Proposed anti-gay Bill causes stir
Publish date: 26 July 2021
Issue Number: 932
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Ghana
Draft anti-gay legislation submitted to Ghana’s Parliament proposes up to 10 years in jail for LGBTQ+ people as well as groups and individuals who advocate for their cause. In one of the most draconian and sweeping anti-gay laws proposed around the world, support for intersex people would also be criminalised and the government could direct intersex people to receive ‘gender realignment’ surgery. The Guardian reports that a leaked copy of the Family Values Bill has sparked outrage and growing fear among human rights activists. The Bill would be the first major step in criminalising the sexual minorities and their supporters since independence from colonial rule. Sam George, an MP who led a group of lawmakers who drafted the Bill, dismissed condemnation of it as ‘uninformed’. ‘Homosexuality is not a human right. It is a sexual preference,’ he said in a post on Twitter. ‘We shall pass this Bill through.’