On Tuesday, August 14, 2024, Rightify Ghana’s Director had the honour of meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.
With LGBTQI+ criminalisation rising in Africa, and Ghana’s anti-LGBTQI+ bill pending, we shared our experiences as queer individuals in Ghana and expressed gratitude to the Pope for his progressive stance, especially his opposition to violence and discrimination.
Pope Francis encouraged us to “keep fighting for your rights,” and that’s exactly what we will do.
We’re also grateful for the meaningful gifts we received—they will always hold a special place for us.
On Tuesday, August 14, 2024, Rightify Ghana's Director @Ebenezer_Peegah had the honour of meeting Pope Francis @Pontifex at the Vatican.
With LGBTQI+ criminalisation rising in Africa, and Ghana's anti-LGBTQI+ bill pending, we shared our experiences as queer individuals in.. pic.twitter.com/tYfW1X4W6D
Speaker of the Ghana Parliament, Rt Hon Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has reaffirmed his commitment to opposing the legalization of LGBTQ+ activities in Ghana.
He disclosed this at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Catholic Church in Oyarifa, Accra, during its Patronal Feast Day.
Rt Hon Bagbin declared that he would rather die than support LGBTQ+ rights, which he believes are driven by negative forces and should not be accepted in Ghana.
He criticized European countries for promoting homosexuality in the African continent and urged the Catholic community to disregard media claims that the Pope has endorsed LGBTQ+ activities.
Speaker Bagbin stated that LGBTQ+ rights do not exist anywhere in the world and will not be legalized in Ghana during his tenure.
“Let me say that, as a Catholic, I will not do anything that will end the world and as I always say, I prefer to die fighting against these homosexual activities than to protect their so-called rights,” the Speaker of Parliament said.
The anti-gay bill, which promotes traditional family values, has been passed by Parliament and is awaiting the President’s assent to become law.
Rt Hon Bagbin praised the Catholic Church for its support and contributions to national development, particularly in education, health, and social services.
He highlighted the Church’s role in advocating for social justice and human rights, including efforts to abolish the death penalty and criminalize witchcraft accusations.
“Let me commend the church for taking the principled stand of speaking out against injustice and championing the cause of the marginalized. This important role by the church ensures that the nation moves towards greater equity and inclusion, creating a just society where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.”
“Indeed, it is an open secret that many of the schools, hospitals, and charitable organizations that provide essential services, especially in underserved communities in Ghana have been led by the Church. These institutions do not only address the immediate needs of the people but also empower individuals through education and healthcare, thus contributing to a more informed and healthier populace,” Speaker Bagbin added.
He urged the Church to continue pressing the Executive to pass important legislation, such as the Armed Forces Amendment Act and laws against witchcraft accusations. Bagbin also donated GHS20,000 towards the Church’s new chapel project, emphasizing the importance of promoting ethical and moral values.
In his sermon, Most Rev. John Kobina Louis encouraged church members to seek the intercession of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, for wisdom and endurance.
The Church’s Pastoral Council Chairman, Henry Adjei expressed gratitude to Rt Hon Bagbin and the Auxiliary Bishop for their support.
According to him, the Church started 28 years ago and has a congregation of over 1,500 members, noting that, the new chapel project is estimated to host over 2000 congregations when completed and assured that the Speaker and the Bishop would be invited for commissioning.
Open Letter from the Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa to the Most Rev. Philip Naameh, Chair of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference
05 March 2024
Dear Most Rev. Philip Naameh,
We urge you and the Catholic bishops in Ghana to reconsider your stance toward the now-passed “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Act, 2024.” Ask the President not to assent to it. Pledge to support LGBT+ Ghanaians with human rights advocacy and pastoral care. Take back the religious independence which this Act wrongfully arrogates to the civil authority.
