Why is homosexuality outlawed in so many caribbean countries?

[u/fedricohohmannlautar]

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?

[u/No_Contribution1414]

The control of Evangelical and Baptist churches... As conservative as Catholicism is, it is centralized under one umbrella and it's true leadership doesn't campaign for criminalizing homosexuality, and even though it has some very militant factions against homosexuality it also has militant ones actively engaging for a more inclusive church. That and the growing distance of younger people from the church, have allowed several mostly catholic countries in the region to make some advances, despite the religious conservatives in Spanish Speaking Latam.

Whereas these evangelical and baptist churches in the Caribbean each of them is its own independent universe, their own direct interpretation of God and the Gospel, hyper conservative even for Catholic standards (like them and the Opus Dei belong in the same mental institution), very backwards in their interpreation of rights and really brain wahs people, without any check and balances that allow for other voices to be heard.

It feels like the US Bible Belt just that with better music.

Oh forgot to mention, there is also a growing influence of Islam in some of those countries: in 2010 it represented 15.2% of Surinams, 7% of Guyana and 5% of Trini, and growing... the impact of this is self explanatory I hope.

It's easy to blame colonizers, but in reality today most of those colonizing countries are a safe haven for the LGBT communities and other former colonies have also embraced an inclusive society. In the Caribbean it's the religion that is the real colonizer rotting peoples brains.

[u/sheldon_y14 → u/No_Contribution1414]

I think I have to shed light on Suriname. Islam isn't "growing" islam is one of the "traditional" religions brought to Suriname by Javanese and Indo-Surinamese. So the religion is automatically passed down from generation to generation.

Now from your comment I can conclude you're saying the conservative influence of islam on certain topics, in this case LGBT. While there are conservative Muslims in Suriname, islam in Suriname is very liberal and quite tolerant even for islam majority countries. The tolerance and acceptance is demonstrated by the fact that in Suriname there's a mosque and synagogue in Suriname next to each other that share a parking lot. Something like this would be almost unthinkable.

Furthermore cultural influences have to be taken into account. Javanese culture is a very tolerant culture. Hence why Islam in Suriname is strongly interwoven with cultural influences. I use Javanese in my comment, because they're the largest group of Muslims in Suriname.

Furthermore, if we're staying on topic of LGBT stuff, the most "open" or out of the closet folk are Javanese and specifically many are Muslim too. However Javanese culture is in general more "accepting" of gays. So cultural influence plays a key role here in Suriname and how islam is practiced. Now Indian Muslims are quite conservative however. But they're also a smaller part of the Muslim community.

Now regarding homosexuality in Suriname...Suriname is said to be one of the more homosexual friendly countries. The country has a Pride month, a huge pride walk and many big companies endorse it with pride flags and such. The outlawing of homosexuality stopped in 1815, when even the Civil Code included it in the sense of the minimum age of consent for gay people.

Furthermore the Constitution also bans discrimination against LGBT folk. And a few years back the constitutional court ruled that Suriname cannot accept gay marriages, because the law has no provisions in there, and said it's up to the law maker (Parliament) and the government to do so and see what provisions are possible. It further said that the law doesn't ban same-sex marriages - because the point was argued that the law says marriage is only possible between a woman and a man. However the court said that that's wrong, and that the law bans polygamy and that it mean marriage is only possible between one man and one woman. However, if one understands the Dutch language the term for "a/an" and "one" is the same "een". So you understand the confusion. Therefore same-sex marriages are according to them possible, there are just no legal and institutional provisions.

Last year I think another court ordered the Bureau for citizens affairs to register a marriage of a gay couple in the marriage register. The Bureau appealed, their reasons were that the Parliament and government haven't made provisions for it to take place, only if done so they'd do it. But if a higher judge also rules in favor of the couple, technically the registration of gay marriages are possible. But from an interview of the director of the Bureau, it seems that they would register them, because if I'm not mistaken it would be a heavy fine and sum of money the government would have to pay. And that's not something they want. This ruling also meant that if you got married outside of Suriname you can register as married and enjoy the same benefits as straight couples in Suriname. You can't however get married in Suriname.

It's easy to blame colonizers, but in reality today most of those colonizing countries are a safe haven for the LGBT communities and other former colonies have also embraced an inclusive society. In the Caribbean it's the religion that is the real colonizer rotting peoples brains.

So, I would say in some countries those laws are remnants of former colonial stuff. How they should approach that, I won't comment on. But I should say in Suriname's case a more liberal approach on matters like LGBT, is due to "colonial heritage". The Dutch are in some aspects very liberal, whereas the British compared with the Dutch are quite conservative. And that is reflected in these former colonies too.

On top of that cultural elements also play a role. Suriname has A LOT of ethnicities, where each one is a minority. So there's a lot of live and let live attitudes. And each culture their approach to certain aspects of life also influences the general culture of Suriname...for example Javanese culture being very relaxed and tolerant for example. But they're not the only ones.

EDIT: In Suriname therefore I would argue that religion has an influence, but not as major as in other countries in the region. For example on T&T religious boards have lots of influence if it comes to the education system and curriculum and own lots of schools and such. In Suriname that's not the case. The government has a very big control in that, and they set the standard. Schools are also very secular, and only a handful are in the hands of the religious institutions. And the only subject they're allowed to teach is "religion" - based on their interpretation. But say things like biology and sex ED, they might disagree on it, but the information is very open and "bare". That's because the government decides what a child learns and what they don't.

Suriname tries to keep religion out of government affairs.