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Ghana parliament approves bill criminalizing promotion of LGBTQ activity

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Ghana’s parliament on Friday approved a controversial new bill that criminalizes the so-called “promotion” of LGBTQ activity. The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values bill imposes prison terms of up to 10 years for individuals who “promote, sponsor, or advocate LGBTQ+ acts” and bans the funding of associated groups and activities.

The bill comes in the wake of a broader crackdown on sexual minorities in West Africa, with religious groups in Ghana long advocating for the legislation. While supporters of the bill say that it protects Ghanaian family values and cultural norms, critics—including leading rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International—have condemned the bill, warning the government that the bill’s enactment will bring an unavoidable fallout, dealing a catastrophic blow to the country’s already fragile human rights landscape. In particular, HRW urged Ghana’s government to “uphold the international legal protections that guarantee every Ghanaian equality, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, and privacy.”

Friday’s law is the second iteration of an earlier bill, passed in 2024. While retaining the core provisions of the previous bill, it also includes exemptions for legal professionals, members of the media, and healthcare professionals. For example, lawyers can still represent LGBTQ+ clients without being penalized, and healthcare professionals will be able to provide care or psychological support without fear of reprisal. While Ghana’s parliament unanimously passed the bill in 2024, former president Nana Akufo-Addo did not sign it. Under Ghana’s constitution, if the president does not sign draft legislation before the end of a parliamentary term, the legislation automatically expires and must be passed again by the new parliament.

Friday’s bill, proponents suggest, is unlikely to be met with the same executive stalling, given current President John Dramani Mahama’s more conservative and decisive stance on social legislation than his predecessor.

More than 30 of Africa’s 54 countries have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual acts and relationships. While some of these laws carry heavy prison sentences of more than 10 years, in countries like Somalia and Mauritania, the punishment is death. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA) and its continental counterpart, Pan Africa ILGA, have jointly called on Mahama to reject the bill, warning that its severe restrictions tear at the very fabric of human rights and democracy allegedly enshrined in the country’s constitution.

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Ghana lawmakers reintroduce anti-LGBTQ+ bill imposing harsh restrictions

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Ghana lawmakers reintroduce anti-LGBTQ+ bill imposing harsh restrictions

Lawmakers in Ghana reintroduced the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, a controversial and incredibly restrictive piece of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, to Parliament on Tuesday.

Presently, in Ghana, gay sex is punishable by up to three years in prison. The bill is seeking to impose harsher penalties for engaging in consensual same-sex conduct by increasing the maximum penalty up to five years. Additionally, criminalizing the “funding or sponsorship for prohibited activities” and “advocacy, support” and promotion for LGBTQ+ rights or organizations, the bill imposes a term of imprisonment between five to ten years.

Introduced in 2021 as the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanian Family Values Bill, Ghana’s parliament passed the bill on February 28, 2024. However, former President Nana Akufo-Addo declined to sign the bill into law prior to the end of his term. The former president cited legal challenges as having prompted this delay, noting his intention to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision. Cases challenging the bill were eventually dismissed in December as the presidential assent was required to review them. Nana Akufo-Addo’s term ended in January 2025, resulting in the bill expiring without enactment.

President John Mahama expressed support for the bill during the Fellowship with the Clergy event on February 28, 2025, declaring, “I, as a Christian, uphold the principle and the values that only two genders exist, man and woman, that a marriage is between a man and a woman.” Referring to a conversation with the speaker of Parliament, Mahama asserted, “The renewal of the expired Proper Family Values Bill should be a bill that is introduced by government rather than as a private members motion, and it’s my hope that that consultation would see a renewed Proper Family Values Bill.”

In an interview with Citi News on February 27, 2025, Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, opposition party MP, confirmed the bill had been resubmitted, calling upon President John Mahama to provide presidential assent for its passing. Ten lawmakers sponsored its reintroduction, including MPs Samuel Nartey George and Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah from the National Democratic Congress, Ghana’s ruling party.

NGOs and advocacy groups such as LGBT+ Rights Ghana have expressed their concern for the impact on the LGBTQ+ community, admonishing the bill’s reintroduction as being “pushed by homophobic politicians and religious groups as means to promote oppression against Queer people in Ghana.” After its passing last year, Human Rights Watch researcher Larissa Kojoué stated, “The anti-LGBT rights bill is inconsistent with Ghana’s longstanding tradition of peace, tolerance, and hospitality and flies in the face of the country’s international human rights obligations.” She further noted, “Such a law would not only further erode the rule of law in Ghana, but could also lead to further gratuitous violence against LGBT people and their allies.”

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