Ghana parliament begins process to passing anti-LGBT+ law

Ghana’s parliament on Thursday will hold its first public hearing on a new law that would make it illegal to be gay or to advocate for gay rights, its press office said.

The so-called family values bill is currently before the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, which said it had received more than 150 memoranda from individuals, groups and faith-based organizations on the bill.

The committee is expected to hear 10 petitions each week in a series of public sessions before the bill is put to a vote, deputy majority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said.

Gay sex is already punishable by prison time in Ghana, but no one has been prosecuted in years.

The new bill would go much further, criminalising the promotion and funding of LGBT+ activities as well as public displays of affection, cross-dressing and more.

Librals and and LGBT+ protagonists have tried to villify the Ghanaian government through western media have met stiff opposition.

Ghana’s speaker of parliament, Alban Bagbin, pledged in his opening address last month that parliament would pass the bill into law “at the earliest possible time”.

The LGBT+ agenda has been trying to make its way into Africa with many western nations in a bid to arm-twist African leaders in giving their values in exchange aid.