Scotland’s First Minister to address gay rights with Ghana’s leader

The First Minister is expected to raise the issue of gay rights with the President of Ghana during his visit to Holyrood today.

Nicola Sturgeon has been under increasing pressure to discuss it with John Dramani Mahama as they meet against a backdrop of growing vigilante violence against gay people in his home country, Ghana, where the punishment for homosexual acts is one to three years in jail.

He is set to observe First Minister’s Questions and will tomorrow receive an honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen as part of a wider tour of Scotland.

Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick, who will also meet him, has said she will not raise gay rights, with the parliament saying it is not her place to do so.

The Scottish Government had previously said it would discuss “issues of mutual interest” but yesterday said Ms Sturgeon would share her views on the “values of humanity, equality and tolerance”

Read more at heraldscotland.com

Our obvious questions is why are University of Aberdeen giving an honorary degree to someone that clearly do not care about human rights or LGBT rights.  And why are politician afraid to discuss human rights and LGBT rights with leaders that do not care about these rights ?

Photo By The Scottish Government [OGL], via Wikimedia Commons