‘US will continue to engage Ghana over LGBTQI+ issues’ - White House Press Secretary

Press Secretary at the United States White House Jen Psaki, has asserted that LGBTQ+ rights are human rights issues and must be respected.

Responding to a question asked by a journalist concerning the anti-LGBTQI+ bill before Ghana’s parliament, she said LGBTQI rights are rights that the globe must accept.

According to her, US President Joe Biden believes LGBTQI+ rights are rights not only respected in the US but across the world.

She said these rights must be respected and countries must continue to protect such rights.

She revealed these rights are part of rights the US was prepared to raise in their diplomatic engagements with countries especially Ghana.

She was asked whether the US President would be engaging with Ghana’s President over the matter at a press conference at the White House in the US.

In her response, she told the journalist that she expected that the State Department was working on the issue and would address the matter.

The ‘Proper Human Sexual and Ghanaian Family Values Bill’ 2021, is currently being worked on by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament.

The bill prescribes that people of the same sex who engage in sexual activity could be fined or jailed for between three to five years.

The bill has invoked mixed reactions from the public with several Christian and Muslim organizations supporting it.

Some have threatened to campaign against any party that will oppose the bill.

The Bill is a private members’ legislation sponsored by eight Members of Parliament – seven from the NDC and one from the NPP.

Groups and individuals who advocate for the rights of LGBTQI people or offer support could also face yo to ten years in jail.

Support for intersex people would also be criminalised and the government could direct intersex people to receive “gender realignment” surgery, said the draft legislation.