Anti-LGBTQ U.S. Activists Organize Conference in Ghana

Post submitted by HRC Global Senior Manager Taylor N. T. Brown

This week, the World Congress of Families will hold a regional conference in Accra, Ghana, where U.S. anti-LGBTQ activists will advance their dangerous vision of the so-called “natural family.” As a part of these efforts, the World Congress of Families plans to advocate for adoption of public policies supporting so-called “conversion therapy” and an understanding of LGBTQ people as “deviant,” while attacking sex education and women’s rights in Ghana. Through this work, the World Congress of Families continues its campaign to export hate and thwart the work of local advocates to end violence and discrimation against LGBTQ people across West Africa.

The World Congress of Families is an anti-LGBTQ organization based in the U.S. with strong ties to the religious right. The organization, designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group, promotes a disturbing and radically distorted depiction of LGBTQ people. It has a long history of exporting its anti-LGBTQ narrative to many parts of Africa, often by framing LGBTQ people and the protection of their human rights as somehow foreign and un-African, a fundamentally inaccurate characterization.

In 2015, HRC published a report exposing the World Congress of Families past anti-LGBTQ efforts over the years. In Russia, the World Congress of Families pushed adoption of the so called “Gay Propaganda” Law and promoted similar laws in Lithuania and other countries. Across Africa, the World Congress of Families enabled and promoted legislation to further criminalize LGBTQ people, including in Nigeria and Uganda.

At this week’s conference in Ghana, some of the World Congress of Families’ most prominent U.S. figures will take the stage, including:

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