• Rev. Opuni Frimpong says the bill speaks the mind of the larger population
• He says calls for its retraction will undermine the sanctity of marriage
Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa, has added his voice to the calls for parliament to approve the anti-LGBTQ bill before it.
According to the reverend minister, the bill is only a response to a wider pool of calls in the country to phase out any incidences of rallying for the acceptance of homosexual practices or for same sex relationships.
Speaking with GhanaWeb in a telephone interview, he urged parliament and especially those leading the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 to stay steadfast.
“We are urging the Speaker of Parliament, Members of Parliament and especially the sponsors of the bill to stay focused and ignore the pressure coming from groups especially those calling for a total withdrawal of the bill on the grounds that the bill is a response to a national cry,” he said.
Rev. Opuni Frimpong explained that the larger constituency of Ghana is in support of the bill but if there is the need to revisit portions of it to serve the interests of all, then that should be done.
He however said any attempt to completely shelve this bill will undermine the sanctity of marriage in the country.
“Ghanaians go for it. We have the National Chief Imam, who represents a constituency, calling for a legal legislation on LGBT. We have the Christian Council – and these are representatives of huge numbers of Ghanaians: Presbyterians, Methodists, E.P., Baptist, Anglican, we have iconic bishops, we have traditional leaders. So, these people representing various constituencies, calling for legislation, something to guide us and how do we respond to this global threat to marriage and family values knowing that we have our own traditions and culture?
“What we expect that when issues are before parliament, and they gazette, we expect dissenting views – you don’t expect everybody to say the same thing and agree to everything and therefore, if there are specific clauses that certain groups of interests: people expect that change this, tone this down, yes but to say that it must be totally withdrawn, then you leave us in a state of confusion, undermining matters of sanctity of marriage and family values,” he said.
The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021 was laid in the House on Monday, August 2 and read for the first time.
They want the promotion, advocacy, funding, and acts of homosexuality to be criminalized in the country.
Meanwhile, 18 prominent people have rejected the proposed anti-gay bill in parliament.
Rev. Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong is the Exec Dir of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa