Thoughts of a minibus traveller

(There are some audio files linked in the text ) Sunday 27 April, 2003 was a rainy day, as it is today in 2013. At 2pm, the Hibiscus Room of the Hotel Tower was empty, save for the organisers and one quiet person who sat at the back. By 3pm the room was packed and there was standing room only. I was one of the organisers of the first public forum on 'Sexual Orientation as a Fundamental Right for Guyanese". Advertisement in the Guyana Chronicle Friday 25 April, 2003 Advertisement in the Kaieteur News edition of April 25-26, 2003 In 2001, President Jagdeo had succumbed to the prayers of Mr Edghill and the other religious persons who had lobbied him not to assent to a constitutional bill which would have made sexual orientation one of the prohibited grounds of discrimination. In 2003, the issue was up for debate again. It started in India..  In 2003, Guyana was recovering from the horrific crimes and the tense environment surrounding...

Click here to download the PDF version of the report Members of the religious fraternity, human rights activists, university students, transvestites and other members of the local community were recently told by parliamentarian Ravi Dev that Guyanese must work to prevent discrimination of every form. “ We have to put our will, hearts and minds to the construction of a society where there’s harmony and a lessening of disharmony…. all discrimination must go,” Dev who is leader of Rise Organise and Rebuild (ROAR) told the gathering at a recent symposium at Hotel Tower. The purpose of the meeting was to raise awareness about fundamental human rights and to give a space for views which would support the inclusion of sexual orientation as a fundamental right in the constitution. The organisers of the forum felt that the development of Guyana relied on all of its citizens enjoying their basic human rights. They felt that enough discussion and consultation was not held wit...

  Edited transcript of presentation made at a forum organised in Georgetown, Guyana on 27 April, 2003 to discuss “Sexual Orientation as a Fundamental Right”   Moderator : Now, I’d like to introduce our next speaker, he’s Mr. Sanjay Bavikatte. He’s from India, Bangalore, from the South of India and let me blow one immediate stereotype … when I met Sanjay today I said `Ah! You must be a Hindu then, right”. No, he’s a Muslim. So it’s very interesting that his background coming from India, that he’s coming from a Muslim background himself and he’s right now lecturing at the Law Faculty at UG and he will speak to us on the theme of Oppression of Sexual Minorities. So we’ll now have Sanjay. Sanjay Bavikatte Bangalore, India Oppression of Sexual Minorities Good afternoon. Before I begin, I must thank Vidya for organising this open forum and giving me an opportunity to speak. It’s an incredible act of courage amidst this amoun...

Transcripts of presentation made at a forum organised in Georgetown, Guyana on 27 April, 2003 to discuss “Sexual Orientation as a Fundamental Right” Moderator : So we now go on to have Dr. Julie Hando. She’s originally from Australia working in Guyana for the last two years as a United Nations volunteer in the Ministry of Health and now working in the psychological clinic at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Julie’s got a lot of experience in this area and working with people and I am sure her contribution on whether Homosexuality is a Mental Illness will be one that will be quite interesting for us and maybe will begin to address Ravi’s concern as well. I will be very interested to hear that. Thank you. Homosexuality a Mental Illness Dr Julie Hando Can I just first say how pleased I am that we have the opportunity for this kind of open forum here in Guyana which already occurs on a regular basis in many countries around the w...