Law Bill criminalising identifying as LGBT passed by Ghanaian Parliament - awaits Presidential Approval

[650lb Sumo]

Relevant previous thread about Uganda

Ghana passes bill making identifying as LGBTQ+ illegal

Lawmakers approve a tough new bill, but rights groups say it threatens basic freedoms.

www.bbc.co.uk

Ghana's parliament has passed a tough new bill that imposes a prison sentence of up to three years for anyone convicted of identifying as LGBTQ+.

It also imposes a maximum five-year jail term for forming or funding LGBTQ+ groups.

Lawmakers heckled down attempts to replace prison sentences with community service and counselling.

It is the latest sign of growing opposition to LGBTQ+ rights in the conservative West African nation.

The bill, which had the backing of Ghana's two major political parties, will come into effect only if President Nana Akufo-Addo signs it into law.

President Nana Akufo-Addo

He previously said that he would do so if the majority of Ghanaians want him to.

Gay sex is already against the law in Ghana - it carries a three-year prison sentence.

The bill proposes a jail term of up to 10 years for anyone involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy campaigns aimed at children

It also encourages the public to report members of the LGBTQ+ community to authorities for 'necessary action'.

MPs said the bill was drafted in response to the opening of Ghana's first LGBTQ+ community centre in the capital, Accra, in January 2021.

Police shut the centre following public protests, and pressure from religious bodies and traditional leaders in the largely Christian nation.

At the time, the Christian Council of Ghana and the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council said in a joint statement that being LGBTQ+ was 'alien to the Ghanaian culture and family value system and, as such, the citizens of this nation cannot accept it'.

The bill approved by lawmakers is a watered-down version of an earlier draught - for instance, jail terms have been shortened and a controversial clause on conversion therapy has been removed.

 

[James Eagle]

Meltdowns in 3…2….1

 

[CantCucktheTuck]

based

 

[Whippy McGee]

Different culture, hard to judge.

 

[chardog]

they dont want to end up like america, good for them

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Ghana intensifies crackdown on rights of LGBTQ people and activists​

New legislation threatens prison sentences of up to five years for ‘wilful promotion, sponsorship or support of LGBTQ+ activities’

Ghana’s parliament has passed legislation that intensifies a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ people and those promoting lesbian, gay or other non-conventional sexual or gender identities in the West African country.

The new legislation passed on Wednesday imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “wilful promotion, sponsorship or support of LGBTQ+ activities”.


The bill still has to be validated by the president before becoming law, which observers believe is unlikely before a general election in December.

Activist groups have called the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values bill a setback for human rights and urged President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government to reject it.

But the legislation is widely supported in Ghana, where Akufo-Addo has said gay marriage will never be allowed while he is in power.

Commonly referred to as the anti-gay bill, the sweeping legislation received sponsorship from a coalition comprising Christian, Muslim and Ghanaian traditional leaders, and passed through an unopposed voice vote.

While discrimination against LGBTQ people is common, no one has ever been prosecuted under the colonial-era law.

Under the provisions of the bill, same-sex relations could be punished with imprisonment ranging from six months to three years.

Those advocating for LGBTQ rights could be subject to harsher penalties, with potential jail terms of three to five years.

UN rights chief Volker Türk condemned the passing of the bill.

“I call for the bill not to become law,” he said. “Consensual same-sex conduct should never be criminalised.”

He warned that such measures can expose people to hate crime, and urged the government to “ensure everyone can live free from violence, stigma and discrimination, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity”.


A human rights coalition known as the Big 18, an umbrella group of lawyers and activists in Ghana, has also criticised the bill.

“You cannot criminalise a person’s identity, and that’s what the bill is doing, and it’s absolutely wrong,” said Takyiwaa Manuh, a member of the coalition.

“We want to impress on the president not to assent to the bill, it totally violates the human rights of the LGBT community,” Manuh told AFP.

Opposition lawmaker Sam George, the main sponsor of the bill, called on Akufo-Addo to assent to it.

“There is nothing that deals with LGBTQ better than this bill that has been passed by parliament. We expect the president to walk his talk and be a man of his words,” George said.

Members of Ghana’s LGBTQ community are worried about the implications of the bill.

Alex Kofi Donkor, the founder and director of the organisation LGBT+ Rights Ghana, said “the passing of this bill will further marginalise and endanger LGBTQ individuals in Ghana.

“It not only legalises discrimination but also fosters an environment of fear and persecution,” he said.

“With harsh penalties for both LGBTQ individuals and activists, this bill threatens the safety and wellbeing of an already vulnerable community.”

About 30 African countries currently ban homosexuality, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).

Uganda, Mauritania and several northern Nigerian states punish same-sex relations extremely harshly, with those accused possibly facing the death penalty.

South Africa is the only nation on the continent to allow gay marriage, which it legalised in 2006.

Gay sex has been decriminalised in only a handful of countries: Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mozambique and Seychelles, according to the ILGA.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...kdown-on-rights-of-lgbtq-people-and-activists

 

[Spam On Rye]

I don't think you should go to prison for being gay as long as you don't promote it in public or on the internet. Keep your degeneracy to yourself like everybody else does.

 

[N13]

Sounds like more " newcomers" will be heading to the border.

 

[N13]

I don't think you should go to prison for being gay as long as you don't promote it in public or on the internet. Keep your degeneracy to yourself like everybody else does.

Islam says jihad on you.

 

[Poon Goon]

Meltdowns in 3…2….1

based

Different culture, hard to judge.

they dont want to end up like america, good for them

I don't think you should go to prison for being gay as long as you don't promote it in public or on the internet. Keep your degeneracy to yourself like everybody else does.

Probably the same guys who get offended by "Sherfront"

 

[moreorless87]

As with a lot of African nations I'm guessing this is less down to traditionalism and more down to the massive spread of born again Christianity in recent decades.

Almost 50% of Ghanaians follow it now.

 

[Sinister]

As with a lot of African nations I'm guessing this is less down to traditionalism and more down to the massive spread of born again Christianity in recent decades.

Almost 50% of Ghanaians follow it now.

You win.

How American Evangelicalism Shaped Ghana's Anti-Gay Movement — The Dial

How conservative Christian theology has shaped anti-LGBTQ laws in Accra.

www.thedial.world

 

[Gotosleepho]

And people think America is intolerant

 

[Sinister]

And people think America is intolerant

Well, Project 2025 could drop.

 

[Super_Nintendo]

Well, Project 2025 could drop.

oh ya? is that like trump bringing loyalists in his administration?

 

[moreorless87]

And people think America is intolerant

As started though a lot of intolerance in Africa is actually linked to the US Pentecostal movement which has spread massively into Africa.

 

[ShadowRun]

And I thought USA had it bad or something

 

[Loiosh]

As started though a lot of intolerance in Africa is actually linked to the US Pentecostal movement which has spread massively into Africa.

 

[Whippy McGee]

Probably the same guys who get offended by "Sherfront"

Think just a little before you try to be clever. You just quoted multiple people that supported an African nation and called them White Supremacists. Self own... again.

 

[Loiosh]

Think just a little before you try to be clever. You just quoted multiple people that supported an African nation and called them White Supremacists. Self own... again.

You know that Nazism is more than white supremacy, right?

Do you agree with all the guys he quoted?