concerns 

about the Ghanaian economy and other social problems.  The truth however is that the 

issue of homosexuality is quite a complex one.  It is more complex and therefore 

transcends the debate as to what is culturally acceptable and what is not.  It is even not 

simply a matter of what is morally right or wrong and for that matter it is also not simply a 

question of what is sanctioned or not sanctioned by religion.  Although the fact that 

homosexuality as a human rights issue is unacceptable to most Ghanaians, it is a fact that 

we cannot run away from.  Considering this fact, the only question that can be raised about 

homosexuality is that of its criminality or otherwise.  The laws of Ghana are not clear on 

the issue though.  The Criminal Code Act (1960) states that:  

 (1) Whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge —  

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(a) of any person of the age of sixteen years or over without his consent shall be 

guilty of a first degree felony and shall be liable on conviction to imprisonment for 

a term of not less than five years and not more than twenty-five years; or  

(b) of any person of sixteen years or over with his consent is guilty of a 

misdemeanour; or  

(c) of any animal is guilty of a misdemeanour.  

(2) Unnatural carnal knowledge is sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural 

manner or with an animal (ACT 646, §104). 

Often, it is the phrase ―unnatural carnal knowledge‖ that is used by laypeople and even 

some lawyers as the standpoint for arguing that homosexuality is illegal but there is no 

consensus on what the phrase actually means.   

The second part of the law, as shown above, tries to define it, but the attempt 

probes the question, ―what exactly is ‗unnatural manner‘‖? , deepening the confusion.  So 

then, what we have are more questions: Is homosexuality an abnormality or not?  Is it 

genetic or is it acquired?  Can one be cured of it?  Is homosexuality a sin?  Are 

homosexuals going to hell?  Should what happens in the bedroom between two consenting 

adults be their business and theirs only?  The list of questions is truly endless but the 

answers are still not clear.  One thing is clear though.  While the scientific community and 

all those who have an interest in the issue try to find answers to these questions, the issue 

of attitudes remains pressing as negative attitudes taken to the extremes can mean the 

lynching to death of a human being alleged to be homosexual.  For example, during the 

first and second weeks of March 2012, it was in the news that an angry mob of youth in 

James Town, a suburb of Accra, had assaulted a group of people within the community 

believed to be homosexuals.  The attack is said to have happened during a marriage 

ceremony between two lesbians living in the community.  The guests at the ceremony who 

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were unable to run away were beaten up and some were arrested by the mob and handed 

over to the police who had to let them go because there was no legal reason to hold them 

(GhanaToGhana.com, March 19, 2012).  The nature of such attitudes therefore need to be 

identified so that armed with that knowledge, these extremes can be managed until a time 

when Ghana, and for that matter Ghanaians, will decide on exactly how best to deal with 

the issue of homosexuality.  It is against this background that this study was conducted. 

 

Rationale for the Study 

From the public discourse about homosexuality, it is obvious that most Ghanaians 

have a negative attitude towards homosexuality, arguing that it is immoral, against 

religious laws and our culture.  There are however some other behaviours that can be said 

to be equally immoral and against religious laws and the Ghanaian culture, such as 

induced abortion, bribery/corruption, commercial sex work, incest, premarital/extramarital 

affairs, to name a few.  Most religions preach against these, and expect their followers to 

desist from them.  Also, none of them have ever caused this level of public outcry in 

opposition.  Granted, some years back, there was a lot of discussion on the issue of 

commercial sex work, but not to the extent of pronouncements by government officials or 

religious leaders being highly passionate about it.   In the news, there are daily reports of 

rape or murder, incest, teenage pregnancy, bribery/corruption scandals, etc.  however, 

these only make the headlines, and are read in passing on radio and on television.   

This fact brings up the question, asking why these ‗other vices‘ do not attract the 

same amount of criticism from Ghanaians.  So long as there are reports of such 

happenings in the news, then it can be assumed that a lot of Ghanaians are themselves 

engaged in these behaviours too, but do people complain?  If they do, then the complaints 

are usually not loud enough for everybody to hear.  So the question again is ―Why‖?  Why 

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are Ghanaians seemingly able to tolerate these other ‗vices‘ but not homosexuality?  That 

is the question this study sought to answer.  The rationale for conducting this study 

therefore stemmed from the fact that although anecdotal evidence makes it safe to assume 

that there is a negative attitude towards homosexuals in Ghana, there is very limited 

scientific evidence of this.   

