- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- worldnews@lemmit.online
Junta-run Burkina Faso has passed a law banning homosexuality and instituting punishments of up to five years in jail, the latest in a clutch of African nations to pass anti-gay legislation.
“The law provides for a prison sentence of between two and five years as well as fines,” Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala said on national broadcaster RTB.
“If a person is a perpetrator of homosexual or similar practices, all the bizarre behaviour, they will go before the judge,” he said, adding that foreign nationals would be deported under the law.
You must log in or # to comment.
There are grounds to say, I think, that if Burkina Faso manages to liberate itself from its colonial shackles, that like Cuba, with time this error will be corrected.
It is a big fucking error and disappointment, though.
Yes, I’m extremely disappointed.
From hero to zero.
When a society is subject to imperialism, it is unable to resolve precolonial contradictions (ie patriarchal formations). Beliefs and practices discarded by European societies unfettered by imperialism are still present for this reason. Furthermore, colonized societies will desperately hold onto every aspect of the old society in order to resist the repression and erasure of colonialism. This unfortunately results in “backwards” practices resurging. While this incredibly harmful policy must be criticized, it cannot be grounds to dismiss the burkinabe project because traore’s junta fights the very system that impedes the progression of burkinabe society.
Indeed, this is an unfortunate decision that’s not unsurprising, and a common theme within the broader history of decolonial national liberation movements. In particular, the move could stem from conflation of homosexuality with Western influence, which they are trying to wholly eradicate. Interestingly, some of the articles note that enforcement of this is intended to lead to deportation of foreigners, so there’s likely a political pretext behind the decision as well.
i’m not familiar with precolonial burkina faso, did they have this bigotry? sometimes the homophobia is brought by the christian colonizers and wasn’t present prior.
I can’t speak to Burkinese culture but I read a paper on LGBTQ history in pre-colonial Africa in general a while back and a lot of groups there had long histories of openly queer people being part of the community, gender fluidity being widely accepted, and IIRC many gender based pronouns.
That’s a good point. I’m purely making speculations based of off generalities.
Yeah I do believe in most seemingly reactionary countries, by virtue of holding onto incidental racist, homophobic or reactionary beliefs due to leftover super-structures and colonialism, it is still usually better and more ripe for change than outwith in Liberal societies where the political system is setup for cruelty at a base level and exports that to other countries.
Sadly, this is true. However, this didn’t sit well with great part of the population as reported by this other source.
This bill thus appears as a dividing line between two visions of Burkinabe society: one attached to the preservation of ancestral cultural references, the other turned towards greater openness and diversity of lifestyles.
This is a fight that the Burkinabe diaspora and the non-conservative/non-religious have to do to change this. I have plenty of hope that Grasroot orgs are already fighting this bill in Burkina Faso.
This is the direct consequence of pinkwashing imperialism & colonialism.
This works in the favour of the pink washers, so no skin off their backs. Now they turn around and say ‘Look, the savages can’t even be trusted not to hurt their own’.
This puts the critical in critical support. Bad move Burkina Faso, bad move.
Yeah really frustrating given all the good news coming out of there until this.
Yeah, that’s not unexpected when there are gay colonizers in France. The same phenomenon occurs in West Asia because of Israel. It’s the dialectic, the decolonial struggle adopts antithetical forms that reject the cultural imperialism of the colonizer.
This isn’t permanent, but in this early phase of the struggle they’re just going to do the antithesis of whatever France does.
…speaking of Israel, does France blackmail sexual minorities into being collaborators?
