MEMORANDUM

TO:

The Clerk to the Committee

Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs

Office of Parliament

Osu- Accra

FROM:

Silent Majority Ghana

SUBJECT: RE: Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021

DATE: 29th September 2021

This memorandum comes in response to a request from the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for written memoranda from the general public with regards to three bills:

1. Criminal offences (Amendment) Bill, 2021;

2. Office of the Special Prosecutor (Amendment) Bill, 2021; and

3. Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021,

as published in the Daily Guide newspaper on September 9, 2021. We are grateful for the opportunity to submit this memorandum to assist the committee in its review of and deliberation on the bill. This memorandum specifically responds to the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021. 

We write to ask that the proposed bill, ‘Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021’ be dropped. 

There are numerous negative political, legal, economic, and social implications of the bill that could be raised as arguments against it, as this bill only promotes the further stigmatisation of marginalised LGBT+ Ghanaians. But our argument is a simple yet profound reminder: that LGBT+ persons are people. They are our mothers, sons, cousins, grandchildren, classmates, colleagues, daughters, neighbours. And it is the antithesis of ‘Ghanaian-ness’ to throw our family and neighbours away in the way that this bill demands of us.

Indeed, the letter and spirit of this bill aim to establish a system of state-sponsored discrimination and violence against LGBT+ Ghanaians. It demands family members and friends to police their neighbour and to choose between showing compassion or risking  criminal charges (as listed in the Duty to Report provisions in the bill). What this bill asks of Ghana is that a parent must report their own child to the police and subject them to the torture of conversion therapy and surgery without their free consent, otherwise face second degree felony charges for caring for their child.

It is not hard to see how the drafters and advocates of this bill have not considered the moral bankruptcy of their demands, because they have denied the humanity of LGBT+ people in their campaign, to the extent of calling LGBT+ people “inhuman” in the draft bill. The public discourse surrounding the rights of LGBT+ persons and the language in the draft bill has dehumanised and othered LGBT+ Ghanaians. But ultimately, when we speak of LGBT+ persons and their rights, we speak not from the view that they are some strange other, apart from the rest of society. We speak from the truth that they are people we know and care about.

In March 2021, during the height of attacks on the Ghanaian LGBT+ community and following the closure of the LGBT+ Rights Ghana office, over 1,000 everyday Ghanaians signed a solidarity statement in support of LGBT+ people in Ghana. Those Ghanaians recognised, as we hope to communicate with this memorandum, that LGBT+ persons must live freely and with dignity in this country where we pride ourselves on community, hospitality and caring for one another. We, with the over 1000 people, affirm that LGBT+ people belong in Ghana. 

Our strong recommendation to the Committee and Parliament is to dismiss this bill.

At the 76th United Nations General Assembly on September 22 2021, President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, called on world leaders to work towards defending the strict adherence to democracy, constitutional rule, and human rights around the world. The withdrawal of the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021” is a test for Ghana in relation to our dedication to support the human rights of all people, preserve Ghana’s democracy and more importantly, maintain the spirit of community that underpins any functional society.  This bill, widely described as a “textbook example of discrimination” has no place in Ghanaian society.

Contact: info@silentmajorityghana.com