Riot to Reception : Gay Pride and Gay Politeness
Two diplomatic receptions last week in Guyana, similar players, similar topics, one polite, one not so polite
Riot
Capitol News journalist Mark Murray reminded viewers in his report about the Canadian High Commission Pride celebrations that Pride was an event which commemorated the Stonewall Riot in New York of June 1969.
Pride events now are hardly riots. Many cities in many countries have them if they get permission, and there is community and private sector support. The last minute or so of this clip reflects the shift from the riot of 1969 to the receptions of 2014.
Politicians like Pride, and in Guyana, as well, politicians were reportedly at the reception.
Reception
Speaking politely from the Government was the woman I call President Gail Texeira, a woman who is one of the architects of Guyana's dysfunctional governance and who repeatedly defends Guyana's human rights aberrations in Geneva. President Texeira noted in what Demerara Waves journalist Kwesi Isles calls a "winding" historical account that there is No Fast Track to Gay Rights in Guyana.
President Texeira spoke glowingly of the Special Select Committee and about 'consensus building' and so on, and in mutual admiration, the Canadian High Commissioner also expressed hope about the results of the considerations of the 'Special Select Committee'
President Texeira and her colleagues believe that gay rights are negotiable and that her Government must nurture the homophobic like her colleague Minister Edghill as part of that consensus building.
Some persons might say is a good thing that a Government person come to break bread at a Pride event with the sinners. President Texeira slow walk to Gay Rights is understandable given her government is not keen on ordinary things like local government elections.
The last time it was reported that any Government Minister or official publicly attended any gay thing (apart from HIV things or church things to protest gay rights or Geneva events to defend why they not bothered with gay rights) was in 2009 when Minister Manickchand attended the SASOD Film Festival.
Later on last week, the gay friendly, child abuser friendly Minister Manickchand (the Minister is waiting to get consensus on not beating children in her schools)- read the Government's feral blast at the US Ambassador's reception which was around Mr Ramotar's inability to call local government elections. President Texeira was there to make sure the Minister carried out her duties which included sticking the cake and making the toast.
What was groundbreaking in American revolutionary and probably all other revolutionary history, is in addition to the 'cuss out' before the toast, some of the guests booed the Minister and tried to silence the attack on the Ambassador.
Gay Pride
Apparently the first Gay Pride in the US was held in 1970 in remembrance of the Stonewall Riot. However, ten years before Stonewall, in the then British Guiana on the night of Friday 10 July 1959, mounted police were called to control the crowds who had come to witness "all male" wedding.
The Guiana Graphic which reported this story, said that the riot police had to come out to ease the traffic jam resulting from the wedding procession. The previous wedding was apparently broken up by the police. The bride wore chantilly lace and others were decked in "the latest fashion of headwear, dresses and shoes".
Was this the one of the first Gay Pride Parade in the Americas?
(Another wedding in 2004 in Guyana did not result in any traffic jam or police intervention )
These days, in Guyana and the Caribbean, there are no traffic stopping processions - except maybe in Curacao and Suriname . However, LGBTIQ citizens participate in national parades. In Guyana, commercial sex workers and others are part of the Mashramani Parade (even if there is objection). In Barbados, transgender citizen Didi Winston has won prizes for her flag waving skills at Kadooment.
Carnivals around the Caribbean are probably places where it is easy to slip in cross dressing and make up wearing as part of the letting go and the turning upside down of what is considered 'normal' until everything gets back to normal. Some activists in Caribbean countries have events around Pride celebrations whether in June or later in the year. Pride events so far seem not have attracted the private sector in the Caribbean.
Gay Politeness
While the media images of Pride around the world show all the jollification and so on, what is forgotten is that there is strong opposition to the commercialization and consumerism and political oppressions which characterise Pride. Politicians and Governments have joined in and so the Canadian High Commission in Guyana now recognised the first Riot.
While the media in Guyana carried reports about the comments made by the Canadian High Commissioner and President Texeira, only the Guyana Times report referred to the brief statements by Diverse Youth Movement Co-Chair Lashawn Devoroy. There were no other reports by any of the persons who support LGBTIQ responding to President Texeiras "slow walk to equality" commentary.
