Andrea SannaGhana’s new president has made a sharp U-turn on LGBTQIA civil rights
The reintroduction of the much-discussed ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill’ is sparking heated debate internationally, as the bill is clearly anti-LGBTQIA.
Former President Nana Akufo-Addo’s successor, current President John Dramani Mahama, has stated that the bill will be presented as a government proposal. This is a very worrying sign of the anti-LGBTQIA leanings of Ghana’s new president.
If passed, it would be a severe blow to the entire LGBTQIA community: it would include prison sentences for anyone suspected of being gay, as well as even harsher restrictions on freedom of expression and association. A real leap into the darkest and most regressive past.
Here is part of the indicted text
– imprisonment for up to 3 years for those who have homosexual relations;
– from 6 to 10 years in prison for those who promote, finance or facilitate activities related to the LGBTQIA community (even the simple production of content or support for organisations fighting for human rights);
– The legal dissolution of LGBTQIA and civil rights associations, with an absolute ban on the creation of LGBTQIA and civil rights associations;
It also provides for a ban on the adoption and fostering of minors by LGBTQIA people and a further tightening of the rules on marriage between people of the same sex.
The approval of this anti-LGBTQIA law could unleash a wave of legal and social persecution, making life even more difficult for the LGBTQIA community in the African country. A situation that is made even more worrying by the possibility of the authorities imposing “corrective therapies”, a measure that, although not included in the final version of the text, could be included in the new proposals.
