{"id":2474,"date":"2026-05-13T15:39:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/?p=2474"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:45:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T15:45:47","slug":"ghanas-religious-groups-intensify-anti-lgbtq-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/ghanas-religious-groups-intensify-anti-lgbtq-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa Update | Ghana\u2019s Religious Groups Intensify Anti-LGBTQ Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In our April round-up of LGBTQ+ news, Fatteh also spotlights sexual health in Senegal, Nigerian feminism, Tunisian cinema and must-read stories from Uganda, Botswana and Cameroon.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u1260\u1264\u12db \u1208\u12d3\u1208\u121d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When religious leaders put aside their differences to rally against a common foe, they can exert immense political pressure. Such was the case last month in Ghana, where a chorus of churches, mosques and clerics spoke out against the LGBTQ community, urging President John Mahama to sign sweeping legislation that would expand persecution of LGBTQ people and criminalise anyone who supports them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Singing from the same hymn sheet were Christian leaders<\/a> from Alabaster International Ministries, Living Yahweh 7th Day Sabbath Assemblies and the Christian Council of Ghana. Once they had criticised the president for failing to expedite the bill, other faith leaders joined the campaign, including Ghana\u2019s chief Islamic cleric<\/a> \u2014 who had previously called gay people \u201cdemonic<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and members of the Anbariya Sunni Muslim Community<\/a>. The offensive has not yet succeeded, but it highlights how anti-LGBTQ lobbyists across the continent can draw powerful backing from a wide range of religious groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the sermon against LGBTQ people did not end in Ghana. Leaders of Jamra, an Islamic organisation in Senegal that previously handed over a list<\/a> of suspected LGBTQ people to the police, resurfaced<\/a> in April after deciding to investigate a pop music concert for traces of \u201cLGBTQ rainbow colours\u201d in a singer\u2019s stage outfit. The surreal episode reflects how anti-gay religious mobilisation now extends beyond politics into the arts, entertainment and wider culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid all the hostility during the month, there were also signs of visibility and progress. Organisers of eThekwini Pride unveiled their theme ahead of the forthcoming march in Durban. It was a welcome reminder that Pride celebrations are now held in around a dozen cities and towns across South Africa. Not long after, a North African filmmaker released a lesbian-themed film set in Tunisia, bringing LGBTQ stories from the Maghreb into global cinemas. Another bright spot came from Botswana, where a legal milestone brings us neatly to the second edition of our new series\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fatteh\u2019s Defender of the Month<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Each month, Fatteh celebrates the bold, brave and admirable people who stand up for LGBTQ communities across the African continent, from tireless activists dedicated to the cause to ordinary people who make the difficult decision to put their necks on the line for others. Our latest honouree is someone whose bravery helped make history in Botswana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Letsweletse Motshidiemang is Fatteh\u2019s Defender of the Month for bringing about one of Africa\u2019s most important LGBTQ legal breakthroughs. As a gay man in Botswana, he challenged provisions criminalising same-sex intimacy back in 2016 \u2014 a case that led the high court to strike the law down in 2019 and an appeals court to uphold that victory in 2021. But it wasn\u2019t until last month that Botswana finally completed the legal process<\/a> by formally removing the ban from its statute books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it was a collective effort involving his legal team, advocates and supporters, this important achievement would not have been possible if one ordinary person hadn\u2019t done something extraordinary. A 21-year-old student with no real desire to be an activist put his name, dignity and personal safety at the centre of a case that helped show African courts can defend LGBTQ human rights even when politicians will not. \u201cI\u2019m just someone who takes pride in who he is,\u201d said Letsweletse at the time of his first legal win<\/a>. \u201cI did this so people like me don\u2019t need to feel like who we are is a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore our complete round-up of April headlines.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\" <\/b>Senegal police arrest more than 100 people after harsher anti-gay law enacted<\/strong><\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\" <\/a>\"\" Uganda\u2019s supreme court delays appeal against Anti-Homosexuality Act<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\" <\/b>Ghana\u2019s chief Islamic cleric wants anti-gay bill to become law before he dies<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\"\u00a0<\/b>Islamic group investigates Senegalese singer\u2019s concert outfit for \u2018LGBTQ colours<\/strong><\/a>\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/b><\/a>\"\" <\/a><\/b>Trans Visibility Day pageant contestants assaulted and robbed in Cameroon<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" <\/b><\/a>Anbariya Sunni Muslim leaders in Ghana urge president to sign anti-LGBTQ bill<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/b>HIV patients fear seeking treatment in Senegal amid anti-LGBTQ crackdown<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\" Ghanaian parliamentarian Reverend Ntim Fordjour denies allegations he is gay<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" <\/b><\/a>Nigeria\u2019s mainstream feminist movement continues to exclude LGBTQ women<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\" Uganda official under US sanctions for corruption defends anti-gay stance<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> <\/b>\"\" <\/b>Gay man violently attacked in Morocco as fears grow over anti-LGBTQ hostility<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\" <\/b>Cameroon refuses to allow trans people to change gender on ID cards<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\" Ghanaian anti-LGBTQ lawmaker calls for two trans women to be arrested<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/b><\/a> \"\"<\/b><\/a> South Africa\u2019s eThekwini Pride reveals theme ahead of Durban march<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" <\/b><\/a>France-based Tunisian filmmaker releases lesbian movie set in Tunis<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a> \"\"\u00a0Botswana formally scraps same-sex intimacy law years after court ruling<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/b>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\" Christian groups criticise president for not expediting Ghana\u2019s anti-LGBTQ bill<\/strong><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n

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In our April round-up of LGBTQ+ news, Fatteh also spotlights sexual health in Senegal, Nigerian feminism, Tunisian cinema and must-read stories from Uganda, Botswana and Cameroon.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[35,29,32,34,25,33,28,30,31,26,27],"class_list":["post-2474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anbariya-sunni-muslim-community","tag-gayethiopians","tag-gayrights","tag-ghanas-chief-islamic-cleric","tag-ghanas-religious-groupsanti-lgbtq-campaign","tag-lesbianrights","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtafrica","tag-lgbtethiopia","tag-lgbtqafrica","tag-lgbtqethiopia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2483,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474\/revisions\/2483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fattehmagazine.com\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}