The channel is to set to make history when its season two premiere airs on Friday in the US.

It will see best friends Andi (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) and Cyrus (Joshua Rush) both admit they are attracted to the same boy.

A Disney spokesperson says the show “sends a powerful message about inclusion and respect for humanity”.

The statement added that the show’s creator, Terri Minsky – who also made the hit Disney show Lizzie McGuire – and her team took “great care in ensuring that it’s appropriate for all audiences.”

The series is a coming-of-age show that revolves around 13-year-old girl Andi and her friends Cyrus, Buffy and Jonah.

In the season premiere, Andi is dealing with feelings for a boy she knows when her best friend Cyrus realises that he has feelings for the same boy.

Cyrus’s story develops in later episodes as he begins to understand himself better with the help of his friends and family.

Rush said he was proud to bring the “groundbreaking storyline” to life.

To ensure Disney told the story in a sensitive and respectful way, they worked with child development experts on the storyline.

They also consulted PFLAG, the US’s biggest LGBTQ organisation.

Their executive director Dr Jaime Grant said: “Coming out requires honest self-reflection, no small amount of bravery and a safe place with at least one trusted person.

“Andi Mack’s creative team captures this moment of revelation with such thought, care, and authenticity, it will be a memory moment for some, and a teachable moment for many.”

Kim Sanders from LGBT rights group Stonewall said: “It’s great to see Disney taking this step. For young lesbian, gay and bi people it sends a powerful message, demonstrating that they are not alone.

“We need to see more people with different sexual orientations and gender identities on TV and in film.”

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Source: BBC

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Media reports indicate that there is tension at the Ministry of Gender because the substantive Minister, Oye Lithur, has denied her two deputies  access to the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) package for their constituencies.

Government introduced LEAP; a cash transfer program as a social intervention for the poorest households in Ghana.

The programme is aimed at empowering the extremely poor , disabled and disadvantaged in society.

But there have been allegations that Mrs Lithur has cancelled the list of beneficiaries from the Ledzokoku and Gomoa Central constituencies where Benita Sena Okittey Duah and Florence Opoku- Apoh serve as Members of Parliament (MP) respectively.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Afenyo-Markin described the act as a breach of the Constitution.

He criticized her for side-lining her deputies saying, “if people are appointed as deputy Ministers, they do not act as servants to Ministers …constitutionally, they are supposed to assist the Minister in his or her duty of governance.”

According to him, “no Minister has the power to malign or frustrate his or her deputies even if they are not comfortable with them”

“This is not someone’s  private office where you can say that I don’t like my assistant, my deputy so I wouldn’t work with her,” Mr. Afenyo-Markin added.

Quoting Article 79 of the 1992 Constitution,  the Efutu Constituency law maker established that the Minister was also in contempt of Parliament since her appointment as a Minister was not in conformity with the constitution.

“ Ministers are appointed by the provisions of the constitution. Article 79 of the constitution makes it clear the qualifications required from a Minister nominee,” he clarified.

In that regard, he noted that  “Parliament has to approve the nominations and confirm any individual before he or she is appointed into office as Minister”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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