This silence , given the supposed fears from people like Minister Edghill about the 'Gay Agenda' is unsettling, as it might seems that people are resigned to the slow track to gay rights.
It seemed as though everyone was pacified by President Texeira's explanation of the why her Government will take it its time on Gay Rights. It seems as though there was no response to President Texeira by the polite guests that evening which was worth reporting.
I know I can never be rude to hosts who oppress me by putting me to listen to politicians talk nonsense - I had to sit peacefully and prayerfully when Mr Ramotar asked for support for the anti-money laundering bill at a mandir opening recently.
I would like to dream that there were people who might have heard President Texeira's silence on her cuddling up with Mr Edghill in their cabinet and who might have wanted to shout something like "fyah Edghill fus". I would like to imagine that instead of headlines about the Canadian High Commissioners support for sexual minorities , there were headlines about 'Guests chant Antiman Rights Now, not later' at Canadian Pride Celebrations."
I would like to think that the Guyana media, which has been very supportive of LGBTIQ work in Guyana, would have thought to ask some of the persons there what they thought about the Canadian High Commission and its Pride thing and President Texeira's comments. It seems that Guyana was the only country in the Caribbean where the Canadians saw it fit to celebrate the Pride - was there any special reason for Guyana? Is it because of the potential identified by the High Commissioner (the Canadians are big on Guyana's mining sector too )?
If it is that people were polite, then Caribbean citizens now have the lesson learned from the American Ambassador's house on the 2 July, 2014 when citizens booed the gay friendly Minister after her defense of Mr Ramotar and President Texeira's refusal to hold local government elections.
Some diplomats and citizens might think that it is progress to bring unaccountable Government officials to celebrate the Stonewall Riot .
Fifty Five years ago, that Friday night when the 'yellow tie men' were walking up Russell Street in Charlestown and stopping traffic, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was fairly new, sodomy was illegal in the Motherland, and local Government elections were not a thing to be considered as part of democracy.
However, the failure to hold local government elections and the failure to move forward quickly without consulting with the homophobic on LGBTIQ equality are part of the failure to understand human rights. It is important to hold any government official accountable who pretends otherwise especially at places which are about asserting those rights.
Riot
Capitol News journalist Mark Murray reminded viewers in his report about the Canadian High Commission Pride celebrations that Pride was an event which commemorated the Stonewall Riot in New York of June 1969.
Pride events now are hardly riots. Many cities in many countries have them if they get permission, and there is community and private sector support. The last minute or so of this clip reflects the shift from the riot of 1969 to the receptions of 2014.
Politicians like Pride, and in Guyana, as well, politicians were reportedly at the reception.
Reception
Speaking politely from the Government was the woman I call President Gail Texeira, a woman who is one of the architects of Guyana's dysfunctional governance and who repeatedly defends Guyana's human rights aberrations in Geneva. President Texeira noted in what Demerara Waves journalist Kwesi Isles calls a "winding" historical account that there is No Fast Track to Gay Rights in Guyana.
President Texeira spoke glowingly of the Special Select Committee and about 'consensus building' and so on, and in mutual admiration, the Canadian High Commissioner also expressed hope about the results of the considerations of the 'Special Select Committee'
President Texeira and her colleagues believe that gay rights are negotiable and that her Government must nurture the homophobic like her colleague Minister Edghill as part of that consensus building.
Some persons might say is a good thing that a Government person come to break bread at a Pride event with the sinners. President Texeira slow walk to Gay Rights is understandable given her government is not keen on ordinary things like local government elections.
The last time it was reported that any Government Minister or official publicly attended any gay thing (apart from HIV things or church things to protest gay rights or Geneva events to defend why they not bothered with gay rights) was in 2009 when Minister Manickchand attended the SASOD Film Festival.
Later on last week, the gay friendly, child abuser friendly Minister Manickchand (the Minister is waiting to get consensus on not beating children in her schools)- read the Government's feral blast at the US Ambassador's reception which was around Mr Ramotar's inability to call local government elections. President Texeira was there to make sure the Minister carried out her duties which included sticking the cake and making the toast.
What was groundbreaking in American revolutionary and probably all other revolutionary history, is in addition to the 'cuss out' before the toast, some of the guests booed the Minister and tried to silence the attack on the Ambassador.
