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Building safe spaces for trans people in Haiti

By Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) en América Latina y el Caribe

March 9^th, 2022

Kay Trans is one of the few shelters for young transgender men and women in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Managed by two local associations and with supported by the United Nations Programme for Development (UNDP), the facilities of Kay Trans represent a haven of tolerance and empowerment for the Haitian LGBT community, whose vulnerability to violence deepens every time earthquakes strike their country.

“Kay Trans mission is to raise public awareness about gender identity, as well as to raise awareness of the social, political and medical needs that are specific to the transgender community. We also advocate for safe and inclusive spaces for Haitian transgender persons by encouraging the collaboration of social and state institutions.’’ says Claude Priska, the president of the Association for the Reduction of Vulnerability in Haiti (AREV).

The walls of the shelter have witness the stories of Catalina, Semi and Dave, three young transgender Haitians that have been fighting for their rights for years now. The first two were born into male bodies but identify as women, while Dave’s biological sex is feminine but identifies as a man. However, their childhoods share a common ground: Catalina, Semi and Dave have survived bullying, isolation and sometimes even family rejection from a young age.

Building safe spaces for trans people in Haiti

“It was during puberty that I understood I am a woman. At 11, I realized that I was born into the wrong body. It was not something that I shared with my family. I hid it. They would have considered my transgender identity as something awkward. As I had not met other transgender kids like me, I felt extremely alone. I even asked God why he created me like this,” recalls Catalina, as she plays with her golden hoop earring.

Over the years, Dave’s family was relatively more accepting of his gender identity, as he would often express his interest in games or clothes that are usually associated with men: ‘’For me it was extremely difficult because I couldn’t tell my family how I felt. One day, I told my mom how I felt. She reassured me by making me understand that this is my life and that I should not live it for others.’’

Apart from their households, the social environment that transgender Haitians grow up in is not safe for them either. Society sees them as a threat. They falsely think trans kids will corrupt the children around them.

“I can't change a cisgender person into a transgender person, just like they can't influence me.’’ adds Dave simply.

Expulsion from schools, death threats and street harassment remain among the problems they face on daily basis. An ordinary walk-in town can easily result into crowds mocking or calling them "masisi" (an insult in creole that is interchangeably used against LGBT people). This, added to recurrent hate speech from some conservative and religious sectors, drives many children to abandon their education at an early age and has negative effects on their mental health.

UNDP is actively engaged in suicide prevention and, jointly with UNAIDS, since 2020 the agency has financed a Hotline project for Suicide and HIV Prevention. The initiative builds both AREV and ACIFVH’s capacity to assist a greater number of transgender beneficiaries facing mental health issues and seeking for help. When a need for therapeutic help is detected (anxiety, severe depression, suicide attempts), phone agents refer them to psychologists who can provide them with professional services adapted to their needs.

Giving visibility and promoting inclusiveness for Haitian trans youth is another line of action for Kay Trans. Dave, Catalina and Semi know from experience how crucial it is to tell young trans people that they are not alone. The three of them exchange sly glances and smile as they remember a turning point in their lives: the day transgender-rights activist Yaisah Val was on a TV, giving them a spark of hope. Her television appearance was a milestone in Haiti, a country where LGBT and, more specifically, trans people have little to no presence in media.

“I didn't know the term "trans" even though I knew deep down that I was a woman. When I was a child, I thought I was homosexual. Society would constantly tell me I was homosexual because of my effeminate manners. It is thanks to Aisha that I was able to learn the terminology on gender and sexual identity,” Catalina remembers.

Gaining knowledge about their own transgender identity, added to the violence and abuse they were enduring, pushed them to leave their households and turn to Kay Trans. Dave had become a target of armed men in Cité Militaire, one of the sensitive neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, while Catalina was facing recurrent physical abuse from her own father.

Once Kay Trans opened its doors to them, the next step was sex education. Claude Priska, the head of AREV association, prepares training and awareness sessions to teach transgender youth about their own bodies and prevent sexually transmitted infections (STI) including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Early or unplanned pregnancy, safe sexual practices and methods of contraception are also part of the programme. In other words, the goal is that transgender beneficiaries understand that being seropositive should not be grounds for stigma or discrimination and that sex is a physiological need that requires protection to stay healthy.