Huge fucking L if true, maybe Cuba can talk them around
worst news ive heard this year
unfortunately any revolutionary government has to deal with the reality on the ground
what do you mean we can’t just immediately throw everyone to the right of Mao or who has incongruous WrongThought incompatibile with the Hexbear line straight into a pit?? what do you mean there are material and logistical concerns with that on top of the generous assumption that like, you can even overcome right wing violence in order to do that??? i’m just shocked. my pit was all ready to go, too
I’m still on the side of the pit tbh
It really pisses me off that anyone says this. If anything, the reality on the ground should mean there is fighting against this
This is an idealist position. Pursuing progressive social policy beyond what the public demands is not the priority for any revolutionary movement. We are talking about a country where al Qaeda controls half of the territory. The fact is that LGBTQ identities are seen as western decadence by many people in the global south.
The criteria for success for the revolution is whether they can consolidate political power or not. Everything else is secondary. How long did it take Cuba to come around?
That doesn’t justify bigotry and persecution, and the 1950’s were a much less progressive and educated time on topics like this.
I should point out that Al-Qaeda’s beliefs are in the same category as the supposed revolutionary government’s, and it’s because of shit like this that neoliberals run with the claim that communists hate LGBT people. You can’t call yourself a revolutionary and support this fascist horseshit.
It’s not idealist when people’s lives are at stake, you tool.
Disappointing. Being queer has always been a part of human experience, especially so in pre-colonial Africa
Extremely disappointing. As others have said, hopefully they go the way of Cuba and correct this dramatic error.
Alright, I found it on RTB’s website. It’s part of the (french language) 8pm news broadcast from yesterday: https://www.rtb.bf/2025/09/01/jt-de-20h-du-1er-septembre-2025/, starting at 16:06 timestamp. This is the new law I was discussing in the other comment, you can read the draft from last year here (use a translation tool if needed). The segment ends at 21:10.
This is an update to the previous family code law in BF, named Zatu and promulgated in 1989 (after the coup that killed Sankara). It made no mention of homosexuality in it (this is the 1989 law).
The new law has been adopted unanimously at the burkinabè parliament by 71 votes. it’s a comprehensive law project that contains more than 1113 articles, it’s not solely about LGBT rights like france24 is implying, although the news host did mention it and made a point that this new law was about “reflecting the socio-cultural reality of BF”. The Justice Minister’s speech after the vote was broadcast and he mentions the article quite late into it, first talking about family name and naturalization reforms. He also doesn’t spend a lot of time on that particular point relative to the rest (at least in the segment), but he does call homosexuality a ‘strange practice’, and this is somewhat echoed by the reported on the footage.
Thanks for doing the deep dive. So this is just an update of an large law that was already ati-queer and the new version of the law doesn’t fix that stuff either but it isn’t like they are actively making things worse for homosexuals.
No. Being homosexual didn’t use to be illegal in the old Zatu, this law made it punishable by 2-5 years in prison along with fines. They are definitely making things worse for homosexuals and the justice minister underlined that they are intending to actively prosecute homosexuals.
it’s a comprehensive law project that contains more than 1113 articles, it’s not solely about LGBT rights like france24 is implying
Not sure how this is a distinction that matters. The only way it would matter is if you’re implying that it was somehow snuck in, which I very much doubt.
there’s zero reason to be doing anything like this
its one thing if the country already has these regressive laws and the material conditions arent in a place where they can prioritize changing them. but to create these laws at this moment in time? terrible move
This bill is influenced by the religious and conservative elements of society. Sadly, they are in great number in Burkina Faso and have influence in the laws.
This will be one of their internal contradictions that they have to overcome through mass movements and Grassroot orgs.
The accelerated contradictions they will experience and degradation of any socialist movement will be apparent in that they are still using ID politics
Which just leads to degraded conditions and a power vacuum usually
People aren’t being ruled by consent with this measure
They have ditched working for every working class person in face of quick political concessions to reactionary forces
Like with Cuba it will probably take decades of reflection of the violence they will inflict on each other for no good reason.