As is obvious from the review of related literature however (see Chapter Two), the 

issue of homosexuality has piqued the interest of various professionals who are 

researching into it here in Ghana with varied focus.  This study is relevant in that it does 

not only subject the assumption of a generally negative attitude to the process of science as 

previous studies have done (e.g. Anarfi & Gyasi-Gyamerah, 2014; Owusu et al., 2013).  It 

also adds to the literature by going further to assess the underlying structure of these 

attitudes and how they are moderated by religious commitment and morality.  

Additionally, the fact that this study creates the opportunity for the whole issue of attitudes 

toward homosexuals to be viewed from the perspective of the Ghanaian homosexual 

persons themselves, shows its relevance. 

 

Aims and Objectives of the Study 

The main aim of this study was to determine the underlying structure of prejudicial 

attitudes toward homosexuals, and the specific objectives are to: 

1. Determine the relative importance of stereotypes, symbolic beliefs, and affective 

associates in predicting attitudes toward homosexuals. 

2. Examine the role of behavioural intentions in attitudes toward homosexuals. 

3. Determine the extent to which religious commitment and morality will moderate 

attitudes toward homosexuals. 

4. Ascertain the role of attributions in determining attitudes toward homosexuals. 

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5. Examine how homosexuals view themselves and how they feel about the views of 

society. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chapter Two 

Literature Review 

Introduction  

This chapter reviews the literature that is pertinent to this study and is structured 

based on the funnel method proposed by Hofstee (2006).  It begins with a discussion of the 

main theories upon which the study is based, its criticisms and relevance to the study, 

followed by a review of related studies, and ends with a summary of the review and the 

conceptual model that was tested in conducting this study.  

 

Theoretical Framework 

Multicomponent model of attitude (Zanna & Rempel, 1988).  This model 

conceptualizes attitudes as summary evaluations that have affective, cognitive and 

behavioural components that, to some extent, are independent of each other.  This means 

that it is not necessary for an individual to be consistent across the different sources and 

that s/he may have more than one attitude towards a stimulus object depending on which 

component the evaluative judgment is based on.   

The affective component.  The affective component refers to feelings or emotions 

associated with an attitude object (Haddock & Maio, 2008).  These feelings or emotions, 

known as affective responses, influence attitudes in a number of ways, the primary way 

being due to the affective reactions that are aroused in an individual after s/he is exposed 

to the attitude object.  Negative affective responses are likely to make an individual have a 

negative attitude towards attitude objects.   

Research evidence suggests that feelings can become associated with attitude 

objects in several ways to produce a positive or negative attitude.  Some researchers have 

used classical conditioning paradigms and the mere exposure phenomenon to achieve this 

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association (e.g. Krosnick, Betz, Jussim, & Lynn, 1992; Murphy & Zajonc, 1993).  

Findings from these studies have shown that associating negative information with an 

attitude object makes one develop a negative attitude towards it and that being exposed to 

or having contact with an attitude object can make one develop a positive attitude towards 

it.   

The cognitive component.  The cognitive component of attitudes refers to the 

beliefs, thoughts and attributes we associate with a particular object.  As such, a person‘s 

attitude might usually be based primarily upon a consideration of the positive and negative 

attributes of the attitude object (Haddock & Maio, 2008).  Such beliefs about the attributes 

of an attitude object, especially about a particular social group, are known as stereotypes.  

Numerous studies have shown that possessing negative stereotypes about a group of 

people is associated with having a prejudicial attitude towards the group (e.g. Esses, 

Haddock & Zanna, 1993; Kawakami, Dion & Dovidio, 1998).  Stereotypic beliefs or 

cognitions, are a key part of one approach to attitudes, specifically the expectancy-value 

approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975).  This approach describes an attitude towards an 

object as the total sum of the product of one‘s expectancies multiplied by the value of each 

expentancy.   

According to Haddock and Maio (2008) expectancies are beliefs or subjective 

probabilities that the object possesses a certain attribute, which may range in strength from 

0 to 1 while values, or evaluations, are ratings of the attributes, normally from -3 to +3.  

An attitude object will be evaluated positively if it is seen as leading to or being associated 

with positive things and avoiding negative things, and only salient beliefs (i.e. beliefs that 

a person considers most relevant) count towards the overall attitudes.  Using this model, a 

person‘s attitude towards a particular stimulus object can be calculated.  An example is 

given by Haddock and Maio (2008, p. 116) as follows:  

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[a] person might think that golf is (1) a Valuable form of exercise, (2) a good way 

to see friends and (3) frustrating.  Each of these beliefs will have both an 

expectancy and a value.  For example, exercise might have a high expectancy (.9) 

and positive evaluation (+3); seeing friends might be perceived as having a lower 

expected outcome (.7) that is somewhat positive (+2); while frustration is 

(thankfully!) somewhat infrequent (.3) but very negative (-3).  The individual‘s 

overall attitude towards golf is computed by summing the belief-evaluation 

products [e.g., 2.7 + 1.4 – 0.9 = 3.2]. 

