LGBT rights in Haiti
Encyclopedia
Haiti
has experienced a high degree of political instability and most Haitians affiliate with the Catholic Church. These two issues, combined with widespread poverty, tend to govern most issues relating to LGBT
people. While there are few criminal laws used against LGBT people specifically, there remains little visible support for LGBT rights.
is eighteen. It is unclear what the official legal status is for the Haitian military.
As of 2009, the Constitution
of 1987 is still valid, while it does not explicitly mention sexual orientation
or gender identity
, it does contain certain legal provisions that may impact the human rights of this minority.;
dictatorships. There are unconfirmed rumors (possible politically motivated) of male bisexuality
among government officials or Duvalier family members, but nothing has been confirmed. Noted artist Richard Brisson was executed by the dictatorship, although it remains unclear whether or not his sexual orientation was a factor in his execution.
was a Roman Catholic priest before entering politics.
More recently, Prime Minister nominee Michele Pierre-Louis
was rumored to be a lesbian, thus promoting public condemnation by legislators that she was immoral and thus unfit to hold public office. She was allowed to hold the post, but only after reading a public statement declaring the rumors to be false and an insult to her good character.
In 2007, the New York City-based Haitian Lesbian and Gay Alliance was created to provide social services to the Haitian LGBT minority as well as to campaign for their human rights http://www.hgla.org/.
In 2008, about a dozen Haitians took part in the nation's first gay rights demonstration.
Fourteen Haitians were killed by the 2010 earthquake while attending a support group for gay and bisexual men.
As of 2010, no national legislation exists or has been proposed to prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation
or gender identity
. None of the major or minor political parties have endorsed LGBT rights.
s, civil unions or similar institutions. It is unclear if LGBT people may adopt or have custody of children. Homosexuality and cross-dressing
are seen as taboo, if not also immoral by the largely Catholic Haitians.
. Today, the number of persons infected has risen to 4–6%, with rates increasing to 13% in certain rural neighborhoods.
In 1997, Grasadis was created as an organization that specializes in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS
among the LGBT minority as well as working to educate the general public about this minority. Former first lady Mildred Aristide openly expressed support for Grasadis' work.
Noel Coward
and his lover, Graham Payn
, often stayed in Port-au-Prince
's more lavish areas when they were on vacation from the British Isles
. Today, no visible LGBT social life exists. The LGBT minority, as a result of income disparities in the country, is divided by economic class.
The educated, upper-middle class LGBT Haitians (many of whom are civil service
, NGO or UN aid workers) tend to live in such areas as Pétionville
and have private social gatherings. In contrast, many other LGBT Haitians are much poorer and live in rural communities or urban slums.
LGBT Haitians of every class and religion are generally in the closet
, for fear of being targeted for discrimination or harassment. The major social exception is Voodoo which, as a spirituality, possesses little discrimination against gays.
In 2002 a documentary about gay Haitians was released titled "Of Men and Gods". The film examines the lives of several openly gay Haitian men and the discrimination that they face.
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
has experienced a high degree of political instability and most Haitians affiliate with the Catholic Church. These two issues, combined with widespread poverty, tend to govern most issues relating to LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
people. While there are few criminal laws used against LGBT people specifically, there remains little visible support for LGBT rights.
Legal status
Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults in private has been legal since 1986. The age of consentAge of consent
While the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
is eighteen. It is unclear what the official legal status is for the Haitian military.
As of 2009, the Constitution
Constitution of Haïti
The Constitution of Haiti most commonly refers to the present-day Constitution of Haiti, which was modeled after those of the United States and of France. The document was ratified in March 1987, but it was completely suspended from June 1988 to March 1989 and was only fully reinstated in October...
of 1987 is still valid, while it does not explicitly mention sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
or gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
, it does contain certain legal provisions that may impact the human rights of this minority.;
- Article 18 - provides a general equal protection under the law clause.
- Article 19 - provides a right to health care.
- Article 22 - provides a right to housing, education, food and social security.
- Article 28 - provides a right to freedom of opinion.
- Article 31 - provides a right to create political parties or interest groups.
- Article 35 - provides a right to treated fairly in the workplace.
- Article 259 - provides protection for the family.
Duvaliers
No evidence exists as to whether or not LGBT people were specifically targeted during the DuvalierDuvalier
Duvalier is a surname, and may refer to:* François Duvalier , nicknamed "Papa Doc", President of Haiti * Jean-Claude Duvalier , nicknamed "Baby Doc", son of François Duvalier and President of Haiti...
dictatorships. There are unconfirmed rumors (possible politically motivated) of male bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
among government officials or Duvalier family members, but nothing has been confirmed. Noted artist Richard Brisson was executed by the dictatorship, although it remains unclear whether or not his sexual orientation was a factor in his execution.
