Closing the gaps that affect LGBTQ+ individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean

Barriers and social exclusion affecting LGBTQ+ individuals in Latin America and the Caribbean

 

An institution that promotes inclusion must ensure that there is a commitment to preventing and eliminating any manifestation of discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals at the core of its organizational culture

Three Actions to Support LGBTQ+ Inclusion from an International Organization

By María Caridad Araujo

How recent is the addition of LGBTQ+ issues in inclusion policy agendas?

Let’s put it into perspective.  No longer than 50 years ago, the American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorder.  Some countries in Latin America and the Caribbean decriminalized same-sex relationships in the 19th century, while others did so less than 20 years ago.  Homosexuality is still a crime in six countries in the region.  Thirteen years ago, Argentina became the first country in the region to legalize same-sex marriage.  Five countries followed, with Costa Rica being the most recent in 2020.  In 2004, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOTB) was established as a commemoration every May 17th.

Therefore, it’s no surprise this is a relatively new topic on the agendas of international organizations such as development banks.  The inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals, therefore, requires intentional efforts to invest in the issue and generate data and evidence on effective interventions.  We are in a constant process of construction.  At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), we have taken firm steps in this direction.  Here, I want to share three lines of action and learning that have emerged as part of this journey.

1.LGBTQ+ inclusion starts from within

An institution that promotes inclusion must ensure that there is a commitment to preventing and eliminating any manifestation of discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals at the core of its organizational culture.  This begins with our selection and recruitment processes.  It also involves creating diverse and inclusive work environments.  Finally, it translates into actions to ensure that the projects and knowledge products we support in the region include actions that contribute to closing the gaps that affect LGBTQ+ individuals.  In this sense, the IDB has strong inclusion policies and constantly works to be a space where its employees can bring their most authentic selves.

2. Intersectionality and intersectionality

The actions we take must consider that LGBTQ+ discrimination is reflected in multiple spheres and in an intersectional way.  This means that aspects such as sexual orientation, gender identity, race or ethnicity, and economic or migratory status overlap and intersect in various ways.  For this reason, more work is required to understand the origin and impact of stigma and social exclusion.

Workplace inclusion programs like “Saber hacer vale” (Knowing How is Valuable) in Colombia, which includes LGBTQ+ individuals and focuses particularly on migrants, are an example of an intersectional approach.  Another case is the loan to the ProMujeres program in Uruguay, which seeks to strengthen gender-based violence prevention and response systems with a strong focus on lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women.  I also would like to highlight “Reprograma,” a digital skills education initiative in Brazil supported by BID Lab, which promotes the inclusion of transgender women in the technology sector.

Fighting LGBTQ+ discrimination is also important in the private sector.  That’s why BID Invest is preparing a toolbox for companies that want to strengthen their inclusion policies.  BID Invest also raises awareness about business opportunities and new markets when integrating the LGBTQ+ population as a workforce and potential customers.

3. Data for inclusion

The third point is to enhance the creation of knowledge about the LGBTQ+ population.  In Latin America and the Caribbean, data is scarce.  We know that we are underestimating the size of the LGBTQ+ population, but we don’t have the exact number of individuals belonging to it.  We have even less evidence of the gaps that affect them.

The flagship book published annually by the IDB, “Development in the Americas”. will focus on gender policies in 2023.  An innovative approach in this publication will be the inclusion of knowledge about LGBTQ+ individuals, providing a broader and deeper understanding of the gaps related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Additionally, last year, the IDB funded and published three new studies on the LGBTQ+ population.  These publications were presented in a session on LGBTQ+ inclusion at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Latin American and Caribbean Economics Association (LACEA).  In a live event on May 18th, the authors of the publications will share their findings on barriers and social exclusion affecting LGBTQ+ individuals in our region.

Inclusion is a journey to be traveled together

The International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia is an occasion to highlight the heterogeneous progress in the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals and to think of new strategies that lead to the end of stigma and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  On a day like today, it is important to make visible the multiple forms of exclusion that persist and, in some cases, have deepened.  Therefore, the commitment of international organizations to strengthen an agenda that prioritizes accelerating the social and economic inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals is urgent.

Once again, multilateral development banks have joined efforts to organize a series of activities, events, and publications that are part of the IDAHOTB 2023 campaign, aiming to reaffirm their commitment to work against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identities.  This year’s theme, “Always Together: United in Diversity,” encapsulates this collective effort.  For multilateral banks and other international organizations, the well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals is not just a one-day topic but an essential line of work in the development agenda.

