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Loading ...Canada’s ethnic minorities launch fight against homophobia
05.18.2009 4:50pm EDT
(Montreal, Quebec) Patrick Yousse was jailed for a year in his native Cameroon, where he says he was abused, nearly raped and discriminated against daily because he was gay.
The stocky 27-year-old, sporting stylish glasses and a silver stud in his right ear, grew teary-eyed as he told his story at a rally against homophobia held in Montreal.He was arrested for homosexuality in 2006 in the African country when he was denounced by a former boyfriend. Yousse says he was beaten by police and held in jail for three days before going to trial.
“They thought of me as an extraterrestrial,” he said. “I had a trial and was convicted of homosexuality and sent to prison for a year. That year was horrible. I lived with discrimination, I was almost raped more than once, I was physically abused, my family abandoned me.”
After his release, he still encountered constant harassment and his family denied his existence. Yousse spent a brief time in Tunisia before coming to Canada on a student visa five months ago.
He recently applied for refugee status.
“I’m less scared in Canada, I feel safer,” Yousse said. “But I have dreams where I’m still abused. I hope with time they’ll fade but it won’t happen overnight. It’s a deep wound.”
Yousse’s case is extreme, but members of sexual minorities face discrimination in many countries and within immigrant communities in Canada.
Members of Quebec’s gay and lesbian communities, along with representatives of the ethnic minority communities, are trying to change the face of homosexuality in the province.
On Sunday, they launched an awareness campaign with the support of the Quebec government aimed at making Canadians of all backgrounds more aware of the issues surrounding sexual diversity.
“Our role is to be the bridge,” said Robert Rousseau, an organizer. “Often, these men come to Quebec with a lot of baggage that leads them to developing a poor perception of themselves.
He says gays and lesbians who’ve developed an internalized homophobia are more vulnerable to having risky sex. His organization is reaching out specifically to religious leaders of ethnic communities to get their help in demystifying homosexuality.
Alexis Musanganya, 35, president of gay rights organization African Rainbow, is an activist who himself endured silent discrimination in his native Rwanda. He says he lived in the closet, believing himself to be the only gay man in his country.
“In many countries it’s condemned, it’s criminal to be gay to be lesbian,” he said, noting that many Africans want to believe that homosexuality doesn’t exist within their nations.
“In some countries you face a death sentence. In places like Cameroon, Senegal, you might get six months to five years in jail and fines.”
And even where anti-homosexuality laws are mostly unenforced, the fact that they’re on the books is problem enough.
“It can be used to tarnish reputations and it affects work against HIV and AIDS,” Musanganya said.
“That’s what these types of laws do. It doesn’t just affect homosexuals, it can affect the whole society in certain ways.”
Musanganya added that homosexual immigrants who arrive in Canada expecting a more open society often run into discrimination within the expat communities here.
“When we get here, we still find ourselves living in hiding,” he said. “We still have to pretend, talk about women while we think of men. I see that a lot. We help people get out of isolation, to know they aren’t alone. They’re not alone wanting to live their dreams and it’s _ happily _ beginning to change. It’s being talked about more.”
A recent survey published by Fondation Emergence, a Quebec gay rights lobby group, gives some support to his theory.
It suggests second-generation immigrants have are much more accepting of homosexuality than their parents.
Almost half of the first generation respondents said they felt that homosexuality was an illness or a deviant behavior, a feeling shared by only 24 per cent of their children.
But the survey of 500 Quebec residents also suggests that the perception of homosexuality was more negative in African and Asian communities than in Western European ones.
We may need to invite them down here to fight our own black homophobia! ….
This article reminds us that homophobia is a world problem that is our problem too. As long as LGBT people in Africa or Asia are subject to attack and violence, we are victims too. We must act in solidarity with our sisters and brothers the world over. Quoting James Shaver Woodsworth (Canadian democratic socialist leader of the 1920s to early 1940s, “What we desire for ourselves, we wish for all. To this end may we join in the world’s work and world’s struggles.”
La seule fois qu’on m’a appellé un pédé au Québec c’était un immigrant marrocain. Les québécois sont chaleureux et acceuillant vers tout le monde et les gais et lesbiennes que je connais sont bien intégré(e)s dedans la societé en générale, especiellement à Montréal. Mais il y a beaucoup d’homophobie parmi les minorités, soit noirs, arabes, juifs ou asiatiques. Même des immigrants de la France trouve le Québec trop PC vers les gais.
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The only time I have been called queer/faggot in Québec was by a Morrocan immigrant. Québécois are very warm and welcoming people towards everyone, gays and lesbians that I know here are VERY well integrated into greater society, especially in Montréal. There is still homophobia among immigrants, be they black, arabic, jews or asians. Even immigrants from France find Québec’s attitude towards gays as too PC.
De toute façon, encore le Québec présent le chemin et la reste d’Amérique du nord suivent en arrière. One again, Québec shows the way and the rest of North America is following behind. Comme d’habitude, like always.
Vive le Québec pluraliste, progressiste et libre. Bonne fête nationale des patriotes!!
Homophobia in AFRICA?!? Surely you jest.
shawn,
What is that supposed to mean?
Sure, there is homophobia in Africa. There is homophobia is ALL parts of the world, even the so-called Greatest Country in the World (U.S.A.).
Why don’t you leave your racist allusions at home.
Joe, You read Shawn’s comment incorrectly. He said it in jest.