We urge you and your fellow bishops to read the Act carefully. This Act criminalizes people who “hold out as” LGBT+ (section 4.1). It criminalizes spiritual caregivers, family, and friends, who do not immediately report LGBT+ people to the police (sections 4 and 17). And it protects anti-LGBT+ media which styles itself as a “response to any form of advocacy or activism,” no matter how “graphic” or hateful that media may be
Criminalizing people on the basis of their inward dispositions is wrong. As Pope Francis stated on 5 February, 2023: “Criminalising people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.” We urge you to follow the Pope’s leadership.
LGBT+ people often share their thoughts and their struggles with spiritual caregivers, family, and friends. Forcing these caregivers to report LGBT+ people to the police is a shocking overreach of government power. How can spiritual leaders like yourselves tolerate such a provision in the law?
Giving sanction to graphic anti-LGBT+ propaganda in education, instruction, and public media encourages hatred and violence. To support this kind of legalized vitriol is to cry “Peace! Peace!” where there is no peace (Jer 6:14).
Your support for this Act has created panic among many of the LGBT+ people of Ghana, and among many of the people who love them. Those who look to you for action are desperate. Many turn to the Church as a last place of refuge and support. Do not chase souls away. Do not lead our society into greater conflict and vitriol. Do not abandon the persecuted, and lead their persecutors astray.
IDNOWA affirms the teaching of the Catholic Church that LGBT+ people “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity;” that “every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided” (CCC 2358).
We believe that our sexual orientations and gender identities belong to God’s creation and are part of his plan for the salvation of humankind, while the Magisterium of the Catholic Church teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and that “under no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2357). On this we disagree. But we affirm with you the Magisterium’s teaching on the dignity of LGBT+ people: “It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church’s pastors wherever it occurs. It reveals a kind of disregard for others which endangers the most fundamental principles of a healthy society.” No matter what a person may “hold out” to be, “the intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in word, in action and in law” (Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, 10). On this, all people of good will should agree.
Now that the Act has been passed by Parliament, the Ghanaian government has begun to weigh its costs and its dangers. The bishops, too, should weigh its effects very carefully.
We urge you to ask the President not to assent to it.
We urge you to pledge your support for the human rights of LGBT+ Ghanaians; and for their right to access pastoral care and personal counselling in freedom.
If this law gains Presidential assent, we urge you to support LGBT+ Ghanaians and the people who love them with legal assistance. Give them lawyers and legal support when they are arrested and jailed under this unjust and un-Christian law.
In the past several years, IDNOWA has made efforts to engage with you and the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, but we have never received an invitation to further dialogue. In the spirit of synodality, ask us to talk with you. Walk together with us, so that you can hear the voices of LGBT+ Ghanaians – both Catholic and non-Catholic. Let us together build a more peaceful, more just society.
Sincerely, Davis Mac Iyalla Executive Director of Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa interfaithdiversitynowa@gmail.com
A prominent Ghanaian priest, cardinal Peter Turkson of the Roman Catholic church has spoken against criminalizing homosexuality, challenging the proposed bill in Ghana’s parliament that seeks severe penalties for the LGBTQ+ community.
This statement contradicts the position of other Roman Catholic bishops in Ghana who have labelled homosexuality a crime.
The backdrop of this discussion involves ongoing parliamentary debates on a bill that could lead to three-year prison sentences for identifying as LGBT, with up to 10 years for those advocating for LGBTQ+ rights.
Cardinal Turkson’s perspective diverges from the traditional stance of the Church, aligning more closely with Pope Francis, who recently indicated openness to blessing same-sex couples.
However, the Pope clarified that the Church still considers same-sex relationships as “objectively sinful” and does not endorse same-sex marriage.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Cardinal Turkson emphasized the need for education to foster understanding of homosexuality, asserting that LGBT individuals should not be criminalized since they have committed no crime.
Despite acknowledging cultural nuances, Cardinal Turkson criticized the influence of foreign donations on African countries’ anti-LGBT measures, cautioning against imposing positions on cultures not ready to accept them.