In this link, you can find information about other events commemorating this date, as well as messages from executives of other organizations joining under this initiative.

Source

Gay marriage and the natural law

BY BROTHER HAYDEN AUGUSTINE

GAY marriage has become a hot topic, a burning issue. Some time ago, on the front pages of our dailies, two women are captioned in matrimonial embrace. As we continue perusing the news, more captions, more divergent opinions and viewpoints, columns and letters are expressed on this most elemental of traditions. One journalist even feared for her life in the firestorm of opinions.

Is sexual expression a human right? Could opposition to homosexuality be considered a hate crime? Would homophobia be one day declared a mental sickness? These are some of the thoughts that run through my mind as I reflect on this ongoing impassioned debate about same-sex marriage.

Marriage has been a noble institution that virtually all cultures have embraced. It is the substratum of civilisation, the most fundamental unit of human society. By definition, it is the state of union between a man and a woman, a permanent and affective relationship of a husband and his wife that generates and educates its offspring.

 

All religions, not just Christianity, have denounced homosexuality and see no reason for it in marriage. That is to say, it is part of natural law. Christianity, which is Jamaica's bedrock religion, has pronounced unequivocally on the nature of marriage as the exchange of vows between a man and a woman, equally made in the image and likeness of God, and joined together in harmonious unity to "be fruitful and multiply, and (to) fill the earth and subdue it".

 

Thus, marriage is part of the natural order of the universe, the pristine and constitutive ingredient uniting man and woman in their joint stewardship of creation and as progenitors of the human race. Marriage is thus a primordial commandment, a natural law.

 

Is it now God's will that two women marry each other? Would the Creator unite two men in marriage? And to what end? We cannot now throw out the natural laws of God uniting man and woman, laws which have made possible the posterity of the race, the creation of family life and the guarantee of social cohesion, for this anomalous situation.

 

It is irrational and against natural law for two men or two women to marry each other. If they fall into sexual relationship, it is sinful and they can be forgiven. But they must control their passions and transform their relationship into friendship.

 

Indeed, its foundation is noble. It is friendship, but friendship which does not require marriage.  Friendship oftentimes grows deeper than marriage. Friendship is created for the sake of brotherhood or sisterhood, people get united to achieve one purpose or common cause. Companionship and fellowship are time-honoured joys of civilisation.

 

These must continue, be nurtured and allowed to flourish. Friendship is found in the myriad ways in which man relates with his fellow man in all the aspects of his life. Oftentimes it leads to heroic expressions of love and commitment far surpassing that of marriage, such as happened between Jonathan and King David: "They loved each other more than husband and wife......even unto death."

 

In the Christian dispensation, friendship without Eros is the highest form of love. Jesus said that "a man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friend." For the Christian, friendship is one of the foundation stones that builds the kingdom of God.

 

Friendship is also based on feelings. Feelings are beautiful and give power to our actions. They are part of the expression of our humanity, our personality, and they flavour our interpersonal relationships. But often they go awry unless we rein them in.

 

Feelings can be like an unbridled horse. If we don't control them, they will control us. Sometimes we must reject them, otherwise they create irreparable damage.

 

If we love God, we will obey His commandments, no matter how difficult. Life and love are difficult, requiring risk, trust in another, constant self-sacrifice, a veritable dying on the cross with Christ, so that something honourable and noble and beautiful is birthed in all our relationships -- with our friends, with our wives and husbands, our children, and our neighbours, without carnality, but in the love of God.

 

— Brother Hayden Augustine is a member of Missionaries of the Poor

March 26, 2013

Jamaica Observer

...the laws criminalising homosexuality are depriving the Caribbean of the use of remarkably talented people in all fields of life who could be contributing to the development and prosperity of every Caribbean country

Gays have rights too: The Caribbean dilemma

By Sir Ronald Sanders

A statement by the prime minister of Britain, David Cameron, that his government will not provide budgetary aid to governments that violate human rights, including by discriminating against homosexuals and lesbians, has angered sections of Caribbean society.

The angry response may have arisen over a misunderstanding of Cameron’s remarks made in a BBC interview at the end of the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth, Australia from 28 to 30 October. The remarks were not made at CHOGM itself.

