Homophobia is rife in Ghana, but the Solace Brothers Foundation, a gay advocacy group, is training paralegals to defend the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people

It is Saturday morning in Ghana’s capital and Abu, founder of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy group Solace Brothers Foundation, is on his way to a police station in Accra’s city centre.

A lesbian couple accused of having a wedding have been attacked by a group and arrested by police. Abu is going to offer assistance, along with one of his group’s newly trained paralegals, Fabbie. After a discussion with police, the couple are released.

“The judges in Ghana who would normally handle LGBT rights are very homophobic and even though we have human rights lawyers who support us … generally, it is very hard to get support from [other] lawyers,” Abu explains.

In November, the foundation, established in 2012, trained its first 20 paralegals from the LGBT community in legal rights, counselling advice and security support, with the help of a local human rights lawyer, police representative and doctor.

The public can contact the group directly or on a dedicated hotline to seek assistance. The group has several paralegals in Accra and others in cities across the country.

“We are not making it about LGBT rights, we want it to be human rights … These are our rights, and as every other human being in Ghana we also have our rights,” Abu says.

Efua Awur, a lawyer at Ghana’s human rights commission, who delivered the legal training, says it is important to educate community members on their rights as there is often a “lack of confidence in state institutions”. “I took them through the various articles and discussed specifics, and helped them identify when rights are abused and how they can address them,” she says.

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Fabbie, 23, a student from Accra, says the training empowered him to challenge the police. “Many of the rights before an arrest I didn’t know a lot about,” he says. “They have to read out your offence and make that very clear, not subject you to any form of torture, not force a confession, and we have a right to legal counsel and someone to help write a statement.

“When you know the situation, you are very confident when talking to police and they realised on that Saturday they couldn’t easily walk over us,” he says. “In times past, people would have paid police money for the release of members … This time we have been empowered and we think there is something that can be done.”

Homosexual activity is illegal in Ghana, and punishable by up to three years in prison. There is no specific law against lesbians or expressing sexual orientation, but LGBT people are routinely discriminated against, attacked and arrested with little legal substance or judicial support from authorities.

The LGBT community is under attack from many quarters. In the past few months, the bishop of Ghana’s methodist church delivered a speech criticising homosexuality, a law lecturer spoke on the radio calling for a “blistering crusade”, and a high-profile spiritualist cited tattoos as leading to “unexpected consequences” like homosexuality and prostitution.

For Abu, who is gay, launching the foundation and the paralegal training with funding from an international organisation was a way to fight discrimination.

“I feel threatened any time I walk and so I am very careful anywhere I go,” he explains. “In the history of LGBT rights in Ghana this is the first time we have trained paralegals.”

Fabbie says the hotline is helping members of the LGBT community to report dangerous situations. “Two weeks ago, a member called to report that a lady in his house was threatening to poison and kill him,” he recalls. “I told him to walk to the nearest police station and tell them. The police followed him to the house and the lady was arrested … people are now empowered to access services and report injustices committed against them.”

Fabbie says it is often an eye-opener to police when paralegals make clear the constitutional rights of people who are LGBT. “[The paralegal trainers] made us very aware that a police officer cannot arrest you when someone comes and says they suspect people are gay,” he says. “Many [LGBT] people are surprised. They ask, ‘Don’t the security officers know about the rights of people?’ But usually it is not the case … and so it is really good information for community members and the police themselves.”

The Accra-based Human Rights Advocacy Centre recently started holding workshops with police on the rights of LGBT people and other marginalised groups.

“Education has no end, and it was good to be involved in the training,” says Ernest Donkor, a police officer in Accra, who took part in the workshop. “Now it has opened up so much for me that whoever comes to me, their rights are guaranteed and he or she is given freedom to express and should not be intimidated in any way.”

Since the hotline was launched in November, it has received reports of 187 cases including legal complaints, police disputes, physical attacks, blackmail and relationship issues.

Solace has given its paralegals a directory of organisations and services that can further advise members.

Rebecca, 35, another of the paralegals, says her family “are getting to accept me as I am”. She says she tries not to attract attention when she goes out, but is prepared if she experiences trouble. “We recently also had training [not provided by Solace] where we were taught martial arts. If someone attacks, we know how we can defend ourselves.”

She adds: “It hasn’t been easy. I know society frowns upon [being gay]. Most Ghanaians are against it … and there were problems because we didn’t know our rights.” But with more information, things are beginning to improve, she says.

• Some names have been changed to protect identities

This article was amended on 12 February 2016 to remove information about the funding of Solace because it breached an agreement of which we were unaware.