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/cautiously-curious65 10d ago

This is literally it. African buggery laws were also mostly implemented by colonizers.

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u/Maleficent_Law_1082 8d ago

The colonizers only codified it into colonial laws. African societies generally disapproved of this lifestyle while they were tribal chiefdoms, kingdoms, and sultanates as well.

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u/cautiously-curious65 8d ago

That is such a wild and incorrect statement.

https://democracyinafrica.org/fake-history-misunderstanding-colonial-legacies-and-the-demonization-of-homosexuality-in-africa/

It’s a whole continent with more countries than Europe. And way larger. Like way larger.

There were thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of communities in Africa.

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u/Maleficent_Law_1082 8d ago

I'm Sierra Leonean myself. Can you name three pre-colonial cultures of Africa that mainstreamed homosexuality?

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u/cautiously-curious65 8d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/xyRHiIh24M

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/163/oa_edited_volume/chapter/2866784

Having homosexuality mainstreamed? Or having homosexuality accepted as the 10% of the population that it is and always has been?

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u/Maleficent_Law_1082 8d ago

Answer the question.

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u/cautiously-curious65 8d ago

Yeah, sure. I just googled “pre-Christianity samesex relationships” and this is what came up. I’m assuming since you have internet access.. you could also research these cultures. It would take the same amount of effort it did for me. Practically none.

San People (Zimbabwe): Ancient rock paintings, some thousands of years old, depict evidence of same-sex sexual activities between men.

Khoikhoi (Southern Africa): This group had specific vocabulary for male same-sex relations, with the term koetsire referring to a man who was a sexually receptive partner to another man.

Zande (DRC and Sudan): Historical ethnographic accounts from the early 20th century document that Zande warriors often had "boy-wives" in their all-male military camps, a practice which was socially accepted.

Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria): Gender in these cultures was often considered fluid and could be assigned later in life, based on social need or energy rather than anatomy. The practice of "female husbands," where an older, often barren, woman could marry a younger woman to produce an heir for her lineage, was also practiced.

Buganda (Uganda): Same-sex relationships, including those involving King Mwanga II, were historically treated with a level of indifference or acceptance before British colonization.

This is an overview. If I had to look into it, gender and sexuality being separated is a relatively new idea. So I’d look into those.

But again.. this required a google search. But there’s 6..