EVEN AS HOMOSEXUAL SENATOR STEVEN BENOIT PRESSES FOR SAME SEX MARRIAGE – BACKED BY AMERICAN $$ FROM OBAMA GOVERNMENT – HAITIAN GAYS CLAIM DISCRIMINATION

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti July 17, 2013 (AP)

Watchdog groups in Haiti on Wednesday condemned what they say has been a series of threats targeting the Caribbean nation’s small gay community.

Attorney Mario Joseph and gay rights advocate Charlot Jeudy told a news conference that people who are gay or lesbian should be able to live freely without being harassed or attacked.

Jeudy, president of a gay rights group named Kouraj, Haitian Creole for courage, said he recently received several threats, including a call from someone who told him to shut his mouth, or have it shut for him. The same caller threatened to burn down his home and office.

The news conference came three weeks after several Protestant leaders from a group calling itself the Haitian Coalition of Religious and Moral Organizations said on national television that they disagreed with recent laws in other countries supporting gay marriage. The group announced it would hold an anti-gay demonstration in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Friday, a gathering that worries rights leaders.

“Haitian society needs tolerance,” said Joseph, the lawyer. “Whatever sexual orientation you are, you have rights.”

Haiti’s small gay and lesbian community has long remained largely underground because of a strong social stigma that sparks fears of physical violence and loss of employment.

Gay rights groups in Haiti say that members of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community often don’t report rights violations to authorities out of fear of reprisal. Those people also have suffered overt discrimination from law enforcement and judicial authorities, particularly in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department said in a 2012 report on human rights in Haiti.

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6 thoughts on “EVEN AS HOMOSEXUAL SENATOR STEVEN BENOIT PRESSES FOR SAME SEX MARRIAGE – BACKED BY AMERICAN $$ FROM OBAMA GOVERNMENT – HAITIAN GAYS CLAIM DISCRIMINATION

  1. Benoit cherishes the President’s chair.

    If he is victorious will we have a First Lady or a First Guy. what does our constitution think about this pondering?

  2. Homosexuals have no place in Haiti. The small island has been through too much to be now exposed to the gay and lesbians phenomenon. God did not create Adam and Steve but Adam (male) and Eve (female). Homosexuality is an abhorration of the society.

    The intriguing part of those who are homosexual is that they want heterosexual to accept them. Why? If you you want to be gay or lesbian go ahead but don’t ask me to accept you. Why should I? Do you accept my choice of being heterosexual? If you like who you are and the choice that you’ve made to be homosexual than practice that in your own intimity. The society does not need to involve in your personal life decision.

    The way I see it that the so-called homosexual, deep inside know that they are an abomination in the eyes of God and the society so they are trying to satisfy their guilt by forcing their personal choice as an exceptable choice for all. You are wrong!

    God has created you with the ability to make decision, therefore go ahead with your personal decision to gay or lesbian but stop forcing your idea into the throat of everyone as if it is the best. May be for you because you are lost but not all of us.

  3. More than 1,000 people in Haiti participated Friday in a rare street demonstration to protest homosexuality and a proposal to legalize gay marriage in the Caribbean nation.

    Steven Benoit sent his apologies, saying the Senate was dealing with major problems.

    The protest brought together a mix of religious groups, from Protestant to Muslim, who carried anti-gay placards and chanted songs, including one in which they threatened to burn down parliament if its members make same-sex marriage legal.

    A Haitian gay rights group has said it plans to submit a proposal allowing homosexuals to wed.

    “I believe in God, and God condemns homosexuality,” said protester Eddy Jean-Pierre, a self-described Protestant. “Haiti is not going to accept this, and God will punish us further if we allow this law to pass.”

    The demonstration organized by several religious groups, including one calling itself the Haitian Coalition of Religious and Moral Organizations, came two days after watchdog groups held a news conference to condemn what they say is an increase in threats against homosexuals in the country. They also took issue with plans for the Friday protest.

    The coalition of religious groups said three weeks ago that it opposed recent laws in other countries supporting gay marriage.

    Haiti’s gay and lesbian community is small and has long kept a low-profile because of a strong social stigma that sparks fears of physical violence and loss of employment.

    Gay rights groups in Haiti say that members of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community often don’t report rights violations to authorities out of fear of reprisal. Those people also have suffered overt discrimination from law enforcement and judicial authorities, particularly in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. State Department said in a 2012 report on human rights in Haiti.

  4. We spent many years working to have my people accept marraige. Now some suggest we throw that out and try to get acceptance of homosexual weddings. Nex we will have to accept marraige between cabrite and Senators, Deputies and other animals.

    Pity the poor cabrite!!

  5. We are acceptable to homosexuals and bi-sexuals. They can even be leaders in governement.

    We have had Max Bellerive and Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

    We are not biased in this regard.

    Perhaps Preval also.

    And of course we had Prime Minister Pierre-Louis.

  6. We don’t accept that law in Haiti. No TCHITCHIMAN law in Haiti.

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