MPs from Ghana support stricter anti-gay laws

If Washington sanctions officials, the government would target US economic interests, according to the bill’s primary supporter.

The West African country of Ghana already has strict rules against homosexuality, and the move to tighten them even further was approved by the whole parliament.

After months of public discussion and amendments to the 36-page legislation, proposed in 2021, the resolution to alter the anti-LGBTQ measure was endorsed by all 275 parliamentarians on Wednesday.

The ‘Promotion of Proper Sexual Human Rights and Ghanaian Family Values’ law intends to make it illegal to advocate for, fund, or promote same-sex partnerships as well as to impose harsher punishments for homosexual behavior.

Before becoming law, the proposal needs to undergo more scrutiny. Identifying as homosexual will be punishable by a three-year prison sentence under the proposed legislation, while advocates for LGBTQ rights might spend up to ten years in prison.

The bill has been denounced by rights organizations, notably Amnesty International Ghana, who claim it violates the constitution’s protections for civil rights.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Sam Nartey George, has frequently referred to gay rights as a “perversion” and stated that homosexual behavior is not a fundamental human right.

George cautioned the US against interfering with efforts to bring the bill into law in a speech to the legislature on Wednesday, after the amendment was approved.

He asserted that Ghana, unlike Uganda, will respond if the US imposes sanctions on its legislators.

After President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-LGBTQ law in May, Washington put travel restrictions on Ugandan officials. The Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023 in Uganda carries a life sentence for anyone convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a person of the same gender.

US Vice President Joe Biden referred to the law as a “tragic violation of universal human rights” and demanded that it be repealed. He also said that Washington would reevaluate all of its relations with Kampala.

Sam Nartey George referred to the anti-Uganda measures in his warning, saying that “if they replicate the same with our Speaker and Members of Parliament, we will also take action against their [US] business interest in our country because they serve here and make money from here and send it back home.” We are not a ransomware target.