Soldiers of God
I was in an all-terrain vehicle that bumped along a dirt road outside the capital Accra with flashing lights.At the wheel was a Ghanaian parliamentarian named Sam George who started talking about sex education for young children..They teach four-year-olds how to masturbate. They teach four-year-old children to accept and discover homosexuality, boys with boys, girls with girls.'He was talking about a teaching program recommended by the United Nations to the youth for Ghana.
According to him, this is proof that the international community is pushing homosexuality down the throats of young Ghanaians. “American and European money is funding the LGBTQIA+ community here,” he said. That is why it was high time for him, as a member of parliament, to intervene with strict anti-gay legislation.Five years in prison for anyone who identifies as gay, trans or queer. Ten years to anyone who expresses sympathy for the community.
Identicalchoice of words, identical fuss
I heard him talk and thought, where have I heard this before?
I was reminded of the fuss last March in the Netherlands about the Week of Spring Fever.
Not for nothing, of course, when you hear Thierry Baudet explain that children from the age of four are 'urged to think about gender reassignment, anal sex, threesomes and drag queens' in thousands of primary schools.NRC checked that statement and corrected that the last three themes do not appear at all in the teaching package.But of course the fuss passed over that.
It is no different in Ghana. The Comprehensive Sexual Education that the parliamentarian spoke about is sex education that, according to the UN, is intended to protect teenagers from unwanted pregnancies and HIV.. But conservative groups in the US have been warning for years about a hidden agenda.
One of the key spokespersons is Sharon Slater of Family Watch International. She travels across Africa to warn parliamentarians about the dangers of UN-approved sex education programs.
She is a frequent guest at the World Congress of Families, which preaches family values around the world.
Family values
Slater and the World Congress of Families also visited Ghana in 2019. In this interview (at 9 minutes), Slater accuses the Netherlands of using The World Starts With Me program to encourage children to give up their virginity and to try anal and oral sex.
The World Starts with Me is in fact a UNICEF teaching program for students aged 12 to 19 years old.
I asked the Ghanaian MP if he knew Sharon Slater. He admitted that without embarrassment. “I've been to Utah, yes. I was invited by Family Watch International to a conference of people from all over the African continent who think just like me. Parliamentarians from Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
“I had them read my bill. And they loved it. And we got advice from Sharon Slater.”
I was reminded of the fuss last March in the Netherlands about the Week of Spring Fever.
Not for nothing, of course, when you hear Thierry Baudet explain that children from the age of four are 'urged to think about gender reassignment, anal sex, threesomes and drag queens' in thousands of primary schools.NRC checked that statement and corrected that the last three themes do not appear at all in the teaching package.But of course the fuss passed over that.
It is no different in Ghana. The Comprehensive Sexual Education that the parliamentarian spoke about is sex education that, according to the UN, is intended to protect teenagers from unwanted pregnancies and HIV.. But conservative groups in the US have been warning for years about a hidden agenda.
One of the key spokespersons is Sharon Slater of Family Watch International. She travels across Africa to warn parliamentarians about the dangers of UN-approved sex education programs.
She is a frequent guest at the World Congress of Families, which preaches family values around the world.
Family values
Slater and the World Congress of Families also visited Ghana in 2019. In this interview (at 9 minutes), Slater accuses the Netherlands of using The World Starts With Me program to encourage children to give up their virginity and to try anal and oral sex.
The World Starts with Me is in fact a UNICEF teaching program for students aged 12 to 19 years old.
I asked the Ghanaian MP if he knew Sharon Slater. He admitted that without embarrassment. “I've been to Utah, yes. I was invited by Family Watch International to a conference of people from all over the African continent who think just like me. Parliamentarians from Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
“I had them read my bill. And they loved it. And we got advice from Sharon Slater.”
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| In Verona, 2019, visit of the World Congress of Families was accompanied by a 'March for Family' (c) Filippo Monteforte/AFP |
This is exactly why I enjoy working for Frontline so much. We explore our role and the international connections in conflicts that feel far away, and this story of the global culture war is just such a story.
It is no coincidence that African countries suddenly want to act so hard against everything that deviates from the hetero-hegemony.
In most countries, laws prohibiting homosexuality have existed since colonial times. In Ghana, the British had banned this since the end of the nineteenth century, but it was hardly supervised.
Only recently have you seen legislators come up with draconian laws in countries such as Uganda, Nigeria, and now also Ghana.
In Uganda they even want the death penalty and twenty years in prison for 'promoting homosexuality'.
The World Congress of Families is leading the international crusade against LGBTQIA+. The organization maintains warm ties with right-wing politicians such as Viktor Orban in Hungary, Giorgia Meloni in Italy and also visited Amsterdam in 2009.
The Dutchman Henk-Jan Schothorst also attends these types of conferences and, according to the Nederlands Dagblad, warns African leaders against signing treaties with the European Union because they also sign for abortion and equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Fertile ground for lobby
I do not believe that anti-gay laws in Africa are merely the result of the work of these international forces. But countries like Uganda and Ghana are fertile ground for this lobby.
There are also (international) opposing forces. During the visit of US Vice President Kamala Harris, the president of Ghana hinted that the soup is not eaten as hot as opposition MP Sam George would like.
Ghanaa also wants support from the international community now that the economy is in dire straits. Moreover, the law could be in conflict with the constitution.
Even Uganda's hardline president Museveni alluded to adjustment recently. And on the ground, the LGBTQIA+ community is fighting back hard, like YouTube phenom Angel Maxine.
NGOs such as Solace, affiliated with the HIVOS aid organization, try to help the community with international support.It does not amount to much financially, but can easily be interpreted by the opponents as the West's share in this culture war.
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