“Desist From Promoting LGBTQ+ On Your Platforms” – Otumfour Bremponghene To Media Houses

Otumfour Bremponghene Nana Antwi Agyei IV who is also the Chief of  Nkawie in the Atwima Nwabiagya Municipality of the Ashanti region has made passionate appeal to media houses in the country  to stop promoting LGBTQ+ as every Ghanaians knows his or her fundamental rights and religion affiliation prohibit.

 

According to him , there are a lot of issues to be addressed in the country than this LGBTQ+  which has taken centred stage of the airwaves.

 

Nana Antwi Agyei IV  said added that “No person should even encourage that we should not be talking about that, we should stop it.

 

How do we discuss this even in the public domain?, he questioned

 

 

“My upbring does not in any way support this kind of activities,” he emphatically said it.

 

He made this remarks at Nkawie Palace during the Traditional Council Meeting as empowered his councils to enlighten their folks not to compromise this barbaric act.

 

 

 

Nana Antwi advised the Members of Parliament not to compromise with the LGBTQ bill and rather focus on matters that is relevant for the country.

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill

A couple of months ago, some legislators presented a copy of the draft of the Bill to the Speaker of Parliament. This bill is seeking to expand on the current law that provides up to three years in prison for same-sex activity.

The new bill when passed will prohibit and criminalize advocacy, funding and act of LGBTQ+ while promoting conversion therapy programs seeking to “convert” people from homosexuality to heterosexuality.

However, the controversial anti-gay bill has already divided opinions in the Ghanaian public discourse.

 

 

Academicians Oppose Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill

Some fifteen renowned legal, academic and civil society professionals have filled a memorandum challenging the anti-gay legislation submitted to Parliament saying it violates key fundamental freedoms under the constitution.

In the memorandum, they contend that the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, which seeks to criminalize LGBTQ+ and adjacent activities, is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity.”

“The Bill violates virtually all the key fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution, namely the right to freedom of speech and expression; the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and belief; the freedom to practice any religion and to manifest such in practice (which includes the freedom not to practice any religion); the right to assemble, including the freedom to take part in processions and demonstrations; the freedom of association and the right to organize- in essence, the fundamental human rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,”

“In short, the provisions of the Bill are so egregious in their violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution that it beggars belief that it could be introduced as a Bill in the House of Parliament,” the individuals stated in a memo.

Religious & Traditional Groupings Back Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill

Some Christian leaders, on the other hand, have submitted a memorandum to Parliament on the Proper Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, endorsing the bill. The Ghana Catholic Bishop Conference have said they want homosexuality to be illegal in Ghana and described the practice as an abomination on the basis of scriptures in the Holy Bible.

“As a Church, we want this abominable practice made illegal in our country…

“….according to the Church’s understanding of human rights, the rights of homosexuals as persons do not include the right of a man to marry a man or of a woman to marry a woman. We should also point out that the European Court for Human Rights has ruled that same-sex “marriages” are not considered a human right, making it clear that homosexual partnerships do not in fact equal marriages between a man and a woman. The ruling was announced 9th June 2016 in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.”