Former head of the Political Science Department at KNUST, Dr. Amoako Baah, has appealed to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo not to sign the proposed anti-LGBT+ Bill into Law.
Dr. Baah argued that, the Bill infringes on individual rights and freedoms, criticizing the drafters for overlooking these concerns.
“The Bill is not good, not because I support LGBT, but because of how they wrote the Bill. Those who wrote the Bill, I wonder what they learned to be able to write that Bill.”
He further highlighted the potential infringements on fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, opinion, and association, stating, “We have freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom of association, and there is more freedom, but based on how those people wrote the bill, they have infringed upon all these freedoms.”
Questioning the morality of punishing individuals based on religious doctrines, Dr. Baah said, “If God says he doesn’t want homosexuals, fine, I don’t also support them, but has God come down to kill someone? So why would you decide that someone should be arrested or be punished? Nana Addo shouldn’t sign it; if they like, they should call him gay; it won’t matter because those who are intellectuals would know that there are issues with the bill.”
Dr. Baah also raised concerns about the bill potentially criminalizing certain sexual practices within heterosexual marriages.
He questioned whether the government would intrude into people’s bedrooms to determine their sexual activities, especially regarding anal sex between married couples.
“Right to privacy has been infringed; if your child is a homosexual and you don’t report him, that is also a sin. Why? Which kind of law is written like this? Is it because men are having anal sex with women or what? And if that is it, I can tell you that a lot of men have anal sex with their wives, and I know what I am talking about; a lot of men do that. So are we going to arrest such people also, or what?” he said in on Accra based Neat FM.
READ ALSO: