Private legal practitioner, Akoto Ampaw is of the view that the majority of Ghanaians who are in support of the Anti LGBTQ Bill before Parliament are not informed of its details.

According to Mr Ampaw, who is part of the Coalition of Lawyers, Academics and other Professionals that submitted a memorandum to the House opposing the current bill before it, just a few are interested in its details and have read the bill.

Speaking on PM Express on JoyNews, he said due to the resentment most Ghanaians have for homosexuals and same-sex related activities, many including intellectuals have joined the bandwagon without assessing the complications of the proposed Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021.

"One of the things about this bill is that most Ghanaians do not like homosexuality so all they hear is that there is a move to ban homosexuality and on that basis they say 'We support it'. In fact, many among them, even the educated class have not read the bill. All they know is that this bill is to prevent homosexual activity. But the actual provisions of the bill, very few people have read it."

Interacting with host, Evans Mensah, Mr Akoto Ampaw disclosed that some anti LGBTQ supporters he had come into contact with were taken aback when they read the provisions in the bill.

Some worst scenarios according to Mr Ampaw, that may unfold if the bill in its current state is passed include a mother reporting her homosexual son to the police out of fear of being sanctioned due to breaching the law.

"I say, if you are a mother and you have a son who is a homosexual. You may not be happy about it but I can tell you apart from really crazy mothers, they'd just have to live with that situation. Now this law puts a duty on that mother to report her son to the police. This is the duty under this law.

"Is this not extremist? What social good does it promote for a mother to go and report her son because of who he is? How do you justify that?" he quizzed.

When asked about the protection the said bill seeks to provide to persons who identify as LGBTQ, Mr Ampaw stated that such assurances only want to arouse public sentiment and validate the public hatred for homosexuals.

He added that "the provisions which talk about providing protection and so on are hypocritical. Even our police, they will not be interested in that portion of the law. If the law says homosexuals are to be dealt with like the bill proposes and people beat them, I tell you...

"If you go and report to the police that you are a homosexual and you have been beaten, they will just look at you and say 'go away'. That scheme of the whole bill is meaningless."

Anti-LGBTQ Bill Saga

On Monday, August 2, the eight legislators spearheading the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 officially laid the bill before Parliament for approval.

The bill is currently with the Parliamentary Committee that has since called on citizens to submit documents stating their positions on the bill.

But to protect the rights of LGBTQ persons in the country, two separate documents were sent to Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on October 2, making a case against the proposed Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021.

The two groups supporting the memorandum are the Human Rights Coalition and a Coalition of Lawyers, Academics and other Professionals.

The coalition says the Bill is in direct conflict with a number of constitutionally-protected fundamental freedoms and human rights as well as a number of international human rights instruments to which Ghana is a State Party.

“The Bill is certain to negatively impact Ghana’s reputation at the international level and have a direct impact on its relationship with many foreign nations as well as its ability to attract foreign aid, foreign investors and tourists. The Bill could be considered as support for state-sponsored discrimination.”

Thus “the Bill ought, with respect, to be firmly rejected by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and by Parliament as a whole.”

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram says the two groups that have sent documents to Parliament’s Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs making a case against the proposed Anti LGBTQ+ bill cannot override the desire of the majority.

According to Sam George, majority of Ghanaians do not want to tolerate same-sex relationships or people with different sexual orientations.