A bill that wants to restrict the freedoms of sexual minorities in Ghana crystallizes tensions between the Anglican Church and its Ghanaian branch, the latter actively supporting the passage of the law.
In Ghana, a very religious country with a Christian majority, same-sex relationships are prohibited, but no one has ever been prosecuted under the colonial-era law. However, LGBTQ + people (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans, queers, intersex and others) are regularly the target of discrimination.
Currently debated in Parliament, the proposed law “For the promotion of appropriate sexual rights and Ghanaian family values” is condemned by part of the international community and human rights defenders.
This law, submitted to Parliament by opposition MPs, provides in particular to criminalize the defense of the rights of LGBTQ + people, an obligation to denounce “Suspects”, the promotion of conversion therapy or even the imposition of heavier prison sentences to condemn homosexuality. In early October, the bishops of the Anglican Church of Ghana actively supported the proposed law, claiming that LGBTQ + people “Were ungodly”.
“Criminalization”
A position at odds with the Anglican World Communion which says “Seriously concerned about this bill” and “Against the criminalization of people attracted to the same sex”, insisted on Tuesday, October 26, the spiritual leader of the Anglicans Justin Welby in a press release.
The Anglican Church, which brings together some 80 million faithful across the world, is made up of different branches, some of which are more liberal, as in the United States or Scotland, and others very conservative, as in Ghana or Nigeria. .
“We are a worldwide family of churches, but the mission of the Church is the same in every culture and every country: to demonstrate, by his actions and his words, God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ “, insisted the Archbishop of Canterbury in his press release.
In response, the director of the archdiocese of Ghana, George Dawson-Amoah, said he was maintaining his positions. “We will do everything in our power to make sure that the bill comes to fruition”, he clarified. If the text was adopted by parliament, former human rights lawyer re-elected president in December Nana Akufo-Addo could either enact it or veto it.
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