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Mensah Thompson of ASEPA writes…
ASEPA’s OFFICIAL POSITION ON THE ANTI-LGBTQ BILL BEFORE PARLIAMENT
1. The anti-lgbtq bill currently before Parliament has generated a lot of controversies.
2.Last week some eminent Professors and Influential persons came out strongly to oppose the bill citing various reasons including the violation of the human rights and freedoms enshrined under the constitution of Ghana.
3. Our position on the current controversy is this…
4. LGBTQ sex or normal sex happens behind close doors, in fact our criminal codes makes engaging in sexual activities in public illegal.
5. LGBTQ has been with us for a long time, people who engaged in it kept it private not only as a sign of respect to themselves but also as a sign of respect to the larger Ghanaian Community who abhor the practice of lgbtq.
6. So why has something practice in the sanctity of people’s privacy now become a subject Public Controversy??
All these LGBTQ campaigns has come as a result of the unwarranted desire by the current LGBTQ people in Ghana to be able to formalize their illegal practice and also to be able to engage in PDA’s (Public Display of Affection) such as holding hands in public, kissing in public, flirting in public etc. in the full glare of innocent Ghanaian children who needs to be protected(Physiologically, Psychologically and Culturally) under the law.
7. Unfortunately for them, the Ghanaian community is a very conservative one, until recently you could barely hold your partner’s hand or touch her sensitively in public.
8. Majority of Ghanaians are “straight” but they don’t go about everyday broadcasting their sexuality to everyone or throw their sexuality or sexual preferences in the faces of other people.
Neither do they go about with a microphone in their hands campaigning to attract more “straight” people and forming Straight People’s Groups.
9. In Ghanaian culture, sex as an act itself is hardly spoken of in public, and so to allow or see a group of people engaging in a public campaign on sexuality in purely un-Ghanaian.
10. Our point is, we do not support any activities of the LGBTQ people in Ghana, and as a human rights institution we also do not support the violence and attacks on persons suspected to be LGBTQ.
11.Our criminal jurisprudence maintains that a person is innocent until proven otherwise by a Court of competent jurisdiction, this means that instant justice, mob action and any form of extra-judicial treatment against persons suspected to be members of lgbtq or lgbtq preference is unlawful.
12. And this current bill before Parliament provides a safe haven, to protect such people and would allow them to have a second chance.
13. As a human rights organization, we absolutely respect the rights of every Ghanaian, especially the fundamental rights accrued to them under the Constitution, we also acknowledge that under the same constitution rights come with a responsibility.
14. This means that you may have the right to choose which sexual preference you belong belong to, but throwing it in the face of other people or showing it off to people who abhor your sexual preference or find it offensive in itself is a violation of the rights of those people and the larger society.
15. And since we are in a democracy, where laws and choices are made based on the majority decision/preference, we cannot sacrifice the sanctity and rights of the larger community just because we want to make a small bunch of people(who do not even qualify to be called a Minority Group, because they don’t exist in the Ghanaian context) happy!!
This is our official position on the subject!!
Mensah Thompson
Executive Director,ASEPA
0542120628
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com
