Ghana has passed a restrictive, anti-LGBTQ bill that may jail any gay people for as much as ten years for promoting ‘LGBTQ activities’.
The West African nation has also renewed a three-year sentence for anyone found guilty of ‘same-sex relationships’.
The terrifying bill targets anyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
The bill will probably be signed into law by President John Dramani Mahama after a campaign from church groups and activists across the country.
Campaigners for the bill say it protects ‘family values and cultural norms’.
Though it does include exemptions for journalists, lawyers and medical professionals, there are wider risks.
Journalist Caleb Ahinakwah told the Telegraph: ‘These exemptions do little to handle the broader concern that the bill could embolden members of the general public to focus on, harass or attack people perceived to be queer.’
Human Rights Watch slammed the bill, saying it put gay people’s lives in danger while ‘encouraging residents to surveil and denounce each other’.
Ghana isn’t the one nation to criminalise homosexuality.
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A bill was passed in Uganda that may put people in jail for as much as 10 years for merely identifying as LGBTQ in 2023.
The bill gives authorities broad powers to focus on gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence.
The 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill confirms an already existing punishment of life in prison for same-sex conduct, while also increasing to 10 years the sentence for an attempt at same-sex conduct.
Violations draw severe penalties, including death for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ and life in prison for gay sex.
‘Aggravated homosexuality’ involves gay sex with people under the age of 18 or when the perpetrator is HIV positive, amongst other categories, in line with the law.
It also creates latest offences that can further curtail any activism on LGBTQ+ rights, which supporters say threaten traditional values within the conservative and spiritual nation.
Anyone advocating for the rights of LGBTQ+ people, or financially supporting organisations that accomplish that, could resist 20 years’ imprisonment.
The bill also criminalises any one who fails to report someone they think of participating in same-sex acts to the police, calling for a positive or imprisonment for six months.
Effectively, this targets families or friends of LGBTQ+ people failing to report their family members.
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