Ghana’s new president says anti-LGBTQ bill not needed if schools teach family values
But John Mahama says his government might propose an anti-LGBTQ bill of its own
John Mahama, the newly elected president of Ghana, says the country should have no need for the harsh anti-LGBTQ bill that died when the former president declined to sign it before last year’s parliamentary session ended.
After Parliament passed it unanimously in February, then President Nana Akufo-Addo asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether it was constitutional, but in December the court declined to make that decision.
Now Mahama says the bill isn’t needed if Ghanaian schools do a good job of teaching family values.
“If we are teaching our values in school, we won’t need to pass a bill to enforce our family values. That’s why I think more than even the Family Values Bill is as agreed on a curriculum that inculcates these values into our children as they are growing up so that we don’t need to legislate it”, Mahama said during a meeting with religious leaders.
However, he also discussed the possibility that a new anti-LGBTQ bill could be introduced this year by his government.
During a meeting with religious leaders, the President stressed that it is important for the country to reach a consensus on the Bill and move forward together.
“The convention is that all bills that are not assented to before the expiration of the life of Parliament expire. And so that Bill effectively is dead. I don’t know what the promoters of the Bill intend to do but I do think that we should have a conversation on it again so that all of us if we decide to move the Bill forward we move forward with consensus.
“And probably it shouldn’t be the Private Members Bill. It probably should be a government Bill with government behind it after consultation with all stakeholders to see how to move this forward.”
Anti-gay politicians and religious leaders interpreted Mahama’s current stance as a reversal from his past position.
In December, Mahama said he might or might not sign such a bill after analyzing what it contains.
“It depends on what is in the bill,” he said.
Last year’s anti-LGBTQ bill would have expanded on Ghana’s current law that provides a three-year prison sentence for same-sex intimacy. The bill would have added the same punishment for people who:
- Identify as (“hold out as”) LGBTQ;
- Participate in gender-reassignment surgery; or
- Enter into a same-sex marriage or attend a same-sex wedding.
It also would have imposed prison sentences of up to 10 years on people who “promote” LGBTQ activity.
