Gay Senegal - From Ai's Gay Capal to Centre of Homophobia

Contents:

• GAY SENEGAL - FROM GAY CAPAL TO COUNTRY OF HOMOPHOBIA
• PODST | A LIFE THE SHADOWS: WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A GAY MAN DAKAR
• GAY LIFE SENEGAL
• TRAVELLG AS A GAY MAN - SENEGAL FOM
• TERROR SWEEPS SENEGAL’S GAY MUNY AFTER A SERI OF ASSLTS
• LIX POUR L GAY SENEGAL
• LIVG SHADOWS: LIFE AS A GAY DAKAR
• ‘I DON’T GO OUT DURG THE DAY’: INSI SENEGAL’S LGBT CRACKDOWN‘DYING IN THE DESERT’REVILED, EXILED, JAILED, RAPED, BEATEN, PRIVED OF MEDIL RE—THE LIST OF AB GO ON. DPE AN AMERIN PH FOR PROGRS, AN ANTI-GAY BACKLASH HAS MA MATTERS WORSE.OSR LOPEZPUBLISHED FEB. 06, 2018 5:01AM EST SEYLLOU/AFP/GETTYDAKAR, SENEGAL—WATCHG AS DK FALLS ON THE DTY STREETS OF THIS CY, MARIE, A 27-YEAR-OLD TRANS WOMAN, EXPLAS THAT SHE ONLY LEAV HER HOE AFTER SUNSET. “I DON’T GO OUT DURG THE DAY,” SHE SAYS, FLICKG BACK HER LONG RED HAIR. “ONLY AT NIGHT. I DON’T EVEN WANT TO OPEN MY DOOR.” IT N BE LONELY, MARIE ADMS, BUT AFTER FACG ABE THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, LIVG ALONE THE DARK IS THE ONLY WAY SHE FEELS SAFE. ASKG THAT HER LAST NAME BE OMTED FOR SAFETY REASONS, MARIE EXPLAS THAT THE ABE BEGAN WHEN SHE WAS JT 8-YEARS-OLD. “I ED TO WAKE UP EARLY TO PUT ON MY SISTER’S CLOTH BEFORE SCHOOL,” SHE SAYS. “I DIDN’T WANT TO DISGUISE MYSELF AS A BOY ANYMORE.” BUT A UNTRY LIKE SENEGAL, WHERE GENR ROL ARE STRICTLY ENFORCED, REVEALG HER INTY LEFT HER VULNERABLE TO ATTACK: AFTER YEARS OF BULLYG, MARIE WAS FORCED TO LEAVE SCHOOL AT 13.IN AN EFFORT TO RRECT WHAT HER FAY VIEWED AS AN ABERRATN, MARIE’S FATHER PUT HER A STRICT QURANIC SCHOOL, WHERE THGS GOT EVEN WORSE. “THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS RAPED,” SAYS MARIE. “THE TEACHERS ED TO E TO THE DORMS AT NIGHT AND TAKE ME BACK TO THEIR ROOM. ‘SCE YOU THK YOU’RE A WOMAN,’ THEY’D SAY, ‘WE’RE GOG TO SHOW YOU WHAT WE DO WH WOMEN.’” AFTERWARD, MARIE WOULD LIE AWAKE THE DARK, FILLED WH SHAME, HOPG ONLY TO BE LEFT ALONE. FIFTEEN YEARS LATER AND DARKNS IS STILL MARIE’S ONLY REFUGE OM A SOCIETY THAT REMAS EPLY AVERSE TO LGBT RIGHTS. AS IS THE SE 33 UNTRI ACROSS AI, GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL SENEGAL, AND ATTACKS AND ARRTS OF QUEER PEOPLE ARE MON (PDF). “LGBT PEOPLE OPERATE A VERY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT,” SAYS FRANçOIS PATUEL, A REARCHER WH AMNTY INTERNATNAL DAKAR. “THERE’S A LOT OF PHYSIL VLENCE AGAST MEN, AND SEXUAL VLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN. THEY DON’T HAVE ANY ACCS TO JTICE.” ACRDG TO HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, VLENCE AGAST GAY MEN AND TRANS WOMEN HAS CREASED SCE 2008. FOLLOWG A PUBLIC SNDAL AROUND A SUPPOSED “GAY WEDDG,” GAY MEN “CREASGLY BEME TARGETS OF POPULAR VENGEANCE AND ARBRARY ARRTS.” WHEN ONE OF THE MEN PHOTOGRAPHED THE WEDDG, MADIEYE DIALLO, DIED OF AIDS 2009, AN ANGRY MOB DISTERRED HIS BODY AND DRAGGED THROUGH TOWN, DUMPG ONT OF HIS PARENTS’ HOME. “WE HAD TO BURY HIM THE BH,” SAYS