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 Aristide 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 .
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.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In Haiti, Legal Status
Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or haiti:
“The reason for the sadness of this modern age and the men who live in it is that it looks for the truth in everything and finds it.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“For four hundred years the blacks of Haiti had yearned for peace. for three hundred years the island was spoken of as a paradise of riches and pleasures, but that was in reference to the whites to whom the spirit of the land gave welcome. Haiti has meant split blood and tears for blacks.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)