anti-LGBT+ law - The African Mirror

Nov

2021

Ghana parliament begins public hearings on anti-LGBT+ law

Ghana's parliament on Thursday will hold its first public hearing on a new law that would make it illegal to be gay or to advocate for gay rights, its press office said. The so-called family values bill is currently before the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, which said it had received more than 150 memoranda from individuals, groups and faith-based organizations on the bill. The committee is expected to hear 10 petitions each week in a series of public sessions before the bill is put to a vote, deputy majority leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin said. Gay sex is already…

Oct

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana president calls for tolerance as parliament considers anti-LGBT+ law

LGBT+

GHANAIAN President Nana Akufo-Addo on Thursday emphasised the need for civil debate and tolerance as parliament works towards a vote on a controversial bill that would make it a crime to be gay, bisexual or transgender. The so-called family values bill has dismayed the local LGBT+ community and prompted U.N. human rights experts to warn it could establish a system of state-sponsored discrimination and violence. Gay sex is already punishable with up to three years in jail in Ghana, where homophobic persecution is widespread, but the draft law would criminalise being LGBT+ or advocating for LGBT+ rights, and impose longer…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE-Hungary could be sanctioned over anti-LGBT+ law, warns EU equality chief

LGBT+

HUGO GREENHALGH THE EU could impose funding restrictions on Hungary over legislation that bans the dissemination in schools of content deemed to promote homosexuality and gender change, the bloc's equality chief told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday. Speaking shortly before Hungary's parliament approved the ban, European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli said Brussels was prepared to take measures similar to those imposed on Polish regions that had declared themselves "LGBT-free". "The message is that if you don't uphold the values of democracy or equality of the European Union, you are not entitled to take money for your project," Dalli said in…