A US-based anti-rights organisation has been accused of supporting lobbyists in Senegal who campaigned to pass an anti-LGBTQ+ bill that doubles prison sentences for queer people.
Reuters has reported that the so-called “pro-family” group MassResistance played a role in promoting legislation in Senegal, as well as an anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Ghana. It is claimed that the group advised on campaign strategy and mobilisation tactics.
Growing Influence Amid Shifting US Policy
The group’s influence has reportedly strengthened amid the Trump administration’s stance against so-called “LGBT ideology”, which reversed previous longstanding American support for the rights of sexual minorities.
“There’s a renewed push to put in place these strict bans on the promotion and proliferation of LGBT ideology now because President Trump is not in the business of harassing and bullying countries to incorporate these destructive ideologies,” MassResistance field director, Arthur Schaper, told the news agency.
Senegal Tightens Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws
Last week, Senegal’s National Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill increasing penalties for same-sex intimacy – defined to include homosexuality, bisexuality and “transsexuality” – to up to ten years in prison and fines of more than US$17,000.
In Ghana, lawmakers have also introduced, for the second time, the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill. The proposed legislation would impose harsh penalties not only on people for identifying as LGBTQ+ but also on anyone seen to support them.
MassResistance Labelled a Hate Group
In March 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed MassResistance as an active anti-gay hate group. According to the SPLC, “MassResistance has spent the last 30 years attempting to cast LGBTQ+ people as dangerous to society, themselves and children.”
The organisation further stated that the group “spreads disinformation to incite outrage and hysteria around LGBTQ+ events and public policy” and “traffics in anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience that links homosexuality to pedophilia, violence and disease and portrays trans women as sexual predators.”
Global Reach of Anti-LGBTQ+ Campaigns
In addition to its activities in the US, MassResistance — founded by Brian Camenker — has also been linked to anti-LGBTQ+ campaigns in countries including Taiwan and Australia.
The organisation appears to be following the path of other conservative religious groups from the US and Europe, such as Family Watch International, which have for decades worked behind the scenes to support efforts in Africa — including in Uganda — to persecute LGBTQ+ people on the basis of morality and “traditional” or “family values”.
Ironically, those who draw on the influence of these foreign groups to uphold or strengthen colonial-era legislation criminalising queer people often claim that they are protecting African values.
