“We thought the church was compassionate” – Queer advocate questions Catholic Bishops

For the past week, the debate on legalizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) in Ghana has dominated the news.

Gender Minister-designate, Adwoa Sarfo in answering a question on the controversial subject said she will stick to the laws of Ghana that criminalize homosexuality.

The Catholic Bishop Conference has also released a statement urging the government to reiterate its position on the subject and calling for the closure of the queer office.

“We call upon the President and Parliament to state unambiguously their position on the matter of homosexuality and its practice in Ghana. We also call on the Government of Ghana to close down the LGBTQI office space that was recently opened in Accra” part of the statement read.

But making a case for Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) legalization, Alex Kofi Donkor an advocate says a lot of queer Ghanaians suffer various forms of abuse because of their known or perceived sexual orientation.

He said the establishment of the office was to provide support for members of the LGBTQI community.

“The establishment of the space is because of the abuses the community goes through, from the health centers, police, etc,” he said in an interview with Accra based MX24 monitored by theghanareport.com

Reacting to the statement by the Catholic Bishop Conference, Kofi Donkor said “We thought the church was compassionate and accommodating but no, that helping hand was not extended to us they rather issued a statement feeding into the already harsh reality LGBTQI people face” he said.

But in a sharp reaction, Rev Philip Naameh, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference said people in the LGBTQI have deviated from the norm

According to him, people in that community have been helped through convention therapy.

“ A lot of people have been taken through the therapy and they have gone on to their normal state of having feelings for the opposite sex” he added.

The conversation on the legalization of LGBTQI has sparked some controversies on social media as users share varied views.