DJA BANGOURA, A LOL LGBT ACTIVIST AND CLOSE IEND OF DIALLO. “THAT’S WHEN I SAW THE WEAKNS OF THE STATE. WE ARE NOT PROTECTED BY THE LAW, NOR THE JTICE SYSTEM, NOR THE POLICE. HOW DO PEOPLE IMAGE WE N NTUE TO LIVE LIKE THIS?”SADOU NDIAYE, 32, A GAY MAN LIVG DAKAR, REMEMBERS THE PERD AFTER 2008 WH UNEASE: “IT WAS TOO HARD FOR GAY PEOPLE,” HE SAYS. “YOU ULDN’T EVEN LEAVE THE HOE.” FEARG FOR HIS SAFETY, NDIAYE CID TO FLEE SENEGAL FOR NEIGHBORG MRANIA: THERE, THE PENALTY FOR BEG GAY IS ATH BY STONG. BUT NDIAYE SAYS THAT THE ANONYMY OF LIFE MRANIA WAS BETTER THAN THE NSTANT FEAR SENEGAL, WHERE GAY PEOPLE ARE OFTEN PUBLICLY TARGETED BY THE MEDIA. IN MRANIA “NOBODY KNOWS YOU, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SRED,” HE TOLD ME. “YOU N LIVE YOUR GAY DREAM.” NDIAYE IS NOT ALONE. ACRDG TO ACTIVIST BANGOURA, WHO VISED MRANIA RECENTLY, THERE ARE DOZENS OF GAY MEN THERE WHO HAVE FLED OPPRSN SENEGAL. STILL, MRANIA REMAS A HOSTILE PLACE FOR LGBT PEOPLE: “WHEN THE POLICE STOP YOU, YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO EVEN EXPLA YOURSELF,” SAYS NDIAYE. BUT UNLIKE SENEGAL, NDIAYE EXPLAS THAT RAMPANT RPTN MRANIA MEANS YOU N MOSTLY JT BRIBE YOUR WAY OUT OF TROUBLE. “IF YOU PAY, THEY’LL LET YOU GO EE,” HE SAYS. “MONEY IS THE ONLY THG THAT MATTERS OVER THERE.”STILL, AFTER A YEAR OF EQUENT ARRTS, NDIAYE HAD ENOUGH. HE CID TO RETURN TO SENEGAL 2010. “THGS WERE A LOT QUIETER PARED TO 2008,” HE SAYS. BUT THE LM DIDN’T LAST. IN 2013, U.S. PRINT BARACK OBAMA VISED SENEGAL AND RAISED THE ISSUE OF LGBT RIGHTS WH PRINT MACKY SALL, WHO REFED TO BUDGE. NOT LONG AFTER THAT, A LBIAN WOMAN WE’LL LL ADJA*, WHO NS A WOMEN’S RIGHTS GROUP DAKAR, SAYS SHE WAS THROWN JAIL AS PART OF A UNTRY-WI CRACKDOWN. THE FOLLOWG FEBARY, POLICE ARRTED FOUR MEN WHO WERE TRYG TO “CLEAN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD” BY HUNTG DOWN AND ATTACKG GAY MEN. “OBAMA ME TO SENEGAL AND MAND THE LAW BE CHANGED,” SAYS ADJA. “I WOULD’VE TOLD HIM, GREAT, BUT WHAT MEANS DO I HAVE TO CHANGE ?”SUCH ANTI-GAY BACKLASH HAVE BEE MON ACROSS SUB-SAHARAN AI. AS WTERN UNTRI HAVE MA CREASG PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, AND SOME S ACTIVELY PHED FOR SIAR ADVANC AI, UNTRI LIKE TANZANIA, UGANDA, AND NIGERIA HAVE MOVED THE OPPOSE DIRECTN, CRACKG DOWN ON GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISM AND PASSG EVER MORE DRANIAN LEGISLATN TO SUPPRS LGBT PEOPLE. BAMAR GUèYE IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF JAMRA, A NSERVATIVE RELIG ANIZATN SENEGAL THAT OFTEN SPEAKS OUT AGAST HOMOSEXUALY, SPE WORKG ON ISSU LIKE HIV/AIDS PREVENTN. FROM HIS DIMLY L DAKAR OFFICE, GUèYE SUGGTED WHY EFFORTS BY OBAMA AND OTHERS TO FLUENCE SENEGAL ON LGBT RIGHTS HAVE BACKFIRED. “GLOBAL SOCIETY IS BEG TURNED UPSI DOWN,” HE SAYS. “JT BEE HAPPENS THEIR UNTRI THEY WANT TO IMPOSE ON OTHER PLAC. BUT NO ONE HAS THE MONOPOLY TO DICTATE TO OTHERS. IT’S THE WDS OF EXCSIVE LIBERTY.”IN 2015, THE BACKLASH NTUED. NDIAYE, THE GAY MAN OM DAKAR, WAS ONE OF 11 MEN ARRTED AT A PARTY FOR ALLEGEDLY MTG “HOMOSEXUAL ACTS.” HE SPENT SIX MONTHS JAIL. EVENTUALLY, NDIAYE WAS RELEASED ON APPEAL, BUT THE EXPERIENCED HAS LEFT HIM SHAKEN, AND HE’S NSIRG GOG BACK TO MRANIA. ACRDG TO PATUEL, OM AMNTY INTERNATNAL, THOSE 2015 ARRTS “CREATED PANIC THE MUNY; PEOPLE DON’T THK THEY N STAY HERE.”BUT SPE THE RELATIVE LIBERTY AFFORD BY RPTN, LIFE MRANIA REMAS DANGERO, PARTICULARLY IF YOU’RE ONE OF THE 22 PERCENT OF SENEGALE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN LIVG WH HIV. MRANIA’S LIMED HEALTH RE SYSTEM AS WELL AS HEAVY STIGMA AROUND THE DISEASE N MAKE ACCSG MEDITN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. “THEIR HEALTH IS GETTG WORSE EVERY DAY,” SAYS BANGOURA OF IENDS AND LLEAGU HE VISED ACROSS THE BORR. “THEY’RE DYG THE SERT.” IN SENEGAL, AT LEAST, THERE HAVE BEEN ERNMENT EFFORTS TO TACKLE HIV AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN (MSM), WH SUPPORT OM TERNATNAL AID GROUPS. HOWEVER, SUCH IATIV N ONLY GO SO FAR WHILE THE ERNMENT KEEPS ARRTG PEOPLE FOR BEG GAY. ACRDG TO A 2011 STUDY OF HIV HEALTH RE SENEGAL, THERE WAS “PERVASIVE FEAR AND HIDG AMONG MSM AS A RULT OF THE DECEMBER 2008 ARRTS AND PUBLICY. SERVICE PROVIRS SPEND HIV PREVENTN WORK WH MSM OUT OF FEAR FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.”FOR TRANS WOMEN, ACCSG HEALTH RE IS EVEN MORE GHT. AFTER NNG AWAY OM THE QURANIC SCHOOL, MARIE, THE TRANS WOMAN DAKAR, PED TO SAT-LOUIS, A CY NORTHERN SENEGAL. THERE, A TOOK HER , BUT FORCED HER TO SEX WORK SOON AFTER: “I NEVER HAD A CHOICE,” SAYS MARIE, WHO UNRSTOOD THE RISKS, BUT FELT HELPLS. “YOU DON’T KNOW THE PEOPLE, YOU DON’T KNOW IF THEY’LL FECT YOU.” SURE ENOUGH, NOT LONG AFTER LEAVG SAT-LOUIS, MARIE FOUND OUT SHE WAS HIV POSIVE. “I WASN’T SURPRISED,” SHE SAYS SADLY. BUT SCE GETTG HER DIAGNOSIS, MARIE SAYS SHE’S OFTEN FACED DISCRIMATN WHEN SEEKG TREATMENT BEE OF HER APPEARANCE. “EVERY TIME I GO GET MEDIC, EVEN IF I’M THE FIRST PERSON TO ARRIVE, THEY ALWAYS MAKE ME WA TILL LAST. BUT IF I DON’T GET MY MEDICE, I ULD DIE.” SCE RETURNG OM MRANIA, NDIAYE HAS BEEN HELPG PEOPLE LIKE MARIE TO ACCS HIV TREATMENT, ANIZG EE TTG EVENTS FOR THE LGBT MUNY. HE ALSO HAS A BOYIEND NOW: “I LOVE HIM,” HE SAYS. “HE IS TOO SWEET.” STILL, NDIAYE WANTS TO NVCE HIS PARTNER TO GO BACK WH HIM TO MRANIA. DANGERO AS MIGHT BE ACROSS THE BORR, LOVE SENEGAL IS LIVED DARKNS. “WE N ONLY SEE EACH OTHER THE EVENGS,” SAYS NDIAYE. “IT’S ALWAYS NIGHT.” BUT ADJA AND OTHER ACTIVISTS SEE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAY SENEGAL AND KEEP HOPG FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE. “I WON’T LEAVE,” SHE SAYS, AS DK FALLS ON DAKAR ONCE MORE. “IF WE ALL LEAVE THE UNTRY, WHO WILL NTUE THE FIGHT?” *ADJA’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED AT HER REQUT TO PROTECT HER INTY. THE OTHER PEOPLE TERVIEWED HERE AGREED, SPE THE RISKS, TO BE QUOTED BY NAME.REPORTG FOR THIS STORY WAS SUPPORTED BY THE INTERNATNAL REPORTG PROJECT. OSR LOPEZ
• DO THEY HI THEIR FAC? SEARCHG FOR GAY LIFE WT AI.

