In a sweeping legislative move, Senegal’s National Assembly has passed a stringent anti-homosexuality bill that significantly escalates penalties for same-sex acts. The Wednesday evening vote saw overwhelming approval with 135 votes in favor, zero against, and three abstentions.
The new legislation doubles the maximum prison sentence from five to ten years for same-sex relations and introduces substantial fines up to 10 million CFA francs (approximately $16,300). The law specifically criminalizes homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality, zoophilia, and necrophilia under the umbrella term “acts against nature.”
Notably, the bill removes judicial discretion, mandating that courts cannot grant suspended sentences or reduce prison terms below the statutory minimum. This represents a significant hardening of Senegal’s existing penal code, which previously carried a maximum five-year sentence under legislation last amended in 1966.
The legislation fulfills campaign promises made by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s administration, which assumed power in 2024. Religious leaders including Imam Babacar Sylla of the And Samm Jikko Yi network have publicly urged President Faye to promptly sign the bill into law, characterizing LGBT individuals as “public dangers.”
In the weeks preceding the vote, supporters organized demonstrations in Dakar featuring crossed-out rainbow symbols and chants of “No to homosexuality!” This development occurs amid a broader regional trend of tightening anti-LGBT laws across West Africa.