Haiti

Demographics

Estimated Total Population:

11 million

World Bank, 2018

Estimated SGM Population:

N/A

N/A

Estimated Total SGM Adult Population:

N/A

N/A

Estimated % of SGM Adults (18+):

N/A

N/A

While consensual same-sex acts are legal in Haiti, SGM populations continue to experience serious discrimination, both socially and legally. The three most practiced religions in Haiti, Catholicism, Pentecostalism, and Islam, spur many Haitians to discriminate against LGBT populations. This resulted in widespread isolation of LGBT Haitians, which only worsened after the 2010 earthquake devastated many of their physical meeting spaces and scattered the already limited social groups. In addition, religious leaders following the earthquake blamed LGBT populations and other “sinners” for the disaster. Little progress has been made in the last decade to rebuild LGBT social spaces, and the leader of Haiti’s largest gay rights organization, Kouraj, was found dead last November.

Haiti's Laws and Policies from ILGA World Report (2019)

RECOGNITION
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples
No
Civil Unions
No
Joint Adoption
No
Second Parent Adoption
No
PROTECTION
Employment Nondiscrimination Laws
No
Broad Protections
No
Criminalization of Violence
No
Ban of Conversion Therapy
No
CRIMINALIZATION
Consensual Same-Sex Acts are Legal?
Yes
Gender
Does Not Apply
Max Penalty (Yrs in Prison)
Does Not Apply

Selected Published Studies, Reports, and Other Documents

Azor, Josué (2017) Documenting spaces of liberation in Haiti,Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory, 27:2, 247-258, DOI:10.1080/0740770X.2017.1315223

Corrales, J. (2017). Understanding The Uneven Spread of LGBT Rights in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1999–2013. Journal of Research in Gender Studies, 7(1), 52-82. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A500367483/AONE?u=duke_perkins&sid=AONE&xid=fafeb675

Gorman-Murray, Andrew & Mckinnon, Scott & Dominey-Howes, Dale. (2014). Queer Domicide: LGBT Displacement and Home Loss in Natural Disaster Impact, Response, and Recovery. Home Cultures. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dale_Dominey-Howes/publication/262607121_Queer_Domicide_LGBT_Displacement_and_Home_Loss_in_Natural_Disaster_Impact_Response_and_Recovery/links/53f66bee0cf22be01c42d2a7/Queer-Domicide-LGBT-Displacement-and-Home-Loss-in-Natural-Disaster-Impact-Response-and-Recovery.pdf

LaMothe, Mario. (2017). Our love on fire: Gay men’s stories of violence and hope in Haiti. Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory. 27. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/0740770X.2017.1315231

Migraine-George, T. (2014). From Masisi to Activists: Same-Sex Relations and the Haitian Polity. Journal of Haitian Studies, 20(1), 8–33. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.com/stable/43744452

"The Impact of the Earthquake, and Relief and Recovery Programs on Haitian LGBT People", Briefing paper produced by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and SEROvie, 2011. https://outrightinternational.org/sites/default/files/505-1.pdf

Why it’s gotten harder for LGBT people in Haiti since the earthquake. (n.d.). The World from PRX. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-02-06/why-its-gotten-harder-lgbt-people-haiti-earthquake