Cherif* arrived in France in early June with one overriding thought: he could no longer stay in Senegal. “I was going to be arrested,” he says, his voice heavy with conviction. For weeks after a man he had been seeing was detained, Cherif lived in terror. “As soon as I read about it in the news, the only thing on my mind was escape.”

The arrest hit close to home—the detained man was reportedly a close associate of Ousmane Sonko, now Speaker of the National Assembly, who spearheaded the controversial bill doubling prison sentences for same-sex relations from five to ten years, passed in March. Local media widely covered the arrests of suspected partners. “I knew the police would search his phone and find messages linking me to him,” Cherif recalls. “I deleted every message, photo, and trace of my hidden life.”

An atmosphere of fear and hostility

Life in Senegal, he explains, has become unbearable. “At home, in the streets, on television, and across social media, everyone was talking about LGBTQ+ people,” he says, his words tinged with dread. Hate speech has spread unchecked, with no room for nuance. “They’re corrupting the youth, destroying our society,” the narratives claim, fueling an environment where suspicion and violence thrive.

Desperate calls for help

The surge in distress calls from Senegal to French LGBTQ+ support groups tells a stark story. Organizations like Stop Homophobie, SOS Homophobie, and Le Refuge have seen a sharp rise in pleas for assistance, as individuals scramble to secure safe passage out of the country. The new law has turned once-tolerated secrecy into a life-or-death gamble.

Cherif’s story is not unique. Many in his community now live in hiding, their lives upended by a legal system that brands them criminals. The fear of arrest, combined with social ostracization, has left countless individuals with no choice but to flee. For those who remain, every interaction carries the risk of exposure—and the devastating consequences that follow.

• The new reality: Once a society where LGBTQ+ individuals could navigate discreetly, Senegal has become a place of heightened danger.
• The human cost: Families torn apart, lives shattered, and communities forced into silence.
• The call for solidarity: International support groups are working tirelessly to provide refuge and resources.