This commentary comes amid similar legislative developments in other African nations, such as Uganda, where a law proposing life imprisonment and even death penalties for homosexuality has raised international concerns.
Cardinal Turkson, the first-ever Ghanaian cardinal appointed in 2003, holds a prominent position as the chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences.
The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has published a declaration on recent LGBTQI activities in Ghana which comes as an intervention into the national conversation about the establishment of an LGBTI office in Accra.
“At the beginning of lent, the GCBC should come up with a message of reflection and repentance for the people of faith. Instead, it instigates violence and hate crimes against LGBTI people by using words such as ‘crusade’ against LGBTI in an affirmative way,” says Davis Mac-Iyalla, Executive Director of Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa.
Davis continues by asking: “Our local bishops have distorted the powerful message of mercy and pastoral care for LGBTI people and their families that Pope Francis promotes. How do they relate to the Pope who most recently has spoken out in favour of state laws for civil unions of same-sex couples and the right for LGBTI people to have a family?”
The arguments made by the GCBC are outdated and badly informed. When the bishops refer to biblical perspectives on homosexuality, they present interpretations that are outdated according to the theological standards of the Roman Catholic Church. In 2019, the Biblical Pontifical Commission has published a study on biblical anthropology in which it has expressed the conclusion that the story about Sodom and Gomorra in Genesis chapter 19 does not deal with homosexual people, but with sexual violence exercised by the (mostly) heterosexual men living in Sodom breaking the customary law of hospitality.
The GCBC translates the Greek word ‘arsenokoitai’ in 1 Corinthian 6:9f. and 1 Timothy 1:10 into two different meanings; ‘sodomites’ and ‘sexual perverts’ where in fact the literal translation is ‘male bedders’. From the cultural context of Greco-Roman antiquity, it is evident, that the verses refer to exploitative sexual relationships between men, but not to durable ones based on love and mutual care. This shows not only how careless the GCBC translations are, but also that the exact meaning of the Greek word is less than clear for us today.
“In the discussions of the Bible’s teaching, we often miss the references in the Gospels of its warm message of inclusion and of welcoming. Why is it not possible for the Catholic bishops to apply this to LGBTI people?” asks Davis Mac-Iyalla.
When the bishops refer to the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality, they base it on a heteronormative interpretation of the creation accounts in Genesis chapter 1 and 2. They connect these chapters with the idea of an order of nature with the ‘rich symbolism and meaning’ of sexual activity in heterosexual marriage. This theological anthropology ignores that sexual orientation is considered a variety within the norm according to medical and psychological academic standards. While referring to the allegedly ‘right reason’ they side-line scientific knowledge with detrimental effects for lesbian and gay people.
The title of the GCBC declaration makes the reader expect that it is dealing with “LGBTQI” activities in Ghana. However, the theological issues of gender identity of trans people and sex characteristics of intersex people are not addressed at all which again shows a lack of intellectual diligence by the authors of this document.
IDNOWA welcomes the declaration that the GCBC sees LGBTI people as humans with human rights, even though this should go without saying (See article 1 and 2 of UN declaration of Human rights). These human rights include, among others, the right to physical integrity; equality and non-discrimination education in school and the freedom of religion/beliefs and the right to have a family. By rejecting attempts of LGBTI organisations to have a common office from where they can pursue the goal to realize their human rights, the GCBC practically denies the human rights of LGBTI people. The GCBC falsely reduces the plethora of human rights to the one right to marry a same-sex partner and ignores all others. Human rights are indivisible and indeed article 30 of the UN declaration of human rights, says that no group should act in a way that would destroy the rights and freedoms of others.
“The declaration of the GCBC lacks the empathy and understanding for the situation of the lives of LGBTI people in Ghana,” Says Mac-Iyalla. “The IDNOWA would like to start a personal dialogue with Ghanaian Catholic Church leaders to help provide a better starting point for the pastoral work of the church and to help the GCBC make their support of the human rights of LGBTI people more effective for the future.”