Haddock et al. (1993) stated that a second type of belief that is relevant to the 

cognitive component of prejudicial attitudes is symbolic beliefs.  These are beliefs that 

social groups either violate or promote the attainment of cherished values, customs, and 

traditions of a particular society.  Symbolic beliefs can also be calculated the same way as 

shown above for stereotypic beliefs. 

The behavioural component.  This refers to an individual‘s behavioural intentions 

or past behaviours associated with an attitude object.  One way in which behaviours are 

linked to attitudes is that people sometimes infer their attitudes on the basis of their 

previous actions.  This idea was developed by Bem (1972) and is explained through his 

self-perception theory, which states that when unsure of our attitudes, we infer them just 

as someone observing us would, by looking at our behaviour and the circumstances under 

which it occurs (Myers, 2002).  Bem‘s argument was that this lack of access is especially 

likely when the person‘s attitude is particularly weak or ambiguous, a reasoning that has 

been confirmed by results from many studies (e.g. Chaiken & Baldwin, 1981).   

Another way in which behaviours may also influence strongly held attitudes is 

shown by Festinger‘s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory.  This refers to an individual‘s 

internal state that is as a result of him/her noticing an inconsistency between two or more 

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of his/her attitudes or between his/her attitudes and his/her behaviour (Baron et al., 2009).  

Behaviours also influence attitudes much more directly in that engaging in actions that 

have evaluative implications or connotations (such as nodding or shaking one‘s head and 

flexing or extending one‘s hand) influence the favourability of attitudes (Briñol & Petty, 

2003; Cacioppo, Priester, & Berntson, 1993).  

Social learning theory (Bandura, 1997).  This theory states that we learn social 

behaviour by observing and imitating others and by being rewarded and punished for our 

behaviour (Myers, 2002, p. 387).  Bandura initially developed the theory to explain how 

aggression is learned in children but the theory can be applied to how various other 

behaviours and attitudes develop.  According to Baron et al. (2009), our views are mostly 

acquired in situations in which we interact with others or observe their behaviour, a 

phenomenon they referred to as social learning.  Social learning is the process through 

which we acquire new information, new forms of behaviour, or attitudes from others.  So, 

whether a behaviour or attitude is positive or negative, we acquire them through observing 

others, especially significant others (e.g., parents).  Of interest to this study are two 

variants of this theory that explain how prejudicial attitudes and religious attitudes are 

formed including the social learning view of prejudice and religious socialization. 

Social learning view of prejudice (Baron et al., 2009).  This is the view that 

prejudice is acquired through direct and vicarious experiences in the same way as other 

attitudes are acquired.  According to Baron et al. (2009), children acquire negative 

attitudes toward various social groups because they hear such views expressed by 

significant others and because they are directly rewarded (with love, praise and approval) 

for adopting these views.  Also, people‘s own direct experience with members of other 

groups shape their attitudes. 

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Religious socialization (Spilka, Hood, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 2003).  Spilka et 

al. (2003) stated that Bandura‘s social learning theory can be considered as the theoretical 

underpinning of the socialization process which has an important implication for 

religiousness.  According to them, religiousness is typically strongly influenced by one‘s 

immediate environment, especially one‘s parents, through both modeling and 

reinforcement processes.  Apart from parents, many external influences have the potential 

to affect people‘s religiousness including peers, schools, religious institutions, books, the 

mass media, and so on.   

These external influences can affect people directly through explicit teachings or 

family practices or indirectly through influencing their school, marital, and career choices, 

or through cultural assumptions, subtle modeling, or lack of exposure to alternative 

positions.  According to Spilka et al. (2003), many studies have linked various aspects of 

religiousness with increased discriminatory attitudes, adding that people who try to live 

their religion will also display discriminatory attitudes openly in dealing with the world 

around them. 

Attribution theory of controllability (Weiner, 1979, 1985; Weiner et al., 1988).  

This theory states that stigmatized behaviours that are believed to have biological origins 

will be evaluated positively while those that are believed to be due to individual choice 

will be negatively evaluated.  In other words, individuals who are believed to have caused 

their stigma will be evaluated negatively than those who are stigmatized through 

circumstances beyond their control or as a result of misfortune.  According to Haider-

Markel and Joslyn (2008), Weiner‘s theory of controllability helps explain the underlying 

mechanisms involved in attributions of various stigmatized groups, including 

homosexuals.   

