Caribbean Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Changing, But Violence Toward LGBT People Remains Common
In January 2008, a group of friends were eating dinner together at a house in Mandeville, Jamaica, when a mob of 15-20 people showed up at the front door. Wielding machetes, sticks and other sharp objects, the mob began yelling anti-gay slurs at the group of friends, kicking the front door of the house down. What followed was a brutal attack on the group of friends, many of whom were punched, kicked, and stabbed by members of the mob. One of the victims had his ear cut off, while another victim received severe machete wounds to his arms, which he held up in the air to protect his body from the mob.
Jamaica, to a large extent, has become a poster child these past few years for what many see as a wave of anti-gay sentiment throughout the Caribbean. Experts cite religious beliefs and a homophobic reggae culture as contributing factors in widespread discrimination and violence toward LGBT people throughout the region. (Notice the widespread acceptance and popularity of music artists, like Martnique singer Lieutenant, who once told a crowd "I kill the fags," or Guadeloupean pop singer Admiral T, who released a song a few years ago called "Makoumé," which means homosexual in Creole. Among the more troubling parts of the song, the lyrics call for fans to burn homosexuals like cigarette butts. There's also Jamaican singer Buju Banton, widely condemned by international LGBT groups several years ago, for promoting lyrics that call for shooting gay men in the head.)
Despite these troubling stories, researchers and activists are noticing gradual progress throughout the Caribbean in the struggle for equal rights for LGBT people. Emphasis on the word "gradual" there, of course. But a new book released in 2008 by Grenadian sociologist Claude Douglas, "Homosexuality in the Caribbean - Crawling Out of the Closet," shows some tangible gains made for LGBT rights in areas of the Caribbean, from Cuba to Guyana. As Douglas says:
"You had a lot of people in the closet, but today many, many people are coming out and at least affirming their sexuality through organizations and through protest marches."
In the book, Douglas looks at organized efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in the region, as well as the impact of LGBT tourists and the role they play in breaking down stereotypes of homosexuality. He draws specific examples of progress being made for equal rights by looking at a number of countries, including:
- Cuba, which decriminalized homosexuality in the late 1990s. More recently, the daughter of President Raul Castro, Mariela Castro, has become a champion for LGBT rights. As Director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, Mariela Castro led the push for a newly-passed law in the country that allows transgender citizens to have sex reassignment surgery as part of their health care, and legally change their gender with the government;
- In the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the Caicos Islands, and the Turks - all dependent territories of the United Kingdom - laws forbidding homosexuality were repealed.
- In Puerto Rico, organizers have successfully organized annual gay pride events, where LGBT and Intersex communities regularly march in public to support equal rights.
Public health officials are also stressing the need to decriminalize homosexuality as a means of addressing HIV/AIDS. Sir George Alleyne, the UN'S Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean Region, acknowledged that homophobia is an obstacle in fighting HIV/AIDS. "There is a rampant homophobia in the Caribbean; a lot of it has its origins in the concept that HIV/AIDS was a disease of homosexual males, which of course it is not," said Alleyne. The UN's World Health Organization estimates that between 250,000-500,000 people have HIV/AIDS in the region.
Though there's still much ground to cover in the region, victories in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Barbados, the Cayman Islands and more, as well as organized support from the public health community, may just be making the types of inroads necessary to foster equal rights and safety for LGBT Caribbean communities. For more information on organizations working for LGBT rights in the region, check out the following links:
Jamiaca Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-Flag)
International Lesbian and Gay Association (Latin America & Caribbean Branch)
Michael Jones
is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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