US 'pro-family' group worked with Senegal activists pushing anti-LGBT law

Senegalese proponents of a tougher anti-LGBT law discussed campaign strategy and mobilization tactics with a U.S.-based "pro-family" group that calls homosexuality a public health threat, activists in both countries told Reuters.



The U.S. group MassResistance, known for its work at home pushing legislation against same-sex marriage and denouncing "the transgender war on cultural norms", has advised like-minded African activists for years.



But now it is trying to take advantage of what it sees as a more restrictive approach by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration towards the rights of same-sex couples. Beyond Senegal, it has been involved in recent advocacy supporting a proposed new anti-LGBT law in Ghana.



"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," the group's field director, Arthur Schaper, told Reuters.



The collaboration between MassResistance, headquartered in Massachusetts, and And Samm Jikko Yi, a Senegalese network of Islamic and civil society organizations, has not previously been reported.