DAKAR, March 16 (Reuters) - Senegalese proponents of a tougher anti-LGBT law discussed campaign strategy and mobilization tactics with a U.S.-based "pro-family" group that calls homosexuality a public health threat, activists in both countries told Reuters.
US 'pro-family' group worked with Senegal activists pushing anti-LGBT law
The U.S. group MassResistance, known for its work at home pushing legislation against same-sex marriage and denouncing "the transgender war on cultural norms", has advised like-minded African activists for years.
But now it is trying to take advantage of what it sees as a more restrictive approach by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration towards the rights of same-sex couples. Beyond Senegal, it has been involved in recent advocacy supporting a proposed new anti-LGBT law in Ghana.
"There's a renewed push to put in place these strict bans on the promotion and proliferation of LGBT ideology now because President Trump is not in the business of harassing and bullying countries to incorporate these destructive ideologies," the group's field director, Arthur Schaper, told Reuters.
The collaboration between MassResistance, headquartered in Massachusetts, and And Samm Jikko Yi, a Senegalese network of Islamic and civil society organizations, has not previously been reported.
'PRO-FAMILY' MOVEMENT GAINS MOMENTUM
Senegalese lawmakers last week approved the new law, which doubles the maximum prison term for same-sex sexual acts to 10 years and criminalizes so-called promotion of homosexuality.
Reuters could not determine the impact of MassResistance's work in Senegal on the vote.
But this is the first known case of a U.S. group helping shape a successful push for anti-LGBT legislation in Africa since Trump returned to power in January 2025.
"The transnational pro-family movement has reached new heights in terms of their level of influence now that Trump is in office," said Haley McEwen, author of the 2024 book "The U.S. Christian Right and Pro-Family Politics in 21st Century Africa".
The State Department said Trump's approach to foreign assistance ensures taxpayer dollars are not "wasted on divisive social and gender issues", a departure from the Biden and Obama administrations which made LGBT rights part of foreign policy.
NEW GOVERNMENT CREATED OPENING FOR LAW
And Samm Jikko Yi began campaigning across Senegal for tougher anti-LGBT legislation in 2020, arguing that the existing provision in the penal code was too weak, said Ababacar Mboup, the network's former coordinator and honorary president.
The old version imposed prison sentences of up to five years for "acts against nature".
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko promised on the campaign trail in 2024 to deliver a new law.
In December 2024, And Samm Jikko Yi contacted MassResistance to discuss an attempt to change the law as well as the possible creation of a MassResistance chapter in Senegal, Mboup and Schaper said.
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They discussed tactics for awareness-raising, mobilization and advocacy with Senegalese authorities, Mboup added.
MassResistance says it is focused on pushing "pro-family laws and policies" that ensure LGBT rights are not celebrated or normalized.
"The high rates of disease, dysfunction, and death associated with these sexual paraphilias are too great to ignore," Schaper said.
MassResistance has also been in touch with activists in Ghana, where lawmakers are considering a harsher anti-LGBT bill.
As in Senegal, same-sex sexual acts are already criminalized there, but the new legislation would increase the maximum penalty from three to five years and impose jail time for the "wilful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities".
Frank Mackay Anim-Appiah, executive director of the Ghanaian human rights NGO Freedom International, said he and Schaper had exchanged "educational materials" and broadly discussed the need to curtail LGBT rights.
Anim-Appiah has toured schools across Ghana to speak against the "infiltration" of the LGBT movement, and said Schaper had tried - so far unsuccessfully - to secure financing for him from "funders" he declined to name.
"I see Arthur as a colleague... We are all fighting a common battle," Anim-Appiah told Reuters.
CONCERNS OVER FIGHT AGAINST HIV
Health workers in Senegal say the new law is likely to harm the fight against HIV/AIDS among key populations, notably men who have sex with men (MSM).
Fear of arrest drives people underground, and by criminalizing "promotion", efforts to address HIV/AIDS among LGBT people could be jeopardised, they say.
That fight already suffered a blow last year when the Trump administration cut foreign assistance.
National HIV prevalence is 0.3% in Senegal but is much higher among MSM - hitting 49% in parts of Dakar, government figures show.
Between February 9 and 24, 27 suspected MSM were arrested on suspicion of "acts against nature" and, in some cases, "voluntary transmission" of HIV, the International Federation for Human Rights said.
A spokesperson for Senegal's government and a spokesperson for Senegal's gendarmerie did not respond to requests for comment on the increased arrests.
They have forced MSM into hiding, and some have fled to other countries including Mauritania, Gambia and Ivory Coast, said two Senegalese MSM who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
(Reporting by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Gareth Jones)