NEWS · GHANA

Ghana's Speaker vows to pass flawed anti-LGBTQ+ bill when Parliament returns

A GAY Mafia newsroom · 28 October 2026

Alban Bagbin admits the Family Values Bill was rushed through in May and contains errors, but says MPs will reconsider and pass it. Parliament sits again on 3 November. The bill is not law, and the UK has warned that its progress raises risks for LGBTQ+ people.

Ghana's Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said the country's anti-LGBTQ+ bill will come back to MPs for a "second consideration" and will be passed, even as he admitted that last-minute amendments left it with mistakes. He was speaking at the IPR Ghana National PR Conference in Koforidua, as reported on 23 October by Citi Newsroom and MyJoyOnline.

"We have identified a few mistakes, most of the last-minute amendments," Bagbin said, adding that "the next meeting will come back for a second consideration, and we'll pass it." He went further: "So far as we continue to exist, that law will be the law of the land," MyJoyOnline reported. He also said the bill had been rushed through in his absence.

That next meeting is close. In a notice reported by the Ghana News Agency, Bagbin summoned Parliament to resume on Tuesday 3 November. The published notice does not list the bill on the agenda, and the Speaker has predicted a second consideration before: in July, then in August, according to Erasing 76 Crimes.

Where the bill stands

The Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill passed Parliament in May. It has not become law. President John Mahama has neither signed nor rejected it, and the text now faces a second consideration, which could change it. An earlier version passed in February 2024 lapsed when the previous Parliament was dissolved.

As passed in May, the bill would mean three years in prison for anyone who "holds out as" LGBTQ+, prison for entering or attending a same-sex wedding, three to five years for "funding, sponsorship or promotion" of LGBTQ+ activity, and a duty to report, according to 76 Crimes' summary. Same-sex sexual acts are already criminalised under existing law. LGBTQ+ Ghanaians fear the second consideration could make the penalties harsher, the site reports, because hardliners have complained that earlier amendments watered the bill down.

What it means for visitors

The UK Foreign Office's Ghana travel advice (page updated 19 October) states that the bill "is not law, but its passage through Ghana's Parliament could increase the risk of violence and other threats (such as blackmail and intimidation) to the LGBT+ community and their allies." It notes that Ghanaian society is "intolerant" of public same-sex affection and that the FCDO is "aware of reported attacks against LGBT+ individuals."

For travellers and organisers, nothing changes legally until a revised bill clears Parliament and is signed. The 3 November sitting is the next date to watch.