General News of Wednesday, 13 October 2021
Source: happyghana.com
Member of the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) communication team, Padmore Baffour Agyapong has added his voice in support of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill, as he states that without a law, the country will be turned into a chaotic society.
He argued that if Ghana was to allow people to follow their desires, it will be difficult to control people’s actions.
Speaking in support of the anti-gay bill on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show, he told Don Prah: “We all have our desires but If we don’t control ourselves, we will live in a chaotic environment where madness will become the order of the day. When there was a law on the mandatory wearing of nose masks, who criticized the president? No one and this was because it was beneficial."
He further exemplified, “So if we wake up today and all girls in a secondary school want to change their gender, how will we deal with that?”
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 was introduced into parliament earlier this year.
This bill is seeking to expand on the current law that provides up to three years in prison for same-sex activity.
The new bill when passed will prohibit and criminalize advocacy, funding and act of LGBTQ+ while promoting conversion therapy programs seeking to “convert” people from homosexuality to heterosexuality.
Meanwhile, a group of academics and lawyers have filled a memorandum challenging the anti-gay legislation submitted to Parliament.
In the memorandum, they contend that the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, which seeks to criminalize LGBTQ+ and adjacent activities, is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity.”
Some Christian leaders, on the other hand, have submitted a memorandum to Parliament on the Proper Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, endorsing the bill.