Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, former Dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, thinks the anti-LGBTQI+ Bill is cruel.
Professor Gadzekpo is one of fifteen prominent legal, intellectual, and civil society experts who have signed a memorandum opposing the anti-gay legislation that has been presented to Parliament.
They argue in the memorandum that the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, which aims to criminalize LGBTQ+ and related activities, is an “impermissible invasion of the inviolability of human dignity.”
“To push the anti-LGBTQ+ will be to challenge Ghana’s constitution and democracy,” they also argued in the 18-page document.
In an interview, the former Dean of the University of Ghana’s School of Information and Communication Studies defended the group’s stance on the issue.
“We are individuals coming from different persuasions. These are people who have a long history of human rights work. When the bill was proposed, people were concerned about it. While reading the bill, we were even more alarmed. We decided we needed to do something about it.”
“One of our members thus drafted a memorandum, we all fed into it, and the rest is history.”
She said that the bill “had no place in the twenty-first century.” We think it violates the constitution. It encourages witch-hunting.”
“Parliament of all places should not be introducing a bill like this,” she added.
When questioned about the forces supporting their opposition to the bill, Professor Gadzekpo said, “we don’t need ‘big people’ behind us.” That is what is great about democracy and that is why we have to preserve our democracy because it allows the little people to have their say.”
“If we only relied on the dominant forces and the status quo, we wouldn’t have gotten where we are now.”
They join a number of human rights organizations, including United Nations human rights experts, in describing the Bill as state-sponsored discrimination and violence against LGBTQI+ persons.
The Bill prescribes that individuals of the same sex who engage in sexual conduct face up to ten years in prison.
Support for the LGBTQ+ community will be criminalized as well.
Their memorandum, which was prepared in response to Parliament’s request for written memos on the Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, addressed numerous reasons in favor of the Bill, such as the allegation that it is a danger to the Ghanaian family unit and family values.
Professor Kofi Gyimah-Boadi, Dr. Rose Kutin-Mensah, Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh, Professor Kwame KariKari, Akoto Ampaw, and Professor Raymond Atuguba are other signatories to the note.
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