GAY SENEGAL - FROM GAY CAPAL TO COUNTRY OF HOMOPHOBIA

In lonial tim, Senegal’s metropolis Dakar was famo for s open and tolerated homosexual prostutn market, and as late as the 1970s, as many as 17 percent of Senegale men admted havg had homosexual experienc.

PODST | A LIFE THE SHADOWS: WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE A GAY MAN DAKAR

Sce 1965, same-sex activy has been punishable by up to five years imprisonment, but only durg the last five years, Dakar’s former visible gay muny has had to go unrground, riskg punishment. Ined, homosexualy has been a visible and well-known part of Wolof tradns, and only moralist opns of the lonialists, later adopted by an creasgly domant Mlim clergy, led to the supprsn of this culture. ” Dr Corre referred to the Wolofs’ appete for “morbid eroticism” his cril report; the olst known wrten rerds of homosexualy Senegal.

GAY LIFE SENEGAL

Mr Gorer tertgly not that the openly gay men “do not suffer any way socially, though the Mohammedans refe them relig burial.

TRAVELLG AS A GAY MAN - SENEGAL FOM

“The elrs and fahful Mlims nmn men for this, ” Mr Crowr noted, th documentg a slowly growg tolerance towards homosexualy om the lol clergy. And by 1958, he rells, homosexualy was not nfed to the French domated centre of Dakar, but to the nightlife the “native quarters” and shantytowns surroundg the pal. A nnectn between the Wolof gor-digen tradn and the ternatnal notn of “homosexualy” – a much wir fn often excludg the optn of marryg someone of the oppose genr – was slowly beg tablished.

TERROR SWEEPS SENEGAL’S GAY MUNY AFTER A SERI OF ASSLTS

But still the mid-2000s, gay meetg pots were well known to Dakar habants and gay men relatively openly uld pick up equally oriented men terrass of the famo beach promena Corniche Out the centre at pla daylight. In Febary 2008, publitn of photographs om a same-sex mment ceremony set off a wave of arrts and an anti-gay media enzy and sent dozens of gay men to exile. In November 2009, Safatoul Amal, an anisatn charged wh the spirual protectn of the town of Touba, raid a man’s home and arrted him for formg a “work of homosexuals.

The arrts were acpanied by sensatnal media verage, strong homophobic statements om relig and polil lears, and vlence — cludg physil attacks and the exhumatn and secratn of the bodi of ceased people spected of beg gay.

