Zambia’s Opposition Leader Michael Sata Claims Gays Already Have Legal Protections. They Don’t

Bishop Peter Ndhlovu, of Zambia’s Bible Gospel Church in Africa, is doing god’s work: Through a network of prayer sessions around the country he’s encouraging the devout not to vote for lawmakers that support gay rights. “The church is coming together to hold powerful prayers and public meetings to educate people on the dangers of voting for leaders advocating gay rights. It is cross-denominational,” he says. His main enemy: The Patriotic Front, the opposition political party, and its president Michael Sata, who claimed to Danish media that existing Zambian laws protect gays. While an admirable argument to make, the only laws we could find, in the Penal Code’s Section 155, are those criminalizing gay sex. And religious leaders and the political incumbents fighting to keep their jobs are now using Sata’s position on the gays to paint him as an out-of-touch outsider heading into this year’s elections.