St. Martin activist speaks of difficulty organizing LGBTQ communities in the Caribbean

Moïse Manoël-Florisse, is an African-Caribbean online journalist keeping an eye…

The French territory St. Martin forms half of an idyllic island in the Caribbean Sea. While its LGBTQI residents enjoy the same legal rights as any French citizen, queer people on the island face unique challenges associated with living in a small territory with a tourism-focused economy.Following festivities surrounding the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) we spoke with Elie Touzé, treasurer of the queer advocacy group Safe SXM Alliance for Equality Foundation, about the difficulties of organizing queer communities in Saint Martin, and whether the community is prepared for the monkeypox outbreak that has affected gay and bisexual men in several countries.

The island of St Martin. — **The St. Martin economy is largely based on tourism. Photo by Andy Bellegarde, courtesy of Unsplash.**

How did IDAHOBIT work in St. Martin?

Elie Touzé: May 15 was our third walk in the streets of the island since 2019. There was a good atmosphere, even if we were less numerous than last year. Many young people from 16 to 25 years old were there. We even inaugurated a fresco in the middle of Marigot, the capital of the French part of the island. Finally, we closed the festivities with a citizenship contest featuring speeches, songs and videos.

In the future, we would like to be able to make a real Pride festival. However, many young people from LGBTI communities leave St. Martin to study elsewhere, in Europe or Canada, where mentalities are more receptive to sexual and gender minorities. That this distance prevents them from returning to their island to celebrate IDAHOBIT.

In the past, young people used to go to Guadeloupe to continue their schooling in secondary school or at university, as Guadeloupe also has the advantage of being relatively close to St. Martin (250 kms). Unfortunately, mentalities are more homophobic and transphobic there and for young LGBTI people from St. Martin, it is less attractive.

**Poster used to promote the St Martin IDAHOBIT walk promoted by Safe SXM Alliance for Equality.**

Is St Martin prepared for monkeypox?

**St. Martin is a Caribbean island under French and Dutch administration.**

Elie Touzé: St. Martin is a territorial collectivity with extended competencies, both on the French and Dutch sides of the island. On the French side, it is a state competence that is coordinated on the spot by the local branch of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Guadeloupe.

The ARS remains rather silent about monkeypox. The experience of COVID leads the authorities to be probably cautious. In this context, the local health associations are waiting for more information, because we need to understand this disease.

Secondly, it is said that gay men are very much affected at the moment by this emerging epidemic. To be honest, I think that raises more questions than it answers. It is not clear why this monkeypox epidemic is spreading outside its original endemic focus in West Africa.

Gay men are more likely to visit their doctors when they have health problems. There may be a magnifying glass effect. In any case, it would be dangerous to fuel a slackening of vigilance in the rest of the population by stigmatizing the LGBTI communities.

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The only good news is that the lethality of this disease is low. However, if there are further global travel restrictions, it could be a fatal blow to the island’s tourism industry.

Locally, people don’t ask us many questions about monkeypox because it is not perceived as an immediate or deadly danger. The disease is seen as exotic and distant. Also, with the experience of COVID and natural disasters, people have developed a certain resilience here. For now, I don’t see any panic on social networks in St. Martin.

Then there are the churches. Biblical passages in Revelation announce destructive epidemics in the last days. See Revelation 6.8. However, I trust science and the knowledge of living beings, even if there is no absolute truth, because of the evolution of our understanding of the epidemic.

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