"Haiti's fight for gay rights"

[DrLeftover]

...

For all the raucous festivities bubbling over the high walls of the compound, the day had started on a somber note. It was the International Day Against Homophobia; before delineating the catwalk, organizers had arranged chairs in rows under an awning, where a smaller crowd had listened that morning to speakers discuss the state of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Haiti.

“Lesbian and gay people are beaten in the street, on the way to school. They are discriminated against by health professionals, abandoned by their families,” said Dave Stephen, operations director at SEROvie. “They hide themselves, even though it’s not criminal.”

Haiti’s LGBT community, which has long existed in relative secrecy, has faced greater criticism since the deadly earthquake that struck the island nation in 2010. From the pulpit and on the radio, evangelists, some inspired by American sponsors and mentors, have blamed the earthquake on the sins of the country’s gay population. Gay Haitians living in tent camps after the disaster reported “corrective” rape and increased harassment as a result of the greater exposure of displacement and flimsy shelters.

And last year, more than 1,000 people participated in a march against homosexuality in Port-au-Prince organized by a new anti-gay “coalition of moral and religious organizations.” The protest was blamed for an escalation in violence against gay people: Forty-seven attacks were reported in the week surrounding the event, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Some say a new gay-rights organization Kouraj (“courage” in Haitian Creole), and its brash demands for rights, helped to prompt the backlash.

Now, the fight over gay rights in Haiti has become one that’s largely over visibility. The question of how closeted gays should be is the subject of internal struggles for many gay Haitians, the root of infighting among advocates and part of a broader societal struggle over what behavior is to be permitted in public.

http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/haiti-lgbt/

 

[+paradox]

how dare they!

must be the evil left doings!

 

[Webster]

how dare they!

must be the evil left doings!

Either that or people are just sick & tired of having to stay in the closet all the time anymore...

 

[DrLeftover]

I was more surprised about the source of the article.

How in the World did THEY end up doing the legwork and taking the images to put this together?

Think about it.

 

[+paradox]

so you're saying this article is faked?

i mean, there's a possibility, because it's easy to fake/hoax things, like beheading news articles/videos...

 

[Webster]

I was more surprised about the source of the article.

How in the World did THEY end up doing the legwork and taking the images to put this together?

Think about it.

Give Al Jazeera credit for at least covering the story, Doc...none of the Big 4 networks here in the 'States would do a similar story 'cause they'd be too busy covering the latest celebrity faux pas.

 

[DrLeftover]

I was more surprised about the source of the article.

How in the World did THEY end up doing the legwork and taking the images to put this together?

Think about it.

Give Al Jazeera credit for at least covering the story, Doc...none of the Big 4 networks here in the 'States would do a similar story 'cause they'd be too busy covering the latest celebrity faux pas.

Yessir.

That was the point I was making.


I think 'J' missed his meds again.

 

[+paradox]

oh, my bad...