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Therefore, applying the theory to homosexuality in particular, it means that believing 

that homosexuality has biological origins would suggest that sexual orientation is not 

controllable.  Conversely, believing that it is a personal choice, acquired, or learned, 

suggests that homosexuality can be controlled.  Such attributions influence attitudes 

toward homosexuals with those believing it is biological in origin having positive attitudes 

and those believing it is an individual choice having negative attitudes.    

 

Criticisms and Relevance of the Theories 

The theories discussed above are central to the aims of this study in that they deal 

directly with what is basically of interest for the study which is the assessment of the 

structure of prejudicial attitudes towards homosexuals and how these are moderated by 

religious commitment and morality.  Naturally, these theories are not without their 

criticism.   

Smith and Nosek (2011), for example, stated that the measurement of attitudes 

have been conceptualized in different forms over the years.  Although Thurstone (1887 – 

1955) asserted that attitudes cannot be wholly described by any single numerical index, 

years after, they were actually simplified into singular summary evaluations.  Added to 

this has been the differentiation between affective and cognitive components of attitudes 

(e.g., Eagly & Chaiken, 1993) and also the distinguishing between implicit and explicit 

components of attitudes, not to mention the multicomponent model of attitudes discussed 

above.  All these go to show how complex the attitude construct is.  As has been 

established earlier, Ghanaians seem to have negative attitudes towards homosexuals and 

so it is gaining an understanding of the structure of these attitudes and identifying other 

factors that can influence them that were of importance to this study.  It is for this reason 

that the multicomponent model of attitudes was deemed the right theory base for this study 

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since it gives an explanation of this structure, describes its three components, and how 

each of them can be assessed so as to understand the nature of attitudes toward a particular 

object, in this case, toward homosexuals.   

The social learning theory was criticized by Akers, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce, and 

Radosevich (1979) as lacking empirical testing in applied natural settings.  Akers et al. 

therefore decided to test the theory by conducting a study on social learning and 

adolescent drinking and drug behaviour.  Based on their findings, the theory was 

supported.  This fact was subsequently corroborated by other studies (e.g. Akers, 1998; 

Skinner & Fream, 1997), leaving no doubt that the theory can be tested in natural settings.  

Since this study aimed to determine whether religious commitment and morality moderate 

attitudes toward homosexuals, the two variants of the social learning theory noted 

previously were seen as a right theory base for this study because religious commitment 

and morality can be learnt by individuals through observing and imitating others, 

especially significant others such as parents and other relatives.  As such, although the 

theory does not inform the design of this study directly, it was necessary to adopt it as a 

framework for this study and incorporate it into the explanation of its findings. 

According to Manusov and Spitzberg (2008), there is increasing evidence that 

attributional thought processes may be moderated by culture to some extent but it is rare to 

find a scholar of merit claiming that the theory, including all its variants, is fundamentally 

flawed.  As discussed previously, attributions are a central part of how we form attitudes 

and what the valence of that attitude would be.  So, when it comes to attitudes toward 

stigmatized behaviours such as homosexuality, this theory points out how believing that a 

behaviour is controllable  produces negative attitudes towards the target person while 

believing that it is uncontrollable produces positive attitudes towards the target person.  

With this understanding and based on Manusov and Spitzberg (2008) assertion, the 

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attributional theory of controllability was also deemed right as a theory base that informed 

aspects of the methodology of this study and helped with explaining the findings.   

 

Review of Related Studies 

Demographic variables and attitudes toward homosexuals.   As the following 

review of related studies will show, research abounds on attitudes toward homosexuality 

as a sexual orientation and on attitudes toward homosexuals themselves, especially in the 

western world.  A lot of these studies focus on determining the factors related to these 

attitudes.  These factors include sexism, contact with homosexuals and other demographic 

variables including religion, religious affiliation, religious attendance, educational level, 

gender, and ethnicity, among others. 

Herek and Capitanio (1996) for example, conducted a two-wave national AIDS 

telephone survey a year apart in which their probability sample of English-speaking adults 

stated their attitudes toward gay men in the first wave and toward gay men and lesbians in 

the second wave.  Their findings at Wave 1 showed that heterosexuals who reported 

interpersonal contact with gays had more positive attitudes toward gay men than those 

without contact.  This positive attitude was depicted in the reports of more relationships, 

closer relationships, and receiving direct disclosure about another‘s homosexuality.  