Remend further readg about the history of homosexualy Ai: “Boy-wiv and Female Hbands” eded by Stephen O Murray & Will Rose, New York 1998.

LIX POUR L GAY SENEGAL

Dakar-based journalist Marta Moreiras explor what means to be gay Senegal, where homosexual men here are targeted wh the slur “Góor-jigéen” - a pejorative term which lerally means “men-women” the Wolof language #CryLikeaBoy.

He’s kept om his fay and even his childhood iends bee he’s aaid of not only rejectn, but persecutn, and even secret is that Junr is this episo, Dakar-based journalist Marta Moreiras explor what means to be gay Senegal, where homosexual men here are targeted wh the slur “Góor-jigéen” - a pejorative term which lerally means “men-women” the Wolof language, and is ed to beltle their te that the Góor-jigéen were once wily accepted and rpected?

LIVG SHADOWS: LIFE AS A GAY DAKAR

Vlently shoutg: "no to homosexualy"'s 2016 and the vio was shared on social media and picked up by the lol TV channel Senegal, and around the world, homosexualy is associated wh feme puts prsure on young men to play a role, to try to be the “better, stronger man” kd that uld never be acced of beg gay.

‘I DON’T GO OUT DURG THE DAY’: INSI SENEGAL’S LGBT CRACKDOWN‘DYING IN THE DESERT’REVILED, EXILED, JAILED, RAPED, BEATEN, PRIVED OF MEDIL RE—THE LIST OF AB GO ON. DPE AN AMERIN PH FOR PROGRS, AN ANTI-GAY BACKLASH HAS MA MATTERS WORSE.OSR LOPEZPUBLISHED FEB. 06, 2018 5:01AM EST SEYLLOU/AFP/GETTYDAKAR, SENEGAL—WATCHG AS DK FALLS ON THE DTY STREETS OF THIS CY, MARIE, A 27-YEAR-OLD TRANS WOMAN, EXPLAS THAT SHE ONLY LEAV HER HOE AFTER SUNSET. “I DON’T GO OUT DURG THE DAY,” SHE SAYS, FLICKG BACK HER LONG RED HAIR. “ONLY AT NIGHT. I DON’T EVEN WANT TO OPEN MY DOOR.” IT N BE LONELY, MARIE ADMS, BUT AFTER FACG ABE THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, LIVG ALONE THE DARK IS THE ONLY WAY SHE FEELS SAFE. ASKG THAT HER LAST NAME BE OMTED FOR SAFETY REASONS, MARIE EXPLAS THAT THE ABE BEGAN WHEN SHE WAS JT 8-YEARS-OLD. “I ED TO WAKE UP EARLY TO PUT ON MY SISTER’S CLOTH BEFORE SCHOOL,” SHE SAYS. “I DIDN’T WANT TO DISGUISE MYSELF AS A BOY ANYMORE.” BUT A UNTRY LIKE SENEGAL, WHERE GENR ROL ARE STRICTLY ENFORCED, REVEALG HER INTY LEFT HER VULNERABLE TO ATTACK: AFTER YEARS OF BULLYG, MARIE WAS FORCED TO LEAVE SCHOOL AT 13.IN AN EFFORT TO RRECT WHAT HER FAY VIEWED AS AN ABERRATN, MARIE’S FATHER PUT HER A STRICT QURANIC SCHOOL, WHERE THGS GOT EVEN WORSE. “THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS RAPED,” SAYS MARIE. “THE TEACHERS ED TO E TO THE DORMS AT NIGHT AND TAKE ME BACK TO THEIR ROOM. ‘SCE YOU THK YOU’RE A WOMAN,’ THEY’D SAY, ‘WE’RE GOG TO SHOW YOU WHAT WE DO WH WOMEN.’” AFTERWARD, MARIE WOULD LIE AWAKE THE DARK, FILLED WH SHAME, HOPG ONLY TO BE LEFT ALONE. FIFTEEN YEARS LATER AND DARKNS IS STILL MARIE’S ONLY REFUGE OM A SOCIETY THAT REMAS EPLY AVERSE TO LGBT RIGHTS. AS IS THE SE 33 UNTRI ACROSS AI, GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL SENEGAL, AND ATTACKS AND ARRTS OF QUEER PEOPLE ARE MON (PDF). “LGBT PEOPLE OPERATE A VERY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT,” SAYS FRANçOIS PATUEL, A REARCHER WH AMNTY INTERNATNAL DAKAR. “THERE’S A LOT OF PHYSIL VLENCE