#ILoveGay

Yaisah Val recently came out publicly as a transgender woman on YouTube, a potentially risky move in a country like Haiti where LGBT residents face pervasive hostility in most spheres of public life. Two proposed anti-LGBT laws are pending in Parliament. The major churches are firm in their condemnation of homosexuality. Gay Haitians are frequent targets of attacks and harassment, and police are often unsympathetic to victims of anti-gay violence.

Haiti’s LGBT community has long been marginalized, but in recent years it has come under an unprecedented wave of assault. In an email interview, Amber Lynn Munger explains what this new environment looks like, including new laws to restrict LGBT rights, and how activists are finding ways to fight back.