Findings at Wave 2 indicated a general replication of the previous findings for both gay 

men and lesbians with cross-wave analyses suggesting a reciprocal relationship between 

contact and attitudes.  Similarly, a study by Sakalh and Ugurlu (2002) which investigated 

the effects of social interaction with homosexuals on attitudes toward homosexuality 

among heterosexual Turkish university students  found that, generally, exposure to and 

contact with homosexuals resulted in more positive attitudes toward homosexuality. 

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Newman (2007) examined attitudes toward lesbians by comparing data from a 

survey conducted in 1985 among students living in a college residence hall with data from 

a survey conducted in 2001 among students living in the same hall.  She found that the 

sample of college students in 2001 showed more positive attitudes about lesbians than the 

1985 sample, suggesting a trend of increasing acceptance of lesbians over the 16-year 

period.  She also found that the 2001 sample reported more contact with lesbians and 

assessed their parents‘ attitudes as more positive than the 1985 sample.  Other studies have 

also made use of college students as participants, targeting the general population of 

students or students in specific disciplines.  For example, Schulte and Battle (2004) had as 

their study sample college students from several campuses across the United States.  Their 

focus was to examine whether ethnic differences in attitudes toward gays and lesbians are 

a function of religious attendance.  Comparing African Americans and European 

Americans, they found that ethnic differences were present in the absence of religious 

attitudes but these differences were absent in the presence of religious attitudes when 

predicting attitudes toward lesbians in particular.  For attitudes toward gay men, ethnic 

differences did not exist but religious attitudes were always statistically significant.  They 

therefore concluded that attitudes toward lesbians and gay men are not necessarily a 

function of ethnicity but possibly a function of religious attendance in general and of the 

―Black Church‖ specifically.   

Another study by Sakalli (2002) examined the relationship between sexism and 

attitudes toward homosexuality among Turkish college students.  It was found that more 

negative attitudes toward homosexuality was predicted by sexist attitudes, not knowing 

any homosexuals, and being more traditional and conservative.  Hostile sexism more than 

benevolent sexism was highly correlated with anti-homosexual attitudes.  Also, male 

respondents proved to be more sexist and to hold more negative attitudes toward 

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homosexuality compared to their female counterparts.  Although it did not use university 

students as participants, a study by Ben-Ari (2001) set in the university environment 

assessed the views of 235 academics in the helping professions (social work, psychology 

and education) about homosexuals.  These academics were faculty members from the five 

main universities in Israel and the instrument used was the Index of Homophobia (IHP).  

Results showed that all the participants were low-grade homophobic.  Males were found to 

be more homophobic than their female counterparts except for those in psychology but 

even for them, secular faculty members were found to be significantly more homophobic 

than their religious counterparts.   

Lim and Johnson (2001) assessed the levels of homophobia among social work 

students from two major universities in the Republic of South Korea.  Their results 

indicated that compared to U.S. samples, the students had high levels of homophobia but 

that in-class discussion of homosexuality was found to be significantly associated with 

lower levels of homophobia.  Additionally, in a study by Lim (2008) to investigate 

individuals‘ attitudes toward homosexuals in Singapore and to determine whether gender 

differences exist in these attitudes, she found that the respondents generally had negative 

attitudes towards homosexuals.  Majority of them also reported that they would feel upset 

if their child, brother, or sister was homosexual.  With regards to the gender differences, 

generally women reported that they were more comfortable in working closely with male 

homosexuals while men reported that they were more comfortable in working closely with 

female homosexuals.  Both genders were however in agreement on the fact that they 

would feel uncomfortable if they discovered that their doctor was homosexual.   

Religiousity, religious commitment, and attitudes toward homosexuals.  On the 

subject of religion and how it relates to the issue of attitudes toward homosexuality and 

homosexuals themselves, a study by Whitley (2009) gives a good insight. The study used 

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meta-analysis to examine the relationships between attitudes toward lesbians/gay men and 

seven forms of religiousity including fundamentalism, frequency of religious service 

attendance, endorsement of Christian orthodoxy, self-ratings of religiousity, and intrinsic, 

extrinsic, and quest orientations.  He found that with the exception of quest and extrinsic 

orientation, all the other forms of religiousity had at least small negative relationships with 

attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.  While the extrinsic orientation had no relationship 

to these attitudes at all, higher quest orientation showed a positive relationship with 

attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.  Also, a study by Arndt and de Bruin (2006) on 

how gender, race, and religion are related to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men had