Demonstration calling for the criminalization of homosexuality, Dakar, Senegal, May 23, 2025. SEYLLOU / AFP
On February 20, Ousmane gathered a few belongings and fled his home. "Since then," the Senegalese man said, speaking under a pseudonym, "I've been living in hiding, in a city I can't name. I'm petrified. People in my neighborhood found out things about my life. They know I'm gay." If word spreads, the man in his 30s went on, "I risk being beaten and arrested, or arrested and then beaten. I don't see any solution other than leaving for another country as soon as I can."
Denunciations, extortion and assaults: Over the past several weeks, people who are gay or who are suspected of being gay have faced a surge of hostility across Senegal, a country that has already been marked by regular homophobic mobilizations over the past decade.
Violence against LGBTQ+ people has escalated dramatically following the arrests in February of 14 suspected members of a pedocriminal ring targeting young boys; two days earlier, 12 men, including local media figures, were accused of homosexuality. The two cases are entirely unrelated.
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