Anti-LGBTQ+ bill: Why should it be about religion? – Bridget Otoo to Catholic Bishop

• Bridget Otoo has questioned the basis for a Bishop to claim that Ghana will become an Islamic state

• She wonders why conversations about LGBTQ+ should become religious

• Most Reverend Philip Naameh had said Ghana will become an Islamic state if LGBTQ+ activities are embraced

Bridget Otoo has chastised Catholic Bishop, Most Reverend Philip Naameh, for stating that embracing same-sex relations in Ghana could give Muslims the chance to outgrow Christians and thus establish themselves as the most dominant religion.

Speaking in a Facebook live session, the Metro TV news anchor could not comprehend why the President of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference could make such a comment and think that Ghanaians would not question his motives.

Reading a GhanaWeb report of the Bishop’s interview with CNN, Otoo asked, “first of all why is this about religion? How did this conversation become a religion?”

She said, “you think that people will see this and read the story, Ghanaians don’t read story ooo, they just read the headline...even though the conversation is not legalization of LGBTQ+, but somehow, we are finding a way to make it about it.”

The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Reverend Philip Naameh, in an interview with CNN, expresses his fears that the legalization of LGBTQ+ activities in Ghana could lead to the establishment of an ‘Islamic State’ which is bad news for Christians.

“Those who are promoting gays and lesbians are not going to have children at all, and within a short time nobody should be surprised that Muslims will become a majority in this country and declare it an Islamic state,” Archbishop Philip Naameh, the president of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference told CNN.

This, Bridget Otoo noted that a young Muslim who has read the story of the Catholic Bishop will immediately wonder why a Bishop will form this perception about his fellow humans.

“A young Muslim sitting somewhere, seeing this and thinking; how can a Bishop say that? Are we second class citizens? Are we inferior?” she said “No you are not inferior…”

Bridget Otoo pleaded with the leaders of the various religious bodies not to make the issue of LGBTQ+ religious.

“This is not a religious matter; this is not Christians against Muslims nor Muslims against Christians. It is an issue we are talking about; deal with that. Don’t sway and take the conversation to where it ought not to be,” she advised.

About the anti-LGBTQ+ bill

Sam Nartey George led an eight-member legislative group that drafted a Private Members’ Bill titled: “The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values, Bill 2021," which seeks to comprehensively outlaw activities of the LGBTQ+ community.

Currently, the bill has been laid before the house and referred to the appropriate committee for consideration.

The Ningo Prampram MP has strongly defended the need for the bill which he insists is a necessity in preserving the moral and cultural values of Ghanaians in general.

Sam George insists that LGBTQ+ tendencies are not human rights but preferences that need to be regulated within the context of what Ghanaian society and culture accept.

The bill has the full blessing of Speaker Alban Bagbin who is on record to have said he is pro-life and will ensure that the bill is passed into law as soon as possible.