Lawyer to challenge anti-LGBTQI+ bill at the Supreme Court. George Bernard Shaw, a private legal practitioner, has served notice to file a suit challenging the anti-LGBTQI+ bill at the Supreme Court. He believes the bill contravenes basic human rights enshrined in the constitution and treaties signed by the government of Ghana.
In an interview on Accra-based Citi FM, he said “The bill is against basic human rights because Ghana has subscribed to a lot of international conventions and treaties that prohibit discrimination. People are confusing morality with law. If you identify as a homosexual, you are likely or liable to be imprisoned and for me who is a human rights activist, I can be jailed for promoting, propagating, and advancing or even explaining why. Like what I am doing now when the bill is passed, I can be jailed and this should not happen in a democratic dispensation.”
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The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 seeks to criminalise Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) activities in the country.
The bill threatens the very existence of LGBTQI people, meaning that they are perpetually put in a position where they are subjected to physical and psychological violence endorsed by the state. If the bill is passed by parliament, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could either sign it into law or veto it.
The international community and rights activists have widely condemned the bill, which was submitted to parliament by some Members of Parliament. Lawyer to challenge anti-LGBTQI+ bill at the Supreme Court.