Ghana: draft law proposes 10 years in prison for LGBTQ people

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 24 - An anti-gay bill presented to the Ghanaian parliament could include the possibility of imposing up to 10 years in prison for LGBTQ + people, groups and individuals who defend their rights by expressing sympathy or offering social or medical support to the community. The project is a candidate to become one of the most draconian and radical anti-gay laws ever proposed in the world. The Guardian reports it.

    Support for intersex people would also be criminalized and the government could direct them to receive "gender realignment" surgery under the draft law.

    A copy of the bill on the promotion of human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values ​​has been leaked to the public and has been widely circulated online and confirmed as authentic by diplomats with access to the same draft law, arousing both outrage and fear among human rights activists. .

    The possibility of harsh new laws against homosexuals has been welcomed by numerous female parliamentarians supported by various figures in the government of President NanaAkufo-Addo.

    "Homosexuality is not a human right. It is a sexual preference," Sam Nartey George, an MP who described gay rights as a "perversion" and led the group of lawmakers who drafted the legislative proposal, said in a Twitter post. . "We will pass this draft of the law", assured the Ghanaian deputy. Parliament has not yet appointed a commission to review the bill, which will likely be subject to several amendments before it is approved.

    Nana Ama Agyemang Asante, a journalist and activist in Accra, said she was "stunned by the content, the crudeness of the language and the cruelty behind the intent" of the law's design. "I've spent all my time as a journalist advocating for gay rights, so I can't believe we're at; this is where they want to criminalize everything and everyone, including the existence of allies, intersex and sexual people." (HANDLE).