Torture, blackmail, extortion: the dangers of queer online dating in Ghana

A screen grab from a social media video allegedly showing a gay person who was attacked in Ghana. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ people in Ghana are targeted online by criminal gangs.

By Carlotta Dotto and Kwaku Krobea Asante

When a friend introduced Delali* to the dating app Grindr, she was wary. The 25-year-old Ghanaian-Nigerian chef knew online dating in Accra, Ghana’s capital, was treacherous for transgender women. Despite this, she decided to create a profile in February 2019. Messages started flooding in. One man caught her attention and they decided to meet up.

At the meeting place, he led her to a secluded building. Inside a room lit by a blue light, he locked the door. She sat, nervously waiting for him to make the first move. Suddenly, two people with torches appeared out of nowhere, filming her. “It felt like I was in a dream,” she says, recalling the realisation that something terrible was about to happen.