Ghana parliament plans to redo anti-LGBTQ+ bill, maybe make it crueler
Hardliners complain that it was weakened before passage in May
The overwhelmingly homophobic Parliament of Ghana plans to reconsider — and possibly add harsher punishments to — the cruel anti-LGBTQ bill it passed on May 29.
But, despite a vow to act on the bill last week, Parliament adjourned on Friday for an indefinite recess without doing so.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said the prison sentences specified in three sections of the bill need to be changed, but did not provide any details.
The LGBTQ rights advocacy group Rightify Ghana reported:
Hardliners, including the Speaker of Parliament and some proponents of the Bill, believe that amendments adopted before its passage weakened its original objectives. However, it remains unclear whether the reconsideration is also intended to introduce non-custodial sentences into the Bill. This comes following the recent passage of Ghana’s Community Service Bill, 2026, which establishes non-custodial sentencing as an alternative to imprisonment for individuals convicted of specified minor offences. The legislation applies to offences punishable by a prison term of three years or less.
In a phone call on Thursday, Bagbin had assured the nation’s Chief Imam, Sheikh Osman Nuhu Sharubutu, that Parliament would revisit and pass the bill before adjourning.
Bagbin also claimed that revising the bill is God’s will.
“There is no politics in it at all. Anybody trying to do politics, just disregard that. Both Muslims and Christians agree, even the non-believers agree that this one, if we don’t pass it, then we are acting against the decree of God,” he said.
What’s in the bill
The latest version of the bill calls for three years in prison for anyone who identifies as (“holds out as”) LGBTQ. It would allow LGBTQ people to avoid prison if they submit to counseling to try to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The bill would also impose a three-year prison term for people who:
- Participate in gender-reassignment surgery;
- Enter into a same-sex marriage; or
- Attend a same-sex wedding.
It would ban “funding, sponsorship or promotion” of LGBTQ activity, with prison terms ranging from three to five years
It would introduce a “duty to report” prohibited LGBTQ acts to a police officer or other authorities, with violators facing up to three years behind bars.
In a revision from the previous version of the bill, it would declare media, legal, and healthcare professionals who report on, represent or treat LGBTQ+ people to be exempt from prosecution for those activities.
It would keep Ghana’s current law that provides a three-year prison sentence for same-sex intimacy.
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