Someone came over, enslaved them, setup up orthodox churches and beat it into them as slaves over 100s of years, same applies to here. Ripping out colonialism roots requires ripping out the legacy of colonial homophobia, and it seems they haven’t managed that
People aren’t being ruled by consent with this measure
Sadly, this is part of the will of the majority. The majority of Burkina Faso are religious. However, this will change if three things happen:
- Strong Grassroot orgs move to educate the masses against the typical lies
- The civilization moves to study science in great numbers which will then destroy the unscientific and religious thinking within society.
- There has to be a separate and strong Grassroot org without any funding from the imperialist American and French that furthers LGBT+ cause while bolstering the revolution. In other words, they have to be part of the revolution and not to be confused with the imperialists.
One example of the first point is this org that tackles some common lies about homosexuality that links it to HIV/AIDS:
“This is the new trend in the United States.”
More like the old ways that got erased by colonialism
More like the old ways that got erased by colonialism
Exactly. This is the type of thinking that permeates in places that have anti imperialist thinking.
We can’t let the imperialist use the identity of our LGBT+ comrades as justification to destroy nations like Burkina Faso. Also, we need to reassure the people in these nations that we are part of their development and the revolution. We are allies and not their enemies.
The imperialist from the US and Europe are well known to fund LGBT+ campaigns. We all know that most of those programs don’t really help our LGBT+ comrades but it does help to fund terrorists:
“Without the support of this American aid agency, terrorist groups like the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara or Iyad Ag Ghaly’s JNIM could find themselves short of weapons, ammunition, and reconnaissance means. This is very good news for Africa, because USAID is an unconventional warfare weapon for American special forces, which use psychological manipulation methods and support insurgency and irregular warfare against Africans ,” said a Nigerien on condition of anonymity.
It also gives justification for the imperialists to impose sanctions on them, which also don’t help anyone at all, most especially queer comrades in places that are besieged by imperialism.
UK and USA imperialists are cheering. This is going to be interesting to see how it plays out
True. However, sanctions don’t have the power to disrupt these countries as it did before.
Right now, (this is entirely my speculation) the imperialist are trying to attack solidarity for Burkina Faso within Western countries(this wouldn’t be the first time because they have done this against the Palestinian resistance). However, I am confident that our queer comrades within Burkina Faso will organize along with the current pro-women organizations such as this one to fight the conservative and religious, Coalition to Act Against Gender-Based Violence (Faso CAC-VBG).
Thanks for providing a better perspective on this than french media, if they where actual reporters they would have done this work also.
Well, we all know that the french capitalist media doesn’t really care about our LGBT+ comrades neither our Burkinabe comrades. They only care to further their imperialist goals in the region which is to desestabilize Burkina Faso and to plunder their resources.
this hits very close to home for me and reading it felt like the same copium that i had the displeasure of learning from:
The activists were particularly worried that Mushingi could undermine their efforts to put a stop to the anti-gay law through behind-the-scenes advocacy.
the queer liberation we have now in the global north and it’s periphery took root during the brief period when the ruling class hadn’t yet developed countermeasures against progressive protests of the 1960’s and 1970’s and it later became solidified by hollywood via popular culture in the following decades. now-a-days that the ruling class has significantly better countermeasures to any revolutionary or progressive movement.
in the united states, specifically, it came as a result of members of the ruling class pushing for it in episodes like lawrence vs texas in 2003 and obergfell vs hodges in 2015. and they had to do it through the courts because americans also took behind-the-scenes advocacy that culminated with bill clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992. every single grass roots organizations between act-up to the log-cabin-republicans expended their entire political capital and focused all their efforts to expend them on clinton and it ended up with clinton instigating don’t-ask-don’t-tell (which banned queers from the military) and defensive-of-marriage-act (which banned gay marriage as well as invalided all other behind-the-scenes efforts across the country up until then).
Despite the absence of legal sanctions in Burkina Faso, Brahima said many people in his country view homosexuality as “a sickness” or “a curse” and even believe gay people “need to be killed.”
