Renowned legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu has called for members of the LGBTQ+ community to show courage and bravery by revealing their identities if they want to be protected.
According to him, despite the fact that society and some MPs are seeking to criminalise the open manifestation of their activities as homosexuals does not mean the minority cannot be protected.
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Speaking on TV3’s Keypoints, the legal practitioner indicated that it is not legal per the laws of Ghana for an individual who identifies as gay to be treated with contempt or threatened. Rather he says, they cannot by law, openly advocate for it or want it to be inculcated and promoted among children and in society.
“As it were now, if somebody says he or she is gay, there is no law that says that you are going to treat the person with that gay attitude.
“If Kofi says he is gay, that is what he thinks. It is the open manifestation and practice of it that we are looking to stop so in doing so, let’s be careful that the law is not overly broad,” he said.
He added;
“If you can’t stand up for what you are, who am I? Government hasn’t paid bonds for 100 days and we are demonstrating, still they are not doing anything.
“So if you are a lawyer, doctor, engineer and you are gay and you don’t want to come out, what can I do? I can’t be the poster child for LGBTQ+. I’ve told these people, come out. They are unwilling to come out, they have to come out because if they were to come out, we would see them and when you see them, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, then you will see the compassion that will be evoked and Ghana Police will protect them.”
Martin Kpebu believes members of the LGBTQ+ society must show their faces and identities if they really want to be protected. Citing reasons why he personally doesn’t openly defend legally such persons, he noted that he cannot fight for people who are not ready to be open about their situation.
“I’ve not discussed this matter substantively because the LGBTQ+ community is refusing to show their faces and if you are refusing to show your face, how can I fight for a client I don’t know. I’ve been representing some of them privately,” he noted.
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You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV:
Martin Kpebu is a legal practitioner
