Activists Protest Ghana Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill in Pretoria

Activists gathered outside the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa on Wednesday to demand that President Nana Akufo-Addo reject the recently passed Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill.

The event was held on a global day of protest marking Ghana’s Independence Day, which saw similar demonstrations against the inhuman bill taking place in London, Copenhagen, Ottawa, and Toronto.

Representatives from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Gender Dynamix delivered a memorandum to the Pretoria High Commission, emphasising their concerns.

“Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ Bill constitutes an undermining of fundamental human rights, press freedom, democracy, and equality, and it must be halted,” said Belinda Qaqamba from Gender Dynamix.

“Ghana’s Constitution upholds the rights to equality, non-discrimination, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, the right to privacy, and more. Instead of undermining the right to identify as LGBTQ+, President Akufo-Addo should resist the pressure from extremists advocating for this reprehensible bill and unequivocally reject it,” asserted Qaqamba.

The activists also expressed dismay at the dogmatic wave of the anti-gender and anti-rights movements that is now spilling across Africa, targeting especially religious countries to criminalise queer and trans-identifying people.

They further pointed out the involvement of American extremist Christian organisations, which have vigorously promoted the enactment of this bill. Notably, in 2019, the World Congress of Families convened in Accra, advocating for an agenda of anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice and hatred.

“This legislation constitutes an egregious attack on the human rights of queer and trans Ghanaians. It seeks to criminalise LGBTQ+ individuals, their communities, media reporting on LGBTQ+ issues, and those advocating for LGBTQ+ rights or supporting LGBTQ+ groups,” commented Phillimon Twala from the TAC.

The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, commonly known as the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, was overwhelmingly passed by MPs on 28 February 2024.

If signed into law by President Nana Akufo-Addo, the bill will jail people for up to three years simply for identifying as lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual, queer, pansexual, non-binary, or as an ally.

It also further outlaws “related activities”, including same-sex intimacy, same-sex marriage, cross-dressing, and even the use of sex toys.

Anyone found guilty of the promotion and advocacy of LGBTQ+ “activities” in any medium faces up to 10 years in prison, as do landlords who rent their premises to an LGBTQ+ person.