“When I was 11, someone raped me in my neighborhood” Catalina narrates. “I didn't have anyone to talk about it. I felt so ashamed to admit it. Even today my parents do not know this happened. It wasn't until I was 16 that I found out I was seropositive for HIV. Today, thanks to Kay Trans I was able to work on my self-esteem and the association staff come with me to the hospital so I can follow a treatment plan. I am no longer afraid to say publicly that I am a transgender woman living with HIV.”

Semi has been studying about the increase of HIV cases deriving from social discrimination against trans people. She points out that transgender youth in Haiti are often kicked out of their homes by their parents, ending up in the streets and exposed to sexual violence. This paves the way for HIV to spread among homeless transgender people. If parents had an education about what transgender identity is, this could help them get rid of their own prejudice and society would keep HIV cases from growing. For Semi, the pattern is simple: "The fewer children on the streets, the less HIV cases. The fewer transgender people who are forced into prostitution, the less HIV cases."

According to global reports, the HIV prevalence rate among trans women is estimated at 19%. Trans women are 49 times more likely to be HIV-positive than the average adult women. Among trans women, the highest prevalence rates correspond to sex workers (27%); sex workers who are trans are four times more likely than their cisgender counterparts to live with HIV. Reports shared during the Free & Equal, United Nations for LGBTI Equality Campaign documented more than 2,000 murders in 66 countries between 2008 and 2016, with particularly brutal attacks against trans women, and against trans people in detention.

Violence is the main obstacle to taking antiretroviral treatment. Many Haitian transgender persons face violence from health care providers, who misunderstand the LGBT community’s reality and often suggest trans people to pray for a cure. Such discrimination from medical institutions leaves them in an even more vulnerable position. Likewise, gender reassignment surgery does not exist in Haiti, making it impossible for youth like Dave, Catalina or Semi to have a body that matches their gender identity. Yet, the most critical vulnerability comes from earthquakes and natural disasters. After the 2010 earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation, some local Christian leaders openly blamed the LGBT community for the the hundreds of thousands of deaths, claiming the disaster was triggered by their sinful behavior. This resulted in a peak of violence against transgender people, reinforcing stigmatisation and harassment in the streets.

After the earthquake of August 2021, ensuring the safety and basic needs of the most vulnerable populations represented a priority for UNDP[1] . Therefore, AREV and ACIFVH went on a field mission to support beneficiaries from the South Region, the most severely impacted region of the country. Thanks to the Hotline Project for Suicide and HIV Prevention, the staff soon found out that several transgender people had been denied medical treatment in the hospitals of Les Cayes city on the ground of their gender identity.

""UNDP assistance allows us to collect statistical data on transgender people in difficulty so we can determine the extent of the situation of vulnerability that transgender people face in the field."

Ensuring secure spaces for vulnerable social groups such as trans people is key for Haiti’s development. Since 2020, UNDP has funded two projects implemented by the Community Action for the Integration of Vulnerable Women in Haiti (ACIFVH) and The Association for the Reduction of Vulnerability in Haiti (AREV-Haiti): Suicide Prevention Hotline Project and Hotline Project for Suicide and HIV Prevention. To date, both associations have assisted at least 700 people and educated them on HIV prevention, more than 400 people have been able to find economic assistance and the leadership of trans women has been reinforced by creating temporary employment for them. These initiatives convey hope to a minority that has been heavily marginalized and criminalized.

Nevertheless, such mission lacks institutional support and progresses slowly because on the legal and legislative level, no laws provide for the protection of LGBT rights in Haiti. For instance, a trans woman like Semi can't change her identity documents to make her gender change official, leading to problematic situations such as police detention, violent aggressions, and unemployment.

“Everyone must participate in the development of the country. The whole LGBT community must find its place in the country. We are Haitians, just like everyone else.“ states Catalina with pride.

Dave, Catalina and Semi nod at the same time. Their strength and determination, built on the challenges they have overcome in the past certainly have the capacity to help their country and its communities to transition towards a future of social inclusiveness.

Footnotes

Story and Pictures: UNDP Haiti

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FootNotes

Story and Pictures: UNDP Haiti

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