Ghana: Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill Dead But May Return

The draconian Anti-LGBTQ+ Bill passed by Ghana’s Parliament in 2024 has been declared void by the country’s new president, John Mahama, though it may resurface in the future.

Titled the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, the legislation was introduced as a private members’ bill and approved by Parliament in February 2024. Then-President Nana Akufo-Addo refused to sign the bill into law, citing two court challenges. These were dismissed by Ghana’s Supreme Court later that year.

After losing the December 7 national election to Mahama, Akufo-Addo left the contentious legislation unresolved. In a meeting with religious leaders during his first week in office, the new president confirmed that the bill, in its current form, has expired.

“The convention is that all bills that are not assented to before the expiration of the life of Parliament expire. And so that bill effectively is dead,” Mahama told the leaders, as reported by Modern Ghana.

“I don’t know what the promoters of the bill intend to do but I do think that we should have a conversation on it again so that all of us if we decide to move the bill forward we move forward with consensus,” he added.

He suggested, however, that the legislation might not be necessary, advocating instead for a focus on education.

“If we are teaching our values in school, we won’t need to pass a bill to enforce our family values. That’s why I think more than even the Family Values Bill is as agreed on a curriculum that inculcates these values into our children as they are growing up so that we don’t need to legislate it,” Mahama explained.

Despite Mahama’s comments, supporters of the bill remain defiant. Bernard Ahiafor, MP and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, vowed during an appearance on Joy News TV’s The Probe that the bill would be reintroduced.

“Under President John Dramani Mahama, under the 9th Parliament, the LGBTQ bill will be passed and assented to,” he asserted.

Ahiafor did not confirm whether the bill would return as a government-sponsored initiative or a private members’ bill, nor did he provide a timeline for its reintroduction.

While same-sex intimacy is already illegal in Ghana, originally under colonial-era laws, the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill would have significantly escalated the persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals and their supporters.

It proposed prison sentences of up to five years for same-sex intimacy and up to 10 years for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. The legislation also targeted individuals who provide or undergo gender-affirming surgery, as well as landlords renting properties to LGBTQ+ individuals, who could face up to six years in prison.

For now, the bill’s future remains uncertain, leaving the beleaguered LGBTQ+ community in Ghana on edge about what may come next.