The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has rejected the notion that national discussions on family values and LGBTQ+ issues are unimportant, while urging President John Dramani Mahama to keep his earlier promise to assent to the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill if passed by Parliament.
The bishops addressed recent public comments ascribed to the President and Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, in a statement dated April 10 and signed by Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi.
The bishops cited reports that the President referred to LGBTQ+ issues as “not the most important issue we face as a nation” during a speech at the World Affairs Council.
The Minister was also quoted as calling the discussion a “waste of time” and stating that such matters are “not a major priority for Ghanaians.”
“Even if intended to prioritise urgent socio-economic concerns, such descriptions risk conveying that certain moral questions may be set aside as inconsequential,” the bishops stated.
“Yet no question that touches the structure of human identity, family life, and social continuity can be trivial. Nations do not live by bread alone.”
Strong family structures are intimately linked to better educational outcomes, lower crime rates, and increased economic mobility, according to the Conference, which rejected what it called a false division between economic interests and moral considerations.
According to the statement, “weakening the moral ecology of the family is to erode the very conditions that make sustainable development possible.”
The bishops reiterated two values: society’s obligation to preserve the family, which is based on the marriage of a man and a woman, and the intrinsic dignity of every person, regardless of sexual orientation or identity.
“No individual, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, may be subjected to violence, hatred, or unjust discrimination. Such acts are moral failures and social wounds. We condemn them without reservation,” they said.
The bishops brought up the President’s prior public declaration that he would sign the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill if it was properly passed through constitutional procedures.
“Democratic integrity rests, in part, on the fidelity of leaders to their publicly stated commitments. Should Parliament complete its deliberations and pass the Bill, we urge the President to honour this assurance,” they stated.
They also called for careful parliamentary review and potential improvement, acknowledging that certain of the Bill’s provisions had given rise to valid concerns.
The bishops called on all relevant parties, including the Executive, Parliament, religious organisations, traditional authorities, and civil society, to have respectful, thoughtful, and morally clear conversations.
The statement continued, “The Church remains committed to participating in this dialogue, not as one who imposes, but as one who proposes, confident that truth, when patiently articulated, has a quiet persuasive power.”
Source: newsthemegh.com