The Dominican Republic’s biggest characteristic is its diversity. After going through multiple colonizations that led to a mixture of all races from African to European we have a large variety of skin colors and cultures. However, because of it’s diversity, the Dominican population relate to each other through Religion and Patriotism.

The U.S. Ambassador James Brewster, appointed to the Dominican Republic in 2012 by President Obama and then approved in 2013, made an introductory video making specific regards about his religious upbringing, his knowledge in the economic field, the beautiful beaches, baseball, and other amazing characteristics about the Hispaniola island. However, all of this is not enough to make the Dominican public undermine his comments about his sexuality and marriage to Bob Satawake.

Since the beginning the U.S. ambassador understood that economical problems in the Dominican Republic were the least of his concerns. The religious demographics in the Dominican Republic being very straightforward, with a majority of the population being part of the Roman Catholic Church. A study by the Bureau Democracy, Human Rights, Labor in 2006 demonstrated that the population is 40 percent (practicing) catholic, 29 percent (non practicing) Catholic, and 18 percent evangelical protestant. In 2014, the demographics remained the same with 95 percent Roman Catholics and 5 percent other. In the 2016 the demographics have changed very little. Religion plays a major role in the political and societal decisions that are made in the Dominican Republic, and this has become a big obstacle for Mr. Brewster.

Since his appointment, the Ambassador has been battling against the accusations of religious organizations even the Archbishop and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez, who was invited to be the orator in the Easter event by the AMCHAMDR, insulted the Ambassador repeatedly and accused him of “promoting his gay agenda” sending him back home to his husband to do the “housework”, because that is what a wife is supposed to do.

All of these has been only accusations and slurs against him. None of these organizations took a hand in the matter until this January, when a group of Dominican Religious Scholars sent a letter to President Danilo Medina that the U.S Ambassador James Brewster be deemed “Persona non grata” where they also accuse him of being “promiscuous” and “imposing children different classes of sexuality inviting them to initiate in homosexual practices.” The letter also calls president Obama a homosexual and declares that “this is a project created by a homosexual to make our adolescents early homosexuals.” This letter escalated and, on March 8th of 2016, the Dominican Evangelic Unity group (CODUE) initiated a petition on the White House website to “remove the ambassador of the United States in the Dominican Republic for promoting an LGBT agenda inconsistent with the country’s values” with the task to remove the US ambassador because of his support towards the “Inauguration of an LGBT chamber of commerce,” his public vocalization of his concern about the LGBT minority in the Dominican Republic, his openness about his marriage and the introduction of homosexuality in schools.

Maria Ledesma, a Dominican student at Hunter college majoring in Political science who has been tracking this issue for a long time does believe the ambassador should take “baby steps” about teaching kids about gender identity and sexuality, however she also believes that “people are not focusing in what they are supposed to be focusing on or appreciating what he is trying to bring to the table, nonetheless they are making a character judgement. As opposed to thinking ‘Thank you for educating our children and preventing them from getting diseases and possibly dying’ they are mistaking this for ‘You are a homosexual. Everything that comes out of your mouth has something to do with your sexual orientation.’ which is ignorant.”

I further asked her why she thinks that the views about homosexuality in the Dominican Republic differ so much from the views in New York, and if growing up In Santo Domingo would have had an effect in her opinion about sexuality and sexual orientation. She responded “Relating it back to my cousins who live in the DR and are college educated, they all know people who are gay or lesbians, and I believe that the educated public know where to draw the line, and that religion is not just about church on Sunday. Is more related to getting a general education, rather than leading a very religious education. the Ambassador is not advocating homosexuality, he’s just teaching the population about sexual orientation.”

The issue is that most good colleges and schools teach Catholicism from a very young age. There is no choice. The U.S Ambassador has been taking these petitions and protests with huge patience, and spoke March 1st at The International Day of Zero Discrimination event about his advocacy for “tolerance of and respect for marginalized groups and an appreciation for diversity. I try to accomplish this through our U.S Embassy programs and through my own personal example.”

Mr. Brewer made a very clear statement about his sexuality and explained that his agenda is clearly focused in providing a fair and compelling education for every young adult. At the Easter event in the Dominican Republic he stated, “We work with young-adults in risky situations, incentivizing them to finish their education for them to reach a fair job. No child should be denied an explicit education; that is the recipe for disaster!”. The denial of sexual education in the Dominican Republic has been having an impact on young adults and millennials who are hungry for knowledge.

Frank Carlos, a Catholic pre-med and sophomore student in Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), explained how late he learned about sexuality, and how early he learned about religion. “I am against the Cardinal and the religious entities that expect the ambassador to be thrown out of the country, and I believe that he has been sent to the Dominican Republic because he knows how to carry out his job.” His opinion about the ambassador's sexuality is a little more complicated than just being able to carry out his job, Frank Carlos believes that the ambassador should abstain from explicitly showing his sexuality, “I don’t believe he should restrain from doing it because it is wrong, I believe he should restrain from doing it because he is doing it in the Dominican Republic”. I also questioned him about how open he is about sexuality and what his opinion is about sexual education and he clearly explained, “Religion and Sexuality are tightly combined in the Dominican Republic; I am consciously aware of it. I do believe that they should not be, and the conservatism is holding the Dominican Republic back from prosperity.”