Cruel Anti-LGBTQ Bill in Ghana Highlights Role of American Extremists Who Are Exporting Hate Violence
Delray Beach, FL – Truth Wins Out (TWO) called on Congress and the Biden Administration today to harshly sanction – if it becomes law — sponsors of a draconian bill in Ghana that would strip LGBTQ Ghanaians of their basic humanity, personal dignity, expectation of privacy and fundamental human rights. The mean-spirited bill is also being pushed by American religious extremists, who trot about the globe working feverishly to impose their harsh brand of fundamentalist “Christianity”.
The proposed law in Ghana would mete out atrocious penalties for existing as an LGBTQ person, including prison and the forced participation in discredited and barbaric “ex-gay” conversion practices. It would also potentially jail heterosexual allies who support their LGBTQ friends and family members.
“This malevolent bill is a state sponsored hate crime and the Ghanaian bullies that are behind the terror should be unsparingly targeted for appropriate sanctions,” said Truth Wins Out’s Wayne Besen. “The bill itself is a criminal act and has no more legitimacy than the heinous Nuremberg Laws that preceded it. A message must be sent by Congress and the Biden Administration that such violations of privacy, decency and human rights will not go unanswered.”
In an op-ed published this week in Yahoo news, a Ghanaian citizen, Arthur Musah, writes:
In 2019, an organization [U.S.] called the World Congress of Families, which is classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group with white supremacist ties, held a conference in Accra, Ghana. They partnered with local conservatives to fan the flames of Ghana’s homophobia into a full scale assault on queer Ghanaians and their friends.
“The export of hate has become a lucrative cottage industry in the United States that is terrorizing LGBTQ people and others across the globe,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “A wall of shame must be erected to embarrass and stop Americans who fund or traffic in human rights abuses and hate violence under the false banner of religion.”
Not only does the bill in Ghana prescribes up to five years in prison for LGBTQ people and includes forced “conversion therapy”, it also threatens up to 10 years in prison for anyone who advocates for LGBTQ people. It includes forced medical procedures for intersex children, a requirement for families and teachers to report LGBTQ relatives and students or be subject to jail time, and even an extradition clause to allow the bill to arrest Ghanaian activists abroad.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Arbitrary arrests and detention of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and a proposed draconian anti-LGBT bill are causing serious economic hardship and psychological stress for LGBT people.”
“These actions by American hate groups weaken democracy and represent a national security threat because they debase our country’s core values, while undermining our standing in the world,” added TWO’s Wayne Besen.
Americans, often with their Russian counterparts, have teamed up to poison societies against LGBTQ people and pass backward laws with harsh punishments. We have seen such efforts in Russia, Hungary, Poland and most ominously in Uganda, where U.S. religious ideologues promoted the fearsome “Kill the Gays” bill.
Truth Wins Out educates the world on the harm caused by destructive “ex-gay” conversion programs, while fighting to eliminate anti-LGBTQ prejudice and discrimination. We believe that genuine freedom and contentment derive from authenticity and living one’s truth.
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