Belizean LGBT Rights Violations

Case One: The homosexual factor Posted: 16/02/2007 - 09:18 AM Author: Stephen Okeke Wed. 14 Feb 2007   Dear Editor,   I was not surprised with Mr. Orozco regarding the first article that prompted his response. But it was great that you gave him an opening to air his views.   I think Mr. Orozco is either pretending not to get the message regarding his blunder, or is so consumed by his pursuit of clearly perverted pedophilic support that he despises intelligent reason. What is at stake is, firstly, the protection of the violated innocent, not his sexual preference.   I think Belizeans should rise up as one people (at least those who do not have similar views to life as Mr. Orozco) and condemn the danger Mr. Orozco’s views pose to the safety of children and balanced social development.   I would still like to write the article on the “incidence of homosexuality and the formation of homosexual tendencies,” based on conservatively liberal ...

The cases below are examples of violence and discrimination that LGBT persons have experienced in Belize. We have counted 17 murders and 8 assaults from 1997 to 2010 thus far that we are aware of using newspaper articles and interviews as sources of information. Because of the sensitive nature of  privacy, we will never be able to file all cases for public viewing.   Brutal Murder in Orange Walk; Throat Slit & Beaten with Bat posted (February 13, 2009) There was a brutal murder this morning in Orange Walk. 44 year old Enrique Castillo was found dead around 9 this morning inside his home on the Belize-Corozal Road in Orange Walk Town. He had been beaten to death with a baseball bat and his throat was cut with a kitchen knife. It is a horrible murder and police say they know who did it. But why? - was it robbery or was it because of Enrique Castillo’s lifestyle? Keith Swift went to Orange Walk to find answers. Keith Swift Reporting, This dramatic v...

In 2009 the case of Jose Garica highlighted how weak our system is defending young  LGBT persons from discrimination even though constitutional rights are said to be in place.http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/globalactionalerts/1032.html. The political environment seem to seek to render LGBT issues invisible by  couching general language into all things policy. The result of this recognition led to The United Belize Advocacy Movement issues a report to the Human Rights Council in 2009. The report can be seen at this link.http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session5/BZ/UNIBAM_SRI _BLZ_ UPR_ S5_ 2009 _UnitedBelizeAdvocacyMovement_theSexualRightsInitiative_JOINT.pdf  The result of this effort led government for the first time in a formal forum to state its position on LGBT issues. The following link records government response to our report at http://lib.ohchr.org /HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session5/BZ/A_HRC_12_4_Add1_BLZ_E.pdf  Government r...