A proposed law in Ghana to toughen curbs on the LGBT community has triggered a rift between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the local Anglican church, which strongly supports the bill.
Africa Daily News, New York understands that gay sex is illegal in highly religious and conservative Ghana, but the proposed law will criminalise even LGBTQ advocacy while imposing longer jail terms for same-sex relations.
The so-called ‘Promotion of proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values’ bill has been widely condemned by the international community and rights activists.
However, the bill, currently being debated in parliament, is widely supported in Ghana, where President Nana Akufo-Addo has said gay marriage will never be allowed while he is in power.
Ghana’s Anglican bishops endorsed the bill in a statement earlier this month, saying LGBT beliefs were ‘unbiblical and ungodly’ and also against Ghanaian tradition and culture.
‘This is about morality today and of the future generation,’ they said in a statement.
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But that stance has put the bishops at odds with Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the leader of the global Anglican communion.
Welby said he was ‘gravely concerned’ about the draft law and the Ghanaian church position on the bill.
‘I will be speaking with the Archbishop of Ghana in the coming days to discuss the Anglican Church of Ghana’s response to the Bill,’ he said in a communique.
He said he reminded the Anglican Church of Ghana of its commitments.
‘We are a global family of churches, but the mission of the church is the same in every culture and country: to demonstrate, through its actions and words, God’s offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ.’
Asked about the archbishop’s comments, Ghana’s bishops stood by their position.
‘We have seen and read about the statement by the bishops in the UK but what we have stated and stood for still stands,’ George Dawson-Amoah, director to Metropolitan Archbishop of Ghana, said.
‘We see LGBTQI as unrighteousness in the sight of God and therefore we will do anything within our powers and mandate to ensure that the bill comes into fruition.’
LGBTQI means lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
