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Ghana’s parliament approved the "Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025" on Friday, a measure that criminalizes the promotion of LGBTQ activity. The bill passed via a voice vote following a unanimous recommendation for its adoption by the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee. This legislative move is part of an ongoing regional crackdown on sexual minorities across West Africa.
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.
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. And 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.
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 10 years and criminalizing any efforts to promote homosexuality.