[L'ET DIT TÔT D'O.N.G] COMDAMNER 'L'APOLOGIE' DE L'HOMOSEXUALITÉ ? LA LIBERTÉ D'EXPRESSION SACRIFIÉE SUR L’AUTEL DU POPULISME (Par Ousseynou Nar Gueye)
Our Senegal has just crossed a worrying threshold. Under the guise of protecting 'national values', a new legislative offensive is attacking the very foundations of our rule of law. By criminalizing 'the glorification of homosexuality', the current government is not merely legislating on morality: it is trampling on the Constitution and organizing a witch hunt that threatens our social cohesion.
A denial of democracy
Freedom of expression is the foundation of any democracy. By criminalizing the simple act of discussing, defending, or theorizing about a question of sexual orientation under the vague term "apology," the majority is opening a Pandora's box... and a box full of pitfalls. Who will define apology? An academic debate? A newspaper article? A Facebook post? This is a direct attack on the constitutional provision that guarantees every citizen the right to hold and express their opinions.
Public health held hostage
Even more serious, the condemnation of "funding homosexuality" is dangerous nonsense. Behind this inflammatory rhetoric, it is HIV/AIDS organizations that are being targeted.
Let us recall a scientific and human truth: the associations that support MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) carry out an honorable and vital public health mission. By financially strangling them or stigmatizing them, the State condemns thousands of Senegalese to obscurity and illness. The fight against HIV/AIDS must not be a bargaining chip in a moral system that claims to be based on religion. Revealed religions belong to us all, tolerant minds as well as intolerant bigots.
Pastef's great betrayal
How can we not highlight the incredible about-face at the top of the State? We all remember the words of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, spoken with assurance in the UCAD amphitheater alongside Jean-Luc Mélenchon: 'homosexuality is tolerated in Senegal'.
What became of this 'tolerance' once the reins of power were firmly in hand? The Prime Minister and his Pastef majority reneged on their promises with disconcerting ease, sacrificing their intellectual consistency on the altar of low-level political opportunism. Between international rhetoric and local legislation, the gap has become an abyss of cynicism. I support the Pastef regime, but I am deeply saddened by this retreat in the midst of an un-electoral campaign.
We remain true to our DNA: resolutely left-wing when it comes to defending individual freedoms and the most vulnerable, with a very good right wing to strike where political hypocrisy hurts.
The ambiguous nature of art: a legal trap for freedom of expression
The introduction of the concept of "apology for homosexuality" into our legal framework is not merely a moral stance; it is a legal aberration that opens the door to utter arbitrariness. In law, a law must be clear, precise, and predictable. Here, we are in complete darkness.
Permanent legal uncertainty
What is apology? The dictionary tells us that it is 'discourse aimed at defending or justifying'. But in the Senegalese political and social arena, this term becomes an elastic concept.
Does an academic who presents the history of sexualities in Africa engage in apology?
Does a journalist commit a crime by giving a platform to a human rights organization?
Does a filmmaker who films a social reality without explicitly condemning it fall foul of the law? This deliberate ambiguity creates a sword of Damocles hanging over every pen and every microphone.
The death of freedom of opinion
Our Constitution, in Article 8, guarantees freedom of opinion and expression. However, criminalizing the glorification of Islam amounts to establishing a thought crime. Instead of judging an act (already punishable under Article 319 of the Penal Code concerning "acts against nature"), we are judging a thought or a statement. This is a major democratic regression that aligns Senegal with autocratic regimes where the exchange of ideas is perceived as sedition.
The paralysis of humanitarian and health action
The legal framework surrounding funding is equally Kafkaesque. By prohibiting the funding of activities related to homosexuality, the law places healthcare professionals (NGOs, doctors, social workers) in a legal gray area. If an organization funds a condom distribution or testing program targeting MSM (Men who have Sex with Men) populations to curb the HIV epidemic, will it be prosecuted for "funding homosexuality"? The law cannot be a tool of stigmatization that contradicts the state's obligation to guarantee the right to health for all.
A repudiation of the "Project"
The Pastef majority, which boasted of restoring the rule of law and protecting freedoms from the excesses of the old regime, is now using the same methods: creating repressive laws to satisfy the supposed expectations of an electoral base that doesn't ask for so much; but above all, the incorrigible Jamraists of mùon doomu baaay Mame Makhtar Gueye and other Samseudjikkoists (selfish? And egotistical?). It's the triumph of political theology over legal rigor.
Ousseynou Nar Gueye
Founder of Tract Hebdo (www.tract.sn) and President of Option Nouvelles générations - Woorna niu do
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