Quentin, like others in Burkina Faso, fears a new anti-gay law would spark a “witch hunt” against the already at-risk LGBTQ community, which has been forced even further underground.
Adopted earlier this month by the ruling junta, the criminalization of same-sex relationships “can change how the population behaves towards us gay people,” the young man said.
“With this law, there will be no more respite,” said Quentin, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, as with other people interviewed for this report.
Photo: Reuters
“People will feel invested in a mission: tracking down gay people,” said Quentin, who worries about a “witch hunt” as a result.
Other members of the Burkinabe LGBTQ community voiced similar concerns over the law, the latest in a slew of anti-gay legislation passed on the African continent. Critical of Western values, the Burkinabe junta said the legislation — which has not yet come into effect and is part of a new family code — is in line with the country’s customs and traditions.
Even before it has been enacted, many LGBTQ people in Burkina Faso kept their sexual orientation quiet out of fear of prejudice.
“Few people know that I am gay, not even my family, who are putting pressure on me to marry,” Quentin said.
Although Quentin testified that homophobic “stigmatization and discrimination” is widespread in Burkina Faso, same-sex relationships were not banned in the Sahel nation before the military seized power in a double coup in 2022.
The law targets “perpetrators of homosexual practices,” who would face punishments ranging from fines to prison sentences of up to five years.
In the three weeks following the junta’s adoption of the text, Alex has already seen attendance at his LGBTQ association fall.
“It’s already been very complicated for us since 2023, but with this law, people can out us to the authorities,” he said.
Outings on social media, backed up by photos of the accused, have already become common currency in Burkina Faso.
“People are also sharing lists of places where we meet up and are handing them over to the authorities,” Phoenix said.
The community “is faced with extreme violence, with people capable of going as far as murder,” Phoenix said.
Alex said that people “could interpret the law as an invitation to discriminate against or commit acts of violence aimed at LGBTQ individuals.”
To keep helping his peers without putting them in danger, his organisation has adapted its work. It has begun to organize activities during which its members mingle with other communities to deflect suspicion, while doubling down on delivering support to LGBTQ people at their homes. This allows access to medical services, such as prevention kits or blood tests for sexually transmitted diseases, without having to make a dangerous journey.
Burkina Faso’s criminalization of same-sex relations is part of Burkinabe President Ibrahim Traore’s pivot away from the West and toward Russia, and his critique of Western values such as LGBTQ rights.
It follows a similar move by its ally, Mali, likewise ruled by a military junta, which adopted a law criminalizing same-sex relationships in November last year.
It also comes as a clutch of governments across Africa — where same-sex relations are illegal in about 30 of the continent’s 54 states — have moved to restrict LGBTQ rights, despite fierce criticism from Western countries and rights groups.
Faced with an uncertain future in Burkina Faso, some LGBTQ people “are thinking of quitting the country,” Alex said.
“We’re all under threat, but if we leave, who will act to help those who remain?” the activist asked.
For Quentin, there is no question of opening himself up to further risk.
“I will continue to lead my life well hidden,” he said. “I do not plan to put my life in danger by advertising my sexuality in public.”
A missing fingertip offers a clue to Mako Nishimura’s criminal past as one of Japan’s few female yakuza, but after clawing her way out of the underworld, she now spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society. The multibillion-dollar yakuza organized crime network has long ruled over Japan’s drug rings, illicit gambling dens and sex trade. In the past few years, the empire has started to crumble as members have dwindled and laws targeting mafia are tightened. An intensifying police crackdown has shrunk yakuza forces nationwide, with their numbers dipping below 20,000 last year for the first time since records
EXTRADITION FEARS: The legislative changes come five years after a treaty was suspended in response to the territory’s crackdown on democracy advocates Exiled Hong Kong dissidents said they fear UK government plans to restart some extraditions with the territory could put them in greater danger, adding that Hong Kong authorities would use any pretext to pursue them. An amendment to UK extradition laws was passed on Tuesday. It came more than five years after the UK and several other countries suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to a government crackdown on the democracy movement and its imposition of a National Security Law. The British Home Office said that the suspension of the treaty made all extraditions with Hong Kong impossible “even if
CAUSE UNKNOWN: Weather and runway conditions were suitable for flight operations at the time of the accident, and no distress signal was sent, authorities said A cargo aircraft skidded off the runway into the sea at Hong Kong International Airport early yesterday, killing two ground crew in a patrol car, in one of the worst accidents in the airport’s 27-year history. The incident occurred at about 3:50am, when the plane is suspected to have lost control upon landing, veering off the runway and crashing through a fence, the Airport Authority Hong Kong said. The jet hit a security patrol car on the perimeter road outside the runway zone, which then fell into the water, it said in a statement. The four crew members on the plane, which
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner yesterday signed a coalition deal, paving the way for Sanae Takaichi to become the nation’s first female prime minister. The 11th-hour agreement with the Japan Innovation Party (JIP) came just a day before the lower house was due to vote on Takaichi’s appointment as the fifth prime minister in as many years. If she wins, she will take office the same day. “I’m very much looking forward to working with you on efforts to make Japan’s economy stronger, and to reshape Japan as a country that can be responsible for future generations,”
RSS