,” a community of homeless trans women and other LGBTQ+ youth who live in Kingston’s open-air sewers.
But there is an active LGBTQ+ rights movement pushing for change in the Caribbean nation. “For a small island, they have a very active and engaged movement,” says Freedberg. LGBTQ+ rights organization Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays has been active since 1998. Jamaica held its first Pride parade in 2015, and in recent years, both public and private Pride celebrations have continued to increase. “It felt liberating,” one Pride attendee toldin 2015. “It was safe with no fear. When you go out in public, if you express yourself in a particular way or use certain mannerisms you have to be on your guard, but this really felt like it was ours.
“The chilling effect is so strong that we only hear from people of Mauritania when they are abroad,” says Lucas Ramón Mendos, ILGA’s Senior Research Officer. In 2011, a gay Mauritanian refugee known as Ahmed A. won asylum in the United States; Jane Kim, a Columbia student who worked on his case, said in a, “For nearly 40 years, our client, Ahmed, never felt free.