'Senegal's anti-homosexuality law relies on historical and health claims that are false'

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enegal's new anti-homosexuality law is backward. It threatens to move the country in precisely the opposite direction from the progressive public health policies that have historically contributed to their world-renowned exceptionalism.

The saga started in February when Senegalese authorities arrested 27 men on charges of "acts against nature" and the alleged intentional transmission of HIV. By March 11, Senegal's National Assembly responded by passing a law doubling the prison time for "acts against nature" to 10 years, with a maximum fine of 10 million FCFA (about €15,500), up from 1.5 million. "Acts against nature," according to the law, include homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, zoophilia and necrophilia. The law even prohibits the promotion or financing of such acts. President Diomaye Faye signed it on 31 March.

Proponents of the law have largely relied on two claims.

First, echoing an old myth that was previously offered by late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, South African President Jacob Zuma, and (most recently) Burkinabé Interim President Ibrahim Traoré, they say that homosexuality is a Western import, and therefore "un-African."