Deep divisions over anti-gay Bill

Ghana's Parliament is preparing to debate a draft Bill – framed in the guise of ‘family values’ – which seeks to introduce some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws on the African continent. The prospect of it passing is pushing the country's LGBTQ community into the shadows. CNN reports that LGBTQ Ghanaians have been left asking how things got so bad, so quickly, and Western diplomats say they have been caught by surprise. But what one Ghanaian activist calls a ‘homophobe's dream Bill’ has deep roots in Ghana's religious community. The draft ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill’ would see LGBTQ Ghanaians face jail time, or be coerced into so-called ‘conversion therapy’ – a widely discredited practice debunked by much of the international medical and psychiatric communities. Under the Bill, advocates of the LGBTQ community would face up to a decade in prison; public displays of same-sex affection or cross dressing could lead to a fine or jail time, and certain types of medical support would be made illegal. The new law would also make the distribution of material deemed pro-LGBTQ by news organisation or websites illegal. It calls on Ghanaians to turn over those they suspect of being from the LGBTQ community.