Parliament in Ghana has backed a proposed amendment to an anti-gay bill that would make identifying as LGBT punishable by a three-year prison sentence.
People who campaign for LGBT rights could also face up to 10 years in jail.
The amendments were backed by a cross-party group of MPs but will be scrutinised again before becoming law.
One female MP who dissented was heckled into submission.
Gay sex is already illegal in Ghana.
The proposed legislation has faced condemnation at home and abroad. Critics say it infringes on rights guaranteed in Ghana's constitution.
Supporters say it will help preserve Ghanaian values.
Multiple lawsuits have also been filed to challenge the bill in the country’s courts.
This comes barely months after Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed into law a controversial anti-gay bill introducing among the world's harshest draconian measures against homosexuality.
The amended version said that identifying as gay would not be criminalised but "engaging in acts of homosexuality" would be an offence punishable with life imprisonment.
Uganda's parliament said Museveni had approved a new draft of the legislation that had been passed overwhelmingly this month by lawmakers, who defended the measures as a protection of national culture and values.
