Author: Fatimata Sow

Accusing UNESCO of organizing a seminar to introduce issues related to homosexuality in schools, teachers’ unions are organizing to respond.

This reform was supposed to be carried out with the utmost discretion. But the teachers’ unions spilled the beans as soon as the work was completed. Last week, from December 21st to 23rd, UNESCO brought together education stakeholders in Saly to validate a module on sex education and reproductive health in Senegalese schools.

According to Inspector Sylla, who represented SELS/Authentique, led by Abdou Faty, the meeting included natural science and French teachers, inspectors, and those in charge of the Curriculum Reform Support Program (Parc) at the Ministry of National Education. And it was precisely this park that was supposed to serve as a Trojan horse for introducing lessons related to homosexuality through sex education. This is how, according to union representatives, we find expressions like “hot social issues,” “a catch-all” supposedly a module.

According to Inspector Sylla, who spoke via audio recordings shared on WhatsApp, items drawn from international principles were presented to school staff. And the teachers and inspectors of each subject were asked to state whether the landlords’ concerns had been taken into account in the curricula. If not, they should explain how it is possible to introduce them into core skills. “Some French teachers even said that this subject could be a welcome discipline, since, they say, Mariama Ba addressed these issues in her writings,” reports Sylla.

But that was without taking into account the determination of the union representatives, members of the G7, who simply sent UNESCO back to its desks. “All the union organizations have vigorously rejected these proposals, which do not align with our values ​​and beliefs,” declared Abdou Faty, Secretary General of Sels/Authentique, contacted by Seneweb.

The same position was taken by CUSEMS. Deputy Secretary General Ndongo Sarr specified that the union’s Secretary General, Abdoulaye Ndoye, who took part in this meeting, categorically rejected this initiative. “We consider it a continuing farce. Two years ago (in a hotel on the Vdn), a workshop was organized during which the same issue was raised. We rejected it because if it passed, it would destroy our values,” Sarr recalled.

Faced with the unions’ stance, they were offered a conditional signature. They refused. Today, in addition to the rejection, the teachers are announcing a series of measures to address it. A press conference is planned in a few days. Faty and Sarr are announcing visits to religious authorities to encourage their support. They are also calling on the people to stand up to such an agenda.

According to our sources, this new attempt is proof that Westerners will never back down in their desire to impose their worldview on other peoples, particularly homosexuality. It remains to be seen whether the current Minister of National Education, Mamadou Tall, will follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. Indeed, two years ago, Serigne Mbaye Thiam, then the minister responsible, openly opposed this issue.

To force him to take a stand, Abdou Faty reveals that the unions will call on the minister to speak out “unambiguously” on the subject. And such proposals should no longer be made to them “in a sugar-coated manner.”

For these two unionists, the root of the problem remains the same: education funding. “If they dare to make these proposals to us, it’s because we don’t have endogenous funding,” says Abdou Faty, who calls on the government and the Senegalese people to agree to provide the necessary resources to avoid resorting to these groups called technical and financial partners. “Every time you request funding, if the gender dimension isn’t taken into account, they are reluctant,” adds Ndongo Sarr.

Therefore, the best way to preserve your values is not to reach out to them, because even if the project is withdrawn in the face of an outcry, it will sooner or later come back to the table, in one form or another… perhaps even more subtle.

A suspected homosexual was arrested in Touba by the Ndamatou Police. According to information from “Source A,” B. Guèye was unmasked in broad daylight on the street. Youths attempted to lynch him before the police quickly intervened. Taken to the police, he let loose as much as possible about his alleged homosexual status.

An individual was intercepted by a crowd in Touba. Accused of being homosexual because of his effeminate behavior, B. Guèye had a rough time at the hands of the youths. He was pelted with stones before being rescued by some well-wishers. Alerted, the police officers from the Ndamatou Police Station went to his rescue. The 21-year-old fishmonger was removed from the scene and taken into police custody.

