Anti-gay bill: a man has no right to marry a man – Catholic bishops

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference has supported the decision of Ghanaian lawmakers to pass a bill that criminalizes homosexuality in the country. A bill titled the “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021” also known as the anti-gay bill is currently before Ghana’s parliament.

Speaking about recent back and forth about the bill, the GCBC in a statement signed by its president Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi underscored the new to separate the person from the act. The statement said while there is a need for the rights of all persons to be protected regardless of their orientations, acts that are against the state need to be punished.

According to the Conference, “homosexuals should not be criminalized just for being homosexuals. Neither should they be maltreated nor attacked for being homosexuals” because “It is neither a sin nor a crime to be a homosexual.” However, “the acts that they perform that are sinful and should be condemned”.

The bishops acknowledge just like the Catholic Church does that all persons need to enjoy rights including “the right to life, personal liberty and due process of law; to freedom of thought, expression, religion, organization, and movement; to freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, language, and sex; to basic education; to employment; and to property”. It says “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”.

Anti-gay bill before parliament, accusations and denials

Ghana is currently working to pass the anti-gay bill which will make homosexual activities criminal in the country. There have been accusations by the Minority led by Sam George the MP for Ningo-Prampram against the Majority for stalling the passage of the bill.

But the Chairman of the Constitutional and Legal Committee denied the allegations of Sam George. Kwame Ayimadu-Antwi who earlier on threatened that if the Minority makes the bill look political it will “suffer non-passage”.

In reacting to a press conference by the Minority on the subject, he said “The press conference that was organized [by the Minority] was in bad faith, and they should desist from that. All members of Parliament agreed that we must prosecute this bill. Therefore, I must warn that any attempts by anybody who would want to clothe this bill with political colours will suffer non-passage of the bill.”

He, however, later explained why the bill had not been passed yet. “The bill has been here, and we have not prosecuted it because the religious bodies came to the Speaker.” According to him, at a point, the house was “looking at the rehabilitation of people that will fall as victims of the LGBTQ+ and the Speaker suggested that we meet with the religious bodies to see how best we can incorporate that into the bill”.

“Our initial response was that it may not be sustainable, but I discussed it with the Ranking Member, who said that we have to do one workshop and iron out quizzes and last week,” Ayimadu-Antwi stated. He then added that he went to the Speaker’s office and when he was asked he told the Speaker that something must be done on the bill before proceeding.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin has assured that the anti-gay bill will be passed before the house goes on recess for the Christmas holidays.

“I know that nobody in this House is opposed to the bill and I know the bill will see the light of day before we rise because the people of Ghana are expecting us to pass the bill before we go on recess. Failure to do so will have serious consequences on members as they want to advance in their political careers,” Bagbin said about the anti-gay bill.