A report om Human Rights Watch lls on the ernment of St. Vcent to overturn lonial-era anti-gay laws that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island.
Contents:
- ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
- HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
Vcent and the Grenad, where gay sex is still homelsns to ongog physil and verbal abe, the gay muny the small natn of some 100, 000 people says is unr nstant threat. While rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people. ”In July 2019, two gay men om St.
Vcent who are livg abroad filed a se to challenge lol laws crimalizg gay sex that activists say should be stck down.
”Human Rights Watch terviewed more than 20 members of the island’s LGBTQ muny who shared their stori but were not intified to protect them, notg that lol police are often openly discrimatory toward gay people who seek help. One gay man relled how his classmat beat him and broke his arm.
HOE PASS SWEEPG GAY AND TRANSGENR EQUALY LEGISLATN
Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir suici. Many also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry.
It is hard for me as a gay this untry. ”Six English-speakg natns the Caribbean still crimalize gay sex, cludg Domi, Jamai, Guyana, Grenada and St. Gonsalv prevly noted there’s been a history of discrimatn agast gay people.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
That kd of irratnal homophobia is entirely unacceptable. ”González wh Human Rights Watch noted that 2019, the ernment held a workshop for public employe on the importance of rpectg gay rights, a rare move for a nservative Caribbean natn.
It was the send time the Democratic-led Hoe had passed the measure, known as the Equaly Act, which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add explic bans on discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people both public and private spac. People n be discrimated agast bee of who they are, or who they love, ” said Reprentative David Cicille, an openly gay Democrat om Rho Island and the lead sponsor. Several Republins assailed the Equaly Act as dangero, leadg one top Democrat, Reprentative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, to acce them of believg that gay and transgenr people “are morally ferr, and that firg should be permted.
Maloney, the openly gay chairman of Hoe Democrats’ mpaign arm. ”In a landmark cisn June, the Supreme Court led that the 1964 civil rights law protects gay and transgenr people om workplace discrimatn, and that the language of the law, which prohibs discrimatn on the basis of sex, also appli to discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty. Chamber of Gay Stolberg ntributed reportg.