While Cameron did say that his government would not provide general budget support to governments that do not uphold human rights, including the rights of homosexuals, lesbians and vulnerable communities such as young girls, his remarks were not specifically about homosexuals and he did not say that all aid would be withheld. In any event, no independent Caribbean country is a recipient of General Budget Aid from Britain, and, therefore, not one of them would be affected. In this regard, the response to Cameron’s remarks could have benefitted from more careful study.

Cameron did not state a new position. What he said has been the British government’s published policy since earlier this year when the Department for International Development (DFID) conducted a study, involving a wide range of organisations and countries, from which it was decided that General Budget Aid to governments should be linked to good governance, accountability and respect for human rights. British budgetary support is only 16% of the UK’s annual aid budget of £7.46 billion (US$12.1billion).

Nevertheless, the policies, laws and practices applicable to homosexuals and lesbians are real and growing issues in the Caribbean, not only from a human rights stand point but as a public health one too.

At the CHOGM in Perth, an Eminent Persons Group (EPG), of which I am a member, delivered a report to Heads of Government, who commissioned it at their meeting in Trinidad two years ago, on ways to reform the Commonwealth to make it relevant to its times and its people.

Included in the 106 recommendations in the report was one that governments “should take steps to encourage the repeal of discriminatory laws that impede the effective response of Commonwealth countries to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and commit to programmes of education that would help a repeal of such laws”. Amongst these laws are those that criminalize homosexuality.

The recommendation proved to be difficult for many African and Caribbean governments. Of the current 53-nations of the Commonwealth, 41 of them retain laws that criminalise homosexuality in particular. Some of these laws dictate that homosexuals should be flogged and jailed. Of the 41 states with such laws, all 12 of the independent Commonwealth Caribbean countries are included.

Remarkably, these laws are relics of the colonial past. They were introduced in the Caribbean by the British Colonial government. But, while Britain, like the majority of countries in the world, has moved on to decriminalize homosexuality, the colonial laws remain in many parts of Africa and the Caribbean.

In Britain, Australia, Canada, the United States and the majority of European and Latin American nations, many homosexuals and lesbians, freed from the criminalization of their sexual preferences, have risen to the top of their careers. Many are captains of industries, government ministers, leading sports persons and even members of the armed forces doing duty in dangerous places such as Iraq and Afghanistan. In the Caribbean, however, homosexuals are marginalised and the majority remain hidden, terrified of the consequences of “coming out”.

Caribbean governments face serious difficulties over this issue. There is a strong prejudice in societies based on both a lack of education and reluctance to engage the issue in public fora. The churches in the Caribbean are the most unyielding, constraining political parties from adopting a more enlightened and modern-day view of the matter.

The facts indicate that 60 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV and 33.3 million presently live with the virus. Over 60% of the people living with HIV reside in Commonwealth countries. The region with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS per capita is the Caribbean. In this sense, the problem for the Caribbean is one both of human rights and public health.

Homosexuals who live under the risk of flogging and jail are reluctant to reveal themselves if and when they become HIV infected. Consequently, they are left untreated and the disease spreads and eventually they die, although the real cause of death is usually hidden.

In any event, the laws criminalising homosexuality are depriving the Caribbean of the use of remarkably talented people in all fields of life who could be contributing to the development and prosperity of every Caribbean country. Some homosexuals have already emerged – despite the laws and the stigma – as outstanding Caribbean citizens, revered not only in the region but in other parts of the world, but they have been persons of great courage and unquestionable ability. Others have simply fallen by the wayside, or are living lives of lies.

On the eve of CHOGM in Perth, Helen Clark, the head of the United Nations Development Programme wrote to Commonwealth leaders pointing out that “it is important and urgent” for them “to promote and secure the repeal of the discriminatory laws which impede effective national HIV responses”. She called for “legislative initiatives and programmes which will repeal discriminatory laws” that “can not only turn back the HIV epidemic, but also improve the health and development of their citizens”. She urged leaders “to seize this opportunity for the Commonwealth to turn a corner in preventing and controlling HIV by embracing the proposals to repeal laws which impede effective HIV responses”.

In part, it was to this urging that the British prime minister was responding when he spoke in the BBC interview of the need to repeal discriminatory laws.

The issue will not go away. Britain’s linking of General Budget Aid to respect for human rights is one response. Others will follow in different ways. As the international community sees it, homosexuals and lesbians are entitled to rights too, as long as they do not affect the rights and preferences of others.

The Caribbean will have to face up to that reality -- as most of the rest of the world has. The best way to start is by informed public discussion.

November 11, 2011

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