The Caribbean diaspora in New York is a resilient group that to this day fights and overcomes discrimination and inequality. Though despite this, there are members of the diaspora who are rejected and prejudiced against by their own community and those outside it. The LGBTQ community are unfortunate victims of discrimination within the Caribbean diaspora. With the challenges that come from being racial or ethnic minority in the United States, along with facing intolerance in your community, LGBTQ members of the diaspora confront challenges to their identity that many in the diaspora might not face.
When coming to the United States, the LGBTQ diaspora may be coming to escape intolerance in their homeland, but that does not mean they don’t also face it here as well. The United States and New York is obviously not homogenous in accepting LGBTQ people, and Caribbean immigrant communities may still perpetuate discrimination. As a result, those who left due to discrimination or face it here, may develop depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. In addition, trying to find work or a place to live can also contribute to this, especially in a situation where the LGBTQ person has to live on their own. So, when living in the United States the LGBTQ person may still feel intimidation and pressure to hide their identity. Also, besides emotional and mental damage, the LGBTQ diaspora face higher risk for diseases like HIV/AIDS (Alessi 203-206)
In these types of scenarios support and a feeling of community is very important in maintaining a strong sense of identity and for the LGBTQ diaspora to thrive. Community organization that provide group counseling and support for the LGBTQ community, helped migrants who had to leave their home country due to discrimination. The Caribbean Equality Project is an example of such a group.
For LGBTQ members of the diaspora, having support from friends helped in overcoming stress, and going to support groups or group counseling helped in strengthening their identity by meeting people who had feelings they could identify and getting support. Though support is important for all members of the LGBTQ community, religion and spirituality plays an important role in helping the Caribbean LGBTQ diaspora bolster resilience. For many, maintaining their faith and having access to churches helped them overcomes hardship. This particular interesting considering how in the Caribbean and the United States religion is used to justify discrimination for their identity, however the importance of religion in Caribbean culture makes it not surprising. Some members of the diaspora noted that their religious identity was more important than their sexual identity. Others felt they could separate these two aspects of their identity and not have them conflict. In addition, others said coming to the United States and being exposed to LGBTQ supportive churches allowed them to feel more connected to their religion than before (Alessi 206-213).
With the LGBTQ community amongst the diaspora, as with the rest of the diaspora a feeling of community and support is important for the LGBTQ members of the diaspora to thrive and prosper. Increasing awareness and outreach done by organizations helps to strengthen LGBTQ identity and visibility and promote tolerance across the diaspora.
