The Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is expected to begin its series of public hearings on the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill today, November 10, 2021.
The hearing is expected to last for 15 weeks.
It comes in line with the directive of the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, that the various stages for the consideration, debating and voting of the bill be made public to ensure transparency and inclusiveness.
Meanwhile, the committee of the house has so far received over 150 memoranda on the bill.
Background
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021, the anti-gay bill, was read for the first time in Parliament on August 3, 2021. It has since been referred to the committee on constitutional, legal and parliamentary affairs for consideration and report.
The 36-page private members’ bill aims to prohibit individuals from providing or participating in any form of surgical services to enable gender reassignment or create a sexual category other than the category a person was assigned at birth, except where the surgical procedure is to correct a biological anomaly, including intersex.
Those who contravene or undermine the provisions are liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of not less than GHC9,000 and not more than GHC60,000, or a term of imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than five years, or both.
Moreover, the bill proscribes promotion and advocacy activities directed at children. Thus, anyone who uses the media and other electronic channels to produce, procure, market, broadcast, publish or distribute material or information directly or indirectly directed at a child, with intent to evoke the interest of children in an activity, could face a jail term of not less than six years and not more than ten.
The bill among other things also seeks to provide access to medical attention or treatment, and to prohibit extrajudicial or inhumane treatment against people accused of offences under the bill.
