Ghana Passes Law Criminalizing Promotion of LGBTQ Relationships

On May 29, 2026, Ghana's parliament passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill in a voice vote, criminalizing same-sex relations and the promotion of LGBTQ activities with penalties reaching a decade in prison [1]. The bill now awaits the signature of President John Dramani Mahama, who has publicly signaled his support [2]. If signed, Ghana will join a growing list of African nations that have tightened anti-LGBTQ statutes in recent years, even as the country navigates an IMF debt restructuring program that its own finance ministry has warned the law could derail [3].

What the Law Says

The bill prescribes a tiered penalty structure. Engaging in same-sex relations carries up to three years' imprisonment [1]. Promoting, sponsoring, or "intentionally supporting" LGBTQ activities carries three to five years [4]. Sections 9, 11, 12, and 13 impose penalties of up to 10 years for advocacy, funding, and association related to LGBTQ issues [5]. The bill also compels anyone who knows someone to be gay to report them to authorities [5].

The statutory definition of "promotion" is broad. Human Rights Watch, in a written memorandum released in March 2026, warned that the bill's language could ensnare speech, advocacy, journalism, and even the provision of health services [6]. However, the 2026 version includes amendments that the 2024 version did not: exemptions for lawyers providing legal advice to LGBTQ-identified persons, journalists reporting on LGBTQ issues, and medical professionals offering healthcare to LGBTQ patients [7]. The Minority Caucus opposed these exemptions, arguing they weakened the original intent of the legislation [7].

Same-sex relations were already criminalized in Ghana under a colonial-era statute prohibiting "unnatural carnal knowledge" [1]. The new bill significantly expands the scope of criminalization beyond conduct to encompass expression, organization, and association.

Five Years in the Making: Legislative History

The bill was first introduced in 2021 as a private members' bill by Ningo-Prampram MP Sam George and co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle [8]. It passed parliament unanimously on February 28, 2024, but then-President Nana Akufo-Addo declined to sign it, citing pending Supreme Court challenges to its constitutionality [8]. The bill lapsed when parliament dissolved ahead of the December 2024 general election.

In March 2025, a group of 10 MPs reintroduced the bill [9]. President Mahama initially said he would prefer it as a government bill rather than a private member's initiative, but ultimately supported its passage [2]. Parliament's Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee backed the revised version, and the full chamber approved it on May 29, 2026 [7].

The bill enjoyed bipartisan support that is rare in Ghanaian politics. The New Patriotic Party, the National Democratic Congress, the People's National Convention, the Convention People's Party, and several smaller parties all endorsed the legislation [8]. Only the Liberal Party of Ghana announced opposition [8].

Religious Institutions and Foreign Evangelical Influence

Domestic religious organizations were the bill's most visible champions. The Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference called it "a step in the right direction" in December 2023 [8]. Muslim organizations and traditional authorities also testified in favor during public hearings. Osagyefo Agyeman Badu II, President of the Bono Regional House of Chiefs, threatened to "storm parliament with 10,000 people" if the bill was not signed into law [8].

The role of foreign religious organizations has drawn scrutiny. A CNN investigation found that at least $5 million in aid from Europe and the United States went to projects run by or benefiting churches in Ghana whose leaders backed the anti-LGBTQ bill [10]. More broadly, an openDemocracy investigation documented that more than 20 U.S. Christian Right organizations spent at least $54 million in Africa since 2007, with key contributors including the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association ($7.6 million), Human Life International ($4.1 million), and Focus on the Family ($1.9 million) [11]. The Fellowship Foundation, linked to Uganda's original "Kill the Gays" bill through associate David Bahati, sent more than $20 million to Uganda alone between 2008 and 2018 [12].

Whether these organizations directly funded Ghana's legislative campaign is less well documented than in Uganda's case. But reporters and researchers have traced institutional and personal connections between U.S. evangelical networks and the Ghanaian lawmakers and clergy who drove the bill [13].

The Steelman Case: Proponents' Arguments

Supporters of the law frame it as a democratic expression of Ghanaian cultural and religious values. Polling data provides some basis for this claim. An Afrobarometer survey published in 2021 found that 93% of Ghanaians said they would "somewhat dislike" or "strongly dislike" having homosexual neighbors [14]. A 2024 Afrobarometer survey confirmed that more than 80% held similar views [15]. Ghana ranked near the top in social opposition to homosexuality among 23 African countries surveyed between 2019 and 2021 [14].

Proponents cite specific social harms they say the law addresses: the perceived erosion of traditional family structures, the influence of Western cultural norms on Ghanaian youth, and what they characterize as aggressive foreign advocacy that disrespects national sovereignty. Sam George, the bill's original sponsor, has consistently argued that Ghana has a right to legislate its own moral standards without Western interference [8].

The Majority Leader stated after the vote that the bill reflected the will of the Ghanaian people and would be assented to by President Mahama [7].

Who Is Affected

The bill's reach extends beyond LGBTQ individuals. NGO workers engaged in rights-based programming, healthcare providers conducting HIV outreach to men who have sex with men, and organizations receiving foreign funding for LGBTQ-adjacent work all fall within the statute's ambit — though the 2026 amendments provide some carve-outs for medical and legal professionals [7].

Ghana has an estimated 330,000 people living with HIV, with 18,000 new infections and 12,000 AIDS-related deaths recorded in 2023 [16]. The most affected populations are transgender women, men who have sex with men, and female sex workers — groups whose access to services could be chilled by the law's "promotion" language even with the professional exemptions.

