Musician and activist Sister Derby, has been a vocal opponent of the Anti-LGBTQ bill in Ghana, expressing her stance even before it passed through Parliament.
Despite her efforts through music, radio, TV, and social media to champion LGBTQ+ rights, the bill went through various parliamentary stages and was passed on Thursday, February 28.
After the announcement of the bill’s passage, Sister Derby took to social media to express her views. She implied that the approval of the bill resolves numerous challenges in Ghana, encompassing the assurance of potable drinking water, the repair of deteriorated roads, the cleansing of polluted rivers, the resolution of plastic pollution, the removal of children from the streets, the tackling of galamsey issues, and the construction of hospitals and schools, among other matters.
In response to her brother Wanlov the Kuborlor’s post about persistent power outages, she humorously commented, “the passage of the bill will fix the roads, build hospitals and schools, ensure that there’s potable water in every community, clean all the polluted rivers, stop Galamsey, provide jobs for the youth, solve the plastic pollution menace, take the kids off the streets and also solve light off issue lmao.”
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsthe passage of the bill will fix the roads, build hospitals and schools, ensure that there’s potable water in every community, clean all the polluted rivers, stop Galamsey, provide jobs for the youth, solve the plastic pollution menace, take the kids off the streets and also… https://t.co/e7FCG0gvLx
— Sister Deborah (@deborahvanessa7) February 28, 2024
The Anti-LGBTQ bill criminalizes and prescribes penalties for engaging in LGBTQ activities, as well as for promoting, advocating, and funding such activities. Individuals caught in the act may face a 6-month to 3-year jail term, while promoters and sponsors could be sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison.