Dokument #1249890
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following information was provided to
the DIRB in a 12 September 1997 telephone interview with a
representative of the Gay Advocates Association of Trinidad and
Tobago. Homosexual acts are illegal in Trinidad and Tobago for both
men and women; but the source is not aware of any cases of people
being convicted in court for consensual sexual acts. Although
Trinidadian society in general is very hostile toward lesbians, the
source believes that the situation is even more difficult for
homosexual men. The source stated that there have been many cases
in the past two years in which lesbians have been assaulted and
raped because of their sexual orientation. In some cases the rape
victims have complained to the police, but were told that being
raped was a positive experience for them because it would help them
learn to "accept men." The source stated that there have been many
cases of women being evicted from their apartments or fired from
their jobs when it was learned that they were lesbians, and other
cases in which sexual or monetary favours were demanded of lesbians
in exchange for not being evicted or fired. There are no public
figures in Trinidad and Tobago who are publicly known to be
lesbians or who are publicly sympathetic to lesbians. Corroborating
evidence could not be found among the sources consulted by the
DIRB.
For information on Trinidadian law on
homosexual acts, please see the attached excerpts from Trinidad and
Tobago's Sexual Offences Act of 1986, and the November 1993 DIRB
Question and Answer Series paper Women in the Republic of
Trinidad and Tobago, available at Regional Documentation
Centres.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of
additional sources consulted in researching this Information
Request.
Reference
Gay Advocates Association of Trinidad
and Tobago, Port of Spain. 12 September 1997. Telephone interview
with a representative.
Attachment
Trinidad and Tobago. 1986. Sexual
Offences Act, sec. 11-16.
Additional Sources Consulted
IGLHRC Action Alert [San
Francisco]. November-December 1994-Vol. 6 No. 3 1997.
ILGA Bulletin [Brussels].
January 1995-December 1996.
Electronic sources: DIRB databases,
Global News Bank, LEXIS/NEXIS, REFWORLD (UNHCR database).