How Africa became the training ground for homophobic and transphobic American Christian conservatives

screenshot of Prism

American groups like Focus on the Family (considered one of the main drivers of anti-LGBTQIA+ efforts in the religious right) and the secretive conservative religious organization Fellowship Foundation have each poured millions into sub-Saharan Africa. These and other entities use conservative Christianity and financial influence to exert control over [politicalresearch.org] the sociopolitical culture in Africa via communication networks with African religious figures, educational materials, and social welfare projects. In 2019, the U.S.-based coalition of religious right-wing organizations known as the World Congress of Families held a conference on “family values” in Accra, Ghana. Much of the conference was spent fearmongering on the supposed harms of the LGBTQIA+ acceptance movement. This kind of sustained and manufactured “mass hysteria around homosexuality” has resulted in homophobia flourishing across a continent, primed by years of colonialism and a recent ramp-up in religiosity.”

Continue reading here.