A public hearing into a controversial anti-gay bill has started by the Ghanaian parliamentary committee. The anti-gay bill says that there will be a five – year jail term for any lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT+) as well as a 10 year sentence for people who promote and advocate the LTGBT+ community.
This public hearing gives the people and groups an opportunity to make submissions on the anti-gay bill they are proposing.
It is said that the Coalition of Concerned Ghanaian Citizens are arguing that the anti-gay bill is unconstitutional due to the fact that it seems to violate the rights of the LGBT+ community but the Ghana Pentecostal Council believes that the bill reflects the will of many of the Ghanaian people .
Amnesty International and the UN Office of the Resident Coordinator are said to make their own submissions against the anti-gay bill in Ghana.
Earlier this year, a proposed legislation known as the Family Values bill had shutdown the opening of an LGBT+ resource centre in Accra the capital of Ghana.
If one participates in gay sex in Ghana it is a punishable offence and one can serve a prison term of three years. This new anti-gay bill just strengthens this law and makes it more broad in terms of the punishments.
It is said that a UN human rights expert has therefore warned that it will aide in promoting a system of state sponsored discrimination as well as violence against any sexual minority in Ghana.
