Yesterday, December 1st, was a somber day of celebrations in the Caribbean for World AIDS Day. The celebrations were focused on repealing the laws that criminalize homosexuality in all but two of the Caribbean islands. Did you know that the Caribbean is second only to Sub-Saharan Africa in new HIV/AIDS infections? And, still governments deny the basic human rights to sexual minorities in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. We are not even talking about laws that ban gay or lesbian marriages. We are talking about laws that criminalize homosexual behavior!
For example, today a gay man in Barbados could still be sentenced to life in prison if he is found guilty of homosexual acts. In Jamaica, a man can be sentenced to ten years hard labor. In Trinidad & Tobago a man found guilty of homosexual acts can be sentenced to twenty five years 
in prison. However, there are still some Caribbean countries that don’t criminalize female-to-female sexual acts. ALL of the Caribbean island nations except for the Bahamas and Cuba have criminalized homosexuality to in some manner. There are just a few acts in this world that greatly anger me, and one of them is discrimination in any form. Universal access to AIDS prevention, education and medical treatment need to happen NOW!
A 2009 UNAIDS report found that heterosexual sex is the main ways that HIV transmission is occurring in the Caribbean. The latest available information shows that at least 240,000 people in the Caribbean are infected with HIV! Because of the criminalization of homosexual acts, men are having sex with men, being infected by HIV, but then are having sex with women in order to claim they are not homosexuals therefore spreading the HIV virus into the general population. It is an insane cycle that is creating such a high infection rate in the Caribbean.
Throughout the Caribbean there are laws that focus on providing individual rights, freedoms and protection from any form of discrimination. But, these laws that are imbedded in the constitution of all Caribbean states are totally incompatible with the laws that criminalize homosexual behavior. Most Caribbean states have ratified or signed the United Nations’ International Covenant On Civil and Political Rights which has been used to repeal laws against homosexuality. But, still the laws against homosexual conduct prevail in the Caribbean.
A further result of these laws against basic human rights is allowing hate crimes to be legitimatized. Follow the logic here, crimes against gays are generally ignored because of the laws that brand gays as criminals. Make sense? Of course not! There needs to be laws in place that immediately protect gays from hate crimes, which would be a BIG step in ending discrimination – if these laws are actually enforced. The real hurdle to any anti-discrimination laws are enforcement. With the criminalization of homosexual acts as law, then gays still run the risk of becoming victimized within the legal system for their sexual behavior and actually then going to prison in the midst of defending themselves from a hate crime. It is insane!
So, what can each of us do who care about these critical health and human rights issues that still need to be addressed? We can send a message to each of our Caribbean lawmakers to take a stand against the laws which are currently in place that criminalize homosexuality that are contrary to all aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention and control and are totally incompatible with human rights issues. Please do this TODAY!