Several incidents in the past few years have highlighted this hostility, delivering a clear message that gay people are unwelcome even though the country has refrained from formally taking action against them. In 2013, the imam at the Grande Mosquée in Ouagadougou used his sermon marking Eid Al-Adha, or Tabaski, one of the biggest Muslim holidays of the year, to stress that homosexuality, and gay marriage in particular, was against the country’s values. “Men who marry men, just like women who marry women under the pretext that it’s the law, we do not agree,” said the imam
The previous year, a case of anti-gay harassment caught the attention of the U.S. government. According to the State Department’s Human Rights Report for 2012, on March 18 of that year, hundreds of people from the Ouagadougou neighbourhood of Wemtenga “demonstrated to demand the departure of a gay couple within seven days,” claiming “the couple set a bad example for neighborhood children.” After two weeks, the couple left, and “no legal action was taken against the perpetrators.”
mexico, cuba and venezuela have confirmed what the united states has already proved true; that the liberation of any queer minority will not came as a result of behind-the-scene efforts nor the goodwill of the majority. clinton proved that no amount of meeting people where they’re at will change this fact and each of those countries share a similar colonial and homophobic background to burkina faso.
like it was in mexico or cuba; the government has to lay down policy via its courts to protect any minority and it MUST follow through with it or else you end with a venezuela or burkina faso; a place that already has a strong pro-revolutionary environment, but still homophobic AF and paying lip service to their ideals as much as the united states does to its own ideals while never fully living up to them.
As I first saw that I didnt believe it because traore seemed to have outlawed homosexuality at least 3 times a month, according to social media and media generally.
But thats actually true :c
Massive L if true but I can’t find any anti-imperialist media reporting this. The way the imperialists have been frothing at the mouth and gunning for BF I can’t trust anything western media say.
I have done some looking RTB’s website for the supposed statements by Justice Minister Edasso Rodrigue Bayala but my very limited french comprehension is not getting me very far.
If you still have the link send it to me I’ll take a look
edit3: see my other comment, it’s real.
edit: nevermind I found their website. I found this draft from last year: https://www.rtb.bf/2024/07/10/compte-rendu-du-conseil-des-ministres-du-mercredi-10-juillet-2024/, which states “the penalizing of homosexuality and similar acts and practices” as part of a family code reform, but nothing since then. Searching for more specific keywords such as the minister’s name or stuff he said doesn’t yield any results either.
There was this live interview from july 1st: https://www.rtb.bf/2025/07/01/tribune-de-redevabilite-avec-me-edasso-rodrigue-bayala-ministre-de-la-justice-et-des-droits-humains-charge-des-relations-avec-les-institutions-garde-des-sceaux/, over one hour long and I can’t access it. Since france24 claims the law was adopted on Monday (september 1st), this probably isn’t linked.
Finally it’s also possible that rtb just hasn’t updated their website yet, but they seem to be on top of things. If I remember I’ll check back by the end of the week to see if they posted anything. Or honestly just contact them directly lol.
edit2: they also have links to yesterday’s TV news,
1pm: https://www.rtb.bf/2025/09/01/jt-de-13h-du-01-septembre-2025/
7pm: https://www.rtb.bf/2025/09/01/jt-de-19h-du-1er-septembre-2025/
8pm: https://www.rtb.bf/2025/09/01/jt-de-20h-du-1er-septembre-2025/
I’m scrubbing through them right now to see if I find the minister, since france24 said he made the announcement himself.
This is another source -> https://lemmygrad.ml/post/8992825
The bill is highly influenced by the religious conservatives of society. The bill itself is causing tensions and debates.
I haven’t read enough therefore I have no right to speak. But I’m gonna ask, is this similar to how post-socialist eastern European countries got filled with reactionaries? Because imperialist nations are like vultures and will fund whatever vile forces of reaction to ensure oppressed nations never have coherent power. Like the strategy imperialist nations took against the Balkans too.
So after the 1980s did imperialist nations fill Burkina Faso with reactionary forces to destabilize it? And this new law is a long term symptom?
