Lawmakers in Ghana are once again moving to pass, for the second time, an extreme anti-LGBTQ+ bill that would criminalise people simply for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
On Tuesday, 17 February, the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill was formally introduced as a private member’s bill in Parliament after its First Reading.
First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor then referred it to the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee for further consideration.
Lawmakers Defend Controversial Bill
LGBTQ+ rights group Rightify Ghana reported that Minority New Patriotic Party MP, John Ntim Fordjour, who supports the draconian legislation, told Parliament that the bill enjoys widespread public backing.
He claimed that an Afrobarometer survey “indicates that across the length and breadth of this country, 93% of the population consider the practices promoting propagation of LGBT and its related practices highly repugnant to our values and our morals as a society.”
He also confirmed that this is the same bill that Parliament previously passed in February 2024. At the time, then-President Nana Akufo-Addo declined to sign it into law.
In November last year, Ghana’s current President, John Mahama, confirmed that he would sign the anti-LGBTQ+ bill if Parliament passes it.
“If you want the position of my government, marriage is between man and woman,” he said. Mahama added that, “A person’s gender is determined at birth, and then also that the family is the foundation of our nation. That is our position, and so there are no questions or equivocations about what we believe.”
Existing Criminalisation Would Intensify
Same-sex intimacy is already criminalised in Ghana under colonial-era laws, but the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill would dramatically escalate the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies.
The proposed law includes prison sentences of up to five years for same-sex intimacy and up to ten years for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights.
It also seeks to criminalise identifying as LGBTQ+ or as an ally, and to outlaw gender-affirming healthcare for both providers and recipients.
Landlords who rent property to LGBTQ+ individuals could also face prison terms of up to six years.
Religious Leaders Urge Swift Passage
According to local media, the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has urged Parliament to fast-track the bill’s passage.
“What Ghanaians expect is that this bill should be passed,” the President of the GCBC, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, told Citi News. “This Parliament should pass the bill before it closes in three or four years’ time.”
