From madness to mainstream – “Gay rights” in Guyana, Part I and Part 2
Published in Diaspora Column, Stabroek News 24 June, 2013
(2013 is an
interesting year in the Caribbean for lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and intersex (LGBTI) equality. Belize, Guyana, and
Jamaica have court cases pending. Guyana also has a select committee
in the National Assembly to discuss the repeal of the laws that
discriminate against LGBTI persons. Vidyaratha Kissoon has been
associated with LGBT activism for the last decade in Guyana and was a
member and Trustee of the Society Against Sexual Orientation
Discrimination (also celebrating its 10th anniversary this year)
until his resignation in June 2012. He reflects on the nature and
responses to the LGBTI activism).
History
When did the Guyanese
LGBT start attempting to find a place in society? Was it in 1959, in
the all men Wedding of the Year? The Guiana Graphic of 12 July, 1959
had reported “..ANOTHER strange ‘wedding’ ….an all men
affair… sent the down-town Charlestown area into a furore on Friday
night as thousands blocked the traffic to get a glimpse of the
‘yellow tie’ men. The cutting of the three-tier cake was carried
out without police intervention, unlike the last time when they were
arrested and charged.”
Almost nine years later
on 9 January, 1968, The Guiana Graphic (renamed Guyana Graphic post
independence) carried a story about young Compton Boween, who was
sent by Magistrate Aubrey Bishop for Psychiatric treatment for
wearing a miniskirt. How was it then for those ‘mad’ men at the
time, who would have dared to express themselves differently in the
newly Independent Guyana? Were there times when police ignored them
as in 1959?
Colleen McEwan ,
Executive Director of GuyBow, recalls the mobilisation in 1999 of the
Rainbow Crew who were interested in promoting access to health,
especially in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and promotion of
equal opportunity for LGBT persons. The group was not interested in
being publicly visible and active on legal issues since they felt at
the time that maintaining livelihoods and building community
relationships were priorities.
“Scholar/Activism”
The 2000/2001
Constitutional Reform process opened the discussion on recognising
the equality of LGBT citizens, after the model of the South African
state. When President Jagdeo refused to assent to the Constitutional
Amendment bill that would have included sexual orientation in the
anti-discrimination clause, discussion raged in the letters columns
of the newspapers. In 2002, a University of Guyana Social Work
student, Clayton Newman, decided to do some research on young gay men
he met in Georgetown, which he agreed to share with persons who were
interested in activism. In 2002 also, a young human rights activist
from India, Sanjay Kabir Bavikatte, started teaching in the Faculty
of Law at the University of Guyana. He had been involved in activism
in India around rights of sexual and gender minorities, and continued
to engage both his students and the wider public (through the letters
column of the newspapers) in debates around these rights. The letters
at the time were also full of discussion not only about difference in
sexual orientation, but also about race and ethnicity. While critics
of the ‘gay rights’ movement like to say that it is ‘Northern’
and ‘Imperialist’, the movement in Guyana could most likely be
said to have been inspired by events in South Africa and in India.
In April 2003, the
first public forum was organised on Sexual Orientation as a
Fundamental Right, and in May 2003, the political parties agreed to
restore the discussion about sexual orientation with all of the other
rights bills that had been outstanding.
An important
development during this time was the University of Guyana students,
who decided to campaign for the inclusion of sexual orientation as a
fundamental right in Guyana’s constitution. Walter Rodney is an
example of the scholar activist who made University knowledge
relevant to daily life. Perhaps in that spirit, the decision by the
students of the University of Guyana to engage with Members of
Parliament and wider society can be claimed as a bold legacy of
Guyanese pushing boundaries in engagement. The presentations by Keimo
Benjamin and Joel Simpson to the Members of Parliament who attended
the first forum were based on the legal principles learned at
University, but regrettably, the National Assembly’s discussion on
24 July, 2003 showed a marked lack of any adherence to any normal
democratic law making process to protect citizens.
The parliamentary
debacle resulted in a slowing down in activism, since there was no
focus. In 2005, students, ex-students and supporters reorganised, and
decided on the bold project, the English-Speaking Caribbean’s first
LGBT Film festival. In an article in the Guyana Chronicle on 23
October, 2005, Ruel Johnson noted “From what I’ve seen of the
current membership of the new SASOD, the intellectual calibre of the
group’s membership – inclusive of the continued presence of
[Joel] Simpson – has not been lowered. They are all above-average
intelligent young professionals working with government, private
sector, and the international donor community. “
The link between
University knowledge and community activism was further exemplified
by Jermaine Grant. He participated in several Model UN and OAS
General Assemblies as part of the University of Guyana International
Affairs Association, and then represented SASOD at the OAS civil
society forum and General Assembly in 2007 at Panama City, Panama. He
has also extended his advocacy knowledge and skills to other issues
around youth empowerment and community development.
