Henri's

When we first showed up it didn't look like anything special - a collection of plastic chairs arranged around plastic tables on the sidewalk. The music was the usual mix of hip-life and American hip-hop, and the drinks were the usual Ghanaian beers. It wasn't until we went inside that Henri's began to look like the super-secret gathering place friends had told us it was: a gay bar.

That's right, a gay bar in Ghana. If you know anything about the nature of homosexuality in African culture you will appreciate how unique a place Henri's is. As it turns out, there are several bars and clubs around Accra known (though not to the general public) as gay bars and clubs. They have to be something of a secret, though, because of the intense level of homophobia here.

Traditional African society supposedly does not include homosexuality - it simply isn't part of the culture, according to a few articles I have read. There are no gay people in Africa, theoretically (or were none, in some imagined precolonial past). In some ways, this denial of the idea of homosexuality allows men of any sexual orientation to behave in ways that would be considered feminine in the U.S. - men can hold hands, dance together, and be otherwise physically close with other men, and these behaviors are not considered sexual at all. But at the same time, being openly gay is nearly impossible, especially for native Ghanaians.

Of course this does not mean that there are actually no gay people in Africa, or that people here do not understand what this means. Cultural imports from the West, from television shows to magazines, have introduced the idea, though even in the wealthy, Western-friendly district of Accra where I live, this does not translate into acceptance. The homophobia is apparent in everyday conversations, where single men who aren't sexually active (for reasons not explained by religious commitments) are *accused* of being gay. Being "out," even in Labone, would certainly involve social ostracism, and in other areas a real risk of violence.

So the community is underground. But it still exists, as one of our closeted Ghanaian friends showed us this weekend. In some ways Henri's was not so different from gay bars in New York - there were plenty of tight T-shirts, lots of dancing, and even some bad 80s music, though no fancy drinks. But when you walk back out of the poster-covered sliding door, you could be at any "spot" in Accra, which is clearly the point.