Richard Dela Sky, a private attorney, has petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill—also referred to as the anti-gay bill—to be void and unenforceable.
Sky claims that Article 33(5) of the 1992 Constitution, along with Articles 12(1) and (2), 15(1), 17(1) and (2), 18(2), and 21(1) (a) (b) (d) and (e) of the Constitution, are all violated by the bill’s passage.
“Raising profound concerns regarding the potential infringement of the fundamental human rights and freedoms guaranteed to every Ghanaian by the Constitution,” he claims are the provisions of the bill.
Furthermore, according to Richard Sky, “the Speaker of Parliament violated Article 108(a)(ii) of the Constitution by admitting and permitting Parliament to proceed upon and pass
“The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2024″ into law as the same imposes a charge upon the Consolidated Fund or other public funds of Ghana.”
The bill was approved by Parliament on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, and it forbids funding, advocacy, and promotion of LGBTQ activities.
The controversial bill has not yet received President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s assent; instead, he has declared that he will wait for the Supreme Court’s decision before making a decision.
Sky’s writ also requests that the Supreme Court issue an order prohibiting the President of the Republic from signing “The Human and Sexual Values Bill, 2024,” citing that doing so would directly violate Ghanaians’ constitutional rights to liberty and privacy.
Additionally, he prayed for “an injunction barring any attempts to enforce the provisions of The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill 2024,” especially those that criminalize advocacy for same-sex relationships.
