Attacks on the gay community have
increased in Liberia after a coalition of churches said Ebola was a
punishment from God for homosexuality.
“Since church ministers declared
Ebola was a plague sent by God to punish sodomy in Liberia, the
violence toward gays has escalated,” LGBT rights activist Leroy
Ponpon told Reuters. “They're even asking for the death
penalty. We're living in fear.”
Of the nearly 10,000 people who have
been infected with Ebola in Liberia since March, around half have
died.
Two prominent Christian organizations
in the West African nation have told its members that homosexuality
is at the root of the Ebola outbreak, including the Liberian Council
of Churches and the Catholic Church in Liberia.
Archbishop Lewis Zeigler in May said
that “one of the major transgressions against God for which He may
be punishing Liberia is the act of homosexuality.”
According to the International Lesbian
Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), the crime of
“voluntary sodomy” is a first-degree misdemeanor in Liberia.