Ivory Coast players celebrate the team's first goal during their CAF Africa Cup of Nations Group G qualifier against Zambia at the Stade de la Paix in Bouake. | Issouf Sanogo / AFP via Getty Images

Several groups of Ivory Coast supporters attending an international soccer match have produced banners and flags with anti-gay messages.

Videos posted to social media after Friday night’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Bouake show fans in the stands carrying a large banner printed with the slogans “Stop Homosexuality in Ivory Coast” and “No to Woubi”.

“Woubi” is an Ivorian term that can refer to gay men and transgender people.

Another video, produced by the media publisher Brut Afrique, shows a group of young men holding up a national flag upon which the words “No to Woubisme in Ivory Coast” have been written.

The anti-gay messages, displayed in front of a crowd of 35,000 attending at the Stade de la Paix, come amid an escalating campaign that is targeting LGBTQ people across the country.

In recent weeks, influencers on TikTok have been publishing viral videos calling for violence against “woubis” and making false claims about the spread of mpox and offenses against children, according to a recent report by France 24’s Les Observateurs.

The online backlash has sparked fear among the country’s queer community. The founder of an NGO called Gromo told AFP last week that “around 30 physical homophobic attacks have been recorded” since early August.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Ivory Coast, unlike in neighboring countries Ghana, Guinea and Liberia, and several others in the region. Anti-LGBTQ sentiment is rising in many parts of Africa, with some politicians attempting to introduce harsher punishments targeted against gay people.

Ivory Coast’s National Human Rights Council issued a statement on Thursday calling on people living there to “renounce the use of violence in expressing their disagreement in the face of the rise of the so-called ‘woubi phenomenon.'”

The next day, the national soccer team — the reigning continental champions, having won the most recent AFCON on home soil — were hosting Zambia in their opening qualifier for the 2025 tournament.

Ivory Coast won the Group G match 2-0 following two second-half goals from Paris FC forward Jean-Philippe Krasso.

The Elephants head coach is Emerse Fae, who guided the team to their AFCON victory earlier this year after being elevated into the top role during the tournament.

After the win over Zambia, a reporter asked Fae to comment on the fans’ banners.

“This is not where we should see this kind of thing,” said the 40-year-old. “In the same way that we fight racism, we must also fight homophobia.”

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Outsports has approached the Ivory Coast national football federation and the Confederation of African Football for comment.

The incident in Bouake comes shortly after FIFA introduced a new “No Racism” gesture into its anti-discrimination protocols.

Approved at the world governing body’s Congress in May, the gesture — the crossing of arms into an “X” sign — is for use by participants who believe they have experienced or witnessed racist abuse during a match, such as from an opposition player or one or more spectators in the stadium.

The intention is that the gesture will quickly bring such incidents to the attention of match officials who can then initiate a three-step procedure which could lead to the game being halted or even abandoned.

FIFA designated the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia, which began on Aug. 31 and runs until Sept. 22, for the implementation of the gesture protocol.

So far in the U20 tournament, the gesture — which has been strongly championed on social media by President Gianni Infantino — is not known to have been made by any player.

Fare, the anti-discrimination in football organization that operates an observer system to collect evidence at European level matches, has advised players to use the gesture for all forms of discrimination, including homophobia and sexism.

In an article published on the organization’s website on Sept. 2, a Fare spokesperson said: “Anything that adds clarity in identifying discrimination during a match is welcome. The gesture is clear and we hope will be used by players and others actively involved in a match.

“The three-step procedure is in operation to deal with other forms of discrimination across the world and can be triggered using this procedure.”