The LGBTQ+ community in Ghana has expressed deep concerns over the potential dangers they may face if legislation enforcing so-called "proper human sexual rights" is enacted.
There is a fear that this legislation could lead to attacks and persecution of sexual and gender minorities.
Ghana's anti-LGBTQ+ bill is undergoing parliamentary review. Its objectives include criminalising same-sex intercourse or public displays of affection, prohibiting the advocacy of LGBTQ+ rights, and banning trans healthcare.
“Such actions will put the rights of LGBTQ+ people at risk. The bill is sensationalist and incredibly absurd for a 21st-century democratic country," Alex Kofi Donkor, who heads the LGBT+ Rights Ghana group, told RFI.
"The bill proposes to criminalise and imprison people simply for identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, an ally, asexual or pansexual," he said.
'Colonial legacy'
The bill, which has been under debate since August 2021, claims to protect "Ghanaian family values".
But Kofi Donkor argues that "the characterisation of LGBTQ+ existence as deviant, and the labelling of consensual intimacy among LGBTQ+ individuals as such, is rooted in a colonial legacy".
"This legacy has been perpetuated through vague morality laws that criminalise certain sexual acts as 'unnatural'," he said.
Homosexuality was first criminalised in Ghana under British colonial rule, then again after independence. Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.
As the new bill approaches the final stage of parliamentary approval, Kofi Donkor shared that he has personally received death threats, and the community centre he established in January 2021 was forcibly closed by the police.
"If the harsh anti-LGBTQ law currently being discussed in Ghana's parliament is ratified, myself and fellow group members could potentially face imprisonment for up to 15 years."
Violence predicted
The bill has the backing of most Ghanaian MPs, as well as religious and traditional leaders.
Felix Ntoso Sylvester Yaw, a lawyer in Accra, told RFI that people convicted under the new legislation would face significant fines or several years in prison. He is in favour of the penalties.
"The law may not succeed in eliminating LGBT+ activities from Ghana, but at least it will make LGBT+ activities a crime in the jurisdiction," he said.
"It is a signal that the limitless and unfettered rights bestowed on citizens in parts of Europe and America have no place in Ghana."
The lawyer admitted that the strict legislation was likely to encourage attacks on LGBTQ+ people.
"It should be expected, sadly, that a few Ghanaians will along the line physically try to manhandle persons they may suspect to be engaged in homosexual activities," he said.
International concern
The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, has warned that enacting the anti-LGBTQ+ bill could potentially impact foreign trade and investment in the country.
Addressing reporters in Accra, she said: "Any discrimination would not only affect LGBTQ investors and exporters but also send a discouraging message to other American companies.
"This could potentially diminish Ghana's reputation as an open and inviting nation. Hence my hope is that Ghana maintains its current welcoming stance."
Earlier this month, the World Bank suspended new funding to Uganda over its anti-LGBTQ+ law, one of the most draconian in the world.
Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act, ratified by President Yoweri Museveni in May, imposes the death penalty for so-called "aggravated homosexuality".
