'We cannot give up on our human rights' - LGBTQ+ leader insists

LGBT+ Rights Ghana’s Director Alex Kofi Donkor has admitted that he was not sure when their recently closed down centre would reopen but the group would continue to battle against homophobia.

“There is nothing illegal about the centre. The idea is to create a safe space for the LGBT+ community,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

“We will not give up this fight. We cannot give up on our human rights,” he added.

He had dispelled reports that their office at an undisclosed part of Accra had been shut down on the orders of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He also admitted that even though the group had anticipated an uproar with the opening of the said office, the anti-gay backlash they received was unprecedented.

He said the less than one-month-old office had been closed over safety consideration for persons who sought shelter and other paralegal support services from there.

The National Coalition for Proper Sexual Rights and Family Values, which pools together Christian, Muslim and traditional leaders has vehemently opposed LGBTQ+ rights. The group was in the lead of calls for the closure of the centre.

“The Church rejects the unfounded and demeaning assumption that the sexual behaviour of homosexual persons is always and totally compulsive and, therefore, they should not be blamed for their homosexual acts,” said the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference.

“We call on the Government of Ghana to close down the LGBTQI office space that was recently opened in Accra (and) urge the Executive and the Legislature never to be cowed down or to succumb to the pressure to legalize the rights of LGBTQIs.”