Some students preferred
to contribute anonymously. Two students, a young man ‘D’, and a
young woman collaborated online to create the SASOD logo, and to
develop the first Internet resources – the email address, the Yahoo
Group, and the first website. This use of the Internet contributed
to the visibility of the work and helped to virtually ground SASOD,
which was operating without an office space for many years.
Role of media
Any social justice
movement needs the support of the media to further its cause. The
newspapers in Guyana had been carrying content – from the early
reports in the Guiana Graphic to the Helen Haynes advice columns.
The letters columns were used after January 2001 by both supporters
and opponents of Gay rights. In 2003, the government owned radio
station aired and broadcast the first public forum, which resulted in
an article in the Guyana Chronicle with an opening sentence “A
giant has been awakened’. A young TV talk show host on MTV65 owned
by members of the PPP, invited the new activists to talk about the
Constitutional amendments because at the time he felt that the
‘opposition’ voices were being given more space. That vibrant
discussion among Mr Ramon Gaskin (who supported the constitutional
amendment), Mr Juan Edghill (who opposed the Constitutional
amendment) and Joel Simpson from SASOD must be one of the most
memorable in Guyana around any human rights issues. Regrettably, the
radio station and the Government owned TV station were not so
consistent in terms of how they involved activists from that 2003
debate. However, for the first time on 17 May, 2006, Petronella, who
had been arrested and charged as Compton Bowen before her in 1968,
spoke on the radio about her ordeal. What was poignant about that
evening was the nature and possibility of acceptance in Guyana
signified by the interaction between the security guard at NCN and
Petronella. According to the Security Guard, Petronella’s skirt was
too short and did not fit the dress code. A covering was found, and
the Security Guard then allowed Petronella in with the longer
‘skirt’.
The media reporting is
usually based on the decisions of individual journalists, many of
whom decided to take their own risks to report on LGBT issues. The
media in Guyana has been generally fair in its reporting of the
activism, though there have been inconsistencies over the years. One
newspaper for example, which had at least two editorials supporting
LGBT rights, has from time to time not published any letters, or
notices of events like the SASOD film festival. The 2007 film
festival had the broadest range of coverage in radio, television and
print at the time. This kind of response in Guyana is different from
what, Jamacan activist, Larry Chang, experienced in Jamaica in the
1970s and 1980s when articles and advertisements were refused. There
is a tendency to sensationalise some reports, while at the other
times there is balanced reporting.
Encounters with God
The opposition to
equality for Guyanese LGBT has been in the form of objections on
religious grounds. However different sections of the religious
community have had different positions on the issues of
discrimination against LGBTI Guyanese. The Roman Catholic church in
Guyana issued a position in 2001 opposing discrimination in any form
while stating their objection to gay marriage. Other writers such as
Father Malcolm Rodrigues in 2001 and Rev Patricia Sheeratan in 2003
had also written to support the calls for discrimination to be
outlawed. In June 2010, the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO)
through its spokesperson Mr Juan Edghill condemned the SASOD Film
Festival. This condemnation resulted in some important statements.
First, the co-chairperson of the IRO at the time, Swami Aksharananda
wrote a response in which he distanced himself from the IRO position
and called for reason and respect for life. He was later joined by
Pandits Rajin Balgobin and Deodat Tillack who also shared similar
views in an article in the Hinduism Today magazine of April, May,
June 2011 Issue that reflected on the diverse views of Hindus. In
Trinidad & Tobago, Pandita Indranie Rampersaud also showed
support for LGBT equality even as some other Hindu leaders expressed
different opinions. Other condemnations of the IRO position came from
Red Thread member Wintress Whyte and businessman Clinton Urling
(currently President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and
Industry). Many activists and supporters felt that the IRO and Mr
Edghill deserved a public response, especially at the abuse of public
resources. However a senior Caribbean civil servant who lived in
Guyana at the time asked us to change the tone of the conversation,
since Guyana already had enough quarrels, and urged us to reflect on
the Civil Paths to Peace Initiative to promote respect and
understanding which had been recently launched by the Commonwealth
Foundation. And so it was that co-chairpersons Namela Baynes-Rowe
and Joel Simpson responded a few days later.. noting “.. In a
society which is marred by conflict and the abuses of power, it is
not easy to try alternative ways of engagement which are not meant to
destroy or humiliate. But, try we must and in the spirit of the Film
Festival’s mission to promote discussion and education about the
diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities in this
country, we therefore make ourselves available to dialogue with the
IRO and with any other interested parties about their concerns…”
The IRO never
responded. despite reminder requests.
The question of God
came up again at the launch of the SASOD Documentary, My Wardrobe, My
Right in June 2011. The panelists including the producer, Neil Marks
a journalist were asked where God was in all of this. In his
response he noted that while he produced the documentary with
direction from SASOD, he was a Christian and had his own moral values
and beliefs. Some persons were outraged at what they saw as a kind of
betrayal of the spirit of the documentary and the film festival.
Others looked at the exchange as a positive reflection of the
activism. Instead of drawing battle lines, the activism in Guyana had
seemed to generated the a space where a Christian could find a way of
engaging with the issue without feeling threatened and without
threatening others. Justice Albie Sachs in the South African
Constitutional Court hearing had stated “The development of an
active rather than a purely formal sense of enjoying a common
citizenship depends on recognising and accepting people as they are.”
The common citizenship which Neil Marks and the security guard at
NCN and many other Guyanese engaged in show the possibility of a
place in which LGBTI are not discriminated against even though some
think ‘it is a sin’. The challenge is agreeing on the causes and
nature of that discrimination.
Gay Rights in Guyana Part 2 Published in Stabroek News 1 July, 2013
Caribbean Community
In 2004, Caribbean and other LGBTI activists, concerned with the growing popularity of homophobic lyrics, initiated the ‘Stop Murder Music’ Campaign to bring pressure to bear on private and public sector groups in the Caribbean, North America and Europe to respond to these lyrics. Guyanese joined the campaign by writing to the Ethnic Relations Commission since they believed “that sexual orientation is one of the forms of diversity in a plural society and that therefore the ERC holds a constitutional mandate to encourage respect for the rights of gay and lesbian people in Guyana.” One year after the appeal, the ERC said it had no mandate to deal with the matter. This issue continues with some protests against the Antigua 2012 Road March song ‘Kick in she back door’ across the Caribbean.
The Jamaica Outpost, a newsletter which ran in Kingston between October 2004 and June 2005, as well as the MSMNPA’s Free Forum magazine edited by the late Deni James in Trinidad & Tobago carried articles from Guyana.
The Regional HIV/AIDS mechanisms interrogated the laws fuelling discrimination and the years 2004 and 2005 saw discussions in different countries, including Guyana, about the need for repeal of ‘sodomy laws’. Some Caribbean Minsters of Health, including Guyana’s Dr Leslie Ramsammy, supported these calls, which were rejected by their Governments.
In 2007, Trinidadian activist Colin Robinson wrote that “In a field in which international human rights advocacy and HIV response work have been the dominant forms of LGBT organising, SASOD’s breathtaking cultural and political programmes have distinguished themselves by their inventiveness, analysis, balance, and skilful use of limited resources. SASOD’s work and imaginativeness reflect the best Caribbean political and cultural traditions and they make me proud to be a gay Caribbean man.“ In 2008 the late Dr Robert Carr, who was based in Jamaica, also stated that he wished there was a “SASOD in every Caribbean country.”
The SASOD Film Festival sought to include participation through films and other creative work from the Caribbean, with performances by Jamaican poet and writer Kei Miller in 2007. SASOD’s CARIFESTA Fringe in 2008 featured films from Caribbean directors. The Fringe also included the Guyana launch of Thomas Glave’s edited collection, Our Caribbean; and Crawling out of the Closet by Grenadian Claude Douglas. In 2008 LGBTI activism in Guyana gained even more visibility with an article, ‘Love After Love’ in the Caribbean Airlines magazine, Caribbean Beat. Author Caroline Taylor wrote “.. It takes perhaps even more courage to put on a film festival in the Caribbean that’s devoted exclusively to movies which challenge established notions of sexuality and gender. It is a wonder, then, that Guyana’s Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has managed to mount its festival…”
Diaspora
The engagement of the Guyanese and Caribbean diaspora included the support of film makers Philip Pike, Michelle Mohabeer, Richard Fung, Sean Drakes, Renata Mohammed, Andil Gosine and others. Diaspora contributions extend to support from artistes like Nhojj. There is also support in terms of logistics for activities and events, and for information sharing.
One of the memories of June 2012 is the story of two films that crossed race divides. One young Black woman collected a film from a woman from India, while a young Indian man collected the film from a woman in South Africa. Both of these young persons did not want to be named in their contributions to the festival.
LGBTI Guyanese returning home have expressed surprise at the work being done, and some have used the space created by the film festival to speak about their reconciliation with their memories of leaving Guyana. This has even gone beyond the Guyanese community; it was interesting one year when a young American from Ohio credited Guyana with giving him the courage to come out to his parents.
