Rights for Everyone: Media, Religion, and Sexual Orientation in the Dominican Republic

As in many countries that make up Latin America, the Catholic Church in the Dominican Republic has an overwhelming influence on society. Catholic concepts, ideas and dogmas produce a fundamental core of social beliefs professed by the Dominican people. The Catholic Church and the Dominican State have utilized each other to reinforce their positions of power in society. Because of this relationship, the conservative mentality of the traditional Catholic Church marks aspects of social life in a more evident way than in many other countries. The conservative position of certain sectors inside the Dominican government, due to an authoritarian past, has purported to deny basic rights to persons that belong to the GLBT community, rights that are recognized without any discussion when referring to persons who are considered “normal.” This attitude is also present also in the national media.

During the 2001 celebration of the Santo Domingo International Book Fair, a group of NGOs dedicated to promoting human rights and anti-discrimination strategies, set up an exposition stand called “The Pink Booth.” In this booth, NGOs that work for the rights of women, Haitian immigrants, black Dominican women, the handicapped and the GLBT community were present. The Commission in charge of the Book Fair decided to close the booth after a prominent local newspaper published an article entitled “Homosexual Promotion in the Book Fair.” The article asked the question “What would happen if your son, after arriving from the Book Fair, instead of educational materials, took brochures that discuss homosexual relations and lesbianism, without having passed any kind of official censor and using vulgar terms?” The booth displayed material about the rights of the GLBT community and about AIDS prevention. This material content was considered “pornographic” by the same newspaper.

The booth’s closing provoked heated polemics in which the right to free expression and tolerance in the media were debated. Renowned critics responded to this incident by supporting the freedom of expression and a tolerance toward the GLBT community. Since there was no proof of any “distribution of pornographic material to children,” the Book Fair Commission allowed the Pink Booth to be reopened with the agreement that “they would not give out pornography to children.”

The ensuing public discussion of this incident allowed groups that work with the GLBT community to explain their work in the newspapers and discuss GLBT rights in a public forum -- a new trend that had not happened before in Dominican media.

Some months later, the GLBT groups requested permission from the Dominican government for a gay and lesbian rights march. The government granted permission, surprising many in the country, and this event was celebrated and reviewed by the national newspapers. This media opening towards the GLBT community does not indicate that old prejudices have disappeared, but it does suggest that a window of opportunity has been created. GLBT stereotypes are maintained in good part by the official attitudes of the Dominican Catholic Church.

In the summer of 2002, groups that support the recognition of the GLBT rights were denied permission to celebrate a gay pride march. In the last months, newspapers and radio and television programs have dedicated time to the issue of homosexuals and the role of the media. In the midst of arguments in favor and against, the polemic seems to endure, but the root of the debate is not so much if “homosexual characters” on television are suitable for children, but if gays should be permitted to work and be present in the media at all. In the Dominican Republic, no laws exist against “homosexuality” and the ones that referred to “acts against the good customs or the morale” have been eliminated. Hence, the GLBT community is not persecuted legally; however, depending on their social status, gays or lesbians may feel more or less perturbed since the more conservative segments of Dominican society frown upon any public display of their sexual preferences. There still remains a lot of work to be done to overcome these social prejudices and ideological obstacles.

The question for a study abroad advisor is: how, in this culture, can a GLBT student have a rich intercultural experience? Certainly, I do not assume to have the solution to all the problems that any student may encounter in the Dominican Republic. I only have some recommendations that are useful for heterosexual and homosexual students alike:

Try to blend, mingle with the local population trying to use the same type of clothing and fashions. To use fashions that have not yet been generalized among the Dominican youth will forestall integration and draw attention.

Be cautious when speaking of religious or sexual preference; these are delicate issues for the majority of Dominicans. These issues, especially sexuality, are best discussed with persons with whom you have trust. Do not feel the need to inform everyone in the Dominican Republic of your sexual preferences.

Have a great deal of care when striking up conversations and planning social activities with people you meet on the street. Many Dominican men think that it is easier to abuse gays or lesbians because they are assumed to be “weaker.”

Be very cautious about showing romantic affection in public. A heterosexual couple showing affection in public is frowned upon; if it is a same-sex couple who show public affection, there is no telling how Dominicans will react to this.

If you have an encounter in the street with the police or the military always speak in English because American citizens are regarded with a lot of respect.

Although many mentalities change very slowly, they do tend to change in the end. Ten or twenty years ago, nobody could have imagined that Dominican newspapers would publish articles stating that persons belonging to the GLBT community have the same rights as the rest.