Whipped and held captive in Haiti: Ovide’s ordeal
Ovide suffered a homophobic ambush in Haiti
“I’m still in pain and I can’t sleep at night. I’m living a waking nightmare.” With these words, Lauren’s Ovide begins his account of the violent homophobic ambush he was subjected to on the evening of Friday, Sept. 5, at around 8 p.m., near a friend’s home in the Marlique neighbourhood of Pétionville, a residential suburb of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
His body streaked with whip marks, like a slave once nailed to the pillory on a plantation, it is with a voice bruised and shaken by the shock of the attack that Ovide agrees to give Erasing 76 Crimes an account of what happened in the city that is largely controlled by gangs.
The following account is in Lauren’s Ovide’s own words, translated from the original French and lightly edited for length and clarity.
“There were five or six of them armed with rubber whips, but they also had handguns and rifles. My assault lasted more than two hours, during which they hurled homophobic insults at me and repeatedly threatened to kill me. In particular, they criticised my leather goods, which they considered too feminine.
It was clearly me and my homosexuality who were targeted, because I am a queer person. As proof, the [masculine-presenting] comrade who was with me received three lashes before being let go, while my ordeal lasted longer. I thought my last hour had come.
Yesterday, I was able to receive medical care at a Médecins Sans Frontières [Doctors Without Borders] clinic. Nevertheless, my whole body is in pain from this attack. Psychologically, I can no longer sleep, constantly thinking about the thugs who wanted to drive me out of their neighborhood.
I am used to insults, but this is the first time that my physical integrity has been attacked. In fact, on Monday, I intend to go to the police station first thing in the morning to file a complaint.
I have now returned to my home in another town where I feel somewhat safe, but I want only one thing: to flee the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, or better yet, to flee this country.
Attitudes are not changing in Haiti, and people listen to any self-proclaimed prophet who incites the population to attack LGBT+ people. I am referring more specifically to ‘influencers’ such as Jean-Richard Richman, alias Pasa Pasa, on social media.
Finally, I regret that there is no more structured LGBT+ movement in Haiti and that all community advocacy work is focused more on the fight against HIV/AIDS than on human rights. I feel that the fight against homophobia remains the poor relation of LGBT+ mobilisation in Haiti.”
