In May 2024, the French left-wing parliamentarian Jean-Luc Mélenchon addressed a crowd of university students in Dakar, openly rejecting the anti-LGBT stance of Senegal’s ruling coalition. The Senegalese prime minister had just complained that international programmes were using LGBT issues as a precondition for financial partnerships. Mélenchon replied without hesitation, citing his own legislative record: “Je suis le premier législateur français qui ai déposé un texte de loi à propos de la possibilité du mariage homosexuel… J’assume la position politique que j’ai voulue et je ne chercherai pas à vous l’imposer.” The episode placed the French party La France Insoumise (LFI) in direct opposition to Senegalese Minister of Justice Ousmane Sonko, then leader of the opposition Pastef.
From outspoken criticism to muted response
Two years later the clash moved from rhetoric to legislation. In March 2026 the Senegalese Parliament passed a bill that doubled the imprisonment range for homosexual acts from five to ten years. Sonko, who had become president-elect after Bassirou Diomaye Faye’s victory, proudly announced: “C’est la première loi que j’ai déposée, moi-même, à l’Assemblée nationale.” The measure sparked a wave of arrests, prompting LGBT organisations from Dakar to Paris to issue alerts. Yet LFI’s usual vocal defence of human rights faded. Only on 19 May did the euro-deputy Manon Aubry break the silence on X, posting a “deep disagreement with this persecution.” The restraint was highlighted by Andy Kerbrat who later labelled the outlet têtu· as “the gay-right-wing newspaper,” underscoring internal tensions about how far the movement should bend to accommodate the Senegalese ally.
Local politics echo the controversy
In the French suburbs, the debate resurfaced. On 25 June, the municipal council of Saint-Denis, a commune in Seine-Saint-Denis governed by LFI’s Bally Bagayoko since March, received a proposal from socialist mayor Mathieu Hanotin to adopt a “declaration of support for LGBT+ people persecuted in Senegal and affirmation of universal human rights.” While the motion was symbolic, the council’s insular representative Diangou Traoré warned that the wording could be read as a criticism of Senegalese actors with close ties to France. Communist councillor Jimmy Markoum seized the moment, calling the proposal an “imperialist neo-colonial impulse” and urging a broader condemnation of the “global conservative wave.” The council ultimately approved the text, but LFI members chose to abstain, signalling a cautious stance.
Cross-border networks and lingering loyalties
Behind the municipal rows lies a longer history of cooperation between LFI and the Senegalese party founded in 2014, Pastef. Both groups have framed their alliance around a rupture with the post-colonial order and a critique of lingering domination. During the 2022 presidential campaign, Sonko had already announced his intent to outlaw homosexuality, tweeting: “La loi criminalisant l’homosexualité sera l’une des premières que je ferai voter.” After the 2022-2024 electoral cycle, Sonko was incarcerated on accusations of “corruption of youth” and a separate sexual-assault case, prompting Mélenchon to tweet: “Au Sénégal le chef de l’opposition Ousmane Sonko est menacé d’inéligibilité… Dans un contexte où la France était accusée par le peuple sénégalais de soutenir Macky Sall, nous voulions incarner une voix défendant un renouveau démocratique.” Despite these public defenses, LFI parliamentary spokesman Arnaud Le Gall later insisted that the party never formalised an alliance with Pastef and condemned homophobia, even refusing an invitation to a Pastef congress in June. Yet local gatherings—such as the 20 June barbecue in Sarcelles where former Senegalese communications minister Alioune Sall and LFI deputy Carlos Martens Bilongo exchanged “mon ami, mon frère” on social media—show that personal networks continue to bridge the two movements.
Implications for French-Senegalese political cooperation
The evolution from Mélenchon’s 2024 public rebuke to LFI’s muted footprint after the 2026 law raises questions about the durability of cross-national leftist solidarity when core values clash. While the French diaspora in Senegal – estimated at 200 000 to 300 000 individuals – watches the crackdown with growing unease, French municipal actors seem torn between condemning rights violations and preserving strategic ties with a party that helped propel an alternative to the long-standing ruler Macky Sall. As the debate continues in council chambers and on Twitter, the episode underscores how international alliances can be tested by divergent stances on human rights and LGBT+ protections.
