Haiti’s first LGBT film festival cancelled after death threats
The Massimadi film festival aims to raise awareness of homophobia in African and Caribbean communities. It was set to be Haiti’s first ever LGBT film festival but the event was cancelled after organisers received “outrageous” death threats on social media.
The four-day event was supposed to start on Tuesday in the capital city of Port-au-Prince but organises were forced to cancel the event when people left comments on Massimadi’s Facebook page telling the organisers to “commit suicide.”
The organisers were congratulated for cancelling the festival and were urged to spend the money on school education, according to CBS News.
The event was condemned by Senator Jean Renel Senatur because he thought the event would “promote homosexuality” and by Port-au-Prince police because the Massimadi festival posed “great danger” to Haitian families.
Haitian LGBT group Kouraj said that they will be closing their offices for a week because of security issues but Jeudy Charlot, president of Kouraj, said he is determined to have the event held at a later date.
“There are very homophobic people who are against it, and the government official who is responsible for the jurisdiction of Port-au-Prince has also taken a decision to prevent the festival for now.”
“But we still plan on holding Missimadi in the future,” Charlot adds.
Haiti’s LGBT community remains largely underground despite there being no laws that criminalises homosexual relationships.
No new date has been set for the event in Haiti as of now.
More stories:
The world’s hottest maths teacher Pietro Boselli goes totally nude in jaw-dropping new shoot
‘Scream’s Nico Tortorella and internet star Kyle Krieger reveal why their relationship ended