Parliament to Resubmit LGBTQ Bill to Prez
The Jubilee House will soon witness the delivery of the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill yet again after it was rejected in previous times.
The Speaker of Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has directed the clerk of the House to resubmit the bill for assent.
“I have instructed the Clerk to transmit the LGBTQ Bill to Prez for assent. I’m aware the government want to transact in Parliament and I’m willing to collaborate. Despite all I have said, Ghana first,” the Speaker announced at a presser on November 6, 2024.
Ghana’s Parliament on February 28, 2024, passed the Anti-LGBTQ bill after its initiation in 2021 by eight legislators. The passage came after the bill was subjected to reviews and amendments in the past three years to enhance what some have said is inhuman punitive actions.
It has however suffered some setbacks, including being hit with legal suits even before it got assented to.
The constitutionality of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill is under contention at the Supreme Court with the argument that it breaches several provisions of the 1992 constitution and violates the country’s laws and the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the constitution.
Meanwhile, the President has, on numerous occasions, ordered the bill to be sent back to Parliament, citing ongoing court challenges as the reason.
Bill
The bill among other things, institutes three to five years of imprisonment for engaging in same-sex intercourse and imprisonment for anyone who produces, procures, or distributes material deemed to be promoting LGBT+ activities.
It also seeks to institute 6 months to 1-year imprisonment for a public show of amorous relations between people of the same sex; a ban on sponsoring LGBT+ groups; a ban on adoption and fostering for LGBT+ potential parents; prohibition of same-sex marriage; 6 months to 3 years imprisonment for anyone who harasses someone accused of being LGBT+ and others.
The international community has been reacting to the news with US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tweeting, “The Ghanaian parliament’s passage of a bill criminalizing members of the LGBTQI+ community imperils the rights of all its people, its international reputation, and its economic development. Ghana’s laudable tradition of tolerance will be undermined if this bill becomes law.”
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