Modern Haiti
Since 1986, the political leadership and organizations which have arisen are largely hostile to LGBT rights due to their strong ties to the Catholic Church or fundamentalist Protestant sects. For example, former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand AristideJean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
was a Roman Catholic priest before entering politics.
More recently, Prime Minister nominee Michele Pierre-Louis
Michèle Pierre-Louis
Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis is a Haitian politician who was Prime Minister of Haiti from September 2008 to November 2009...
was rumored to be a lesbian, thus promoting public condemnation by legislators that she was immoral and thus unfit to hold public office. She was allowed to hold the post, but only after reading a public statement declaring the rumors to be false and an insult to her good character.
In 2007, the New York City-based Haitian Lesbian and Gay Alliance was created to provide social services to the Haitian LGBT minority as well as to campaign for their human rights http://www.hgla.org/.
In 2008, about a dozen Haitians took part in the nation's first gay rights demonstration.
Fourteen Haitians were killed by the 2010 earthquake while attending a support group for gay and bisexual men.
As of 2010, no national legislation exists or has been proposed to prohibit discrimination and harassment on the basis of sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
or gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
. None of the major or minor political parties have endorsed LGBT rights.
Marriage and family
Haiti does not recognize same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
s, civil unions or similar institutions. It is unclear if LGBT people may adopt or have custody of children. Homosexuality and cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
are seen as taboo, if not also immoral by the largely Catholic Haitians.
AIDS/HIV
As of 2005, as many as sixty percent of Haitians lived in poverty, with roughly two percent of the population infected with HIVHIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
. Today, the number of persons infected has risen to 4–6%, with rates increasing to 13% in certain rural neighborhoods.
In 1997, Grasadis was created as an organization that specializes in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
among the LGBT minority as well as working to educate the general public about this minority. Former first lady Mildred Aristide openly expressed support for Grasadis' work.
Society and culture
Most Haitians affiliate with the Catholic Church or some evangelical Protestant sect. Hence, homosexuality and cross-dressing are widely seen as signs of immorality. This impacts the social status and visibility of LGBT Haitians.Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
and his lover, Graham Payn
Graham Payn
Graham Payn was a South African-born English actor and singer, also known for being the life partner of the playwright Noël Coward. Beginning as a boy soprano, Payn later made a career as a singer and actor in the works of Coward and others...
, often stayed in Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....
's more lavish areas when they were on vacation from the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
. Today, no visible LGBT social life exists. The LGBT minority, as a result of income disparities in the country, is divided by economic class.
The educated, upper-middle class LGBT Haitians (many of whom are civil service
Civil service
The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
, NGO or UN aid workers) tend to live in such areas as Pétionville
Pétionville
Pétion-Ville is a commune and a suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the hills east and separate of the city itself on the northern hills of the Massif de la Selle. It was named after Alexandre Sabès Pétion , the Haitian general and president later recognized as one of the country's four founding...
and have private social gatherings. In contrast, many other LGBT Haitians are much poorer and live in rural communities or urban slums.
LGBT Haitians of every class and religion are generally in the closet
In the closet
In the closet may refer to:* Closeted, a reference to undisclosed sexual orientation, sexuality, or sexual behavior.** Coming out, or "coming out of the closet", the voluntary public revealing of one's homosexuality....
, for fear of being targeted for discrimination or harassment. The major social exception is Voodoo which, as a spirituality, possesses little discrimination against gays.
In 2002 a documentary about gay Haitians was released titled "Of Men and Gods". The film examines the lives of several openly gay Haitian men and the discrimination that they face.
See also
- Politics of HaitiPolitics of HaitiThe Politics of Haiti have often been defined with conflict when strongmen have taken over the government. Only within the latter part of the twentieth century, has normal political activity transpired.-History:...
- LGBT rights in the AmericasLGBT rights in the AmericasLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights are complex in the Americas. The British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonists, who settled most of the Americas, brought Christianity from Europe...
- Homosexuality and VoodooHomosexuality and VoodooHomosexuality in Haitian Voodoo is religiously acceptable and homosexuals are allowed to participate in all religious activities. However, in countries with large Voodoo populations , some Christian influence may have given homosexuality a social stigma , at least on some levels of society...
External links
- Haitian Gays and Lesbian Alliance
- GlobalGayz
- "Of Men and Gods" - a 2002 documentary on the lives of gays and transvestites in Haiti
- SPRACI - Gay and Lesbian
- Gay rights in Haiti
- The Haitian evangelical churches and homosexuality (in French, see English translation)