Activists appeal to Nana Addo not to sign anti-LGBTQI+ law
By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra
A group of human rights advocates, dubbed the ‘Big 18’ and the Human Rights Coalition, an alliance of civil society organizations, have appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to assent to the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, popularly known as the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.
The bill is set to be passed in the coming days by the Parliament of Ghana, following a lengthy period of public input, parliamentary consideration, and amendment.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to reiterate their concerns, Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, speaking on behalf of the two groups, asserted that the bill will violate several key provisions of the constitution and also violate the rights of LGBT+ persons living in the country.
According to them, the Bill “seeks to infringe on, among others, the rights to dignity, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to partake in processions, academic freedom, equality, and non-discrimination.”
These rights and freedoms, they insist, “constitute the bedrock of any constitutional democracy, and any attempt to tinker with them will set a dangerous precedent for our democracy and must be of great concern to all Ghanaians.”
Professor Gadzekpo asserted that rights are the pillars upon which democracy rests to prevent the tyranny of the majority, and are therefore not dependent on majority approval or disapproval.
They, therefore, dismissed the assertion of proponents of the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill that because the majority of Ghanaians are allegedly in favor of the Bill, justifies its passage into law, as untenable.
The Coalition made the point that Ghana is a secular and multi-religious country, with over 50 ethnic groups, each with different cultural practices and beliefs.
Thus, any attempt to create a single cultural value system for Ghana erases the beautiful cultural mosaic that makes them a unique people.
Referring to the Constitution, the groups noted that it is for this reason that it abolishes all practices and laws detrimental to people’s health and well-being, even in the name of culture and tradition.
She took time to remind religious groupings that find the activities of the LGBTQ+ community offensive that Ghana’s secular democratic organization allows and encourages diversity and inclusivity.
She insisted, “for this reason when the Constitution makes provisions for, among other things, freedom of religion, it does not prescribe nor impose a singular religious faith on the country but allows for people to profess, belong to, adopt and manifest their religion of choice.”
She continued, “any attempt to criminalize what some regard as a sin through the instrumentality of the State, violates the long-standing principle of separation of Church and State.
It would also constitute a state-sanctioned imposition of the religious views of one segment of the Ghanaian society onto those who may not share them.”
They commended the majority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, for his efforts to have portions of the bill, which seeks to regulate the activities of the LGBTQ+ community in Ghana, amended.
Similarly, they commended Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson for voicing his disagreement with the attempts by some members of Parliament to criminalize the existence of members of the LGBTQ+ community in a recent interview on Hard Talk on the BBC.
