{"id":267935,"date":"2024-12-19T11:44:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T11:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/12\/19\/ghanas-supreme-court-dismisses-challenges-to-anti-lgbt-bill\/"},"modified":"2024-12-19T11:44:29","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T11:44:29","slug":"ghanas-supreme-court-dismisses-challenges-to-anti-lgbt-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/12\/19\/ghanas-supreme-court-dismisses-challenges-to-anti-lgbt-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana&#8217;s Supreme Court dismisses challenges to anti-LGBT bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/708\/70829523.295.jpg\" alt=\"Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison\" title=\"Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison\" width=\"295\" height=\"196\" \/> <span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"-webkit-user-select: none; -webkit-touch-callout: none; -moz-user-select: none; -ms-user-select: none; user-select: none;\">\n<p id=\"article-123\">Ghana&#8217;s Supreme Court has unanimously decided to dismiss two legal challenges to new anti-LGBT legislation that has been criticised by rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a bill imposing three years in prison for people identifying as LGBT and five years for forming or funding LGBT groups.<\/p>\n<p>Fear and uncertainty has gripped Ghana&#8217;s LGBT community, already facing limited rights. The bill, considered one of Africa&#8217;s most draconian anti-LGBT laws, has been condemned by the UN.<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Odoi and Richard Dela-Sky filed separate challenges to the bill to declare it illegal and prevent President Nana Akufo-Addo from signing it into law.<\/p>\n<p>President Akufo-Addo delayed signing it following the challenges to the bill. He said he would wait for the Supreme Court&#8217;s decision.<\/p>\n<p>But after several months of consideration, the judges said the case couldn&#8217;t be reviewed until the president had signed it into law.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Until there&#8217;s presidential assent, there is no act,&#8221; said Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson as quoted by Reuters news agency.<\/p>\n<p>The two cases were &#8220;unanimously dismissed&#8221;, Justice Lovelace-Johnson added.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Odoi and Mr Sky&#8217;s lawyers told Reuters they weren&#8217;t happy with the ruling and would explore their options after reviewing the full judgment.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed new legislation &#8211; The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values bill &#8211; was backed by both of Ghana&#8217;s main political parties.<\/p>\n<p>But Mr Sky said there were not enough MPs in the chamber when the vote took place.<\/p>\n<p>With his two-term presidency ending on 7 January, President Akufo-Addo has not yet revealed what he will do.<\/p>\n<p>Opposition leader John Mahama, who won this month&#8217;s presidential election, has expressed support for the bill.<\/p>\n<p>If it becomes law, it is likely to face further challenges in court.<\/p>\n<p>Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison in the conservative West African country.<\/p>\n<p>But this new legislation has already had implications for the LGBT community, said Abena Takyiwaa Manuh, senior fellow of Accra-based Centre for Democratic Governance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Even without the passage of the bill, people have been attacking members of a certain community,&#8221; he was quoted as saying by Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This kind of formalism actually put at risk the life and health of certain members of the community, and of course some of us who are human rights defenders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The bill was first introduced to parliament in 2021 but faced many delays.<\/p>\n<p>When it was passed, the controversial bill sparked criticism from the finance ministry, which warned that Ghana could lose about $3.8bn (\u00a33bn) in World Bank funding over the next five to six years if it was passed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison Ghana&#8217;s Supreme Court has unanimously decided to dismiss two legal challenges to new anti-LGBT legislation that has been criticised by rights groups. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a bill imposing three years in prison for people identifying as LGBT and five years for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":267936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ghana&#039;s Supreme Court dismisses challenges to anti-LGBT bill - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/12\/19\/ghanas-supreme-court-dismisses-challenges-to-anti-lgbt-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ghana&#039;s Supreme Court dismisses challenges to anti-LGBT bill - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gay sex is already punishable by up to three years in prison Ghana&#8217;s Supreme Court has unanimously decided to dismiss two legal challenges to new anti-LGBT legislation that has been criticised by rights groups. 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