Ghana court upholds anti-gay sex law

The ruling comes as the African state awaits a verdict on a new bill that will toughen a crackdown on LGBTQ activities

Ghana’s top court has upheld a six-decade-old law that criminalizes gay sex in the West African country, dismissing a writ challenging its constitutionality without immediately providing an explanation for the ruling.

The Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday was unanimously reached by a seven-member panel presided over by Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie. The judges stated that the full reasoning for the conclusion would be made available later.

In 2021, Prince Obiri-Korang, a lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law, filed an appeal to annul certain provisions of the Criminal and Offenses Act of 1960, which prohibit same-sex sexual acts. The law classifies such activities as “unnatural carnal knowledge.”

Obiri-Korang had contended that the legislation, which has been in place for over 60 years, violated the constitutional right to privacy and the protection against discrimination.

While the current law imposes up to three years in jail on offenders, a new bill introducing harsher punishment for homosexual activities in Ghana awaits a Supreme Court ruling on its legality.

In February, the country’s parliament passed the Promotion of Proper Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, with the aim of promoting traditional Ghanaian family values. The proposed law imposes penalties for promoting LGBTQ activities, including imprisonment for up to five years.

However, people challenging its constitutionality have raised concerns about discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.

Ghana’s Western allies have widely condemned the bill, and the US State Department stated at the time that it was “deeply troubled” by the MPs’ approval of the legislation.

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In March, the finance ministry in Accra outlined the economic implications of the anti-LGBTQ bill for the country’s cooperation with the World Bank and other international partners, including Germany, which has also opposed the bill’s passage. The ministry had claimed that the cash-strapped nation would lose $600 million in budget support and $250 million for the Financial Stability Fund over the next five or six years as a result.

Earlier this month, the court postponed its verdict on whether to send the legislation to President Nana Akufo-Addo for his signature.