New law condemns homosexuality with prison sentences in Ghana. Legislation unleashes fear among the LGTBIQ+ community and provokes a wave of diplomatic pressure to try to overturn the legal text.

The approval of the draft law, which is awaiting the president's approval to become law, tests the vaunted democratic credentials of this West African nation. The bill establishes sentences of three years in prison for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex. Journalists, teachers, lawyers, doctors and other Ghanaians who provide professional services and express some degree of support to the community may also be sentenced to a maximum of five years.