Ghana’s anti-LGBTQ+ bill is heading back to Parliament, according to Speaker Alban Bagbin. Lawmakers passed it on May 29, but Bagbin says mistakes in last-minute changes require another round of consideration. The bill has not become law.
“We have identified a few mistakes, most of the last-minute amendments,” Speaker Alban Bagbin said Oct. 23, Citi Newsroom reported. “And therefore the next meeting will come back for a second consideration, and we’ll pass it.”
Speaking at a public relations conference in Koforidua, Bagbin said the May vote happened in his absence. He objected to the rushed process and said he wanted consensus before the bill advances.
Bagbin nevertheless made clear that he intends to see the legislation enacted. “So far as we continue to exist, that law will be the law of the land,” he said. “You can do whatever you want after I’m gone.”
What Ghana’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Would Do
The Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025 would expand Ghana’s existing restrictions. People could get up to three years in prison just for identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, according to Graphic Online. It also goes after advocacy, promotion and funding. openDemocracy reported it includes a “duty to report” to police.
Gay sex is already illegal in Ghana under Section 104 of the Criminal Offences Act, the old “unnatural carnal knowledge” law.
The May version added exemptions for lawyers defending people charged under it, journalists covering LGBTQ+ issues and doctors and counselors treating LGBTQ+ patients, the Ghana News Agency reported. The bill’s sponsor, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, didn’t want them. “Any attempt by this house to push any of these exceptions in, we will resist it,” he said.
Ghana’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Has Passed Before
Lawmakers led by Samuel Nartey George first brought the bill in 2021. Parliament passed it in February 2024. Then-President Nana Akufo-Addo never signed it while it was challenged at the Supreme Court, and it died when that Parliament dissolved in January 2025. It came back in July 2025.
President John Mahama has said he’ll sign it. If Parliament “endorses the bill, votes on it and passes it,” he told Christian Council leaders in November 2025, “I will sign it,” according to Citi Newsroom. “A person’s gender is determined at birth, and the family is the foundation of our nation.”
Bagbin did not give a date for reconsideration. The May provisions could change during that process; the bill has not received presidential assent.
