President Nana Akufo-Addo has said he will never legalise same-sex marriage.

“For same-sex marriage to be legalised in Ghana, it will not happen in my time as President”, the Ghanaian leader said at the St. Michael and All Angels Cathedral in Asante Mampong on Saturday, 27 February 2021, during the installation of the Second Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Ghana.

“I have said this before and let me, in conclusion, stress again that it will not be under the Presidency of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that same-sex marriage will be legalised in Ghana. It will never happen in my time as President”, he emphasised to applause from the congregation.

The President made a similar declaration in 2018 after he had said in an Aljazeera interview that the recognition of the LGBT+ community in Ghana was “bound to happen” in Ghana, for which he was roundly criticised.

The debate sprung up again after the LGBT+ community opened an office space at Ashongman in Accra.

It was later closed down by the National Security Secretariat following widespread condemnation by the general public led by the clergy and CSOs.

Meanwhile, musician Kwabena Kwabena has said in defence of the LGBT+ community in Ghana that God is love and, so, anything that incites hatred is not of God.

In an Instagram post, he said: “To the men of God who are spewing hate at our queer brothers and sisters. How do you read your bibles again? I’m very saddened especially realising how much hate we have harboured in our hearts”.

“It’s scary”, he noted, adding: “Decided to remind the clergy and any man of God of their duty as stated in the Bible”.

“Ephesians chapter 4. God is love so anything that incites hate is not from God”.

#ghana #lgbt 

#loveislove 

#stopbeinghypocrites 

#progressiveghanains 

#lethimiswithoutsincastthefirststone 

#stopspewinghate 

#readmore 

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A post shared by Kwabena Kwabena (@kbkbmuzic)

A few days ago, Danquah Institute founder Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko also urged Ghanaians not to hate gays.

“You don’t have to be pro-gay to appreciate their situation. You only have to be human”, President Nana Akufo-Addo’s cousin said, cautioning: “Let us be careful and not generate an intense hate campaign against homosexuals. You can speak for the law and ‘culture’ minus hate”.

Meanwhile, Mr Alex Kofi Donkor, Director, LGBT+ Rights Ghana, has said the LGBT+ community is not forcing itself on Ghanaians and has urged the country to stop hating its members.

“Forcing ourselves into a society? I don’t think so”, Mr Donkor told Kofi Oppong Asamoah on the Class Morning Show on Monday, 22 February 2021.

According to him, “LGBTQ people are the ordinary Ghanaians, so, nobody is forcing anything on anyone”. 

“If anything at all”, he noted, “it is homophobia that is being projected, it is hate that is being projected at us and, so, for us, I believe that it is important for us to look at the hate, the homophobia, the discrimination that is being projected at us and then find a solution to this challenge”.