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# New safe housing for Haitian trans people
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/new-safe-housing-for-haitian-trans-people/
- Published: 2020-09-06T11:30:33.000Z
- Updated: 2020-09-06T09:52:40.000Z
- Description: The Kay Trans Haiti centre has opened its doors in the capital Port-au-Prince to provide safe housing for up to 10 transgender citizens who have been victims of abuse.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Queer Corner, Transgender

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/kaytranscentre-1.jpg)

The Kay Trans Haiti centre has opened its doors.

**The Kay Trans Haiti centre** has opened its doors in the capital **Port-au-Prince** to provide safe housing for up to 10 transgender citizens who have been victims of abuse. It is offering shelter for up to a year, arranging free therapy for residents and will pay their rent for up to a year when they leave the shelter. Residents are also allowed to bring their partners to the centre.

One resident, **Semi Kaefra Alisha Fermond**, 24, told [*Yahoo News*](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-haitian-center-refuge-040502678.html?ref=scenemag.co.uk) that she faced discrimination throughout her life for being trans, saying as a child neighbours discouraged her from playing with other children. However she continued, *‘I am proud of myself now’*.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/united-nations-development-programme-undp-1.jpg)

The centre is funded by a Spanish healthcare company and the **United Nations Development Programme**, which [argued](https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/04/1036011?ref=scenemag.co.uk) in 2019 there was a greater need to protect human rights in Haiti. Homosexuality is not outlawed, however the Haitian LGBTQ+ community is often subjected to discrimination and violence; in 2017 thousands of anti-queer protestors rallied against the enforcement of a new LGBTQ+ friendly penal code.

According to [**Equaldex**](https://www.equaldex.com/region/haiti?ref=scenemag.co.uk), there are no protections from housing or employment discrimination against LGBTQ+ Haitians, and conversion therapy is still legal in the country. However residents of the Kay Trans Haiti centre told [**Africa News**](https://www.africanews.com/2020/09/03/new-haven-for-transgender-persons-in-haiti/?ref=scenemag.co.uk) the neighbourhood surrounding the centre is becoming increasingly accepting. Semi Kaefra Alisha Fermond said the centre is a place where she can be herself.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/haiti-1-1.jpg)