The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has refuted claims suggesting the closure of an office for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) in the capital, Accra will be discriminatory.
Speaking in an interview with Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show on Monday, director of communication for GCBC, Father Dieu-Donne Kofi Davor reiterated that the church still respects the rights of minority groups such as LGBTQI.
“We continue to talk about rights and rights of association, yes we are talking about a few numbers of people but that is how it starts, even in the world where it has become the order of the day, it started in this few numbers,” he said.
Davor added: “It is not only the church that is talking about the fact that this is not what we want at this point, you would have heard the reaction of ordinary Ghanaians, majority, yes you are talking about the rights of the minority and that is the more reason that we say that peoples right should be respected.
“But it doesn’t mean the very things you stand for as a people simply because we are talking about rights, we should allow them to continue to take place to become the order of the day.”
He said activities of such minority groups must not be allowed to fester in the name of human rights.
“If we have anything against the vulnerability of any minority group, we wouldn’t have spoken about the fact that every bodies’ human rights should be respected. You can have a minority of people where a brother and sister will think that ok, we have affection for each other so we can start sleeping with each other, likewise the father and mother.”
Meanwhile, an Islamic Scholar has backed calls by the Catholic Church for the immediate closure of the LGBTQI office.
Sheik Abdallah Tubudu said the country’s culture frowns on such practice.
Background
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference over the weekend called for the immediate closure of the newly opened community centre for LGBTQI campaigners in Accra.
The Conference also wants President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to state the government’s position on homosexuality.
It further advised the executive and legislative arms of government not to yield to any pressure to legalise the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals or transgender people in Ghana.
A statement issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference and signed by its president, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, said although the Church condemns the practice of homosexuality, it believes that gay people should not be subjected to any harassment simply because of their sexual preference.
Fred Dzakpata
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