Ghana’s Parliament Passes LGBTQ Bill, Awaits Presidential Assent

Ghana’s Parliament on Friday approved legislation that makes “promotion” of LGBTQ activity a criminal offense, tightening restrictions on sexual minorities in the country.

The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, was adopted by voice vote after the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee endorsed it. First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor announced the bill’s passage in the House.

The legislation was tabled last year after President John Dramani Mahama assumed office. MPs from the governing National Democratic Congress have faced calls from religious groups and other backers of the bill to push it through. Attention now turns to President Mahama, who is under pressure to sign it into law.

A similar measure cleared Parliament in 2024 under former President Nana Akufo-Addo, but legal challenges stalled it and Akufo-Addo did not assent before leaving office.

Friday’s bill keeps the current penalty of up to three years imprisonment for same-sex sexual acts. It goes further by outlawing the “funding, sponsorship or promotion” of LGBTQ activities, with jail terms of three to five years for offenders.

The bill also creates a “duty to report” clause. Anyone who fails to inform police or designated authorities about prohibited LGBTQ acts could face up to three years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has criticized the National Democratic Congress and the Majority in Parliament following the passage of the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2025.

Speaking after Friday’s voice vote, the Effutu MP accused the NDC of inconsistency and political expediency in its handling of the legislation.

Afenyo-Markin echoed those concerns, arguing that the Majority pushed through a version of the bill that differs from what was originally introduced in the Eighth Parliament.

He maintained that the NDC had rejected amendments proposed by the then-Minority when the bill was first laid. “As Majority Leader in the Eighth Parliament when our friends in the NDC introduced this bill and we invited them for discussions, drawing attention to the danger in certain clauses, they refused,” Rev. Fordjour had recalled on the floor.

The Minority Leader said the current posture of the Majority contradicts their earlier stance. He described the version passed on Friday as “odious, nugatory, empty,” adding that it fails to address the concerns the NDC previously championed.