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Protester seeks recognition of LGBTQ rights in Ghana. (Photo courtesy of Labari Journal)The largely anti-LGBTQ parliament of Ghana will play host next week to anti-LGBTQ officials\u00a0 \u00a0from throughout Africa with the goal of eliminating LGBTQ rights throughout the continent.The conference, scheduled for June 3-6 in Accra, will target LGBTQ rights, women\u2019s rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights, civic freedoms, and democratic participation across Africa, human rights defenders warn.\u201cThe Accra conference is a heavyweight gathering: parliamentary figures, legal institutions, advocacy organisations, and African Union engagement, collectively working on anti-human rights strategies,\u201d says Jeffrey Haynes, emeritus professor of politics at London Metropolitan University.\u00a0\u201cIt is a strategic consolidation point for a broader, Western far-right-directed initiative with the objective of reshaping Africa\u2019s governance, family policy, gender rights, and human rights frameworks.\u201dThe gathering\u2019s formal name is the Fourth African Inter-Parliamentary \u201cFamily, Sovereignty and Values\u201d Conference, which will be held at the large interdenominational Accra Ridge Church, with Ghana President John Dramani Mahama expected to serve as Special Guest of Honour.LGBTQ rights at risk, LGBTQ activists dividedThe conference comes at a time when Ghana\u2019s parliament is again discussing the anti-LGBTQ bill that would make it a crime to identify as gay or support LGBTQ rights, would impose a three-year sentence for same-sex intimacy and up to 10 years for promoting LGBTQ rights in print, broadcast or online. That bill passed unanimously in 2024 but expired at year\u2019s end when it had not been signed by then President Nana Akufo-Addo.
\nThe persistence of support for the draconian anti-LGBTQ bill has led to divisions within the nation\u2019s LGBTQ community.
\nAbdul-wadud Mohammed
\nIn early May, Abdul-Wadud Mohammed, the former communications director for LGBT+ Rights Ghana, published an essay criticizing Ghana\u2019s queer advocacy movement for \u201cintellectual bankruptcy and strategic timidity\u201d. He argued that in March activists missed the chance to highlight the immorality of Ghana\u2019s support for repression of its LGBTQ citizens at a time when Ghana served as the \u201cmoral conscience of a global movement\u00a0for reparatory justice\u201d in its advocacy of a United Nations resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade the \u201cgravest crime against humanity.\u201dNext month, Ghana\u2019s activists will have a renewed opportunity to focus on the hypocrisy of embracing the modern-day immorality of LGBTQ repression while seeking justice for the past immorality of the slave trade, he says. That opportunity will be front and center when Ghana hosts the High-Level Next Steps Conference on Reparatory Justice on June 17-19\u00a0 in Accra.\u201cA government that wants to lead on reparative justice for slavery while legislating modern oppression is vulnerable,\u201d he wrote. \u201cWhy isn\u2019t the queer movement exploiting the contradiction?\u201dA shortage of funds for LGBTQ advocacy complicates the problems confronting Ghana\u2019s LGBTQ activists, says activist trans musician Angel Maxine Opoku.
\n\u201cDue to inadequate funding, there is a lot of fatigue\u201d, she says. \u201cActivists are finding it difficult to mobilize and strategize. \u2026\u00a0 The call-out in [Abdul-Wadud Mohammed\u2019s] article is for the activists at the top to put efforts in finding viable strategies to deal with the anti-LGBTQ+ bill rather than continuing with the past advocacy efforts that are not yielding any tangible results at the moment.\u201dA push to define \u2018African cultural identity\u2019 as heterosexualIn its own words, next week\u2019s African Inter-Parliamentary Conference will focus on \u201cAfrican cultural identity,\u201d family systems, food sovereignty, digital governance, artificial intelligence, and youth development.For human rights supporters, that means the conference will seek to institutionalize heterosexual family structures while opposing LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, comprehensive sexuality education, and broader gender justice frameworks.A key component of the conference agenda is a proposed Draft African Charter on Family, Sovereignty and Values, which the LGBTQ advocacy group Rightify Ghana says would threaten existing human rights protections under African and international charters and treaties.In the run-up to the conference, the human rights advocacy group JustRight Ghana took aim at the hotel corporation where the gathering was to be held \u2014 Four Points by Sheraton, a Marriott International franchisee.JustRight Ghana put pressure on Marriott, threatening a boycott and urging Marriott \u201cto act swiftly & responsibly \u2026 A company with a global commitment to diversity, inclusion, and human rights cannot remain silent while its facilities are used to host a conference associated with anti-women agendas and anti-LGBTQ+ issue.\u201dMarriott buckled under the pressure.