CAMPAIGNERS condemned Ghana’s parliament today for approving an anti-LGBT+ Bill that could send some people to prison for more than a decade.

The legislation, first tabled three years ago, criminalises members of the LGBT+ community and its supporters, who are barred from engaging in promotion and funding of related activities and public displays of affection.

Speaking to reporters after the Bill was passed on Wednesday, one of its sponsors, National Democratic Congress MP Sam George, said he felt relieved, “like a burden has been taken from me.”

The legislation has been sent to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

Ghana has generally been considered more respectful of human rights than most other African countries, but a coalition of activists warned that the legislation violated fundamental human rights.

“This Bill seeks to infringe on, amongst others, the rights to dignity, freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to partake in processions, academic freedom, equality and non-discrimination,” said the coalition in a statement.

MPs proposing the legislation said that they had consulted influential religious leaders while drafting it. 

Among those endorsing the Bill are the Christian Council of Ghana, the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and the country’s chief imam.