Explaer: what mak Ghana’s anti-gay bill so extreme? | Global velopment | The Guardian

Contents:

• EXPLAER: WHAT MAK GHANA’S ANTI-GAY BILL SO EXTREME?
• NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• GAY ACTIVISTS GHANA MAND RELEASE OF 21 PEOPLE ARRTED AT LGBTQI NFERENCE
• HOW 2 GAY MEN LIVE A COUNTRY WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS ILLEGAL
• GHANA: ANTI-GAY BILL PROPOSG 10-YEAR PRISON SENTENC SPARKS OUTRAGE

EXPLAER: WHAT MAK GHANA’S ANTI-GAY BILL SO EXTREME?

If passed s current form, rights groups say uld spark a wch-hunt of sexual mori, advocy groups and “alli”, forcg the public to report on their are some of the ma measur, wh excerpts om the bill self:A clampdown on LGBTQ+ intyThe law would crimalise, wh up to five years prison, intifyg as a LGBTQ+ person, havg a gay relatnship or terurse.

(A) person ms an offence if the person holds out as a lbian, a gay, a transgenr, a transsexual, a queer, a pansexual, an ally …. A duty to reportAnyone ma aware of gay acts who fails to report them uld also be crimalised. Shone Apong, a paralegal and advote for mori Ghana, says the bill is an attack on the existence of anyone believed to be gay or queer.

NEW ‘GAY WATER’ LOOKS TO AVOID BUD LIGHT DISASTER

It was put forward by a cross-party group of MPs led by Sam Gee, an opposn MP and one of the most proment anti-gay figur parliament.

Both are active Ai and other parts of the world fightg agast abortn rights and gay rights.

A new nned cktail lled Gay Water is lookg to attract LGBTQ drkers and avoid the pfalls of Bud Light’s disastro marketg partnership wh transgenr fluencer Dylan Mulvaney. The mixture of vodka and soda water, long known rmally as “gay water” the LGBTQ muny, is the brachild of 30-year-old gay entreprenr Spencer Hodson. He noted that the nctn aims “to stigmatize the word ‘gay’ by brgg reprentatn to spac that have not tradnally featured queer products, such as bars, liquor stor, grocery stor, rtrants, hotels and more.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

Hodson, who is fancg Gay Water wh his own money pl backg om fay and iends, his brightly lored ns are leang to their gayns stead of avoidg . He told CNN that he worked wh a queer signer to base Gay Water’s red, purple, green and orange lor scheme on pop art and 1990s televisn shows om Nickeloon, a ble work for children.

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.

A statement on the Gay Water webse not that the word “gay” appears barely any products outsi of Pri Month each June. Acrdg to the statement, the new cktail reclaims the ia that “gay means happy.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Remember a Holiday Hoeboy is your gay iendly tour gui who looks after your safety and welfare at all tim. Jacksonville Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen cid on Thursday to e out publicly as gay hop of livg his life whout fear and to spire others.

GAY ACTIVISTS GHANA MAND RELEASE OF 21 PEOPLE ARRTED AT LGBTQI NFERENCE

Before jog Jacksonville’s achg staff, he was a strength ach for the football teams at Baylor and Febary 2022, Maxen reached out to NFL player Carl Nassib, who me out as gay 2021, to seek advice. Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

HOW 2 GAY MEN LIVE A COUNTRY WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS ILLEGAL

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league. Passg the Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu bill would further rce eedoms a untry where gay sex is already punishable wh up to three years jail, crics and activists Odoi, an amic rearcher, filed a lawsu on July 7 challengg the bill's nstutnaly, sayg would impact donor aid and other forms of fancial support.

Ghana's Supreme Court on Wednday led her arguments were not sufficiently nvcg to grant an lg cleared the way for the bill, one of the harsht towards the LGBTQ muny Ai, to go through a fal stage of parliamentary approval before beg signed to May, Uganda's Print Yoweri Meveni signed one of the world's tought anti-LGBTQ laws, which spelled out the ath penalty for "aggravated homosexualy"'s bill, backed by relig and tradnal lears, clus jail sentenc of up to 10 years for advotg for LGBTQ rights. Donkor said the nference which the police had tagged an “unlawful assembly” was a paralegal trag for gay activists as discrimatn agast sexual mori remas rife Ghana.

Intolerance and vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people have ntued to thrive among Ghana’s populatn, acrdg to Human Rights Watch. Donkor told CNN that homophobia manifts var forms Ghana.

GHANA: ANTI-GAY BILL PROPOSG 10-YEAR PRISON SENTENC SPARKS OUTRAGE

Police spokman, Dogbatse, says he is unwillg to ment on homophobia Ghana.

The gay activist hop that the #ReleaseThe21 mpaign would expand the public nversatn around tolerance and rpect for gay rights Ghana. Some 37 Ain untri crimalize homosexual relatnships, wh penalti rangg om mismeanors to ath sentenc, acrdg to a Human Rights Campaign Foundatn and Human Rights First report released Tuday. In Ghana, a untry often regard as among the most progrsively mocratic natns Ai, homosexualy remas illegal, punishable by up to three years imprisonment.

A recent Pew survey of var untri, not all Ain, reveals that 98 percent of Ghanaians feel that homosexualy is “morally unacceptable, ” the hight percentage of any untry surveyed. “In Ghana, everybody is culturally and religly bld, ” says Fred K., an openly gay man livg the Ghanaian pal of Accra who didn’t want to share his last name for fear of crimal and social repercsns. “My fellow gays don’t want anythg to be legalized, ” Nana Yaw, a human rights activist and openly gay man, says.