A human rights lawyer, Joyce Opoku Boateng, has opined that it will be illegal to shut down an office of the LGBTQI group which has popped up in Ghana.
According to Madam Boateng, though the customs and laws of Ghana frown on the act, these individuals have rights which must be respected.
“I don’t think it will be right for anyone to invade their office and attack them because they have not met to engage in sexual activities.
“Every human being when you’re born has a fundamental right that no one can take away from you. But we have our norms and culture that frown upon certain things,” she argued on Accra-based Starr FM.
To her, the practice can only be criminal when members are caught in the act but not when explicitly expressing their views on the issues.
“If you are caught in the act of having unnatural carnal practice then that’s criminal but when someone expresses his/herself, that’s not criminal because the law is not against that. Assuming someone dresses like a female and you go and beat up the person, it’s a clear case of assault,” she added.
Her views come on the back of calls from the Executive Secretary of the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, Moses Foh-Amoaning, for the government to shut down a new LGBTQI office in Accra.
The group is reported to have organised a fundraiser which was attended by several diplomats including the Australian High Commissioner who pledged to support the group.
With indications of further activities lined up, Mr Foh-Amoaning demanded the police shut down their operations.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, Reverend Emmanuel Bariga, has maintained they will do everything possible to resist the act which he described as devilish.