Gay Pride
Apparently the first Gay Pride in the US was held in 1970 in remembrance of the Stonewall Riot. However, ten years before Stonewall, in the then British Guiana on the night of Friday 10 July 1959, mounted police were called to control the crowds who had come to witness "all male" wedding.
 |
| Image from Guyana Chronicle |
The Guiana Graphic which reported this story, said that the riot police had to come out to ease the traffic jam resulting from the wedding procession. The previous wedding was apparently broken up by the police. The bride wore chantilly lace and others were decked in "the latest fashion of headwear, dresses and shoes".
Was this the one of the first Gay Pride Parade in the Americas?
(Another wedding in 2004 in Guyana did not result in any traffic jam or police intervention )
These days, in Guyana and the Caribbean, there are no traffic stopping processions - except maybe in Curacao and Suriname . However, LGBTIQ citizens participate in national parades. In Guyana, commercial sex workers and others are part of the Mashramani Parade (even if there is objection). In Barbados, transgender citizen Didi Winston has won prizes for her flag waving skills at Kadooment.
 |
| Picture taken from http://nationcropover.com/content/didi-winston-displaying-flag-skills |
Carnivals around the Caribbean are probably places where it is easy to slip in cross dressing and make up wearing as part of the letting go and the turning upside down of what is considered 'normal' until everything gets back to normal. Some activists in Caribbean countries have events around Pride celebrations whether in June or later in the year. Pride events so far seem not have attracted the private sector in the Caribbean.
Gay Politeness
While the media images of Pride around the world show all the jollification and so on, what is forgotten is that there is strong opposition to the commercialization and consumerism and political oppressions which characterise Pride. Politicians and Governments have joined in and so the Canadian High Commission in Guyana now recognised the first Riot.
While the media in Guyana carried reports about the comments made by the Canadian High Commissioner and President Texeira, only the Guyana Times report referred to the brief statements by Diverse Youth Movement Co-Chair Lashawn Devoroy. There were no other reports by any of the persons who support LGBTIQ responding to President Texeiras "slow walk to equality" commentary.
This silence , given the supposed fears from people like Minister Edghill about the 'Gay Agenda' is unsettling, as it might seems that people are resigned to the slow track to gay rights.
It seemed as though everyone was pacified by President Texeira's explanation of the why her Government will take it its time on Gay Rights. It seems as though there was no response to President Texeira by the polite guests that evening which was worth reporting.
I know I can never be rude to hosts who oppress me by putting me to listen to politicians talk nonsense - I had to sit peacefully and prayerfully when Mr Ramotar asked for support for the anti-money laundering bill at a mandir opening recently.
I would like to dream that there were people who might have heard President Texeira's silence on her cuddling up with Mr Edghill in their cabinet and who might have wanted to shout something like "fyah Edghill fus". I would like to imagine that instead of headlines about the Canadian High Commissioners support for sexual minorities , there were headlines about 'Guests chant Antiman Rights Now, not later' at Canadian Pride Celebrations."
I would like to think that the Guyana media, which has been very supportive of LGBTIQ work in Guyana, would have thought to ask some of the persons there what they thought about the Canadian High Commission and its Pride thing and President Texeira's comments. It seems that Guyana was the only country in the Caribbean where the Canadians saw it fit to celebrate the Pride - was there any special reason for Guyana? Is it because of the potential identified by the High Commissioner (the Canadians are big on Guyana's mining sector too )?
If it is that people were polite, then Caribbean citizens now have the lesson learned from the American Ambassador's house on the 2 July, 2014 when citizens booed the gay friendly Minister after her defense of Mr Ramotar and President Texeira's refusal to hold local government elections.
Some diplomats and citizens might think that it is progress to bring unaccountable Government officials to celebrate the Stonewall Riot .
Fifty Five years ago, that Friday night when the 'yellow tie men' were walking up Russell Street in Charlestown and stopping traffic, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was fairly new, sodomy was illegal in the Motherland, and local Government elections were not a thing to be considered as part of democracy.
However, the failure to hold local government elections and the failure to move forward quickly without consulting with the homophobic on LGBTIQ equality are part of the failure to understand human rights. It is important to hold any government official accountable who pretends otherwise especially at places which are about asserting those rights.
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