General News of Saturday, 27 February 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2021-02-27LGBTQ+: Don’t attack members and eject them from your homes – Opuni Frimpong appeals
play videoExecutive Director, Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa, Rev Opuni Frimpong
Executive Director of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa, Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong has appealed to the sensitivity of Ghanaians against bastardising and abusing of members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Despite condemning the practice of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer and Intersex community and calling for same, he maintained that they must not be subjected to
Read full articleforms of abuse and physical harm because of their actions.
He admonished that, like every other crime, persons found in such practices should be reported to the police for them to be arrested.
Additionally, Rev Opuni Frimpong stressed the need to uphold the love and respect toward persons of the community but indicated that Ghanaians must do so without marking their actions as correct.
“We don’t need to harm people in the name of LGBT. Homeowners should not eject people because of LGBT. We should not punish people at workplace and all that because of this… we shouldn’t. if something is not right, at least the love and respect must still be there. It doesn’t mean that we must mark correct the practice; that one we shouldn’t,” he told GhanaWeb in a yet to be aired exclusive interview on #SayItLoud.
The former General Secretary of Ghana's Christian Council also commended government officials who clarified the nation’s position on the matter and called for the strict tightening of the laws surrounding the LGBTQ+.
“I have heard some people from the seat of government who are giving us assurance that this is not something that the president approves… We must protect our young people and we must strengthen our laws… but attacking people because we don’t agree with them… some African countries have already tightened their laws against the practice. It’s something we have not done in this country…” Rev Opuni Frimpong explained.
The conversation around laws regarding the LGBTQ+ and the government’s position on same has arisen following a recent opening of an office by the group backed by envoys from the Australian High Commission, Danish embassy as well European Union.
Many have condemned the action while some have argued that the failure of Ghana to recognise and decriminalise the practice of the LGBTQ+ community may come with dire economic consequences.
Currently, Ghana’s laws vehemently frown on same-sex marriage but is not exclusive on practice of Lesbians, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer and Intersex.
