Attacks on L.G.B.T.Q. People Shake Sense of Security in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast had long been a haven for L.G.B.T.Q. people, even as they faced discrimination or persecution elsewhere in West Africa. But over the past two months, dozens of assaults, beatings and intimidation online and in the streets have shaken that sense of safety.

Dozens of gay men and transgender people said in interviews and testimonies collected by rights groups that they had been attacked and beaten in Ivory Coast’s largest city, Abidjan, after several social media influencers exhorted their followers to “hunt woubis,” a term referring to effeminate gay men in the country that has become a catchphrase to designate a stigmatized community.

Fans in a soccer stadium deployed a banner with a homophobic slur, to the cheers of other supporters.

And the nation’s youngest lawmaker, who belongs to the same party as President Alassane Ouattara, has promised to introduce a bill in Parliament to “counter the expansion” of homosexuality.

Rights groups now fear that the overt hostility that L.G.B.T.Q. people have faced in other West and Cental African countries is taking root in Ivory Coast.

“Ivory Coast was an oasis of peace for the community,” said Carlos Idibouo, an Ivorian L.G.B.T.Q. activist and consultant on gender issues. “Now we wonder, are people safe?”