Sunday, March 17, 2024

Hundreds stage street protest in Senegal against LGBTQ rights

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Staff Writer
Staff Writer
Africa Feeds Staff writers are group of African journalists focused on reporting news about the continent and the rest of the world.

Hundreds of people have staged a street protest in Senegal in opposition to activities of LGBTQ persons.

The protest on Sunday in the capital Dakar was intended to push for same-sex or homosexuality to be made a crime in Senegal.

Senegal’s laws do not allow for same-sex activities, with offenders punishable by up to five years in prison.

But there is no law that punishes anyone who identifies as a gay and that is what the protesters want changed.

Sunday’s protest was led by religious leaders and civil society groups who want a tighter law to deal with homosexuality.

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Meanwhile Senegal’s government has repeatedly ruled out legalizing homosexuality in a country that is conservatively Islam.

A 2019 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association revealed that consensual same-sex relations are legal in 21 of 54 African countries.

But largely there is apprehension about the activities of LGBTQ persons in many African countries.

Opposition to the practice is largely based on cultural and religious opinions and persons suspected to be engaged in the act in some instances face abuse.

On of such countries is Ghana, where this year a group of over 100 Ghanaian feminists announced their solidarity with “LGBT+ Rights Ghana and queer and transgender Ghanaians everywhere.”

Members of the LGBT+ community in Ghana have come under serious attack following news of the commissioning of an office and work space for them in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Ghana is a highly conservative and religious nation, which has driven support for anti-LGBT+ activities.

But with a surge in attempts to resist the acceptability of the LGBT+community in Ghana, the group of Ghanaian feminists wrote a statement “to show the community that you are not alone.”

 

Anxiety grips LGBTQ+ people in Ghana after office shutdown

 

Source: Africafeeds.com

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