In recent remarks made to a delegation of bishops in Ghana, new president John Mahama announced that a bill targeting LGBTQ+ citizens was “effectively dead.”
A bill entitled “The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill” was introduced by Ghana’s parliament in 2021. In effect, the bill would require a prison sentence of up to to three years for LGBTQ+ identifying Ghanaians, and five years for those who organized and/or funded LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, according to LGBTQ Nation.
Mahama won Ghana’s most recent presidential election in a landslide victory, and officially took office on Jan. 7. His announcement came during remarks given at the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference on Jan.10-11 of this year.
“As far as I know, the bill did not get to the president,” Mahama said. “So, the convention is that all bills that are not assented to law before the expiration of the life of parliament, expire. So that bill effectively is dead.”
Mahama commented in his speech that the bill shouldn’t need to be passed: “If we are teaching our values in schools, we wouldn’t need to pass a bill to enforce family values. More than just passing the Family Values Bill, we need to agree on a curriculum that instills these values in our children as they grow.”
The new president seemed to leave the dialogue open about how parliament would move forward with conversations around LGBTQ+ identities. Berinyuy Burinyuy, Communications Director for LGBT+ Rights Ghana told the Washington Blade “while Mahama may not yet be fully committing to a clear policy direction, his statement leaves open the possibility of a more balanced approach, one that allows for a national conversation on sexual rights without rushing into divisive legislation.”
Turning toward schools to include “family values” in curriculum is reminiscent of educational laws like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law here in the U.S. which bans conversations of sexual identities in schools across the state. However, Ghana’s movement away from parliamentary action is good news for the country’s LGBTQ+ population.
“For many, the mere suggestion that LGBT+ issues could be addressed through education rather than criminalization represents a significant departure from the traditional legislative path championed by the bill’s proponents,” said Burinyuy. “This shift implies a possible opening for dialogue and more inclusive approach, one that recognizes the need for respect and understanding of diverse sexual identities with Ghanaian society.”
The Washington Blade reports LGBTQ+ Ghanaian activist Yaw Mensah said he thinks Mahama is promoting tolerance for all Ghanaians.
As it stands today, Ghana has no protections for the LGBTQ+ community, homosexuality is illegal for men but legal for women, and marriage equality is a long way off, according to Equaldex.
However, Mensah believes “Mahama is indirectly saying LGBT persons are not Ghana’s problems. Let’s teach families values that accept and respect everyone. Ghanaian values should be tolerance, respect, honesty, hardworking, hospitality, and integrity. Those need to be taught and not the hate, discrimination, barbarism, greediness, and hypocrisy that we are seeing in many leaders which transcends into the young ones.”