PEPFAR has invested more than $204 million in Ghana since 2007, primarily in HIV prevention, testing, and treatment support [16]. The Global Fund covers approximately 29% of Ghana's HIV/AIDS spending, with PEPFAR contributing about 8.5% [16]. UNAIDS has reported that strategic activities related to human rights, stigma reduction, and key-population interventions have already been "definitively suspended" due to separate U.S. funding restrictions under the current administration [17]. The new law could compound these disruptions.

Billions at Stake: The Economic Calculus

Ghana's Finance Ministry itself sounded the alarm in 2024 when the first version of the bill passed. The ministry warned that enactment could cost Ghana $3.8 billion in World Bank financing over five to six years, $600 million in annual budget support, and $250 million earmarked for the Financial Stability Fund [3]. It said losing World Bank funding would "derail" the $3 billion IMF program, with "dire consequences on the debt restructuring exercise and Ghana's long-term debt sustainability" [3].

Source: Ghana Finance Ministry

Data as of Mar 1, 2024CSV

The precedent from Uganda is instructive. When Uganda passed its Anti-Homosexuality Act in May 2023, the World Bank halted new lending to the Ugandan government, concluding that the law contradicted the bank's values [3]. The IMF has stated that its policies prohibit "discrimination based on personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation" [3].

Ghana's economy grew 5.6% in 2024 after several difficult years that included a debt default and an inflation crisis [18]. The country remains in the middle of its IMF program. Losing access to multilateral financing at this juncture would represent a significant setback.

Source: World Bank Open Data

Data as of Dec 31, 2024CSV

Comparative Context: How Ghana's Law Stacks Up

Ghana's maximum penalty of 10 years for promotion-related offenses is severe, but the bill's penalties for same-sex conduct itself (three years) are moderate by regional standards. Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act provides for life imprisonment and, in cases of "aggravated homosexuality," the death penalty [19]. Nigeria imposes up to 14 years' imprisonment, with death by stoning applicable under Sharia law in northern states [20]. Tanzania's penal code allows sentences up to 30 years [20]. Cameroon prescribes up to five years [20].

Source: Human Dignity Trust / HRW

Data as of May 29, 2026CSV

What distinguishes Ghana's law is the breadth of its criminalization of expression and association. While Uganda and Nigeria also penalize "promotion," Ghana's bill — with its mandatory reporting requirement and penalties for funding or forming LGBTQ-related groups — creates a particularly expansive enforcement framework [5][6].

Lessons from Uganda's Experience

Uganda's 2023 law offers a preview of the consequences Ghana may face. Human Rights Watch documented that after the Ugandan act took effect, LGBT individuals experienced "increased attacks and discrimination including beatings, sexual and psychological violence, evictions, blackmail, loss of employment, online harassment, and denial of health care" [21]. Research published in peer-reviewed journals found that the act created "disincentives for members of key populations to access testing, treatment and prevention services," undermining Uganda's HIV service delivery [22].

Uganda's Constitutional Court upheld most of the law in April 2024 but struck down provisions that restricted healthcare access for LGBT people and criminalized renting premises to them [19]. The selective invalidation suggests that even sympathetic courts recognized the public health costs of the most far-reaching provisions.

Legal Challenges: Paths and Precedents

Domestic legal challenges to the earlier version of the bill reached Ghana's Supreme Court. In July 2024, the court upheld the colonial-era anti-sodomy law [23]. In December 2024, the Supreme Court dismissed both pending constitutional challenges to the new bill, clearing the path for its reintroduction [8].

Human rights organizations argue the bill violates multiple provisions of Ghana's constitution, including protections for equality, non-discrimination, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and privacy [6]. The bill also potentially conflicts with Ghana's obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights' resolution on protection against violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity [6].

However, the realistic timeline for international legal mechanisms is long. The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights moves slowly, and enforcement of its decisions is inconsistent. Ghana withdrew its individual complaint mechanism from the African Court in 2020, limiting direct access for affected individuals [8]. ICC jurisdiction does not apply to domestic criminal legislation of this nature.

The most plausible near-term constraint on the law's implementation is economic rather than legal: the threat of losing multilateral financing may create political pressure to delay enforcement or narrow interpretation, as it did in the period when Akufo-Addo declined to sign the 2024 version.

What Comes Next

The bill sits on President Mahama's desk. The Majority Leader has stated that Mahama will sign it upon his return to Ghana [7]. If signed, implementation and enforcement will determine the law's real-world impact. The professional exemptions for lawyers, journalists, and healthcare workers represent a significant narrowing from the 2024 version, but the "promotion" and mandatory reporting provisions remain broad enough to chill speech, organizing, and public health outreach [6][7].

International responses are expected to follow patterns established after Uganda's law: formal condemnations from the UN Human Rights Council, potential suspension of World Bank lending, and diplomatic pressure from European and some North American governments. Whether these responses carry the same weight in 2026 — given shifts in U.S. foreign policy under the current administration and competing geopolitical priorities — remains uncertain.

Ghana's standing as one of West Africa's most stable democracies makes the law's passage particularly significant. The bill passed with broad public support, bipartisan legislative backing, and the endorsement of the country's major religious and traditional institutions. The tension between democratic legitimacy and international human rights norms is not easily resolved, and Ghana's handling of this law will be closely watched across the continent.

Sources for this article were last accessed on May 29-30, 2026.