AGAST MEN, AND SEXUAL VLENCE TOWARDS WOMEN. THEY DON’T HAVE ANY ACCS TO JTICE.” ACRDG TO HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, VLENCE AGAST GAY MEN AND TRANS WOMEN HAS CREASED SCE 2008. FOLLOWG A PUBLIC SNDAL AROUND A SUPPOSED “GAY WEDDG,” GAY MEN “CREASGLY BEME TARGETS OF POPULAR VENGEANCE AND ARBRARY ARRTS.” WHEN ONE OF THE MEN PHOTOGRAPHED THE WEDDG, MADIEYE DIALLO, DIED OF AIDS 2009, AN ANGRY MOB DISTERRED HIS BODY AND DRAGGED THROUGH TOWN, DUMPG ONT OF HIS PARENTS’ HOME. “WE HAD TO BURY HIM THE BH,” SAYS DJA BANGOURA, A LOL LGBT ACTIVIST AND CLOSE IEND OF DIALLO. “THAT’S WHEN I SAW THE WEAKNS OF THE STATE. WE ARE NOT PROTECTED BY THE LAW, NOR THE JTICE SYSTEM, NOR THE POLICE. HOW DO PEOPLE IMAGE WE N NTUE TO LIVE LIKE THIS?”SADOU NDIAYE, 32, A GAY MAN LIVG DAKAR, REMEMBERS THE PERD AFTER 2008 WH UNEASE: “IT WAS TOO HARD FOR GAY PEOPLE,” HE SAYS. “YOU ULDN’T EVEN LEAVE THE HOE.” FEARG FOR HIS SAFETY, NDIAYE CID TO FLEE SENEGAL FOR NEIGHBORG MRANIA: THERE, THE PENALTY FOR BEG GAY IS ATH BY STONG. BUT NDIAYE SAYS THAT THE ANONYMY OF LIFE MRANIA WAS BETTER THAN THE NSTANT FEAR SENEGAL, WHERE GAY PEOPLE ARE OFTEN PUBLICLY TARGETED BY THE MEDIA. IN MRANIA “NOBODY KNOWS YOU, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SRED,” HE TOLD ME. “YOU N LIVE YOUR GAY DREAM.” NDIAYE IS NOT ALONE. ACRDG TO ACTIVIST BANGOURA, WHO VISED MRANIA RECENTLY, THERE ARE DOZENS OF GAY MEN THERE WHO HAVE FLED OPPRSN SENEGAL. STILL, MRANIA REMAS A HOSTILE PLACE FOR LGBT PEOPLE: “WHEN THE POLICE STOP YOU, YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO EVEN EXPLA YOURSELF,” SAYS NDIAYE. BUT UNLIKE SENEGAL, NDIAYE EXPLAS THAT RAMPANT RPTN MRANIA MEANS YOU N MOSTLY JT BRIBE YOUR WAY OUT OF TROUBLE. “IF YOU PAY, THEY’LL LET YOU GO EE,” HE SAYS. “MONEY IS THE ONLY THG THAT MATTERS OVER THERE.”STILL, AFTER A YEAR OF EQUENT ARRTS, NDIAYE HAD ENOUGH. HE CID TO RETURN TO SENEGAL 2010. “THGS WERE A LOT QUIETER PARED TO 2008,” HE SAYS. BUT THE LM DIDN’T LAST. IN 2013, U.S. PRINT BARACK OBAMA VISED SENEGAL AND RAISED THE ISSUE OF LGBT RIGHTS WH PRINT MACKY SALL, WHO REFED TO BUDGE. NOT LONG AFTER THAT, A LBIAN WOMAN WE’LL LL ADJA*, WHO NS A WOMEN’S RIGHTS GROUP DAKAR, SAYS SHE WAS THROWN JAIL AS PART OF A UNTRY-WI CRACKDOWN. THE FOLLOWG FEBARY, POLICE ARRTED FOUR MEN WHO WERE TRYG TO “CLEAN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD” BY HUNTG DOWN AND ATTACKG GAY MEN. “OBAMA ME TO SENEGAL AND MAND THE LAW BE CHANGED,” SAYS ADJA. “I WOULD’VE TOLD HIM, GREAT, BUT WHAT MEANS DO I HAVE TO CHANGE ?”SUCH ANTI-GAY BACKLASH HAVE BEE MON ACROSS SUB-SAHARAN AI. AS WTERN UNTRI HAVE MA CREASG PROGRS ON GAY RIGHTS, AND SOME S ACTIVELY PHED FOR SIAR ADVANC AI, UNTRI LIKE TANZANIA, UGANDA, AND NIGERIA HAVE MOVED THE OPPOSE DIRECTN, CRACKG DOWN ON GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISM AND PASSG EVER MORE DRANIAN LEGISLATN TO SUPPRS LGBT PEOPLE. BAMAR GUèYE IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF JAMRA, A NSERVATIVE RELIG ANIZATN SENEGAL THAT OFTEN SPEAKS OUT AGAST HOMOSEXUALY, SPE WORKG ON ISSU LIKE HIV/AIDS PREVENTN. FROM HIS DIMLY L DAKAR OFFICE, GUèYE SUGGTED WHY EFFORTS BY OBAMA AND OTHERS TO FLUENCE SENEGAL ON LGBT