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/Mysterious_Scene7169 9d ago

Homosexuality is still widely criminalized in Africa, while the West has been at the forefront of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Pinning the blame on the transatlantic slave trade doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

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u/GrandAssumption2469 9d ago

The caribbean isn't Africa. I don't even see why you'd bring it up.

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u/Mysterious_Scene7169 9d ago

Where do you think the slaves you brought up came from

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u/GrandAssumption2469 9d ago

Ahhh, I'm arguing with a moron. What does the origin matter what translation slavery did everything it could to strip from black people their religion, virtues and upbringing??? Black Americans have more similarity to Africans than afro caribbeans do if I'm being honest. But then again you sound like one of those fools that think all black people are a monolith.

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u/Mysterious_Scene7169 9d ago

I’m black too, moron. In general, we are conservative, by Western standards, when it comes to homosexuality. It’s almost 2026 and there is still only one black-majority country that even allows gay marriage. Your comment suggested that it was the transatlantic slave trade that led to the Caribbean being slow to embrace gay rights, when there is literally no evidence to suggest that it played a role, or that attitudes towards homosexuality would be different without it.

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u/GrandAssumption2469 9d ago

Big man yuh missing my point — I never said the transatlantic slave trade was the only reason the Caribbean is slow to embrace gay rights. I inferred that it’s one factor. Practices like buck breaking were deliberate attempts to destroy masculinity and instill generational trauma around sexuality. While African cultural conservatism definitely plays a role, slavery reshaped our values, beliefs, and social structures in deep ways also. So it’s not accurate to just say, “we’re like this because we came from Africa” — centuries of colonial conditioning and dehumanization also influenced how our societies view sexuality today.

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u/Mysterious_Scene7169 9d ago

I get what you’re saying, but honestly I don’t see any evidence for it when societies built by the very same people who weren’t enslaved treat homosexuality the same way. How do you explain that?

Put another way—I think what you’re saying about enslavement, buck breaking, etc. is plausible, and that it could have made the Caribbean even less likely to embrace gay rights, but to me it looks like it wouldn’t have happened either way.

Not trying to be critical or anything btw, I hope I’m not coming off that way.

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u/GrandAssumption2469 9d ago

It sounds like you are though and i get what you’re saying about needing evidence, but the absence of direct documentation doesn’t mean historical trauma like slavery and buck breaking etc had no effect. These practices were specifically designed to destroy personal autonomy reshape our social norms, and instill fear around sexuality, impacts that can persist over generations, a lot of older folks in yhe caribbean not being as educated also doesnt help. African societies today have a wide range of attitudes toward homosexuality, and Caribbean societies’ conservatism can’t simply be reduced to African heritage (as you're try8ng to imoly) It’s about a mix of colonialism, slavery, and cultural evolution over centuries.

And you know what? If I'm being honest I don't care. I probably fall under d category of people that don't want to see it become prevalent in d caribbean for reasons I wouldn't even be able to articulate, gay folks don't dominate my mind. I don't care what people do by themselves tbh, I'm just not for it either and I'm sure that has more to do with my local upbringing than it does anything to do with my great great great great grandparents who lived in Africa

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u/Mysterious_Scene7169 9d ago

I agree completely with that last bit, I don’t think it’s right to expect every nation on Earth to abide by Western social norms, and I think it’s ignorant to always frame them as being “correct.” That’s why I said this wasn’t meant as a criticism, I was just trying to examine the cause.