<<Print>>

The Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, on Wednesday, October 6, presented a document to Parliament, containing the signatures of 15,000 of its members in support of the anti-LGBTQ+ bill currently before the House.

He stated that, the 15,000 signatures are only a fraction of its members who support the move by the legislative body to make it an illegal practice for persons who support the gay community to continue to push their agendas to be regularized.

Speaking to media at Parliament House, Apostle Eric said they can even present as many as 2 million signatures should they be allowed time.

"The Church of Pentecost is over 3.1 million, and about 10.38% of the Ghanaian population and we have brought in 15,000 signatures. I believe that this is significant enough, if they give us time, we can even bring 2 million just to make a statement that this bill, we support it 100%," he said.

Apostle Eric Nyamekye added, "so, we are praying for the parliamentarians to make good arguments. They should know that there is a creation; this is a sovereign state - that the whole world is a sovereign state with a ruler and the one who created us reserves the right to tell us how to behave. If we leave the right to behaviour in the hands of the creation then soon, every lifestyle will be shielded by law till we have some anarchy state: lawlessness in this nation.

"Now, if you want to have sex with a beast, they say it's okay. If you want to have sex with a pig, they say it's okay. If I want to marry my daughter, it's okay. If I want to have sex with a tree, it's okay. I mean so where are we going? The issue is not about rights; the issue is about morality - what is right and what is wrong," he said.

GhanaWeb in this report outlines some of the reasons the Church of Pentecost provided as the basis for backing the anti-LGBTQ+ law.

1. There is legal authority backing the passage of anti-LGBTQ+ laws by states. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that European nations are not legally obliged to allow same-sex marriages and that same does not amount to an affront of fundamental human rights.

2. The natural means of sexual relations and procreation in itself is a human right, which must be preserved for our very survival.

3. Marriage is an institution ordained by God and it is highly esteemed in every Ghanaian culture as the union between a biological man and a biological woman.

4. LGBTQI+ does not fit clearly into the laws of Ghana. Therefore, it does not have provisions that can promote marital laws if it should be allowed to fester in Ghana.

5. Ghanaians are religious and that foundation must not be destroyed by any emerging social trends and ideologies such as the LGBTQI+ and its related worldviews.

6. References to God in our National Anthem and the Preamble to the 1992 Constitution presuppose that Ghana is a religious nation but at the same time secular in the sense that, the same Constitution prohibits the elevation of any religious organization into a State religion. It is however noteworthy that all religions in Ghana agree without any equivocation that marriage is between a man and a woman as biologically defined.

7. The biological gender of males and females are determined at birth but not carved by the capricious taste of an individual in adulthood.

8. The arguments of the opponents to the Bill that technology can be used to procreate gives further credence to the argument that LGBTQ+ relationships or marriages are a serious threat to the generational replenishment of our society.

9. A same-sex marriage, where the partners are both males, will deprive the home of motherly care and love should the partners even be allowed to adopt children. Note that the tenderness of the biologically carved females as the mother of the home is completely different from the self-assumed “mother” by a man claiming to be a woman.

10. Where the partners are both females, the fatherly presence will be lost. The Biblical responsibility of the man as the head will be absent.

11. Our cultural system in its richness has defined roles for men and women on a lot of issues and a complementary role on others. An LGBTTQ+ family will be deficient in every conceivable aspect of family life.

12. LGBTTQ+ will have a negative demographic effect on the country for their sexual activities are non-procreative.

13. Moves of the LGBTTQQIAAP+ activities in Ghana will make the Ghanaian population extinct.

14. One of God’s purpose for marriage is procreation; the continuity of human life on earth. LGBTQ+ ideology will curtail this purpose of God for creating the woman.

15. God detests the very act of same-sex sexual relations.

16. God abhors perverse sexual practices.

17. The rectum which is used for defecation is being used for sex. For the LGBTQ+ practitioners, the type of ailments and diseases they suffer is mostly kept secret as they refuse to disclose them.

18. Secondly it is a drain on the public purse to buy medical supplies, to train more medical staff to cater for their peculiar/special needs.

19. Their activities, therefore, stagnate and eventually lead to a negative growth rate as shown by the recent population census.

20. Traditionally, social-cultural values consider the practice of LGBTQ+ as an abomination and an affront to the very existence of society.

21. The practice of LGBTQ+ is not in line with the culture of Ghanaians, it is a complete fight and destruction against the institution of marriage, where the system is for biological males to marry the biological female (opposite sex) and the bringing up of children.

22. The supposed rights of LGBTQ+ persons are subject to, or curtailed by firstly “respect for the rights and freedom of others”: And secondly by the "Public Interest.”

23. Upholding the rights of LGBTQ+ will lead to opening floodgates for practitioners to lure otherwise uninterested persons into sodomy and other LGBTQ+ activities.

24. The promotion of LGBTQ+ activities will introduce some challenges and consequences with gender determination. This is because the concept of gender fluidity would mean that there will be no objective means of determining male or female.

25. A careful reading of the interventions by Pro-LGBTQ+ persons gives reasons why such a Bill should be passed.

26. To uphold our sovereignty as a State, the compelling forces for decision taking must be internal and not external as is the case of propagators of LGBTQ+ persons. We should be allowed to take and make our own decisions without external force.

27. The Report of the Scientific Research Council shows that about 18.1% of people living with AIDS are gays. The Centre for Disease Control has also stated that persons involved in such acts are at a higher risk of contracting and spreading Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).

28. The LGBTTQQIAAP+ community and its activities are totally foreign and alien to the social fiber of our society. Not a single people group or culture in the Ghanaian society accepts this so-called community and its activities.

29. If all are gays and lesbians how will the next generation of Ghanaians be produced? LGBTTQQIAAP+ is a threat to our population growth.

30. The Bill seeks to bring in reformative measures for LGBTTQQIAAP+ groups. This uniquely positions the country as forward-looking in managing the welfare and general wellbeing of its citizenry.

31. Even though the proponents and supporters of the LGBTTQQIAAP+ community rely on enforcing human rights as their major objective, the same group seems to seek the rights of other people and their belief systems trampled upon.

32. We need a sui generis law that enhances the criminalization of LGBTTQQIAAP+ activities.

33. There would appear to be no end to the limits on sexual rights if the supposed freedom sought is not controlled in our Ghanaian society.

34. Although it seems rather absurd, even children are being allowed to alter their sexes however they please. Where should the limit be placed?

35. Every sovereign nation has the right to determine its own values and destiny. The bill before us addresses issues of “proper human sexual rights” from the perspective of the Ghanaian context.