Society and Culture
LGBT people often report being blackmailed, harassed, physically assaulted and even jailed because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Beyond the official or unofficial government, the prevailing religious and cultural beliefs tend to look down upon homosexuality and cross-dressing as signs of immorality, sickness or something foreign imported into the nation.
The U.S. Department of State's 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices said,
ome members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community reported societal discrimination and abuse . One local LGBT rights group, the Horizon Community Association (HOCA), opened an office in Kigali in April but was evicted in August after the landlord reported pressure from community members. HOCA leaders and staff reported receiving threats, and several fled the country. There were some violent physical attacks with anti-LGBT overtones. The investigated reports of threats to LGBT activists. On March 22, the government signed a UN Human Rights Council statement on "Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity".
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In Rwanda
Famous quotes containing the words society and/or culture:
“The Fitchburg Railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where I dwell. I usually go to the village along its causeway, and am, as it were, related to society by this link. The men on the freight trains, who go over the whole length of the road, bow to me as to an old acquaintance, they pass me so often, and apparently they take me for an employee; and so I am. I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Ours is a culture based on excess, on overproduction; the result is a steady loss of sharpness in our sensory experience. All the conditions of modern life—its material plenitude, its sheer crowdedness—conjoin to dull our sensory faculties.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)