The African country of Ghana, often considered one of the most homophobic in the world, will host West Africa's first annual national LGBT rights conference in July this year.
The Pan Africa organization ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) wants to discuss strategies in the capital of Accra to improve the lives of LGBT Africans, both in the dissemination of information about discrimination and persecution and legislative initiatives.
However, as far as the religious leader Imam Sheikh Mumin Abdul Haroun, nationally known in Ghana, depends, this “diabolical” event will not happen.
Haroun, who is also the regional head of Ashanti, said in an interview with local radio that, “in the name of God”, Muslims, Christians and traditional religions “will oppose each other”, according to the website MyNewsGH.
“We will not allow them to set foot here and neither will the government stop us,” said the religious leader. “The country doesn’t belong to them; It belongs to us, so we decide who does what around here.”
Haroun also stated that gays are “an evil that must be contained in any way, because it is despised by God” and that he will mobilize Ghanaian Muslims in religious celebrations against the LGBT event.