\u00a0 Its hotel is still listed as a site where conference-goers can reserve rooms, but the conference itself will be at the Accra Ridge Church.Sharon Slater, President of Family Watch International. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)Taking direction from Western homophobesProfessor Haynes of London Metropolitan University, writing in the online Labari Journal, said:The involvement of prominent Ghanaian parliamentarians may obscure that the direction, financing, and ideological focus of the conference are not African.Behind the African faces and the \u2018protection-of-family-values-and-sovereignty\u2019 language are two wealthy and influential Western far-right organisations: USA-based\u00a0Family Watch International, and\u00a0Christian Council International\u00a0from the Netherlands.Both organisations have close ties to President Donald Trump and his administration, and seem determined to impose their alien ideas and values on Africans.See Also
\nSharon Slater,\u00a0President of Family Watch International \u2013\u00a0designated as a \u2018hate group\u2019\u00a0by the Southern Poverty Law Centre \u2013 and Henk Jan van Schothorst, founder and CEO of Christian Council International (CCI), have been spreading their anti-rights narratives into Africa since the 2010s.They target Africa with their anti-rights values and ideologies under the guise of protecting \u2018African traditional family values\u2019 and Africa\u2019s \u2018sovereignty\u2019.Van Schothorst\u2019s organisation, CCI, claims that it drafted the anti-rights\u00a0\u2018African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values\u2019.The draft charter prescribes discrimination and the rolling back of rights across Africa. It is no coincidence that the first three conferences were held in\u00a0Uganda, where in 2023 President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a draconian \u2018anti-gay law\u2019, with homosexual activities punishable by death.Ghana\u2019s position as a bastion of democracy in a region undergoing democratic backsliding is lending legitimacy to the anti-rights agenda.The background to the Accra conference is that many Africans are concerned about what they regard as the baleful influence of Western-style modernisation, believing it to be a key driver of cultural erosion and moral decline.Rapid adoption\u00a0of Western norms by many young people is thought to have created a \u2018moral vacuum\u2019, with traditional values \u2013 such as communal responsibility, respect for elders, and modesty \u2013 replace by rampant individualism, materialism, and corruption.The dual focus of the 4th Interparliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty \u2013 \u2018family values\u2019 and \u2018sovereignty\u2019 \u2013 no doubt appeals to many Africans concerned that, in the race for progress and development, traditional values are being lost.It is, however, a concern that Africans\u2019 legitimate concerns are being weaponised by Western far-right groups and their local allies, while Africa\u2019s long history of tolerance and harmonious inter-cultural living is ignored, as are Africa\u2019s historically diverse and fluid social structures.Instead, the conference focuses on a narrow, \u2018imported\u2019, definition of \u2018family\u2019 and \u2018values\u2019 that overlooks the continent\u2019s history of tolerance and community-focused \u2018living well together\u2019 and respect for diversity.Critics, such as\u00a0Kemi Akinfaderin of F\u00f2s Feminista, a global feminist alliance for reproductive justice with 180 partners across 35 countries, argue that such conferences impose Western anti-liberal agendas under the guise of defending tradition.<\/p>\n
\tRelated Protester seeks recognition of LGBTQ rights in Ghana. (Photo courtesy of Labari Journal)The largely anti-LGBTQ parliament of Ghana will play host next week to anti-LGBTQ officials\u00a0 \u00a0from throughout Africa with the goal of eliminating LGBTQ rights throughout the continent.The conference, scheduled for June 3-6 in Accra, will target LGBTQ rights, women\u2019s rights, sexual and reproductive …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_3659155457675267_172535249438148":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay.jpg",2000,1334,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-768x512.jpg",618,412,true],"large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-1024x683.jpg",618,412,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-1536x1025.jpg",1536,1025,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay.jpg",2000,1334,false],"tie-small":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-110x75.jpg",110,75,true],"tie-medium":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-310x165.jpg",310,165,true],"tie-large":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-310x205.jpg",310,205,true],"slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-660x330.jpg",660,330,true],"big-slider":["https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Ghana-event-seeks-declaration-that-Africas-\u2018cultural-identity-is-anti-gay-1050x525.jpg",1050,525,true]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xavieradioug.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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