“Pito w te pran 5 gason pase w pran yon fanm” her mother said, furious, when the latter learned that her daughter, whom she raised in Christianity and in whom she instilled Christian values, attends a person of the same sex.
Being the last of a family of three children, Nadia* was their darling. She was raised in a single-parent household, as her father left when she was a teenager. She saw her mother get by and work hard to give her a better future.
His house was his haven of peace. “I was very attached to my mother,” says the LGBTQ+ rights defender. “When I come home after class, I always want to be near my mom. At night, I only wanted to sleep with my mother,” explains the law student at a private university who describes her mother as her best friend.
But all these beautiful people were going to be turned upside down when the young Haitian who feels attracted more towards women than men, published a video of herself with her girlfriend on the Tiktok application.
“Apa m tande w ap fè lanmou ak yon fanm sou Tiktok”, reacted her sister, distraught after learning that Nadia published a video on the social network where we see her a little too flirtatious and comfortable in the company of another female.
“I was shocked,” recalls the activist who thought she had been a victim of revenge porn. “I burst into tears,” she says, before realizing that it’s not the video itself that bothers her family, but rather the fact that she has a lesbian girlfriend.
A tough ordeal for the young Haitian who put him back to back with his family. She noticed her mother, with whom she was very attached, “taking a step back” from her. “It’s very hard,” she confides.
However, the young woman who calls herself a lesbian accepts herself as she is and affirms that the game is worth it. “Choosing yourself has a price” preaches the activist who believes that choosing yourself often means losing other people, sometimes people from your own family.
“If I have to lose one person so that I can be myself, it’s worth it” declares the feminist. “It’s hard that it’s my mother,” she regrets. But they continue to live under the same roof, even if their relationship has become cold and tense.
For the moment, Nadia continues to campaign for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in Haiti and hopes that the Haitian leaders concerned legislate on the recognition of this community.
*Nadia is an assumed name.
