Ghana's Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge seeking to block parliament from passing a strict anti-LGBTQ+ bill, paving the way for its ratification.
The Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill would criminalise being transgender, same-sex relations and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana.
It will further reduce freedoms in a country where gay sex is already punishable with up to three years in jail, critics and activists say.
In Solidarity to all Queer Ghanaians🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇬🇭
— 🏳⚧ANGEL MAXINE #KilltheBill #LoveIsOurWill🏳️🌈 (@angelmaxinetv) July 7, 2023
Living in Ghana as a Queer person will soon be illegal.
Ghanaian Parliament is threatening to pass the Anti-LGBT Bill
This Bill does not only affect the Queer community but every human being living in Ghana.#killthebill #Wofie pic.twitter.com/UKpaZzOKkJ
Amanda Odoi, an academic researcher, filed a lawsuit on 7 July challenging the bill's constitutionality, saying it could impact donor aid and other forms of financial support.
But on Wednesday, Ghana's Supreme Court ruled her arguments were not sufficient grounds to grant an injunction.
The ruling clears the way for the bill, one of the harshest towards LGBTQ+ people in Africa, to go through a final stage of parliamentary approval before being signed into law.
International concern
Lawmakers in the West African nation have been debating the bill since August 2021.
It is backed by a majority of Ghanaian MPs, as well as religious and traditional leaders.
The United Nations said in 2021 that the law would create "a system of state-sponsored discrimination and violence" against sexual minorities.
The bill includes jail sentences of up to 10 years for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. Publishing content considered pro-LGBTQ or that challenges traditional binary gender identities could also lead to prosecution.
Opponents also say the bill encourages conversion therapy, as sentencing can be reduced if those found guilty request treatment.
Reactionary wave across Africa
The move comes soon Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ+ laws, in May, which prescribed the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality".
Only 22 of 54 countries in Africa allow homosexuality, and several nations have recently toughened their laws against people who identify themselves outside traditional sexual and gender norms.
In Kenya, opposition MP George Peter Kaluma has also been leading a campaign for parliament to further criminalise the country's LGBTQ+ community.
South Africa and Namibia are the rare exceptions.
In May, Namibia's Supreme Court recognised same-sex marriages contracted abroad between citizens and foreign spouses. Many saw the ruling as a step towards decriminalising homosexuality in the country.
US President Joe Biden responded to Uganda's bill by threatening to impose sanctions and travel restrictions on "anyone involved in serious human rights abuses" in East Africa.
The US ambassador in Ghana also warned lawmakers in December that their attempt to pass the anti-LGBT bill could affect their economy.
(with Reuters)
