Ghana legislators aim to pass anti-gay bill before June 3 anti-gay conference
The legislative process in Ghana’s parliament is being aggressively fast-tracked
The LGBTQ advocacy group Rightify Ghana states:
Ghana’s Parliament Accelerates Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Passage
On Thursday, 28th May 2026, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs presented its report on the “Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill” (the anti-LGBTQ+ bill) to the Parliament of Ghana, officially recommending its full passage into law.
The legislative process is being aggressively fast-tracked this week:
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- 1. Adoption: Parliament has officially adopted the committee’s report.
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- 2. Second Reading: The bill has passed the Second Reading stage following a motion.[in order to pass it before] the upcoming 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty, which [Parliament] is hosting in Accra from June 3-6, 2026.
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- 3. Consideration Stage: The bill is now undergoing a clause-by-clause debate and amendment phase. Once this stage concludes, a Third Reading will take place, making the bill effectively ready for final passage.
Why the sudden rush?
Parliament is expediting the process to align with the upcoming 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty, which it is hosting in Accra from June 3-6, 2026.
Make no mistake: this conference is an anti-rights gathering organized to dismantle and attack women’s rights, LGBTQI+ rights, and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).
We must remain vigilant as these fundamental human rights are threatened.
Full speed ahead
The PM Express and MyJoyOnline reported that the Majority Chief Whip of the Parliament of Ghana, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor, says Parliament could pass the reintroduced anti-LGBTQ bill within days. The headline of the MyJoy article was “We can pass it by Friday – Dafeamekpor signals rapid move on LGBTQ bill”.
What the anti-LGBTQ bill would do
The anti-LGBTQ bill calls for three years in prison for anyone who identifies as (“holds out as”) LGBTQ.
If enacted without change from its previous version, which was approved unanimously in Parliament in 2024 but never enacted, that means the bill would theoretically lead to the imprisonment of more than 350,000 people, based on a 2011 survey in which 1 percent of Ghana’s population said they were gay or lesbian.
The new legislation would expand on Ghana’s current law that already provides a three-year prison sentence for same-sex intimacy. The new bill would also add 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 impose prison sentences of up to 10 years on people who “promote” LGBTQ activity.
The bill is widely opposed by human rights advocates, as well as by Peter Turkson, a cardinal of the Catholic Church in Ghana. Turkson has distanced himself from the bill because it would criminalize people for merely being gay rather than for any actions.
Ghana’s Human Rights Commission told Parliament that the bill would encroach on the fundamental human right of association.
African Human Rights Coalition
Melane Nathan, executive director of the U.S.-based African Human Rights Coalition, stated:
What is unfolding in Ghana is not occurring in a vacuum. Across parts of Africa, politicians, religious leaders, and anti-rights movements have increasingly mobilized public fear around homosexuality as a political tool, creating moral panic and portraying LGBTQI+ people as threats to society, culture, religion, and family life. The consequences are real: arrests, violence, family expulsions, homelessness, extortion, public humiliation, forced displacement, and an increasing number of LGBTQI+ people fleeing their homes and countries in search of safety.
The accelerated effort to enact this legislation immediately before the 4th African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty sends a troubling message. Rather than promoting constitutional rights, equality, and human dignity, it risks validating a broader regional movement that seeks not merely to criminalize LGBTQI+ people, but to erase their visibility from public life and deny their equal place in society.
Many will recall the repeated calls by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and other political actors across the continent to rid the world—of homosexuality. Whether expressed directly or indirectly, such rhetoric has helped normalize persecution by portraying LGBTQI+ people not as citizens entitled to rights, but as a social problem to be eliminated. History repeatedly demonstrates that when governments and political movements define a minority group as an existential threat, violence, exclusion, and persecution often follow.
The question before Ghana is therefore larger than a single bill. It is whether Parliament will uphold constitutional democracy, human dignity, and equal protection under the law, or whether it will contribute to a growing regional climate of fear that is already driving LGBTQI+ Africans into hiding, detention, exile, and flight.
The legislative process itself is already producing harm. As anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric intensifies and the prospect of enactment becomes increasingly likely, LGBTQI+ individuals are experiencing heightened fear, uncertainty, and panic. Organizations working directly with affected communities are reporting increased requests for assistance, emergency relocation, and information regarding asylum and international protection.
Many individuals are attempting to leave Ghana or make contingency plans to do so, often with limited financial means, no access to visas, and few realistic pathways to safety. For many, the fear is not only of prosecution under a future law, but of the emboldening effect such legislation has on family members, community actors, vigilante groups, employers, landlords, and others who may feel legitimized in targeting LGBTQI+ people long before any formal prosecution occurs.
