Ghana, like so much of Africa, was once ruled by the British, and under colonial law, they had banned same-sex marriage, BUT once the Brits left for good, the law stayed in place! This time around, it’s the Religious Right who are behind this major discriminatory law under the pretext that “it would protect Ghanaian family and cultural values.’  And it’s not just the LGBTQA+ community that are in their sights, as anyone who identifies as an “ally”, a general term for a supporter of queer people, could also face a prison sentence.

This is the second attempt by the Ghanaian Parliament, as they passed a similar bill back in 2024, but it did not become law after former President Akufo-Addo failed to sign it amid legal challenges.  The current President, Mahama, has indicated he would support the bill’s passage, saying shortly after he took office that “I believe in the principles and values that only two genders exist – man and woman – and that marriage is between a man and a woman.“

Ghana is the latest country to be part of a very worrying homophobic trend.  Only last year Burkina Faso introduced a law criminalising homosexuality for the very first time, while Trinidad and Tobago reversed its decriminalisation ruling. This brought the number of countries that criminalise consensual same-sex activity up to 65, making it rise for the first time in almost a decade.

In seven UN member states, laws prescribe the death penalty for same-sex activity, while in five more, there is no legal certainty.  In at least 61 UN member states, there are legal barriers for organisations and activists that openly advocate for LGBTQ+ people.

The ILGA World, a worldwide federation of more than 2,300 organisations, has highlighted how states worldwide continue to create barriers to LGBTQ+ people exercising basic rights. For the first time in almost a decade, the number of countries criminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts grew in 2025

Visit the ILGA World Database here