Revised anti-LGBTQ+ Bill lacks teeth to bite - Minority
The Minority in Parliament has criticised amendments made to the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, 2025, arguing that the revised version passed by Parliament last Friday has lost the deterrent force and effectiveness of the original bill approved by the Eighth Parliament in 2024.
Addressing a press conference in Accra Monday [June 1, 2026], the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin South, John Ntim Fordjour, said the changes had weakened the bill’s ability to address the promotion, advocacy and sponsorship of LGBTQ+ activities, which it said was one of the principal objectives of the original legislation.
The caucus expressed concern that several exemptions introduced into the revised bill could undermine its effectiveness and create loopholes that could be exploited to promote activities the legislation sought to prohibit.
“We are not against Parliament's authority to legislate, but we are not attacking MPs in any way. All that we are saying is that our concern is twofold. That the bill appears, and not only appears, substantially has lost the force and the bite and the thrust, the deterrence, the efficacy that it contained and carried in 2024,” he said.
Exemptions
Mr Fordjour particularly criticised provisions under Clause 9 of the bill, which deals with the prohibition of propaganda, promotion and advocacy of acts prohibited under the legislation.
The exemptions, he reiterated, covered legal practitioners providing legal representation, persons making submissions before courts and tribunals, academics and researchers publishing scientific or medical opinions, journalists reporting in the ordinary course of their work, and institutions involved in public health interventions.
“So Ghanaians, please, these are dangerous dilutions. These are dangerous deletions and insertions, which should not be allowed to just go like that. We want the old bill to come. The old bill is what has the deterrence, the teeth to bite,” he said.
Shift in stance
The Assin South MP maintained that existing laws already criminalised same-sex sexual relations, arguing that the key purpose of the bill was to prevent the promotion and advocacy of LGBTQ+ activities.
“The question is, what changed? What has changed in our values from 2024 to now? Have Ghanaians changed their values on LGBTQ since 2024? If nothing has changed in our value system, then the bill, which 93 per cent of the population deemed very important, should be the same bill. That is important to the Ghanaian people today. What has changed?” he queried.
Mr Fordjour contended that the revised bill was materially different from the one passed by Parliament in 2024, citing what he said were 31 amendments, including deletions and insertions affecting several clauses of the legislation.
The MP further alleged that some of the new provisions were not part of discussions during committee deliberations and consideration of the bill.
Restore old bill
While reiterating the Minority’s support for the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, Mr Fordjour stressed that the caucus was not opposed to Parliament’s authority to legislate.
He, however, called for the restoration of what he described as the original version of the bill passed in 2024.
“We want the old bill to come. The old bill is what has the deterrence, the teeth to bite. If you want to say that what Akufo-Addo couldn’t do, Mahama has done, that means the bill that was passed in 2024, President Mahama, you should sign it in the shape and form that it was passed,” he stated.