Diaspora engagements now to extend to research as a young Canadian/Guyanese student presented a paper about SASOD at the 2013 Caribbean Studies Association Conference in Grenada.
One of the complexities of LGBTI diaspora is dealing with the issue of asylum, especially in Canada and the United States. Some activists have felt that they could not get involved in providing ‘expert testimony’ to be used in Asylum cases, while others felt that it is important to help whenever one could.
Who else spoke out and supported the work?
In 2003, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) joined in calling for the Constitutional Amendment. In October 2004, Guyanese Bertie Ramcharran also stated his support for law reform at a public Human Rights forum which included the Prime Minister and other members of Parliament. On International Human Rights Day in 2007, the GHRA invited SASOD to make a presentation. This presentation was then published in the 14 December 2007 edition of Dayclean, organ of the Working People’s Alliance – the first time that any political party in Guyana had endorsed LGBTI activist positions. Other NGOs such as Help & Shelter and Red Thread have included non-discrimination policies in their own activities and supported the work.
In May 2005, the late Grenadian scholar Professor Simeon C. R. McIntosh became the first Caribbean legal scholar to speak to the needed changes, in an article published in the Barbados Advocate “Homosexuality: A constitutional question” while he was Dean of the Faculty of Law at UWI Cave Hill. Other commentators such as Sir Ronald Sanders, Ralph Ramkarran and politicians and newspaper columnists around the Caribbean have also challenged the discrimination which exists in the Caribbean. Some politicians have taken risk at different times including Portia Simpson Miller in Jamaica before the 2011 elections, the Hon Francis Fonseca – Leader of the Opposition in Belize and Dr. Joseph – President of the Senate in Grenada. Fidel Castro in 2010 apologised for the ‘gran injusticia’ of the earlier years.
Other support in Guyana came from different places. The first film festival had the support of the 3HCD/Video Club and Sidewalk Cafe. In November, 2005, the recently opened Oasis Cafe agreed to host an evening of “Readings from the Spectrum: Lesbian and Gay Writings”. In addition to publishing the notice for the event, a young journalist in Stabroek News published the entire text of the epic poem in prose form of Alan Moore’s The Mirror of Love, which looked at the history of same-sex love.
The Government and discrimination
The first project that SASOD engaged in was funded through the Global Fund/Ministry of Health. One of the interesting features of LGBTI activism in Guyana is the required branding of the SASOD website with the coat of arms of Guyana. Cynics might ask whether the Government was funding a revolution against itself. Whenever President Jagdeo was asked about the issue of law reform, his response was always framed in the position of ‘no discrimination’ even as he remained non-committal on law reform.
In March 2011, Cabinet Secretary Dr Luncheon noted “Cabinet reflected on social responses to homosexuality and reiterated its position of not supporting discrimination of those whose sexual orientation offended contemporary social norms and also consequently any advocacy of such lifestyles.” While the public commentary of the Government seems to be shifting towards ‘no discrimination’, these statements are not translated into action.
“Is it homophobic to say that homosexuality is a sin?”
A statement from the Christian Community in Guyana on the proposed decriminalisation of Homosexuality notes that “We also believe … that we are called to embrace and reflect God’s love and compassion for humanity as outlined in the Bible which demands that we reject the acts of violence and hostility meted out to some homosexuals and other attitudes or actions that devalue and diminish our humanity as God intended.” The statement affirms in addition that “…It is evident that homosexuality is an offense to religion, morality and public convenience…”
On the one hand, homosexuals are to be loved (like murderers, thieves, rapists are to be loved?), while on the other hand they are offensive to the public. This experience of loving is manifested in the experience of LGBTI people who are then threatened with the fyah which reportedly destroyed Sodom. Fyah.. in 2013.. in the form of the acid thrown on Sandy Jackman as she dealt with her family duties; and fyah in the cigarette lighter flame held by ‘loving’ citizens to the locks of Ryon Rawlins as he walked down Regent Street going about his business with a reminder of his apparent sin in the chants of ‘bun batty man’.
The agenda for activism has to be responsive to the diverse needs and experiences of the LGBTI community. The goal of LGBTI activism is to create a society in which LGBTI persons have equal access to education, housing, jobs, health, police protection, and equal opportunities to participate in community and national life.
There are cynics who will speak about ‘homosexuals in high places’ who face no discrimination. On the other hand, the experiences of violence, and alienation experienced by other LGBTI persons have to be addressed. The future of activism for equality must be grounded in accountability to those who are affected by the discrimination.
