Obama decided to select a gay man as the ambassador to the Dominican Republic. Naturally, large segments of the population went up in arms, and a "Black Monday" was organized on the 15th of July by Evangelical extremists hell-bent on showing their displeasure at Obama deciding that a gay man could work in the DR.
Only about 1/3 of Dominicans supported the first Black Monday, so clearly the religious elements decided that they needed to organize another Black Monday. Suffice it to say, Dominican LGBT citizens can look ahead to throngs of citizens sporting black to show their displeasure at a "double morality." Though the Dominican government issued an official statement claiming that it is blind to "sexual preferences" and that it looks forward to working with Ambassador Brewster on an official capacity, the words in the halls of power are openly vicious.
Americans used to political correctness will receive a rude awakening upon entering the DR, as outlandish statements are not generally chastised in the media. Former President Hipolito Mejía was caught on tape referring to a Univision cameraman: "Look at the little monkey recording." The Dominican cameraman of dark skin only smiled deferentially. I remember watching La Opción de las 12, the most popular comedy show in the 90s, and seeing a character in blackface paint, playing the part of a Haitian, who was sent on an errand to purchase a Roman candle. The character in blackface then says: "They asked me for a Roman candle. It took me four days to get to La Romana [city in the Dominican]." In essence, Dominican comedy does not often have an inkling of consideration for the feelings of racial minorities. This lack of consideration, however, pales in comparison to the jokes directed at many homosexuals, regardless of race, but especially if black.
Ambassador Brewster is white, and generally the Dominican Republic is famous for its hospitality towards wealthy whites, so Ambassador Brewster will also see that side. However, the ambassador should prepare for a steady stream of insults and jokes that will be directed at his expense. Many of the jokes that have already been made or that have been modified to fit his narrative are simply too vulgar to print, since they warrant little journalistic merit. However, those jokes are often made by religious figures, who in the Dominican Republic are by part of the culture required to have a sense of humor, regardless of how vulgar.
Though the sacred parchment by which the Christians in the Dominican purport to live asks of them that they see the French Patois spoken by their Haitian neighbors with the same contempt as they see "cursing," this is not the case for those very same men who preach that parchment. The Archbishop of Santo Domingo went on to say: "From the United States we can expect anything! People already know how I feel about the subject. I don't agree with those preferences. They should ask the Muslims what they think about that."
Yep, the Archbishop of the Santo Domingo uses the Muslim world as an example which his adherents should emulate. Ambassador Stevens was murdered in Benghazi; I'm inclined to agree that the Archbishop was alluding to that attack. But the news report then goes on to show a happy Haitian woman swinging around a crate of eggs, and one reporter switched topics, asking ''His Evident Reverence" what he thought about the limit on the importation of eggs and chickens into Haiti by Dominican exporters. The Archbishop mused: "So, we switch from fags to chickens."
His Evident Reverence then went on to say: "I don't like that they [the Haitians] treat us like rags on the international stage, that they denounce us, that they invade us, and that we just sit here putting up with their crap." The US invaded the DR twice in the 20th century, while Dominicans committed a massacre against Haitian-Dominicans near the border. But it is not a threat of US invasion that scares the Dominican religious right, it is the homos and the Haitians. The homos and the Haitians are conspiring to "disrespect" the Dominican Republic. Though Archbishop Nicolás de Jesús Lópes Rodriguez is Catholic, he's calling on his Evangelical brothers to denounce the lack of respect the US is showing by trafficking fags into the island of Hispaniola. The Dominican people have an unhealthy obsession with "respect," a little something that we inherited from the US-selected dictator who ruled ruthlessly over the island for three decades. Unless the international community shows that homophobes don't deserve respect, but instead only scorn, contempt, and ridicule, so will obscurantists like the Archbishop continue keeping the Dominican Republic in the category of "3rd world country."