The first LGBTQ+ community hub has been set up in Accra, the capital of Ghana, with its opening causing divides in the country where same-sex relations are still illegal and punishable by imprisonment. According to local news outlet, The Maravi Post, the centre was set up by LGBT+ Rights Ghana, and its opening was attended by a handful of diplomats, including Australian high commissioner, Gregory Andrews.
Executive secretary of the anti-LGBTQ+ National Coalition For Proper Human Sexual Rights And Family Values, Moses Foh-Amoaning, has demanded the hub be shut down, saying LGBTQ+ people are not recognised under Ghana’s human rights laws: “The presidency, the ministry of foreign Affairs and the IGP have every right to investigate that office to close it down immediately and arrest and prosecute those people involved in it. We will put the appropriate petitions before Parliament for the immediate passage of a comprehensive legislation and then we will prohibit their motion.”
However, LGBT+ Rights Ghana said on Twitter that it will continue advocating for equality despite opposition from anti-LGBTQ+ groups: “LGBT+ Rights Ghana has an irrevocable right to exist as a recognized entity and movement entitled to all the rights and protections guaranteed under Ghana’s 1992 constitution. We are well aware of the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values aims and we strongly condemn their plans to sow discord and incite violence against an oppressed minority group like ours.”