Ghana’s anti-homosexuality bill and the proper Human Sexual Rights and Family values bill 2021 which is currently before parliament has put the country in the global spot light as some Africans are showing unwavering stance against what they describe as imposition of Western values on the continent.
The debate reached its peak when global media giants CNN Kenya engaged one of the sponsors of the bill Sam George on one of its shows where according to some Sam George was on top of issues during the interview with Larry Madowo.
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, was introduced in parliament on August 2, 2021, and is expected to go before lawmakers for debate in October.
In a letter to Ghana’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva, the experts said the bill violated Ghana’s international human rights agreements.
“We express our grave concern about the draft bill, which seems to establish a system of state-sponsored discrimination and violence against LGBTI persons of great magnitude,” the letter dated August 9 read in part.
“Given that LGBTI people are present in every family and every community, it is not very difficult to imagine how, if it were to be adopted, this legislation could create a recipe for conflict and violence.”
Even before the passing of the Bill, gay sexual relationships in Ghana are already punishable with up to three years in jail and at the same time homophobic persecution is widespread.
In addition, the bill would also impose a penalty of up to five years imprisonment for being LGBT+ and of 10 years for advocating for their rights.
Not only individuals, but media outlets found publishing information deemed to support same-sex intimate relationships or challenging traditional binary male and female gender identities, could also be prosecuted.
The draft law promotes so-called conversion therapy by allowing flexible sentencing for an LGBT+ person if they request “treatment” to change their sexual orientation or gender identity, which the U.N. experts said, “may amount to torture”.
There have been a lot of reactions after that interview, one of them is the Leader and Founder of the Perez Chapel International Bishop Agyin Asare who anointed Hon. Sam George who is also an Elder of the church to continue doing the Lord’s work in fighting LGBTQ+ in Ghana.
