Apostle Professor Opoku Onyinah, the chairman of the board of trustees for the National Cathedral project, has said the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 could be an effective way to tackle the LGBTQI issue in Ghana.
His comments come a few weeks after the anti-gay bill was introduced in Parliament. The bill would impose a maximum ten-year prison sentence on people who support and advocate same-sex/gay rights.
Speaking in an interview with Karen Dodoo-Antwi, sit-in host for Asaase Radio’s Sunday Night, the former leader of the Church of Pentecost described LGBTQI as evil.
“Sometimes if you look at those people, the type of dressing that they dress, you see that it is queer, and that is why they have added ‘queer’ to the ‘LGBTQI’ [sic].
“So we realised that there is something evil about it, we should not promote it. The bill is something that will help those people,” Professor Opoku Onyinah said.
He added: “The bill I support 100%. Having read through, I think it is very good, [and] they can go through – if there are some things they want to add they can add, as they do with every bill.
“It is a very important and relevant bill that will help the nation. It is the right way to tackle it.”
Professor Opoku Onyinah said that LGBTQI activities could be a great threat to procreation if not checked urgently.
Watch the full interview below:
Background
Known as 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 3 August 2021. It has since been referred to the committee on constitutional, legal and parliamentary affairs for consideration and report.
The 36-page private member’s bill aims to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values by proscribing LGBTQ+ and related activities, as well as propaganda for, advocacy or promotion of LGBTTQQIAAP+ and related activities.
It will 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 this provision are liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of no less than GHC9,000 and no 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 seeks besides to provide accused individuals with access to medical help or treatment, and to prohibit extrajudicial or inhumane treatment of people accused of offences under the bill.
Fred Dzakpata
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