Don’t sign 'draconian and hateful' anti-gay Bill – Richard Branson to Akufo-Addo

The Founder and CEO of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson has expressed concern about the negative impact of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill popularly known as anti-LGBTQ Bill.

In late February, I watched with deep concern as Ghana’s parliament passed a cruel and terrifying new anti-LGBTQ+ bill, that criminalises people simply for coming out, giving courts the power to impose a prison sentence of up to three years.

To make things worse, people who support LGBTQ+ rights could also face jail terms of up to five years under the new legislation.

The Act that could lead to the persecution of thousands of people; some in Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community have been forced into hiding, others have chosen exile.

At the heart of this, we must remember that people do not choose to be gay and that absolutely anyone could be – millions of people all over the world, in every country, are gay.

Love is love, straight or gay, and we should always stand up so that the LGBTQ+ community can live and love in peace

I am also proud that Virgin is a co-founder of Open For Business, a coalition of businesses fighting homophobia on a global scale and making the business case for LGBTQ+ inclusion