ACCRA – Ghana’s parliament on Friday approved a new bill that criminalises the so-called promotion of LGBTQ activity, part of a broader crackdown on sexual minorities in West Africa.
The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, passed by a voice vote after the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee unanimously recommended its adoption, first deputy speaker Bernard Ahiafor said.
The bill was introduced last year shortly after President John Dramani Mahama took office. Lawmakers from Mahama’s political party, the National Democratic Congress, had been urged by religious leaders and other supporters of the bill to vote on it, and Mahama will now face pressure to sign it.
Lawmakers passed an earlier version of the bill in 2024, under Mahama’s predecessor, President Nana Akufo-Addo, but it faced legal challenges and Akufo-Addo never signed it into law.
Key Provisions of the Bill
The bill approved on Friday maintains the existing penalty of up to three years in prison for same-sex sexual acts. It also bans “funding, sponsorship or promotion” of LGBTQ acts, with prison terms ranging from three to five years. It introduces a “duty to report” prohibited LGBTQ acts to a police officer or other authorities, with violators facing up to three years behind bars.
The bill further amends Ghana’s Extradition Act of 1960 to make offences under the new law extraditable offences.
Regional Trend of Anti-LGBTQ Legislation
West Africa has seen a raft of anti-LGBTQ legislation in recent months.
Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in March signed a bill doubling the maximum prison term for same-sex sexual acts to ten years and criminalising any efforts to promote homosexuality.
In September last year, lawmakers in Burkina Faso voted to criminalise same-sex sexual acts for the first time and to criminalise “behaviour likely to promote homosexual practices and similar practices.”
Source: Reuters
