- Conference
- 2022 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 22 September 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that for many years Ghana’s government has been extremely hostile to LGBT+ people.
Currently same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Criminal Code 1960, which criminalises acts of ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law.
The law was inherited from the British during the colonial period, in which the English criminal law was imposed upon Ghana. Ghana retained the provision in its first Criminal Code upon independence, which remains in force, and continues to criminalise same-sex sexual activity today.
However, the situation has become even more dire in recent years. In July 2021, a group of eight Members of Parliament introduced a private member’s bill, the ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill’, aimed at criminalising the ‘promotion of LGBT+ rights’, essentially criminalising any LGBT+ advocacy in Ghana.
In August 2021, the anti-LGBT+ Bill received its first reading. The Bill’s scope is extensive.
The law would criminalise, with up to five years in prison, identifying as a LGBT+ person, having a gay relationship or intercourse. Marrying or intending to marry someone who has had gender reassignment surgery would also be criminalised, with up to five years in prison.
The bill addresses “gross indecency in public”. Any public show of affection between people of the same sex, or where one or some of the people involved identify as a gender different to their sex, or have had sex reassignment, would also be criminalised.
It would also criminalise “cross-dressing”, enabling prosecution of anyone dressing in a way perceived as different from their biological sex.
A clause targets intersex people, and would allow the state to recommend “corrective therapy” or surgery. It is not clear whether this could be forced. A medical practitioner would judge what binary sex should be assigned.
Any LGBT+ “allies”, whether individuals or advocacy and support groups, could be prosecuted and face up to five years in prison. Anyone made aware of gay acts who fails to report them could also be criminalised.
Since the bill has been announced there has been a sharp rise in violence against LGBT+ people, which has included a big rise in ‘corrective rape’.
Conference notes that support for the National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values – an umbrella groups of religious and conservative groups in Ghana – is coming from right-wing conservative groups in the United States and Europe.
Conference therefore instructs the national LGBT+ committee, working with the national executive council, national Black members’ committee and international department as appropriate, to:
1. Seek appropriate ways to show solidarity with Ghanaian LGBT+ organisations;
2. Work with Rainbow Migration and other appropriate organisations to lobby the Home Office to take urgent steps to improve the ways in which it deals with LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees;
3. Work with Labour Link to raise these issues with the Labour Party.