Security personnel in Ghana have closed down a newly opened community center by a LGBTQ+ rights group in the capital after religious and political leaders campaigned against it. Members of the group called the closure a violation of their constitutional right to assembly.
An unnamed member of LGBTQ+ Rights Ghana on Wednesday posted video on Twitter of what they said was a police raid on their community center.
“There is police and there is a car. What are we going to do? Oh my God. You guys, this is getting really serious,” a person is heard saying on the video.
The center had been open since January 31 and was the first such gathering place for Ghana’s LGBTQ+ community.
After the police raid, the group’s director Alex Kofi Donkor said the group would look at their legal options.
“Our constitution guarantees all of us the right to freedom of association. If government denies us these rights, then I believe that there is also legal redress that we can seek," he said.
Ghana’s police declined to comment on the alleged raid or why a police car was parked outside the center.
The center had become a subject of debate when the European Union’s delegation in Ghana posted on social media that it had taken part in the opening.
Ghana’s conservative and religious groups denounced the center and the EU’s support for it.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference said the EU should not impose their so-called values and beliefs on Ghanaians, who it said were against homosexuality.
President of the Conference Reverend Philip Naameh accused the LGBTQ+ community of using the center to try to lure in youth.
“Our main concern is to engage the youth, especially those who are unemployed, with meaningful jobs. I think if they are doing something very positive, they will not turn to such activities as normal activities,” he said.
Gay sex is a criminal offense in Ghana and can be punished with up to three years in prison.
Prosecutions are very rare but, members of the LGBTQ+ community say the colonial-era law encourages discrimination that they face on a daily basis.
Human Rights Watch in a 2018 report accused Ghana of abusing LGBTQ+ rights by keeping the law.
Ghanaian human rights lawyer Joyce Opoku Boateng argues consensual sex between adults should not be against the law.
“If you engage in such conduct with a child, you can be prosecuted. But if an adult decides to do that..that’s a choice the person has made irrespective whether society frowns on that or not,” she said.
But Ghana’s minister-designate for gender, children and social protection Sarah Adwoa Safo told parliament on Feb 17 that the law would remain.
“Our laws are clear on such practices. It makes it criminal. Section 104 of the Criminal Code prohibits one from having unnatural carnal knowledge with another person. So, on the issue of its criminality, it’s non-negotiable,” she said.
Meanwhile, members of Ghana’s LGBTQ+ community feel like they are once again being pushed to the margins of society.