Rodney Moore:
Moi je trouve que même les immigrants à Montréal sont rarement homophobes au moins vers les québécois de souche ou d’autres blancs, c’est plus à l’intérieur de leurs communautés. Puis beaucoup de Français gais ou d’origine étrangère immigrent au Québec pour vivre dans une société plus ouverte (mon copain aussi!). France pourrait apprendre quelque chose du Canada à propos du racisme et de l’homophobie
—
I find that even the immigrants in Mtl aren’t very racist, at least not towards the Québécois or other white people, it’s more within their communities. And lots of gay or minority French people move to Quebec to live in a more open society – maybe Quebec could teach France to be less racist and homophobic
Ouais la France a beaucoup d’apprendre du Québec especiellement envers l’homophobie dans leur patrie.
Je n’ai rien à baser l’homophobie des immigrants sauf sur mon experience seulement. J’ai appris l’arabe d’UQàM et j’écoute souvent leurs conversations quand ils pensent que les francophones ne comprendent pas. Et oui,, le Québec et le Canada anglais sont devenus des refuges pour les gais et lesbiennes oprimés dans leurs propres pays, incluyant des arabes gais et même des français.
J’ai des amis,, pour example un jeune français français qui est completement choqué que le Québec est si ouvert et sympagai. Il aime la France, comme tous les français, mais pour lui l’idée de vivre dans un ghetto gai, comme le marais à Paris, quand il pourrait vivre au Québec, c’est qqchose laquelle il ne veut pas. J’ai travaillé dans un gite dans le village, et tout le monde n’importe leur origine ou pays ont trouvé l’ouverture et gay friendliness du Québec de Montréal un choque très plaisant. Moi je suis un immigrant aussi, et j’adore ma vie, ma ville Montréal et mon pays adopté le Québec. Pour moi, même avec la neige, le froid, les angryphones, le manque du Taco Bell il n’y a aucun autre endroit en Amérique du nord où je voudrais être.
Rodney Moore :
J’espère que vous ne pensez pas à moi comme grossier pour dire ceci, mais presque personne qui va à http://www.365gay.com ne peuvent lire des Français.
Je recommanderais d’à l’aide du traducteur de langue chez http://babelfish.yahoo.com et traduirais vos messages en anglais avant la signalisation ils. Vous pouvez toujours signaler des réponses à vos messages dans le Français.
Note : J’emploie le babelfish pour te donner ce message puisque je ne sais pas parler français.
Rodney Moore:
I hope you do not think of me as rude for saying this, but almost no one who goes to http://www.365gay.com can read French.
I would recommend using the language translator at http://babelfish.yahoo.com and translate your messages into English before posting them. You can always post replies to your messages into French.
Note: I am using babelfish to give you this message since I do not know how to speak French.
Sorry Joe. From the reports I’m reading it would appear that Africa(with the notable exception of South Africa)is among one of, if not THE, most homophobic nation on the planet. Coincidence Joe?
Shawn, please stop opening your mouth to change feet. Africa is not a “nation”, it’s a continent, made up of many nations. South Africa is one of those nations, and yes, as a South African I’m proud that my country’s constitution includes anti-discrimination clauses that include sexual orientation. That doesn’t mean the man in the street – particularly the rural or recently-urbanised masses – are necessarily any more tolerant, in the same way that our constitution defends women’s rights but it hasn’t wiped out sexism or patriarchy at the stroke of a pen. But it does mean that abused gay (or female) South Africans have legal recourse when they’re discriminated against – although that right doesn’t help working-class lesbians raped and murdered to “teach them a lesson”, it’s the start of a long journey. At least our rights are enshrined in the statute books. As for the rest of Africa, I do understand what you mean by saying “homophobic nation” – you’re referring to black Africans by and large – but that’s insulting and patronising, too. The continent has many nations, and even more tribes and cultures, all of which have been shaped for better or for worse by centuries of invaders – pre-islamic asians and pre-christian europeans, as well as islamic and christian versions of the same. The continent still has the highest genetic and cultural diversity on the planet, each group of which has a different, nuanced view on matters of sexuality. I understand the “Why am I not surprised?” sarcasm behind your “Homophobic? Africans?” comment, but please understand that it’s about as funny as me saying, “Obese? Americans? No, really?”
If the US ever wonders what happened to our old “live and let live” mentality, just know that it’s alive and well in Quebec. This French-speaking part of North America has consistently supported all the types of legislation we only dream of in the US. And it is an infinitely more laid-back place than anywhere in Europe. Even in little fishing villages of 800 people, you’ll find the local “gay guy” and “lesbian” – you can just ask the straight folk, they’ll be happy to tell you that they don’t give a rat’s ass – it’s just too damn cold in the winter to maintain a population of haters. Oddly, if you go 50 miles south into rural Maine, you’ll get the s*it kicked out of you if you ask about local gays.
Quebec’s the best place to be gay. Has been for a very long time. We’re not “special” here, we’re just part of the fabric of society.
Bravo, Quebec.
J’ai jamais ve’cu a montreal, mais j’ai passez mes vacances la bas il y a un an, et je pense que t’as raison ‘Rodney’. Les montrealis s’interessent pas a ta sexualite’…mais c dommage que le ‘village’ de montreal n’est pas trop propre…lol
@Christina:
Why so quick to defend Shawn? The guy is clearly a bigoted hate spreader. Instead of sticking up for this kind of non humane meathead you should be helping us discourage these kind of people from posting here. Even if it was in jest, which after his 2nd post we know it was not, it is disrespectful. Why support disrespect of other people?
Thanx for speaking up Joe. We ALL must shut these idiots down.
@Christina:
Why so quick to defend Shawn? The guy is clearly a bigoted hate spreader. Instead of sticking up for this kind of non humane meathead you should be helping us discourage these kind of people from posting here. Even if it was in jest, which after his 2nd post we know it was not, it is disrespectful. Why support disrespect of other people?
Thanx for speaking up Joe and rantboy. We ALL must shut these idiots down.
(sorry if this posted twice)