Anti-gay bill: Sex toys shouldn't be criminalised — Ursula Owusu

Communications Minister and Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has added her voice to the anti-LGBTQI bill currently before Parliament.

She said the criminalisation of sex toys in the bill shouldn’t be considered.

According to the MP, the criminalisation of the use of sex toys contained in clause 3(c) of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 would inadvertently affect heterosexual couples who use sex toys to enhance their sex lives.

Clause 3(c) of the bill prohibits sexual intercourse between a man and an inanimate object or between a woman and an inanimate object.

Ursula Owusu speaking on the floor of Parliament, indicated that if the criminalization of sex toys is the intent of the House, then Parliament would have to be clear that the bill is not just targeted at the LGBT community but all and sundry.

And I think we raised this when the committee was considering it that the proposed amendment in 3(c) may create unintended consequences because sexual intercourse between a man and an inanimate object or between a woman and an inanimate object would necessarily include sexual intercourse with all manner of aids that couple use to enhance the sexual experience.

And I'm not sure if that’s what the intention of this bill is. It would necessarily include sex toys and other aids that couples, especially heterosexual couples, also use to enhance their sexual experience.

So if that is what the house intends, then we have to be clear in our minds that we may be criminalising activities, which may not necessarily be limited to only those LGBTQI communities that the target of this bill is, but it may also be targeting straight couples who use sex enhancement tools to enhance their sexual experience.

So we need to be mindful of the unintended consequences of 3(c), and I’ll propose that 3(c) be deleted from this amendment, she noted.

The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, if passed, would make identifying as gay, transgender, or queer a crime punishable with a maximum prison sentence of five years.

The decision of Parliament is expected to bring finality to the raging debate about the legalisation or otherwise of LGBTQI in Ghana.

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