Suspected LGBT Campaigners Thrown In Police Custody

Sixteen  females and five males who were arrested by the Police in the Volta Region on suspicion they were  members and campaigners of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activities were all denied bail when they appeared before a Ho Circuit Court last Friday.

The 21 suspects were remanded in Police custody by the Court presided over by Justice Felix Datsomor and are to reappear in court on Friday, June 4, 2021.

Their preliminary charge was unlawful assembly as Police continues investigation to possible amend the charge sheet.

Sergeant Prince Dogbatse, Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service in the Volta Region said the 21 suspects were arrested at a hotel in Godokpui in Ho on Thursday.

Sergeant Prince Dogbatse said the Regional Police Command picked information the suspects had gathered ostensibly to push a LGBT agenda in Ghana, starting from the Volta Region.

Sergeant Prince Dogbatse said true to the information picked, when the Police got to the said meeting venue, the suspects and gathered and had with them several printed literature that gives confidence to persons who are  a part of the LGBT community to be bold and declare their sexuality publicly .

“We also got the LGBT+ Muslim book that is among some of the materials that they are using, they also have gender acronyms coming out.

“A concept that is coming out at encouraging persons involved in these behavior to come out publicly to mention or state the sexuality and all about trans, I mean transgender.”

Sergeant Prince Dogbatse said the materials the Police they found with the suspects clearly explains their intentions.

“I mean there is an agenda by these people to propagate the LGBTQ behavior. For now we have referred the preliminary charge of unlawful assembly and while we continue our investigation”, the Police PRO added.

This is not the first time persons suspected to be advocates of LGBT are getting into trouble with the law in Ghana.

One of such recent examples was when the opening of an office and meeting  space for LGBT+ persons in Accra made news headlines for over a month until the government ordered for a closure of the said office space.

One of the grops that agitated against e existence of  the space was the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, (GCBC), a religious organization made up of all Catholic Bishops in the country:

“We call upon the President of the Republic and Parliament to state unambiguously their position on the matter of homosexuality and its practice in Ghana. We also call on the Government of Ghana to close down the LGBTQI office space that was recently opened in Accra. Finally, we also urge the Executive and the Legislature never to be cowed down or to succumb to the pressure to legalize the rights of LGBTQIs in Ghana”, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference noted in a statement dated Friday February 19, 2021, and signed by the group’s President, Most Reverend Philip K. Naameh, who doubles as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale

LGBT LEADER DISAGREES

In response to the statement issued by the GCBC, the Director of LGBT+ Rights in Ghana, Alex Kofi Donkor pointed out what he described as contradictions and concealed hate.

“The Friday February 19, 2021 statement from the Bishops is saying that LGBT persons should not be attacked, they should not be beaten, they should not be discriminated against yet the same statement is calling on government to close down our office as if closing down our office is not a clear and direct discrimination against our rights and freedoms of association and freedoms of meeting.

“The office was set up to preach against hatred, attacks and discrimination. It was not set up to teach anyone how to practice same sex. Homosexual sex, just like heterosexual sex is not done in public. All legit sex are done in private and between two consenting adults. So if the Bishops are saying they support our position that LGBT persons should not be attacked and harassed, and that is the same type of discussions we have in our office,  why are they calling for a shutting down of  our space where we do the same things they are asking everyone else to do. That’s unfortunate and sounds hypocritical, I think this statement is another evidence of the usual hate against LGBT persons.