Faced with investigators, B. Guèye admitted his homosexual status. According to him, he has been practicing homosexuality for over a year. The fishmonger also revealed that a certain T. Bèye had introduced him to this dirty business, according to information from “Source A.” “I flirted with a man in Touba to sleep with him, but it didn’t work out. I’ve been practicing homosexuality for over a year. A certain T. Beye introduced me to this dirty work.”

The alleged homosexual snitched on his partners, who are based in Thiès and Dakar. According to him, they gave him money after their sexual relations. The single man with no children specified that he was flirting with a man in Touba to sleep with him, but it didn’t work out, according to information from Source A.

Investigators discovered devastating audio clips on his WhatsApp application. Through the audio clips, the alleged man was haggling and chatting with his “gay clients.” Prosecuted for unnatural acts, the fishmonger residing in Touba will be brought before the Diourbel High Court today, Monday, unless there is a last-minute change of circumstances.

The arrest of 24 men in Keur Gorgui, near Dakar, on October 16th, highlighted the shortcomings that had been exposed.

With introspection, Souleymane Diouf (pseudonym), who coordinates the FREE collective, shares with us the underlying causes of the lack of an early community response to these waves of homophobic arrests that have occurred in Senegal since September.

Free, determined, and resolved to put an end to certain corrupt practices in Senegal, he denounces the errors and prevaricating abuses for which, according to him, human rights are the alibi.

In a new interview, 76crimes opens its columns to him so that silence is no longer complicit in certain evils that are killing LGBT+ people in Senegal today.

What are the anomalies or dysfunctions you say you have witnessed?

Already, on September 20th, during the arrest of 10 suspected homosexuals in Touba, not a single LGBT+ community organization in Senegal, nor a single Senegalese civil society organization, lifted a finger.

This is a painful truth to state, but it deserves to be heard, as it raises many questions as well as essential introspection.

At the time, this situation left me in such disarray that I immediately decided to contact you, a person from outside Senegal who lives in French Guiana, in South America.

Indeed, I quickly realized that with a foreigner, I would paradoxically be listened to and heard more than within my own country.

Bis repetita, during the arrest of 24 young suspected homosexuals in Keur Gorgui, Dakar, on October 16th, community organizations and civil society organizations did not immediately step up to the plate. At least at first, in my opinion.

Have you noticed anything else?

It was only because international institutions began to address the Senegalese situation, in terms of human rights violations, that local organizations began to react.

Some often talk about interference or neocolonialism here and there, but the truth is that without our international friends, there would have been a great deal of inertia, with the LGBT+ community under the strict control of Islamists. We must be clear-headed. We, LGBT+ activists in Senegal, have left the public debate on issues related to sexual minorities to the Islamists.

We saw the situation deteriorate over the years, but instead of anticipating the current situation, we deserted the discussion, due to our lack of political formulation of an inclusive social project, in the face of JAMRA’s deadly Islamist agenda.

Yet, some see this as a culture of confrontation, when it’s simply a matter of offering new horizons to see, by broadening the range of possibilities. We are democrats, and we recognize that through our past silence, we have unwittingly made ourselves accomplices and objective allies of those who wish to suppress us.

Silence is a strategy that has never paid off in Senegal, while violence against LGBT+ people has steadily escalated in recent months. We then arrive at the only remaining conclusion: that silence condemns us to failure.

For the FREE Collective, the political response to Islamism is an intellectual space that has yet to be explored in Senegal. And we intend to become pioneers.

What other challenges remain?

Today, we have evidence of fraudulent grant applications and funding in the name of victims of homophobia, without their consent, but in their name.

This is a windfall, collateral, and undesirable result of the international focus on the situation in Senegal.

We denounce these practices and this lack of integrity, which, while committed by certain human rights defenders, are now harmful to everyone by casting a veil of suspicion over our ethics.

Building a reputation, credibility, and a relationship of trust takes too long for us to allow unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of Senegalese LGBT+ people in distress, because embezzlement kills.

Embezzling funds is taking away resources from the most vulnerable. To put an end to the many recurring situations of breach of trust, the FREE Collective is considering filing a complaint in the coming days.

Individuals and organizations wishing to provide financial support to the FREE Collective can write to collectiffree@gmail.com.