Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Sat Vcent and the Grenad face bias-motivated vlence and discrimatn their daily life, Human Rights Watch said a report released today. The legislature should repeal the untry’s lonial-era laws that crimalize nsensual same-sex nduct and pass prehensive civil legislatn prohibg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty. The 58-page report, “‘They Can Harass Us Bee of the Laws’: Vlence and Discrimatn agast LGBT People Sat Vcent and the Grenad,” expos the physil and verbal asslts, fay vlence, homelsns, workplace harassment, bullyg, and sexual vlence that sexual and genr mori face unr the shadow of discrimatory laws. Those rponsible for mistreatment clu people close to LGBT people – fay members, neighbors, workers, classmat, and teachers – as well as strangers and police officers.
Contents:
- GAY RIGHTS
- ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
- HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
- LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
- THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
- GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
GAY RIGHTS
The gay rights movement is the stggle for equaly and marriage rights for gay, lbian and transgenr people. Learn about the Stonewall Rts, Harvey Milk, the Pri flag and more. * gay law rights *
“The worry is that this provis a green light to any bs owner that they n refe service to any person on the basis of their inty, whether they’re gay or lbian, or Jewish or Black, or anythg, bee they have an objectn to those sorts of people beg their bs, ” said Kathere Franke, a profsor at Columbia Law School. In 2020, Gorsuch livered a massive w to the LGBTQ muny when he livered the majory opn a se that extend feral protectns to gay, lbian and transgenr workers.
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. ”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.
ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
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. * gay law rights *
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.
”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. In December 2022, Rsia expand s existg “gay propaganda” law to exert ntrol over public discsns and narrativ surroundg non-heterosexual relatnships and inti. Vcent, anal sex is punishable by up to 10 years prison, while “gross cency” wh another person of the same sex is punishable by up to five years, acrdg to lonial-era laws that are mon the socially nservative Caribbean rarely voked, the rights group and a lol activist said the laws help legimize hostily and abe agast gay people.
Several reported that their fai are homophobic and physilly and verbally abed them, g them to bee homels and promptg some to nsir 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.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
Supporters and crics of the "Don't Say Gay" bill differ on whether would prevent the "stctn" or "discsn" of sexual orientatn or genr inty * gay law rights *
Homosexualy ntu to be crimalized the former Brish lony after many hundreds of years, leavg LGBTQ dividuals wh ltle if any legal protectns while vlent crim were beg mted wh impuny, the report said.
Standg crimal s on the island put nsensual gay sex the same tegory as crim like rape, ct, and sexual asslt, although there have been no recent nvictns unr the law.
HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
* gay law rights *
Many of the terviewe said job hirgs and firgs were beg largely termed by sexual orientatn, while other gay people lucky to have jobs faced sexual harassment the workplace. "The crimalizatn of gay sex giv tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams, " said Cristian González Cabrera, gay rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch. Six other Wtern natns -- cludg Domi, Grenada, Guyana, Jamai, and Sat Lucia -- ntue to crimalize gay sex, wh penalti as weighty as a prison for "gross cency wh another person of the same sex.
But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial. ” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist. The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn.
”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando. Image source, Getty ImagIn the latt sign of risg homophobia different Ain untri, a Kenyan opposn MP is leadg a mpaign for parliament to further crimalise the untry's small LGBTQ muny.
LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
Gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advot equal rights for LGBTQ persons—that is, for lbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons—and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. * gay law rights *
Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May. The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law.
Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy. Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn.
THE RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE
The ACLU works to ensure that lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people n live openly whout discrimatn and enjoy equal rights, personal tonomy, and eedom of exprsn and associatn. * gay law rights *
Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia". "It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. "It sensis children to sex, " she Slater also quot om the manual, cludg l which say that facilators of lsons should have "a ntral, acceptg attu towards homosexualy".
The laws rerce societal prejudic, effectively givg tac legal sanctn for stigma, discrimatn, and vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people. The laws are vaguely word, have broad latu, and sgle out nsensual gay sex the “sexual offens” sectn of the crimal that is otherwise rerved for crim like rape, ct, and sexual asslt. Along wh Domi, Guyana, Grenada, Jamai, Sat Lucia—the other five untri the Caribbean that crimalize gay sex—Sat Vcent and the Grenad ntu to be an outlier a hemisphere that has chewed the crimalizatn of nsensual gay sex.
GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Every LGBT person terviewed by Human Rights Watch said they wished to leave the untry immediately or had envisned their future abroad due, part, to the homophobic or transphobic vlence and discrimatn the untry.
Some terviewe noted that fay rejectn was often uched moralistic terms, echog the homophobic rhetoric preached some church, which are a rnerstone of social life and shape social attus. Man said that 2019, he was attacked his neighborhood, and he believed the attack uld have been motivated by his sexual orientatn sce many people there know that he is gay.
TEXAS JUDGE WHO DON’T WANT TO PERFORM GAY MARRIAGE CEREMONI HOP WEB SIGNER’S SUPREME COURT SE HELPS HER FIGHT
Aled Henry, a 58-year-old bisexual man om Sat Vcent, said that March 2009, he suffered a homophobic attack that ed permanent damage to his speech, visn, motor functns, memory, and balance:. While Shane Hathaway, a 43-year-old gay man om Bequia, never experienced a physil altertn, people have lled him “battyman” and thrown sticks his directn. If people are havg an argument, that’s what they jump to, that’s the jtifitn for homophobia, they say ’s the laws, that ’s illegal, and bee of the scriptur.
Kyle Wilson, the 19-year-old gay man om Sat Vcent mentned above, tried to file plats at the Kgston police statn about five tim, all related to harassment public spac, but said he gave up when police appeared unwillg to help.