Source: Associated Press
By DAVID CRARY
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Yaisah Val recently came out publicly as a transgender woman on YouTube, a potentially risky move in a country like Haiti where LGBT residents face pervasive hostility in most spheres of public life.
Two proposed anti-LGBT laws are pending in Parliament. The major churches are firm in their condemnation of homosexuality. Gay Haitians are frequent targets of attacks and harassment, and police are often unsympathetic to victims of anti-gay violence.
“We told my family beforehand,” Val told The Associated Press of her decision to come out. “And they said, ‘You’re going to be stoned.’”
Categories: Americas, Haiti, Human Rights, Latin America, The Muslim Times