YouTuber and law graduate, Ama Governor, who was denied her call to the bar in November 2022, has revealed how she openly admitted to being queer and sleeping with women to the General Legal Council (GLC), the body that regulates the legal profession in Ghana.
She said that this was one of the three grounds that a mysterious petitioner used to challenge her fitness to be a lawyer, but that it was not a valid reason to disqualify her.
In a lengthy statement posted on her Twitter page, Ama Governor narrated how she received a letter from the GLC on 6th November 2022, informing her that her call to the bar had been suspended due to a petition filed by a concerned citizen of Ghana on 3rd November 2022.
She said that the petition alleged that she had engaged in improper conduct that tarnished the reputation of the Ghana School of Law (GSL) and that she was queer and slept with women.
“The third ground which was not challenged as a lie was that I am queer and that I sleep with women. We argued that while that was a blissful fact, it was not a ground on which I should be deemed unfit to be called to the bar. Simple. And guess what?!,” she wrote.
According to her, she and her lawyer submitted a written legal response to the petition, arguing that the first two grounds were false and based on fabricated evidence, and that the third ground was true but irrelevant.
She said that she did not deny or hide her queerness, but rather embraced it as part of her identity and expression.
” This obviously frivolous petition that should not have passed the prima facie test, but which managed to stop my life, was thrown out in the very first hearing within 15 minutes,” Ama explained.
She said that the GLC agreed with her submission and dismissed the petition in the first hearing within 15 minutes.
“They just said they have read our written submission and agree with us wholeheartedly, and so they do not wish to address me on anything in the petition.”
Ama also said that they did not question her on anything in the petition and that they only asked her two questions in the subsequent hearings before delivering their decision.
“I won the ‘case’, if you will, against the till date unidentified petitioner. After my lawyer and I submitted our written legal response to the frivolous petition, it was thrown out in the very first hearing. The next three hearings till the decision was delivered was about 2 questions the committee had to ask me and us coming to a consensus.”
She said that despite winning the case, she was still waiting to be told what her improper conduct was from 6th November 2022 till date.
She said that she had not committed any crime or misconduct while studying law or after graduating. She said that she was a digital content creator who shared her views on various topics such as feminism, body positivity, sexual liberation, and queerness.
She said that she was not a bad example of people unworthy of the Ghana Bar, but rather a proud and confident woman who had fulfilled all the requirements to be called to the bar.
She said that she did not recognize the person that some people, including the Chief Justice, were trying to portray her as. She said that she was ready to account for every content she had put out on the internet and that she still believed that she was very fit to be a lawyer.