Before he died, Jeudy Charlot's friends and colleagues tried to convince him to flee Haiti for his own safety, but the LGBTQ rights activist refused to go, says friend Neish McLean.

"He made the decision to stay because he believed in the work that he was doing and he knew that there had to be somebody to do it, and he chose to take on that task," McLean, the Caribbean program officer for OutRight Action International, told As It Happens guest host Gillian Findlay.

"It's monumental task ... but he never backed down from a challenge."

Charlot was found dead in his home on Monday. His cause of death was not immediately known, and Haitian authorities did not respond to requests for comment. He was 46 years old.

'A fierce activist'

Charlot, who is sometimes referred to as Charlot Jeudy, was the leader of Kouraj, one of the Caribbean country's few LGBTQ organizations.

The group partnered last year with the United Nations to launch a project in Haiti to reduce discrimination and homophobia and promote tolerance and equal rights following incidents of anti-LGBTQ street violence.

"Charlot is quite a fierce activist, a very brave one," McLean said. "And he did this work because he believed that LGBTQ people in Haiti should be treated with respect and dignity." Read more via CBC