LGBT community is under attack in Ghana

After Ghana’s first LGBT community centre opened in January, Linda did not expect it to last. Linda, a transgender woman whose name was changed

LGBT community is under attack

LGBT community is under attack Photo credit: VICE

After Ghana’s first LGBT community centre opened in January, Linda did not expect it to last. Linda, a transgender woman whose name was changed spoke to the BBC and said that: ‘They won’t allow LGBT to operate in Ghana, to have their own office. They won’t.’ When she talks about ‘they’, she is referring to the Ghanaian society in general. After anti-LGBT protests the community centre was closed by the police on 25 February, causing many queer Ghanaians to feel unsafe due to them suffering attacks and abuse.

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Three institutions

According to Dr. Anima Adjepong, a US-based Ghanaian sociologist, the homophobia and discrimination is being promoted by three institutions namely, the government, the church and the media.

While there are no laws in Ghana that labels LGBT as illegal, there is a criminal code that criminalizes same-sex relationships that mentions ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’. The criminal code is interpreted by authorities as ‘penile penetration of anything other than a vagina.’

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