FEATURE-'Fightg for survival', Senegal's gay muny is on s own | Rters

Contents:

• TERROR SWEEPS SENEGAL’S GAY MUNY AFTER A SERI OF ASSLTS
• LIVG SHADOWS: LIFE AS A GAY DAKAR
• FEATURE-'FIGHTG FOR SURVIVAL', SENEGAL'S GAY MUNY IS ON S OWN
• GAY LIFE SENEGAL
• ‘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

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

A group of men gathered around a burng gay flag Dakar Sunday and chanted: “Senegal will never accept homosexualy.

” Others held signs that read: “Senegal says no to homosexualy” and “We mand an end to the LGBT agenda. They were among the thoands that flocked to Place l’Obélisque to ll for harsher penalti for sexual mori, often referred to as LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, qutng or queer) people. The event was anized by ultra-nservative Mlim groups who say homosexualy is beg imposed on them by the Wt and threatens their tradnal valu.

LIVG SHADOWS: LIFE AS A GAY DAKAR

Panel 2018 flatly rejected the notn that homosexualy is a Wtern phenomenon, wrg: "Lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people exist everywhere, all untri, among all ethnic groups.... Some anti-gay activists want even harsher penalti agast sexual mori, up to 10 years prison. Thoands of protters gathered Dakar, Senegal to mand harsher penalti for homosexuals, Feb.

A proposed bill that would have creased the prison sentence for homosexual acts to between five and ten years was rejected by lawmakers January. “We simply want the ernment to crimalize homosexualy jt like they crimalized rape, like they crimalized ttle theft, ” said Ngoné Dia, a universy stunt.

Many of the laws date back to lonial tim, when Brish and Arab muni brought wh them anti-homosexual valu.

FEATURE-'FIGHTG FOR SURVIVAL', SENEGAL'S GAY MUNY IS ON S OWN

But anthropologists have found evince of homosexualy throughout pre-lonial Ai. He held a sign Wolof that translat to: “If you tch a homosexual, kill them. Cisse said he hadn’t yet killed any gays, but was prepared to do so the event he found one.

Durg a 2020 vis wh Senegal’s print Macky Sall, for example, Canada’s Jt T ma headl when he raised the issue of the crimalizatn of homosexualy.

GAY LIFE SENEGAL

State Department cricized Senegal for “vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr or tersex persons” and the “existence or e of laws crimalizg nsensual same-sex sexual nduct between adults. Media and lol rights groups reported dozens of cints of asslt on homosexual people Senegal the first half of the year. Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people and activists ntued to be subjected to smear mpaigns and abe.

‘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

In June, acrdg to media reports, an employee of the Senegale mistry of tn was fired after he asked stunts takg an English exam at a Dakar high school to wre about homosexualy.

Gay sex is already punishable by up to five years prison Senegal, where arrts and prosecutns have risen sharply, acrdg to a 2020 global review by the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA). Vios have documented at least four men beg asslted and taed Senegal sce May 23, when a nservative group held a large rally llg for homosexualy to be classified as a more ser crime.

Activists say that over the last three weeks at least 150 gay men have received threats, g some to flee their hom.