massive gay arrests in Senegal

[young11]

14 hours ago, NIrishGuy said:

 

Or just some cash 😂 

[forrestreid]

On 2/22/2026 at 1:46 AM, PeterRS said:

I fully accept you are the expert here. However, if Britain and other colonial powers had not introduced anti-sodomy laws and not only had them on these countries' statute books for around a century but also rigorously enforced them, might today's anti-gay sentiments be less? Might not those African countries which had been colonised just continue what they had been practising before the colonial powers arrived (and I frankly do not know if homosexuality was encouraged/tolerated/banned in any of these countries before then)? Just curious as to your thoughts. 

 

I think that’s true, and I’m definitely not trying to defend British colonial‑era laws. But I do think their lingering effects have faded quite a bit over the last decade or two.These days, the bigger factor seems to be how religious each country is—especially the influence of conservative Islam and evangelical Christianity.

Take Senegal, Mali, and Niger. All three were French colonies, so they didn’t inherit laws criminalising homosexuality at independence.

- Senegal later made homosexual acts illegal. Around 97% of the population is Sunni Muslim, and surveys show the same percentage saying homosexuality shouldn’t be accepted. With numbers like that, liberalisation doesn’t look likely anytime soon.

- Mali also started out without anti‑gay laws, but according to Wikipedia, homosexuality was made illegal in December 2024. It seems to have been a political move aimed at appealing to the overwhelmingly Muslim population at a time when the government is under pressure from ISIS‑aligned rebels. 

- Niger likewise inherited no such laws. But again, Wikipedia notes that while same‑sex activity is currently legal, criminalisation is pending.

 

Now compare that with the formerly British colonies of Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda.

- Nigeria did inherit British anti‑gay laws. In the Christian south, the federal criminal code (which would have copied a lot a British laws at inception) punishes sex between men with up to 14 years in prison. In many northern, Islamic states that have recently adopted Sharia‑inspired laws (under pressure from Muslim preachers) the penalty can be death. 

- Ghana also inherited British laws banning male homosexual activity. But then in February 2024 things got much worse as the legislature—backed by both major political parties—unanimously passed the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill, which would criminalise even identifying as gay, with penalties of up to three years in prison. It’s currently tied up in court.

 - Uganda inherited British laws too. They went largely unenforced for decades, but from the 1990s onward (according to Wikipedia) there’s been a push to revive and strengthen them. That eventually led to the Anti‑Homosexuality Act, 2023, which includes up to twenty years in prison for “promotion of homosexuality,” life imprisonment for “homosexual acts,” and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” Uganda is about 75% Christian and 15% Muslim, and evangelical churches in particular have been strongly anti‑gay. Interestingly—and worryingly—surveys show younger generations are more homophobic than older ones, which is the opposite of global trends. Presumably the older generation would have been more affected in their attitude by the inherited British laws, but they are ironically somewhat less homophobic.

Therefore I think that harking back to British colonial laws banning homosexuality (unfortunate though they were) is increasingly irrelevant when talking about the legal status of gay people in Africa. Now you could argue that it was under the British that Christian missionaries got a foothold in certain countries, leading to the situation today where a more evangelical Christianity is spreading. But if it had not been for the Christian missionaries, I think it likely that Ghana, Nigeria and probably Uganda would be almost entirely Muslim now. This would have led to worse outcomes gay people today in those countries  - after all, I would prefer to live in the Christian-dominated south of Nigeria subject to the draconian Federal Criminal code, rather than Sharia-ruled north, facing the death penalty.

Edited 2 hours ago by forrestreid
clarity