The Human Rights Reporters Ghana (HRRG) is deeply disturbed by the recent violent assault on a young man named Kofi in Atonsu, Kumasi, which has come to our attention through concerned advocates for human dignity and justice. This incident, which occurred between April 29 and May 1, 2025, is a stark reminder of the pervasive violence faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community in Ghana. According to reports, Kofi was lured into a room under false pretenses by a group of young men who then proceeded to brutally assault him while recording the act.
Ghanaians have every reason to be outraged by the horrific attack on Kofi. No one regardless of identity deserves such cruelty. But as our society condemns this act and calls for justice, we must also examine what is unfolding in the background. Why is it that every time a case like this appears, a coordinated chorus of Western organizations jumps in not to assist with the case or address the violence directly but to revive their campaign for LGBTQ+ ideology in our country?
Groups like Human Rights Watch, OutRight International, and the European LGBTQ Intergroup are once again circling, eager to use this incident as another opportunity to demand legal and cultural changes in Ghana. To many of us, their agenda is clear. These organizations are not here out of love for Ghanaians. They are here to push a worldview that runs completely counter to our values, our faith, and our cultural identity.
This is not the first time. In 2021, when Parliament first introduced the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, the same groups descended, accusing Ghana of “hate,” “intolerance,” and “barbarism.” But what they refused to understand then and still ignore today is that our people overwhelmingly reject LGBTQ+ ideology. Not out of violence or hate, but because it contradicts what we believe in. According to a 2023 Afrobarometer survey, 95% of Ghanaians oppose same-sex marriages. That fact alone should be enough to shut down any external pressure. But instead, these organizations double down.
We’ve seen it over and over a tragedy is used as leverage. A young man’s suffering becomes a talking point. And the next thing we know, a fresh round of social media campaigns, press releases, and diplomatic statements is flooding in not asking how to help Kofi, but how to change Ghana.
And let’s be honest. These groups aren’t just trying to change our laws. They’re coming for our children. Just recently, shocking revelations emerged LGBTQ+ booklets, some bearing the branding of OutRight International, were found circulating in schools. These booklets promote queer identities and non-traditional gender roles, targeting minors under the pretense of “inclusivity” and “education” Parents were rightly horrified. Who gave them permission to do this? What gives a foreign NGO the right to teach our children things that clash with our moral foundation?
Let’s call it what it is: cultural colonization. Except this time, it’s not soldiers and flags, it’s rainbow posters and glossy pamphlets. It’s lectures about “tolerance” from nations that themselves are fractured, confused, and collapsing under the weight of their own moral contradictions.
In the West, LGBTQ+ advocacy has long since passed the point of equality. It has transformed into an ideology one that punishes dissent, cancels traditional voices, and divides communities. In places like the U.S. and U.K., individuals who express Christian or conservative beliefs can lose their jobs, be banned from social media, or be publicly shamed. Families are broken over identity politics. Children are being taught, from as early as age five, that they can “choose” their gender. “Reparative” or “conversion” therapy, a dangerous practice that targets LGBTQ+ youth and seeks to change their sexual or gender identities is widely supported and being conduct by some practitioners in USA and United Kingdom. This is what these organizations want for Ghana.
We must not follow them down that path.
It is not only about culture or education.
There’s money behind this. Western governments and NGOs have begun to tie foreign aid and development assistance to LGBTQ+ rights.