It was a very confusing article from the go with Fr Kelvin saying that being homosexual is not normal and that such people need help. Later in the article he says he does not think homosexuals should be condemn but then spends the rest of the article doing just that.
Fr. Kelvin says he has done extensive research on the topic of homosexuality but he only ever quotes from articles and research from the early 70’s and 80’s which have all been superseded by much more modern thinking and research about the LGBT community. However, Fr. Kelvin completely disregards this more modern reports. He goes on to say that Pope Francis recent remarks on gay marriage and LGBT community in the church have been totally misquoted and misunderstood.
Fr Kelvin begins the article saying he feels forced to accept homosexual people but totally disagree with the notion that it is a natural behaviour for humans to be homosexual. He says that homosexuals like to justify their behaviour by comparing homosexual behaviour in animals. He does not believe this can be be used as an argument in favour of such behaviour in humans as normal.
Then again, I say, nor should the absence of homosexual animal behaviour be used as an argument that homosexuality among humans is ‘against nature’. Platon and Christian authors from antiquity have made such arguments before that form the basis of the ‘against nature’ argument.
Interestingly, Fr Kelvin does not speak in terms of ‘against nature’, but writes, ‘not normal’. The word normal in fact has 2 meanings: the average and then also the normative. Fr. Kelvin does not make it clear about which meaning he is referring to.
Fr Kelvin says he ‘stumbled’ on a manual of mental disorders published in 1968 by the APA (American Psychiatric Association) which says that homosexuality is a mental disorder. He says that gay activists ‘threatened APA with strong words’ to make them remove this which they did in 1973.
Fr Kelvin is using a myth. No member was ever forced to vote for the removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder; they responded to a change of social reality which made them understand that homosexuals are mentally completely functioning. Is Fr. Kelvin insinuating that lesbian and gays are mentally ill? In Germany, they compared this kind of collective understanding with that of the hunting of witches, which was also based on irrational myths and beliefs.
Fr. Kelvin talks about actions that former US President Obama did to Uganda over their anti-gay laws. He never elaborates what actions he is talking about nor do I remember what he did, but I do know that Obama acted against the death penalty for same-sex sexual acts. Fr Kelvin does not mention this grave punishment at all. Why is he silent about this? He, instead, uses simple anti-colonial rhetoric by connecting anti-homosexual statements found on Facebook with access to visas.
Fr Kelvin seems to believe that Pope Francis has been misquoted. He wants to make us believe that the Pope is just a nice guy to everybody; that the Pope has no clear understanding of what he says. He does not take into consideration that Francis did really want to say what he said. By this, Fr. Kelvin shows no respect to the Pope.
In addition, as a Catholic priest, Fr. Kelvin says nothing on what he, himself does to welcome LGBT people in his own parish. What kind of pastoral care does he offer to them? How does he follow the numerous examples that Pope Francis has given?
A recent article in Independent Catholic News (Matthew Charlesworth SJ- https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/40759) talks about a new documentary by Evgeny Afineevsky entitled ‘Francesco’ in which the Pope is reported to say, ‘Homosexual people have a right to be in a family … They are children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or made miserable over it.’
This is obviously a continuity of the opinion that the pope holds on civil unions because he already supported them when he was archbishop in Buenos Aires. He considers same-sex couples in the framework of the family and accepts that they need to have rights in order to live undisturbed.
Fr. Kelvin, on the other hand, does not come close to understanding this perspective at all. He does not use the framework of human rights when it comes to LGBT people.
But I do agree on one thing that Fr. Kelvin says at the end of his report, indeed do ‘pray for your Christian Leaders’ and do ‘prayer for the Pope.’ However, I suspect I might well be praying for a very different outcome.
Interfaith Diversity Network of West Africa 