ACCRA, Ghana — In a move that has reignited a fierce national debate and drawn swift international condemnation, the Parliament of Ghana on Friday passed the highly controversial Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025.
The legislation, which significantly expands the criminalization of LGBTQ+ identity and advocacy, was adopted via a unanimous voice vote. The rapid passage followed an aggressive fast-tracking effort by the parliamentary Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, which explicitly recommended the bill’s adoption ahead of a major pan-African conservative conference scheduled to take place in Accra next week.
With the bill now through its final legislative hurdles, the political spotlight shifts entirely to President John Dramani Mahama, who faces immense domestic pressure from powerful religious coalitions and traditional leaders to sign it into law.
Sweeping Restrictions and Heavy Penalties
While same-sex sexual relations are already illegal in Ghana under a colonial-era law prohibiting “unnatural carnal knowledge,” the newly passed 2025 bill introduces a sweeping legal framework designed to entirely dismantle LGBTQ+ visibility, healthcare, and civil society.
Under the provisions approved on Friday, the legislation enforces stringent punitive measures:
- Identity and Intimacy: Maintains a prison sentence of up to three years for engaging in consensual same-sex intercourse, and introduces explicit jail time for individuals who simply identify as LGBTQ+, non-binary, or an ally.
- Advocacy and Promotion: Imposes severe penalties of five to ten years in prison for producing, distributing, or marketing materials deemed to promote LGBTQ+ activities, alongside a three-to-five-year sentence for funding or sponsoring prohibited groups.
- The “Duty to Report”: Establishes a mandatory legal obligation for citizens, tech platforms, and property owners to report prohibited acts or identities to the authorities. Failure to report carries up to a three-year prison sentence.
- Extradition and Medical Bans: Amends Ghana’s Extradition Act of 1960 to make offences under this law extraditable, while explicitly banning gender-reassignment surgeries and trans healthcare.
A Polarized Political Landscape
The bill represents a resurrected and slightly modified version of a piece of legislation that initially cleared parliament in February 2024. That iteration ultimately lapsed following the dissolution of parliament before the general election, as then-President Nana Akufo-Addo declined to sign it, citing pending constitutional challenges and human rights concerns.
However, the political landscape shifted following the transition of power. President Mahama, who assumed office in January 2025, has previously signaled alignment with conservative religious factions, giving proponents confidence that the executive branch will solidify the bill into law. Lawmakers from Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC), backed heavily by the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference and Islamic clerics, aggressively championed the fast-tracked vote.
Human rights organizations have expressed grave concern over the bill’s impending impact. In a memorandum, Human Rights Watch warned that the law represents “one of the most expansive legislative attacks on rights,” noting that it criminalizes basic human identity, compels citizen surveillance, and directly violates regional and international treaties ratified by Ghana, including the African Charter on Human Rights.
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Economic and Diplomatic Precedents
The impending enactment of the bill has also raised anxieties within Ghana’s economic sector. During the 2024 legislative cycle, the Ministry of Finance explicitly warned that passing such a restrictive law could jeopardize billions of dollars in international financing, budgetary support, and foreign aid from development partners like the World Bank.
With Ghana joining a growing list of African nations—such as Uganda and Somalia—enacting increasingly severe anti-LGBTQ+ statutes, the country stands at a critical geopolitical crossroads. President Mahama must now weigh the overwhelming domestic popularity of the bill against the threat of international isolation, economic sanctions, and protracted constitutional litigation.
