Accra Ghana –(PTG) The West African Nation of Ghana long known as a haven for the continent’s LGBTQI population is living in fear of a proposed law outlawing their right to live.

The draconian bill would make it a Crime, with sentences between 3 to 10 years for anyone convicted of being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, or Ally. The “Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill” would also punish those who advocate on social media for LGBTQI rights or fails to report to the state those who they suspect of being LGBTQI.

It also promotes so-called conversion therapy by allowing flexible sentencing for an LGBT+ person if they request “treatment”, and could enable the government to force intersex children to undergo “gender realignment” surgery, Foreign policy.com reports.

Ghana already has a law, albeit seldom enforced, criminalizing same-sex relations so why do the homophobes need to further criminalize sexual minorities? The answer is universal as is our history in humanity. We have alsways been here and haters never stop hating.

The office of an LGBTQ+ advocacy and support group in the West African nation of Ghana was raided on March 2, 2021, by armed police, reports Out Magazine. The group, LGBT+ Rights Ghana, announced the police action with a video and posted it to their social media. The group later made the decision to indefinitely close the location due to concerns about safety in the deeply conservative nation which criminalizes same-sex sexual relations.

The center, which is in the capital city of Accra, was opened on January 31 but was immediately met with strong opposition from government officials and religious authorities, with threats of violence from local traditional leaders. Naomi Campbell, Idris Elba, and others have spoken out in support of the community.

“This morning, our office was raided by National Security,” LGBT+ Rights Ghana wrote in a Twitter post with video of the raid.

“A few days ago, traditional leaders threatened to burn down our office but the police did not help. At this moment, we no longer have access to our safe space and our safety is being threatened.”

Chibuihe Obi Achimba, a queer Nigerian wrote a cautionary tale ” The New Anti-Gay Bill Proposed in Ghana Will Destroy Lives. It happened to us in Nigeria..
“For the LGBTQ community in Ghana, the first half of 2021 has been nothing short of devastating. In less than six months, the community has come under intense and repeated attacks from politicians, the police, religious groups, and anti-gay organizations, including a heavily biased media committed to pillorying and misrepresenting an already marginalized group. There has been a slew of government-backed harassment unleashed against the community in a bid to restrict or completely prohibit queer rights advocacy in the West African country.”

“On May, 21 LGBTQ activists in Ghana were arrested and detained in Ho, the capital of Ghana’s Volta Region. They were human rights advocates and organizers who had convened for a paralegal training on best practices for documenting and responding to emerging human rights abuses targeted at sexual minorities. Instead, the activists were accused of promoting an LGBTQ agenda and charged with unlawful gathering. For nearly three weeks, police held and remanded them to court, their bail pleas repeatedly denied.”

Monika Kowalska author of “My Transgender Heroines” interviewed Veso Golden Oke, a Nigerian-born beauty queen and model on June 9, 2020.

Veso Golden, a professional make-up artist, Miss Ghana at Miss Trans Star International 2019, became the first transgender woman in 2019 to compete in the Miss Europe Continental Ghana, a beauty pageant for cisgender women.

Hello Veso!

Veso Golden: Hello Monika, thank you for this opportunity.

Monika: You were born in Nigeria. Could you say a word about your teenage years there?

Veso Golden: Yes, I was born in Nigeria and lived in Nigeria for 20 years of my life. It was hell every day because as a young Christian child I was made to believe that my life style was demonic and I needed deliverance. Society had no pity on me, I felt hate and isolation every single day. I was once arrested and put in jail with criminals just because I identified as a woman. I was lucky once when I almost got stoned in the streets after protesting against the 24 years imprisonment for LGBT people. I would have died if I had not found a way to escape.
That was when I realized I had to move out, and Ghana was the only country I could afford with money I had. Ghana is not safe because there’s no law protecting us, and the society still doesn’t accept us but the LGBT organization in Ghana found a little way to protect us so I felt a bit safer there.

Hiplife and Afropop artist Angel Maxine said she wrote “Wo Fie”, meaning “Your Home” in the Twi language, to comfort LGBT+ Ghanaians who were not only facing threats from authorities, but also a surge in verbal and physical attacks from the public.

“The situation for the queer community in Ghana is very tense at the moment,” Maxine, 35, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the capital, Accra.

“As Ghana’s only transgender musician, I had to do something to help my community. The song is to tell them that they are not alone, and also to tell others that we are also humans and deserve to exist just like them.”

Angel Maxine – Wo Fie feat Wanlov the Kubolor & Sister Deborah with 9,881 views premiered on July 23, 2021.

The post Ghana is Facing an ANTI-LGBT bill of Gastly Proportions appeared first on Planet Trans.