The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), and the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) have criticised the US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer, over her statement on Ghana’s Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill (anti-LGBTQI bill).
Speaking at the US-Ghana Business Expo, which took place in Accra on August 10, 2023, Ambassador Palmer cautioned that discrimination against LGBTQ people would send the wrong signal to American investors in general and must be avoided.
“Ghana is a very welcoming, tolerant society, lots of interreligious, interethnic harmony, and that is what makes Ghana strong, stable, and attractive for investment. I hope it stays that way with regards to the LGBT community.
“And again, there is money to be made if the colour of your money is green or red; it is Ghanaian, but if there is discrimination or worse, then that will send a signal to not just LGBT investors but other American investors that Ghana is less welcoming than I am telling people that it is now. So, I hope it will stay welcoming,” she told journalists.
In a joint statement issued in Accra on Thursday, August 17, 2023, the three groups said that the remarks made by the ambassador were meant to intimidate members of Ghana's Parliament, who are working to pass the anti-LGBTQI bill, citinewsroom.com reports.
The statement added that the comments made by Virginia Palmer were surprising and unfortunate.
“Though the Christian leadership and the wider Ghanaian community are not utterly surprised by the statement, we find such a statement to be unfortunate and intended to subtly intimidate our lawmakers and business community into kowtowing to the cultural desires and the value preferences of a small but financially influential minority group in the US in particular and the western countries in general,” citinewsroom.com quoted parts of the statement.
It added that Ghana, as a nation, has its own cultural and religious values, which it has no intention to compromise for LGBTQ+ investors.
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US Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Palmer