Ghana’s first openly transgender woman blames society for her transformation

desmond frimpong

January 19, 2018 11:19 AM

Transgender in Africa: invisible, inaccessible, or ignored?

In a typical African home, there are specific activities placed on men and women .There are strict rules that men and women are expected to carry out.

For instance, a man is responsible for obtaining employment to financially support his family and a woman is mandated to deal with issues that arise in the household such as rearing the children, cleaning, and preparing meals for everyone in the home.

So it can’t be expected that gay, lesbian, and transgender lifestyles will be welcomed with open arms because the principles of those lifestyles are not the norm and don’t align with African cultures and traditions.

Angela Coleman is a 26-year-old Ghanaian transgender girl. Biologically born male, but against all odds, transitioning into the woman she knows she was born to be. An intimate fight for love, in one of the most transphobic places in the world. She sets out to fight for her right to love, and against all odds, to become the first accepted trans person in Ghana.

Coleman began taking medications for her sex change after traveling to Spain where she started the process of her transformation from male to female and underwent sexual reassignment surgery.

She has for the past three years, been living as a woman.

Coleman explained to local Ghanaian media Joy News the reason for her transformation.

Remarkably, Coleman’s family members are in full support of her sex change and lifestyle. Her brother said: “We are proud of him; we can’t throw him away”. Coleman insists that the bullying she received was the strongest factor in deciding to change her sex. She feels that the fact that she now identifies as a woman should be of no concern to anyone else because it’s her body and her choice.

desmond frimpong