The Ghanaian Parliament has thrown its weight behind a proposed amendment to an anti-gay bill that would criminalise identifying as LGBT and make it punishable by a three-year prison sentence.
Africa Today News, New York reports that individuals who campaign for LGBT rights could also face up to 10 years in jail if the bill becomes law.
The amendments were backed by a cross-party group of MPs but will be scrutinised again before becoming law.
One female member of parliament who objected was booed into silence.
Ghana already forbids gay sex.
Both at home and abroad, the planned legislation has received criticism. Critics claim that it violates the rights that Ghana’s constitution guarantees.
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Supporters say it will help preserve Ghanaian values.
Multiple lawsuits have also been filed to challenge the bill in the country’s courts.
Africa Today News, New York had last week reported that new travel restrictions was been slammed by the US on Ugandan officials in the wake of an anti-LGBTQ law which was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May.
The law has been condemned as one of the harshest in the world. Among other provisions, it instated the death penalty for someone convicted of ‘aggravated homosexuality’, an offence that includes transmitting HIV through gay sex.
It also carried a life sentence for same-sex intercourse and a 20-year sentence for promoting homosexuality.
In a brief release on Friday, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said the measures were in response to human rights abuses – “including those of LGBTQI+ persons” – and corruption.
It further referenced the law, dubbed the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023, saying the Department of State has ‘also updated its travel guidance to US citizens to highlight the risk that LGBTQI+ persons, or those perceived to be LGBTQI+, could be prosecuted and subjected to life imprisonment or the death penalty based on provisions in the law’.