Ghana Parliament heads toward vote on wide-ranging anti-LGBTQ bill

‘Worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever’ approaches parliamentary action

When the parliament of Ghana reconvenes next week, it is expected to act on a proposal formerly known as “the worst anti-LGBTQ bill ever”.

The proposal was initially presented to parliament in June 2021. Since then, it has been a subject of heated discussions throughout Ghana.

The bill got its “worst ever” nickname before Uganda passed its new Anti-Homosexuality Act, which is even harsher, though less expansive, than the Ghanaian bill.   The Ugandan law, enacted last May, calls for  life in prison for same-sex activity; 20 years for “promoting homosexuality” and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, which includes same-sex intercourse with children or disabled people.

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If enacted as drafted, the Ghana bill would:

• Impose a three- to five-year prison sentence for same-sex intimacy and even for declaring oneself to be LGBTQ.
• Impose the same sentence for gender reassignment surgery.
• Outlaw oral sex for both heterosexual and homosexual couples, as well as anal sex and use of sex toys. Violators would face one to three years in prison.

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• Make same-sex weddings a crime. Participants would be subject to prison terms of one to three years.
• Criminalize advocacy of LGBTQ rights. Violators would be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.
• Promote the harmful and ineffective practice known as “conversion therapy”, which attempts to turn LGBT people straight.
• Criminalize any “public show of amorous relations” between people of the same sex, which would be a misdemeanor, punishable by a prison sentence of six months to one year.
• Make cross-dressing a misdemeanor if it were done with intent to engage in sex. Violators would be imprisoned for six months to a year.

In one attempt to rein in homophobic violence, the Ghana bill would:

• Make it a misdemeanor to “verbally or physically” abuse, assault or harass “a person accused of an offence under this Act; or suffering from any gender or sexual identity challenge including LGBTTQQIAAP+ or any other variant of a sexual identity challenge.” Such abuse would be punishable by six month to three years in prison.