Parliament passes bill criminalizing homosexuality

It is a new example of the advance of homophobic ideas in Africa and the fruit of a crusade led tirelessly by American evangelical missionaries on this continent.

In Ghana, on February 28, 2024, a bill criminalizing the LGBT+ community was largely passed by Parliament. The text provides in particular for up to three years of imprisonment for a person engaging in homosexual activity and 10 years for any act promoting homosexuality. All that is missing is the signature of Nana Akufo-Addo, the Ghanaian president, for this law to come into force.

A very embarrassed president, who also saved a little time by sending the text back to the office of the Supreme Court to find out if it should be promulgated. The president finds himself trapped, because it is an election year and he has every chance of winning. But if he does not validate the bill, everything could become complicated, because it was voted by a large majority by the representatives of the people. And if he signs it, he could deprive the country of nearly 3.5 billion euros in financing from the World Bank. This sanction is provided by the institutions against countries passing discriminatory laws. This is the case, for example, in Uganda where, since 2023, homosexuality has been an offense punishable by death.

However, Uganda still benefits from aid from the International Monetary Fund, according to Ghanaian MP Sam Georges, at the origin of the anti-homosexuality text in Ghana. In reality, the financial aid already validated has not been withdrawn, but Uganda will be sanctioned. The World Bank has confirmed that it will not grant any more loans to the country in the future. Faced with the press in Ghana, Sam Georges stops at nothing. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us that gay people are four times more suicidal.

“The young man who recently walked into a school in the United States to kill 22 children was transgender, all this drama because of mental illness.”

Sam Georges, Ghanaian MP

franceinfo

“Look in Africa, which country has the highest crime rate? South Africa. Why? Because they adopted homosexuality thinking it was a factor of growth”, he declares, combining approximations and false information to defend his anti-LGBT+ project.

Nearly 50 million euros sent by evangelical groups

This type of untruth is echoed in more and more countries on the African continent. Just look at the map which lists the countries where homosexuality is illegal. In total there are 66 and half are on the African continent. It is the fruit of a crusade waged tirelessly for several decades by hundreds of conservative American evangelical groups. A cultural battle detailed in a documentary from New York Times, “The Gospel of Intolerance”. Between 2007 and 2018, nearly 50 million euros were sent to Africa by around twenty ultra-conservative American evangelical groups. And among the priority targets is Ghana, where a world summit on “the natural family” was organized in 2019.