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Haiti’s Fight For Gay Rights

As LGBT community becomes more visible, anti-gay violence rises, too. By Allyn Gaestel for Al Jazeera America November 8, 2014 Source: http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/haiti-lgbt/ (Note: see original story for more photos)   Port-au-Prince, Haiti The courtyard, tucked off a quiet road here and ringed by mango trees heavy with immature green fruit, was bedecked with a rainbow

Gay Haiti

Intro: Probably the most immediate and visual source of knowledge about the LGBT life in Haiti is the 2001 film ‘Of Men and Gods’ which documents the discreet world of gays and transvestites in this country where homosexuality is legal but not tolerated by the mostly Christian culture. Eighty percent of the country is Catholic and another fifteen percent are Protestant; needless to say, the Biblical curse is heavily upon gays here. Yet more than half the population also indulge in voodoo beliefs and rituals where it’s the spirit that matters, not the gender or orientation.

During the reign of the Duvalier dictators (1957-86), as well as today, Haitian gay citizens are forced to walk a shadowy line between revealing themselves to a select few friends and living discreetly in the larger disapproving heterosexual society.

Posted here are four stories about life in Haiti from different perspectives: (1) my own story based on a visit to Haiti , (2) a gay Haitian-American man’s testimony, (3) a commentary about gays and voudou, and (4) an article about Haiti’s economic conditions.

The Taxis in Haiti’s Port au Prince

By Richard Ammon March 2003 Updated July 2006 Also see: Gay Haiti Stories Gay Haiti News & Reports 2002 to present  Gay Haiti Photo Galleries A couple of years ago I took several taxi rides in various Japanese cities. The cars were newer models–virtually all white Toyotas–spotless inside and out; the seat backs had doilies