LGBT Activism Puts Henry Annan In Trouble

A young vibrant man by name Henry Annan in his early thirties has landed into a serious issue in the country due to his activism and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activities.

The young man aged 33, is said to be very vocal for LGBTQ+ activities and believes no individual should face victimization due to such support for a community.

The individuals who describe themselves as anti-LGBT crusaders say, Henry Annan has been supporting and vouching for the actions of LGBT to continue in the Ghanaian society, reason to them he deserves to be attacked.

According to police report made available to the paper, the individuals who attacked Henry are on the run and all means to get them by intelligence are being worked on to bring them to book.

The police have promised to keep searching for the perpetrators and bring them to face court of competent jurisdiction for necessary prosecution.

The police have further described the attack on the innocent gentleman as unlawful, and promised to deal with such actions to its rightful way.

A Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill which has been in contention in the country seeks to criminalise activities of persons who hold out as lesbian, gay, transgender, transsexual or queer, persons who hold divergent socio-cultural notions of sex, persons with a biological anomaly regarding their gender at birth, persons involved in the promotion of or advocacy and funding for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer related activities, as well as persons who conduct surgical procedures to reassign an individual’s gender except for medical purposes.

The Bill further imposes a duty on citizens and relevant independent constitutional bodies to promote and protect proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values.

The Bill also makes any union or marriage entered into by persons of the same sex and persons who have undergone gender or sex reassignment void.

Many opinionated and critical thinking personalities including Henry Annan have expressed dismay over such a bill describing it as inhuman and violation to human rights.

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Dame in an opinion piece to President Akufo-Addo in November last year stated in clear and direct language that “parts of the Bill in its present form violate some fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution, including the right to freedom of expression, thought and conscience and freedom from discrimination. Other provisions of the Bill, however, pass the test of constitutionality.”

The Attorney General added that “Unnatural carnal knowledge is defined by section 104(2) as “sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural manner, or with an animal”.

“Thus, unnatural carnal knowledge of a person of at least 16 years with the consent of that person and unnatural carnal knowledge of an animal is already criminalised by Act 29 as a misdemeanour. The Bill, however, seeks to categorise the offence as a second-degree felony, making it inconsistent with the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act, 1960 (Act 30), which classifies offences in Ghana generally and their correlative punishments.

“It would, however, be observed that not all forms of unnatural carnal knowledge or sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex have been criminalised by current Ghana law. This is because section 99 of Act 29 on “Evidence of carnal knowledge” prescribes for evidence of carnal knowledge to be “complete on proof of the least degree of penetration.”

“Thus, it would appear that sexual intercourse or unnatural carnal knowledge between or among persons of the female sex, for instance, is not criminalised by current Ghana law. To this extent, subparagraph (a) of paragraph 1 of clause 6 can be seen to state a broader prohibition on unnatural carnal knowledge or sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex as known to Ghana law. The provision is not unconstitutional.”