LGBT festival in Haiti cancelled following threats of violence

Haiti’s Afro-Caribbean LGBT festival has been called off after organisers were sent death threats

30th September 2016 by GT

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The Massimadi festival – which is held in Belgium and Montreal and was being brought to Haiti for the first time – celebrates film, art, and performance, but has been cancelled as hosts were threatened with attacks including arson.

Anthony Manuel Plagnes Paya, a festival spokesman in Montreal said organisers are “threatened with death and scared to go out”.

While there is no law prohibiting homosexuality in Haiti, the government commissioner of Port au Prince, Jean Danton Leger, is famously anti-LGBT rights, and reportedly told a local radio station he needed to protect “moral and social” values.

Senator Jean Renel Senatur also previously criticised plans to start the festival in Haiti, claiming it “aims to promote homosexuality in our country – to convey values that are contrary to our social mores”.

Lorraine Mangones, one of the festival’s organisers, said she and her team had been receiving “threats of outrageous violence”.

Jeudy Charlot from Kouraj, an LGBT rights group who were also organising the event, stated: “Our festival was postponed precisely because there has been a verbal ban by the government commissioner of Port au Prince, Jean Danton Leger.

“Homosexually is frowned upon, perceived as evil. At times, they may be ridiculed, they can be attacked.”

However, despite the banning of this festival, Jeudy believes tolerance is generally improving for LGBT people in Haiti: “More LGBT people are coming out and accepting themselves more these days.

‘They walk on the streets very proud.”

Read more from GT, here.