Ghana parliament passes stringent anti-LGBTQ law
Prison sentence of up to five years for the “promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities If signed Into Law bY the President
ACCRA — Ghana’s parliament passed legislation on Wednesday that intensifies a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ people and those promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer identities in the West African country.
Gay sex was already punishable by up to three years in prison. The bill now also imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “wilful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.The bill, one of the harshest of its kind in Africa, still needs presidential assent to come into force. President Nana Akufo-Addo has not confirmed if he will sign the bill into law.
The bill, which has been widely condemned by rights activists, still needs to be signed by the president before it becomes law. So far, President Nana Akufo-Addo has neither confirmed nor denied that he would pass the ‘Human Sexual Rights and Family Values’ bill, but he is widely expected to do so. However, observers believe it is unlikely before an election in December. The president has said that it would sign the bill if the majority of Ghanaians want him to.While homosexuality is already illegal in the West African country and punishable by up to three years in prison, under the new law the maximum sentence would increase to five years.
The bill, was sponsored by a group of traditional leaders from the country’s Ghanaian, Christian and Muslim communities was approved unanimously following a third reading in the parliament.
Last week (Feb 21), Ghana’s parliament rejected a proposal to ease some of its harsh measures like giving non-custodial sentences such as counseling and community service for gay sex instead of jail terms.Ruling party lawmaker Alexander Afenyo-Markin who proposed the amendment argued that imprisoning people for LGBTQ+ offenses would “worsen homosexuality and its promotion,” and defeat the bill’s original intent.
A member from the Big 18 & Human Rights Coalition, an umbrella group of lawyers and activists in Ghana said that the bill criminalises a person’s identity and said that they call on the president to reject it. “You cannot criminalise a person’s identity and that’s what the bill is doing and it’s absolutely wrong. We want to impress on the president not to assent to the bill, it totally violates the human rights of the LGBT community.”
In 2021, when the bill was first proposed, the United Nations said that it would create “a system of state-sponsored discrimination and violence” against sexual minorities.A 27-year-old lesbian and LGBTQ+ activist who asked not to be named told InfoAfrica, last week that the community was in a panic as the bill nears its passage. “We would now have to be extra careful with our way of life,” she said.
