CIVICUS discusses Senegal’s anti-LGBTQI+ law with an anonymous member of a gender diverse and trans community network established in June 2020 to support LGBTQI+ people facing arbitrary arrest, discrimination and harassment.

In late March, Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye signed a new law doubling the maximum prison sentence for same-sex relations to 10 years and criminalising what the law calls the ‘promotion’ or ‘financing’ of homosexuality. Enforcement began even before the law took effect, with people already being arrested. International human rights bodies have condemned Senegal’s law as incompatible with the country’s human rights obligations.

How’s the new law being enforced, and what’s its impact on LGBTQI+ people?

The law, which entered into force on 31 March, has seen the most aggressive enforcement in Senegal’s history. The crackdown began in December, months before the law officially took effect, showing that the campaign was planned and authorised at the highest levels of government. The first conviction under this new law sentenced a 24-year-old to six years in prison for ‘acts against nature and public indecency’, making clear the government intends to enforce this law with full force and make examples of people. A popular TV presenter was also arrested and is currently undergoing prosecution.

The impacts on the ground are devastating. LGBTQI+ people, allied civil society organisations and human rights defenders face constant intimidation and threats. We have been forced underground, unable to move freely, gather openly or express ourselves. The space to exist as ourselves has been dramatically shrunk. What makes this uniquely dangerous is that the law criminalises not only LGBTQI+ people but also anyone offering support, such as lawyers, medical professionals, organisations providing food or shelter and even friends offering emotional support. All face legal consequences. This criminalisation of solidarity isolates us further.

The toll is severe. Some have attempted suicide. Others have fled Senegal. Those who remain operate in secrecy, unable to maintain meaningful connections. The state has weaponised fear as a tool of control.

What role did former Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko play, and what does it signal for the future?

Senegal’s law criminalising same-sex relations has been in place since 2008, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison, but it was rarely enforced. Sonko changed this. For the 2024 election, he campaigned aggressively on a platform to toughen these laws and ensure strict implementation. He made cracking down on LGBTQI+ people a central political issue.

Sonko succeeded in his electoral campaign. He’s no longer prime minister but is now the speaker of parliament. Since March, the aggressive enforcement, arrests, trials and public spectacle of persecution all flow directly from Sonko’s explicit political commitment to use the state apparatus against the LGBTQI+ community.

The danger moving forward is clear. As speaker, Sonko controls the legislative agenda. Will he criminalise LGBTQI+ organisations? Will he impose even longer sentences? The community lives in fear of what comes next.

How does Senegal’s law fit into the broader regional trend?

It’s part of a troubling regional pattern. At least five West African countries have passed new laws targeting LGBTQI+ people or toughened existing ones in the last four years. Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea and others have followed similar trajectories.

What makes this trend particularly dangerous is the accompanying media campaigns. Across West Africa, governments and media outlets claim that LGBTQI+ people threaten African family values. They conflate homosexuality with paedophilia and spread false narratives that LGBTQI+ people are a foreign import destroying traditional society. These narratives dehumanise us and justify violence against us. By framing us as threats rather than as human beings with rights, governments create public support for persecution.

This is a political strategy. Governments use anti-LGBTQI+ sentiment to consolidate power, distract from economic failures and mobilise their political base. By making us scapegoats, they present themselves as defenders of traditional values. This is why challenging these laws requires regional and international solidarity, not just national advocacy.

How are grassroots movements resisting, and how can the international community help?

Grassroots movements are adapting and building resilience. Organisations are developing localised support networks and training legal defenders to protect vulnerable people and ensure access to healthcare. Community members are building skills to help each other. Underground networks of care and protection are forming. We are documenting violations. This is difficult work, but resistance continues.

International human rights bodies and experts and foreign embassies have pointed out that Senegal’s actions violate the international human rights obligations the state has voluntarily accepted. Senegal has ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee freedom from discrimination and the right to privacy. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called the law ‘deeply worrying’.

Yet international statements haven’t changed the government’s course. Stronger pressure is needed, including potential sanctions or divestment that impose real costs on governments that violate international human rights law. Without such consequences, the government will continue acting with relative impunity.

CIVICUS interviews a wide range of civil society activists, experts and leaders to gather diverse perspectives on civil society action and current issues for publication on its CIVICUS Lens platform. The views expressed in interviews are the interviewees’ and do not necessarily reflect those of CIVICUS. Publication does not imply endorsement of interviewees or the organisations they represent.