RIGHTS HAVE BACKFIRED. “GLOBAL SOCIETY IS BEG TURNED UPSI DOWN,” HE SAYS. “JT BEE HAPPENS THEIR UNTRI THEY WANT TO IMPOSE ON OTHER PLAC. BUT NO ONE HAS THE MONOPOLY TO DICTATE TO OTHERS. IT’S THE WDS OF EXCSIVE LIBERTY.”IN 2015, THE BACKLASH NTUED. NDIAYE, THE GAY MAN OM DAKAR, WAS ONE OF 11 MEN ARRTED AT A PARTY FOR ALLEGEDLY MTG “HOMOSEXUAL ACTS.” HE SPENT SIX MONTHS JAIL. EVENTUALLY, NDIAYE WAS RELEASED ON APPEAL, BUT THE EXPERIENCED HAS LEFT HIM SHAKEN, AND HE’S NSIRG GOG BACK TO MRANIA. ACRDG TO PATUEL, OM AMNTY INTERNATNAL, THOSE 2015 ARRTS “CREATED PANIC THE MUNY; PEOPLE DON’T THK THEY N STAY HERE.”BUT SPE THE RELATIVE LIBERTY AFFORD BY RPTN, LIFE MRANIA REMAS DANGERO, PARTICULARLY IF YOU’RE ONE OF THE 22 PERCENT OF SENEGALE GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN LIVG WH HIV. MRANIA’S LIMED HEALTH RE SYSTEM AS WELL AS HEAVY STIGMA AROUND THE DISEASE N MAKE ACCSG MEDITN NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. “THEIR HEALTH IS GETTG WORSE EVERY DAY,” SAYS BANGOURA OF IENDS AND LLEAGU HE VISED ACROSS THE BORR. “THEY’RE DYG THE SERT.” IN SENEGAL, AT LEAST, THERE HAVE BEEN ERNMENT EFFORTS TO TACKLE HIV AMONG MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN (MSM), WH SUPPORT OM TERNATNAL AID GROUPS. HOWEVER, SUCH IATIV N ONLY GO SO FAR WHILE THE ERNMENT KEEPS ARRTG PEOPLE FOR BEG GAY. ACRDG TO A 2011 STUDY OF HIV HEALTH RE SENEGAL, THERE WAS “PERVASIVE FEAR AND HIDG AMONG MSM AS A RULT OF THE DECEMBER 2008 ARRTS AND PUBLICY. SERVICE PROVIRS SPEND HIV PREVENTN WORK WH MSM OUT OF FEAR FOR THEIR OWN SAFETY.”FOR TRANS WOMEN, ACCSG HEALTH RE IS EVEN MORE GHT. AFTER NNG AWAY OM THE QURANIC SCHOOL, MARIE, THE TRANS WOMAN DAKAR, PED TO SAT-LOUIS, A CY NORTHERN SENEGAL. THERE, A TOOK HER , BUT FORCED HER TO SEX WORK SOON AFTER: “I NEVER HAD A CHOICE,” SAYS MARIE, WHO UNRSTOOD THE RISKS, BUT FELT HELPLS. “YOU DON’T KNOW THE PEOPLE, YOU DON’T KNOW IF THEY’LL FECT YOU.” SURE ENOUGH, NOT LONG AFTER LEAVG SAT-LOUIS, MARIE FOUND OUT SHE WAS HIV POSIVE. “I WASN’T SURPRISED,” SHE SAYS SADLY. BUT SCE GETTG HER DIAGNOSIS, MARIE SAYS SHE’S OFTEN FACED DISCRIMATN WHEN SEEKG TREATMENT BEE OF HER APPEARANCE. “EVERY TIME I GO GET MEDIC, EVEN IF I’M THE FIRST PERSON TO ARRIVE, THEY ALWAYS MAKE ME WA TILL LAST. BUT IF I DON’T GET MY MEDICE, I ULD DIE.” SCE RETURNG OM MRANIA, NDIAYE HAS BEEN HELPG PEOPLE LIKE MARIE TO ACCS HIV TREATMENT, ANIZG EE TTG EVENTS FOR THE LGBT MUNY. HE ALSO HAS A BOYIEND NOW: “I LOVE HIM,” HE SAYS. “HE IS TOO SWEET.” STILL, NDIAYE WANTS TO NVCE HIS PARTNER TO GO BACK WH HIM TO MRANIA. DANGERO AS MIGHT BE ACROSS THE BORR, LOVE SENEGAL IS LIVED DARKNS. “WE N ONLY SEE EACH OTHER THE EVENGS,” SAYS NDIAYE. “IT’S ALWAYS NIGHT.” BUT ADJA AND OTHER ACTIVISTS SEE NO CHOICE BUT TO STAY SENEGAL AND KEEP HOPG FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE. “I WON’T LEAVE,” SHE SAYS, AS DK FALLS ON DAKAR ONCE MORE. “IF WE ALL LEAVE THE UNTRY, WHO WILL NTUE THE FIGHT?” *ADJA’S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED AT HER REQUT TO PROTECT HER INTY. THE OTHER PEOPLE TERVIEWED HERE AGREED, SPE THE RISKS, TO BE QUOTED BY NAME.REPORTG FOR THIS STORY WAS SUPPORTED BY THE INTERNATNAL REPORTG PROJECT. OSR LOPEZ

