Tutu’s advocacy for LGBTQ rights did not sway most of Africa

By DAVID CRARY
AP National Writer

Desmond Tutu is being remembered for his passionate advocacy on behalf of LQBTQ people as well as his fight for racial justice. But the South African archbishop’s campaigning against homophobia had limited impact in the rest of Africa before he died Sunday at age 90. Most countries criminalize gay sex, and South Africa is the only country on that continent that has legalized same-sex marriage. Even within Tutu’s own denomination, the Anglican Communion, there has been no continent-wide embrace of LGBTQ rights. Leaders of Ghana’s Anglican Church have joined other religious leaders there in endorsing a bill that would impose prison sentences on people identifying as LGBTQ or supporting that community.