‘Lesbian wedding’ arrestees freed; Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ furor continues
Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran. He is the…
Ghana police have freed the people they arrested last weekend at a party that police believed was a “lesbian wedding”. Meanwhile, homophobic campaigns against Ghana’s LGBTQ citizens continue.
The Ghana-based African Equality Centre (AEC) said that the latest report from Kwahu Obomeng and nearby Mpraeso is that 14 people were arrested in Kwahu Obomeng over the weekend rather than the 22 initially reported.
The AEC reported that the 14 arrestees were held by Mpraeso District Police until they paid for their release.
In a telephone interview with Rainbow Radio 87.5 FM, Isaac Boamah Darko, convenor of Journalists Against LGBTQI, said the 14 people’s release from police custody was like freeing an “armed robber”.
Darko’s advocacy group is one of several urging Parliament to pass an anti-LGBTQ bill. Darko said work is under way on a new law to criminalise LGBTQI+ people. Current Ghanaian laws prohibits sexual activity between members of the same sex, but does not outlaw people simply for being an LGBTQI person. He predicted that the new law would be enacted by the end of 2021.
He urged the mainstream Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to support Journalists Against LGBTQI, arguing that “LGBT has many health implications including anal cancer… LGBTQ is part of a Western agenda to depopulate Africa.”
However, the AEC noted that, “although Ghanaian journalists have promoted homophobic narratives,” the GJA Code of Ethics takes a stand against anti-LGBTQ bias. Specifically, it prohibits publication of “material that has the potential to lead to hatred, ridicule or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, education, religion, gender, ethnicity, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.”
The flow of anti-LGBTQ broadcasts continued yesterday in a radio interview with a popular preacher, Prophet Nigel Gaisie of Prophetic Hill Chapel. He seemed to be opposed not only to LGBTQ people but also to education and human rights:
“The more you give people education, the more people know their rights,… you’ll leave the human realm and you’ll become animalistic”, he said on Starr Radio 1035 FM.
Homosexuality is an “abomination”, he said. LGBTQ people “are cursed by God”, he said, but “we love them”.
The AEC also stated that, after the 14 arrested LGBTQ people were released, some journalists at Kwahu Obomeng claimed “they were attacked by some queers.”
Related articles:
- Ghana: Police arrest 14 at party, suspecting it was a ‘lesbian wedding’ (March 2021, 76crimes.com)
- Leader of Ghana parliament vows passage of strict anti-LGBTQI bill
- LGBTQ+ Rights Ghana appeals for help from President Akufo-Addo (
- Ghana: Police raid LGBT+ center; activists call for boycott (February 2021, 76crimes.com)
- New LGBT+ center triggers holy war of words in Ghana (February 2021, 76crimes.com)
- Ghana: LGBT+ safe house opens; anti-gay crusader in a rage (February 2021, 76crimes.com)
- Ghana: 47% of LGBT teens engage in self-harm (June 2020, 76crimes.com)
- Conservative Christians block LGBT+ meeting in Ghana (March 2020, 76crimes.com)
- Ghana: God ‘made us a tad different but still in his image’ — with glitter (March 2020, 76crimes.com)
- Commentary: Ghana needs a visit from U.N.’s SOGI expert (
- Ghana: 400 sign up for bogus ‘cure’ of homosexuality (September 2018, 76crimes.com)
- President of Ghana ‘reassures’ church leaders that he won’t decriminalise homosexuality (August 2018, Pink News)
- No gay marriage in Ghana! -President assures nation (August 2018, The Chronicle)