”Danielle Olavar: In Senegal, if you are openly gay, you n not only be sulted, rejected, and ostracised, but also hunted, beaten, and even arrted and are not only nsired as ls of a man but a 's why most, like Junr, choose to stay si the closet or to leave the do men around the world feel the need to prove this masculy? ”Danielle Olavar: In this wtern Ain untry, has been forbidn to be gay sce “Beg gay is very difficult bee you tend to hi, to change your behavur, bee people are much more radil and they are much meaner to , even mistreat them. ”Danielle Olavar: Lus Ramón Mendos om the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA) explas how more than half of the untri sub-Saharan Ai have legislatn prohibg or reprsg Ramón Mendos: “So what we see Ai still is somethg that Europe got pletely rid of 2014.

A seri of mours spread on social works blamg the gay muny for spreadg the new ’s Profsor Mendos aga:Lus Ramón Mendos: “Unfortunately, what we have seen, both state thori and other Islamic non-ernmental anisatns, don’t seem to help at all. A few months ago, Senegal’s Print Macky Sall nfirmed that the crimalisatn of homosexualy is not among his short-term plans. The protagonist is a young profsor, Ndéné Gueye, whose feelgs of disgt at a vio of gome homophobic vlence e him to rebel agast the hypocrisy of his patrts.

DO THEY HI THEIR FAC? SEARCHG FOR GAY LIFE WT AI.

After chroniclg some of the real-life cints, the novel adds, a sad wk to the rear, a fict ncln to the sndals by reuntg the publitn of a “pro-gay” novel whose thor ms suici.

Some rears will see through the didactic tone of passag, which juxtapose opposg pots of view on homosexualy via dialogu between characters.