The Ambassador of the United States to Ghana, Virginia Evelyn Palmer, has expressed her sadness over the passage of the Promotion of Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill.
According to her, the Bill takes away the human rights of all gay people in the country.
“I am saddened because some of the smartest, most creative, most decent people I know are LGBT. The bill Parliament passed takes away not only their basic human rights, but those of all Ghanaians because it undermines their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of the press,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday, February 28 passed the anti-LGBTQI bill after successfully going through all three reading stages.
The Speaker, Alban Sumana Bagbin put the motion for the third reading before the House. At the end of the voice vote, he said, “the ayes have it.”
However, Ambassador Palmer said, “It will be bad for public order and public health. If enacted, it will also hurt Ghana’s international reputation and Ghana’s economy.”
In a related development, a human rights coalition, comprising of CDD Ghana, “the big 18” and others had called on President Akufo-Addo not to assent to the bill in its current state.
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Prof Audrey Gadzekpo who is part of the group, at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, February, 27, 2024 noted that the Bill will infringe on the fundamental human rights of many including the media as enshrined by the 1992 Constitution.
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Professor Gadzekpo said “We observed that proposals to amend the Bill to substitute community services for in castration that was made by the Member of Parliament for Effutu, Mr. Afenyo-Markin was unfortunately rejected. Although his amendments were opposed by the majority of the house leading to a removal of the proposed amendments, we appreciate his effort aimed at reforming our justice system.”