If a bill that targets people for supporting the LGBTQ+ group and identifying as LGBTQ+ was passed into law, according to advocate Prince Frimpong, Ghana would “never return.”
Queer advocate Prince Frimpong fears that a proposed new rule approved by Ghana’s legislature could spark “witch hunts” for LGBTQ+ members and supporters in the West African country.
Last month, Ghanaian legislators approved a harsh bill that would, among other things, criminalize the “willful advertising” of “LGBTQ+ actions” and any failure to report an LGBTQ+ person to the government.
On March 6, the government’s High Commissions around the globe gathered on Ghana’s Independence Day to demand that leader Nana Akufo-Addo abstain from signing the bill into law.
Even though the act hasn’t taken effect yet, Prince Frimpong, an advocate with Youth Initiative Foundation, tells PinkNews there have already been strong repercussions.
The advocate claims that nothing of that kind had ever happened before and that one of his friends was stopped by boys in his neighborhood the day after the legislature’s decision.
“This kind of abuse is like a monster kill,” he said. In our society, we call it this because we’re being hunted, and someone will simply point and say: ‘monster’. Then they will investigate the person just on hearsay,” Frimpong claims.
“That’s exactly what is happening in Ghana,” she said. “You could just be walking about, and someone will just call you, ‘lesbian, gay, homosexual’, and all of a sudden, you’re being beaten.
That is the immediate consequence of the bill’s objectives. The act is bringing an era of slavery where we don’t choose who we are, where we associate ourselves.”
Frimpong believes that the bill will “enslave” queer people and be “used to” steal our constitutional rights “by” wiping and erasing our identity.
Ghana’s pro-LGBTQ+ costs hangs in the balance amid judge rulings
Before acting, President Akufo-Addo has stated that he will check the proposed legislation’s legality.
He acknowledged that it “sparked a lot of anxiety” about Ghana’s unfavorable, long-standing record of respect for human rights and respect for the rule of law.
Ghanaian, nearby LGBTQ+ organizations, international human rights groups, and the UN have, and also Ghana’s finance ministry.
Frimpong says his heart is “thus heavy” as anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment mounts in the West African nation. He believes that the policy was “literally” written for the politicians because it had “no” benefits to the Ghanaian world.
Queer Ghanaians now face discrimination, discrimination, and violence
Ghana’s current anti-LGBTQ+ law, derived from criminalizing “unnatural sexual knowledge”, imposes a peak three-year prison sentence for same-sex erotic activity.
And have been the result of recent pushes for more severe sanctions.
Frimpong says it was “really difficult to get to know” or “learn” his gay identity growing up in such an atmosphere. In one example, when he was 17, his family called the police as a way to “condemn” him for being part of the LGBTQ+ area.
“One day, I was just there, and the policeman came into the property, took me to the police station, and asked me lots of questions: who I was having an ‘affair’ with.
“I also suffered several assaults from the policemen and my mum … I remember signing a document or contract. Because I wasn’t 18, they couldn’t charge me with ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’ or charge me, because I was a minor.
What they could do is request that I sign a good behavior agreement and let me know that I’m not going to be queer again or anything else…
“It had a burden on me; it still haunts me. Because this bill would cause more harm than good, I’m fortunate that I don’t live with my parents anymore.
According to Frimpong, the policy would make existing issues about gay women’s lack of access to housing and employment worse. He worries that queer people won’t feel “safe with whoever is taking care of them” if they don’t go to hospitals.
He goes on to say: “The consequences are great. Words cannot adequately describe the impact this will have on the whole Ghanaian and LGBT communities. If the bill is passed into law, I worry that Ghana won’t be able to recover. Trust me, generations to come: we can never return from this act”.
Frimpong urges people to support LGBTQ+ Nigerians by sending support, advocating at the UN, protesting to ensure “a lot of accents” are “at the board” or holding lawmakers responsible for supporting the bill.
“You might think your actions aren’t enough, but it is enough”, he says. Because creating or influencing shift is a stepping stone, merely one action could change things. It’s one step at a time”.
With partners in Ghana, including Frimpong, world advocacy group All Out have calling for the costs to be rejected. Thus far, more than 77,000 people have signed it.
