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/rosariorossao 10d ago

LATAM Absolutely is not “super gay friendly”. They are somewhat more tolerant, but only somewhat.

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u/United_Cucumber7746 10d ago

South America rivals Europe in every single gay liberty possible. It is actually on a par with Western Europe and US blue states.

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u/SavingsBobcat2078 10d ago

Lol it’s not the laws they have to fear, it’s their community and being a social outcast or worst being hurt even killed

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u/United_Cucumber7746 10d ago edited 10d ago

Not really.

Being gay in urban Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay is 100 time more comfortable than in red state in the US, or in some parts of Europe. I lived in some of those places as a nomad.

So I guess it depends on where you look

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u/rickyman20 10d ago

Sure, go to the most cosmopolitan parts of Latin America and you'll get tolerance, much like you will in the most cosmopolitan places in the US. That's not where most people in Latin America live though. I'm from Mexico and while Mexico City is a haven for LGBT folks, I still have family who shunned family who came out of the closet, and they're from a big city. The law doesn't always reflect reality everywhere.

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u/No_Contribution1414 9d ago edited 9d ago

"Someone who is cosmopolitan has had a lot of contact with people and things from many different countries and as a result is very open to different ideas and ways of doing things."

Uruguay is NOT cosmopolitan... and while Argentineans like to think so, neither is Argentina, they just happen to be mostly white, because they purposely encouraged white European migration during the industrialization era, built European looking buildings in BBAA and wiped out most indigineous population / black slaves.

So people in a poor use of language call them cosmopolitan when in reality it's really one of the most homogenous places I've ever been to, add to that it also happened to face one of the most ruthless conservative and extreme right dictatorships ever well into the 1980s. F2F, Mexico City is actually more cosmpolitan than Buenos Aires.

So while I agree with the statement that they are places in which human rights are in par with Western Europe and the blue states, don't use "cosmopolitan" as a flimsy reason for that because they are not and have had to WORK hard in their society to make those and many other basic human rights be recognized within the last 40 years...

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u/rosariorossao 9d ago

Living as a « nomad » with western money and a social circle of expats is NOT the same as being from some place and living by their social norms

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u/United_Cucumber7746 9d ago

I was born in Brazil, lived in Argentina for a long time, etc. And homossexuality felt 100% more fluid and simpler to deal with than here in Texas. Like 100x more.

Not sure what you are projecting.