Anti-LGBTQ+ crackdowns intensify across West Africa, say campaigners

LGBTQ+ campaigners across West Africa report a sharp escalation in repressive laws targeting queer communities, driven by domestic political pressures and coordinated efforts from international conservative networks.

In March, Senegal doubled the maximum prison sentence for consensual same-sex relations to 10 years and introduced new offences for the “promotion” of homosexuality. In February, Niger criminalised “sexual relations with a person of the same sex” for the first time in its history.

Neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso have also introduced first-time criminal bans on same-sex relations over the past two years. All three states are currently ruled by military juntas, which activists say are using LGBTQ+ people as political targets.

Ghana, already criminalising gay sex, passed a new bill in June that creates wide-ranging offences for LGBTQ+ “activities”. The legislation still awaits the president’s signature and represents the latest version of a proposal first brought to parliament in 2021.

“What I see in all of them is a political opportunism,” said Anthony Oluoch of Pan Africa ILGA, a regional LGBTQ+ rights organisation. As reported by The Guardian, he noted that religious leaders and “family values” movements have provided strong backing in several countries. In Burkina Faso, where the population is largely Muslim, the law has been promoted as a defence of national sovereignty against western influence.

“Underneath that all, there’s a lot of transnational reinforcement,” Oluoch added, describing an organised network of anti-rights actors working across borders.

An activist in Burkina Faso, whose name is withheld for security reasons, described LGBTQ+ communities as “the easiest scapegoats to maintain their power”.

The human impact has already been severe. In Burkina Faso, an HIV outreach worker reported that 13 transgender women were detained without trial between June and November last year. The women said they were beaten in custody by a military unit. Since the passage of the new law, courts have already delivered at least two rounds of convictions.

According to the same worker, security forces are using social media to entrap LGBTQ+ people and pressure them to identify others in the community. The worker fled Burkina Faso in May after being named during an interrogation.

Military leader Ibrahim Traoré has framed Burkina Faso’s stance in anti-western terms. At the same time, the country has become a hub for international anti-LGBTQ+ organising. The African Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Family Values and Sovereignty, a forum widely seen as shaping anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on the continent, is scheduled to take place in Burkina Faso and Eswatini next year.

The first three editions of the conference were held in Uganda, beginning in 2023, the same year Uganda introduced a law that allows the death penalty for certain same-sex sexual acts.

The US-based reproductive rights organisation Ipas reports that the conference receives backing from Family Watch International (FWI), an Arizona-based Christian group that opposes abortion and comprehensive sex education. Christian Council International, a Dutch-founded lobby group promoting similar agendas, has also attended.

At this year’s conference, hosted in Ghana’s parliament in June, participants drafted an “African Charter on Family Sovereignty and Values”. The text rejects abortion and comprehensive sexuality education, defines gender strictly as male or female and asserts that parental rights override children’s rights. A draft was published on FWI’s website.

Researchers and activists in Ghana say the country’s new anti-LGBTQ+ bill reflects this international coordination. Amanda Odoi, a researcher at the University of Cape Coast, described the legislation as a “very effective political tool” strongly supported by religious institutions. She highlighted the role of foreign conservative organisations in providing funding, messaging and political backing for the campaign.

Odoi also pointed to the bill’s resemblance to Uganda’s law and to its expanded acronym “LGBTTQAP+”, which includes terms such as “questioning” that are uncommon in local discourse, suggesting outside influence on the drafting process.

For regional advocates, the decision to bring the African parliamentary conference to Ghana had clear strategic value. “Ghana has a lot of credentials that Uganda does not have … some clout that other countries in Africa do not have,” said Ebenezer Peegah, executive director of Rightify Ghana, referring to the country’s democratic reputation, electoral record and relatively open media space.

Across west Africa, LGBTQ+ communities face deepening insecurity and barriers to essential services. In Senegal, the harsher law is disrupting HIV prevention work among men who have sex with men and transgender women, who already experience higher HIV prevalence, according to French-Senegalese activist Marame Kane. Lawyers representing LGBTQ+ clients are also facing greater pressure.

An HIV worker in the Gambia said around 100 Senegalese people sought refuge there this year, many without resources to remain and forced to return home. Same-sex relations in the Gambia already carry penalties of up to life imprisonment, while transgender women face criminalisation through anti–cross-dressing provisions. The worker expressed concern that lawmakers could further tighten these measures, making already fragile HIV services even more difficult to deliver.

He added that Senegal’s crackdown had fuelled rising homophobia within the Gambia, where the two countries share close cultural and religious ties.

LGBTQ+ advocates across the region continue to press for human rights protections, access to healthcare and freedom from persecution, often in extremely challenging conditions. International solidarity, including practical support for queer people’s safety, livelihoods and careers, remains vital.

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