The Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC) has thrown its weight behind the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021 that is currently at the consideration stage in Parliament.
The council, therefore, called on all parliamentarians to work through consensus to ensure that the bill was unanimously passed into law without any further delays.
“The GPCC wishes to state in no uncertain terms its full support for the ‘Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill 2021’.
As a council, we stand with the entire membership of the Coalition for the Promotion of ‘Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values’, the private sponsors/promoters of the bill in Parliament and all others who in diverse ways are lending their support to the passage of this all-important bill,” the largest ecumenical group said.
GPCC
The GPCC has over 260 registered and active pentecostal and charismatic churches and para-church organisations across the country.
Conservative estimates put the congregational members of the member churches in the region of eight to 10 million.
The GPCC as an ecumenical council, therefore, represents a sizeable constituent of the Ghanaian population and electorate.
The President of the GPCC, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, said the council had observed with keen interest recent happenings and deliberations in Parliament towards the passage of the bill.
Background
In August 2021, the bill, which seeks to criminalise the activities of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI), as well as individuals and organisations that advocate or promote the act in the country, was laid in Parliament.
Known as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, it was read for the first time and the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, referred it to the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for consideration and report.
The 36-page Private Member’s Bill is to provide for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values, proscribe LGBTQ+ and related activities, propaganda of, advocacy for or promotion of all forms of same sex interactions, among others (LGBTTQQIAAP+) and related activities.
