A new law that doubles the penalties for homosexuality in Senegal was signed by the country’s president on Monday, the AP reports, the latest in a series of laws across Africa increasing punishments for LGBTQ+ people and those who support them.

Same-sex acts in Senegal, classified along with necrophilia and bestiality under offenses deemed “acts against nature,” will now earn five to 10 years in prison. Acts committed with a minor are subject to the maximum penalty.

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The bill was passed by Parliament earlier this month by a near-unanimous vote, and followed campaign pledges from both the president and prime minister in Senegal’s latest elections to increase penalties for homosexuality in the West African nation.

“Homosexuals will no longer breathe in this country. Homosexuals will no longer have freedom of expression in this country,” lawmaker Diaraye Ba told colleagues in the National Assembly to applause.

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In addition to doubling prison terms and fines for homosexual acts, the measure includes criminal penalties for those found guilty of promoting or financing same-sex relationships, part of the same wave of legislation in Africa targeting not only LGBTQ+ people, but individuals and organizations that advocate for any sexual or gender minority that doesn’t conform to strict Christian or Muslim orthodoxy.

In both Senegal and Ghana, anti-LGBTQ+ groups have acknowledged the support of at least one U.S.-based group in their efforts to rid the countries of homosexuality.

The executive director of Ghanaian anti-LGBTQ+ organization Freedom International told Reuters this month that he and an official from the designated hate group Mass Resistance in the U.S. had exchanged “educational materials” and discussed the need to curtail LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana and elsewhere.

Like Senegal, lawmakers in Ghana are also pushing new legislation to increase colonial-era punishments for same-sex acts, with language criminalizing the “willful promotion, sponsorship, ⁠or support of LGBTQ+ activities” — similar to the text found in Senegal’s bill.

Thirty of Africa’s 54 nations have laws criminalizing homosexuality or same-sex acts. In Uganda, Somalia, and Mauritania, offenses can carry the death penalty. Uganda passed the most notorious of the so-called “Kill the Gays” laws in 2023.

Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s signature comes amid a veritable gay panic in Senegal, with a wave of arrests and anti-LGBTQ+ protests by religious groups demanding tougher penalties for homosexuality.

Social media has been flooded with homophobic messages outing gay people, while mainstream media has rage-baited the public with headlines like “Big homo clean-up” and “Bisexuals, walking dangers.”

The government’s wave of arrests began in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, in February, with the detention of two of Senegal’s highest-profile celebrities, among 12 people rounded up and charged with committing “unnatural” acts and other crimes.

The law fulfills a campaign promise of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, the head of government in Senegal, who pledged to increase penalties for homosexuality in Senegal both in the latest campaign and as a member of the opposition before his appointment as prime minister, the AP notes.

Sonko was appointed by the president in 2024 after Diomaye was elected. The new prime minister had been barred from running for president that year and chose Diomaye, a longtime aide and now Senegal’s youngest-ever head-of-state, as his replacement. The two men are now reportedly engaged in a power struggle.

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