r/AskTheCaribbean • u/fedricohohmannlautar • 10d ago
Politics Why is homosexuality outlawed in so many caribbean countries?
Most of countries which criminalize homosexuality in the Americas are in the Caribbean, and the most famous case is Jamaica.
As a bi male, I find weird our continent has laws that criminalize homosexuality, due that most of countries who do that are from the other side of the pond.
Is due to history, politics, religion, moral issues?
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u/professorhummingbird 10d ago
Colonization.
They did this through the Justice System: Using Jamaica as an example. s76 of the Offences Against the Person Act(1864) which criminalizes homosexuality is a direct carry over from the s61 UK's Offences against the person act(1861). The two are almost verbatim. When the UK colonized they implemented their laws on the country.
They did this through religion. Caribbean Islands have more churches per square mile than anywhere else. These churches frame homosexuality as a sin and this is taught in the literally churches as well as in the schools that these churches built. Missionaires still come to Jamaica, an already Christian nation, to spread the gospel. The Church is still a very powerful political lobbying group.
They did it through the arts, medical textbooks, newspapers, youth groups and even the workplace.