At first glance, you might think a country that decriminalised Homosexual acts in 1822 might be quite progressive, after all, it took until 1997 for every Australian state to have achieved this. But in the Caribbean country of Dominican Republic, nothing could be further from the truth. Like religion, LGBT discrimination is a part of daily life. But there is a concerted effort to make change.

Once person who has lived and loved Dominican Republic is Ana-Maurine Lara. Ana-Maurine authored the book Streetwalking: LGBTQ Lives and Protest in the Dominican Republic. Ana-Maurine was born in the Dominican Republic to a diplomat and a poet and is now both an activist and poet herself.