Dear Belize, it’s time to scrap your ban on LGBTI visitors

Colin Stewart is a 45-year journalism veteran living in Southern…

Protest sign (Photo courtesy of Avaaz.org)

Belize is one of only two countries in the Western Hemisphere that still bans the entry of homosexuals. While the law is rarely enforced, it serves to stigmatize and vilify LGBTI people, who are regularly fired from jobs, evicted from their homes, bullied in schools, and suffer verbal and physical assaults.

Repealing the entry ban on gays will send a clear signal that LGBTI people are welcome, and belong, in Belize.

To sign a petition to the Hon. Dean Barrow, prime minister of Belize, titled “Scrap the entry ban on gays,” visit the petition’s Avaaz page.