Even before the Supreme Courts commences sitting on a petition filed by one Kojo Tetteh to seek interpretation on whether or not the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights And Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 (alias anti-LGBT Bill) does not contradict portions of Ghana’s laws, there are reports the petitioner has come under homophobic attacks.
The petitioner, according to reports, has received several forms of threats including warnings that anal sex would be experimented on him if he truly believes sex is truly a right of persons who opt for that preference.
His lawyers, the Law Alert Group, have maintained tight lips over the threats and are said to have cautioned him to relocate from his neighborhood to a safer environment.
“I am not into same sex but it does not mean that I should be afraid to speak against a law seeking to target a specific group of persons. The truth is many of the people talking about this Bill do not know what it is, they think it is a Bill to legalize gay marriages in Ghana but that is far from the truth.
“Let us wait for the Supreme Court decide on my petition then we know that we have truly tested the laws of the land whether or not it defends everyone or it targets a few. As for the threats from some insane folks that they would force anal sex on me to prove my true intentions, it is neither here nor there it is about what the Bill actually contains and whether it is not contradictory to our Constitution”, the petitioner noted in an interaction with journalists.
His petition argued that sexual behavior between consenting adults ought not to warrant an interference by Government and that although the Criminal and Other Offences Act, has undergone various forms of amendment but not once has there been an attempt to criminalize sexual act between two consenting adults that appears to be different from what others perceive as normal.
He avers that “the law makers knew and have always known that the state is precluded from delving into matters personal between two adults who are ad idem with each other. This explains why unnatural carnal knowledge is a crime only if same is without the consent of the other party or the other party is below the age of 16 years.
“The Bill is repugnant to the Constitution in that it leads to the subjective discretion of people of the general populace to determine whether a person belongs to that group. Exercise of subjective discretion, most often than not, leads to unfounded and unsubstantiated complaints to the Police.
“This becomes a vindictive tool to be used by person who have issues with each other. The Bill would only open a pandora box leading to unwarranted chaos to the detriment of all and sundry. The bill should not see the light of day.”