A gay teacher living in a rural area in Guyana said recently he did not have much faith in laws, and was looking instead at fundamental changes in the education of regular people. Ravi Dev was a Member of Parliament when he participated in the first public forum in April 2003. In his reflections on the 10 years since that forum, he said he believed the discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity is one which is related to the general discussions on diversity and difference and who has moral superiority over whom. This moral superiority in this instance often expressed in the violence and discrimination that seemingly has no redress. How then can the views of ‘regular people’ who oppose discrimination against LGBTI Guyanese be given prominence in the national discussion about laws and policies?
In April 2013, I visited the Wedding Expo and used the opportunity to poll on the issue of gay marriage. I asked 13 exhibitors how they felt about offering wedding and honeymoon services to same-sex couples. Eleven of the exhibitors said they had no problem (a few had already done so) while two persons said that offering services to same sex couples would conflict with their faith.
In Trinidad & Tobago, a survey conducted by the Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (Cadres) in collaboration with the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) suggested that 56 per cent of citizens are either tolerant or accepting of the LGBTI community. Guyana’s cultural and social makeup is similar in many ways to Trinidad & Tobago – can we assume that in Guyana a majority of Guyanese would like to see LGBTI Guyanese achieve their potential free from violence and other forms of discrimination?
Is this the majority which would convince the Select Committee of the National Assembly when they consider the submissions to repeal the laws which discriminate against LGBTI? Or would the legislators in the Caribbean and Guyana be siding with those who invoke fyah on LGBTI citizens?
Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com
URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/features/in-the-diaspora/07/01/from-madness-to-mainstream-gay-rights-in-guyana-part-2/
Gay Rights in Guyana Part 2 Published in Stabroek News 1 July, 2013
Caribbean Community
In 2004, Caribbean and other LGBTI activists, concerned with the growing popularity of homophobic lyrics, initiated the ‘Stop Murder Music’ Campaign to bring pressure to bear on private and public sector groups in the Caribbean, North America and Europe to respond to these lyrics. Guyanese joined the campaign by writing to the Ethnic Relations Commission since they believed “that sexual orientation is one of the forms of diversity in a plural society and that therefore the ERC holds a constitutional mandate to encourage respect for the rights of gay and lesbian people in Guyana.” One year after the appeal, the ERC said it had no mandate to deal with the matter. This issue continues with some protests against the Antigua 2012 Road March song ‘Kick in she back door’ across the Caribbean.
The Jamaica Outpost, a newsletter which ran in Kingston between October 2004 and June 2005, as well as the MSMNPA’s Free Forum magazine edited by the late Deni James in Trinidad & Tobago carried articles from Guyana.
The Regional HIV/AIDS mechanisms interrogated the laws fuelling discrimination and the years 2004 and 2005 saw discussions in different countries, including Guyana, about the need for repeal of ‘sodomy laws’. Some Caribbean Minsters of Health, including Guyana’s Dr Leslie Ramsammy, supported these calls, which were rejected by their Governments.
In 2007, Trinidadian activist Colin Robinson wrote that “In a field in which international human rights advocacy and HIV response work have been the dominant forms of LGBT organising, SASOD’s breathtaking cultural and political programmes have distinguished themselves by their inventiveness, analysis, balance, and skilful use of limited resources. SASOD’s work and imaginativeness reflect the best Caribbean political and cultural traditions and they make me proud to be a gay Caribbean man.“ In 2008 the late Dr Robert Carr, who was based in Jamaica, also stated that he wished there was a “SASOD in every Caribbean country.”
The SASOD Film Festival sought to include participation through films and other creative work from the Caribbean, with performances by Jamaican poet and writer Kei Miller in 2007. SASOD’s CARIFESTA Fringe in 2008 featured films from Caribbean directors. The Fringe also included the Guyana launch of Thomas Glave’s edited collection, Our Caribbean; and Crawling out of the Closet by Grenadian Claude Douglas. In 2008 LGBTI activism in Guyana gained even more visibility with an article, ‘Love After Love’ in the Caribbean Airlines magazine, Caribbean Beat. Author Caroline Taylor wrote “.. It takes perhaps even more courage to put on a film festival in the Caribbean that’s devoted exclusively to movies which challenge established notions of sexuality and gender. It is a wonder, then, that Guyana’s Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has managed to mount its festival…”
Diaspora
The engagement of the Guyanese and Caribbean diaspora included the support of film makers Philip Pike, Michelle Mohabeer, Richard Fung, Sean Drakes, Renata Mohammed, Andil Gosine and others. Diaspora contributions extend to support from artistes like Nhojj. There is also support in terms of logistics for activities and events, and for information sharing.
One of the memories of June 2012 is the story of two films that crossed race divides. One young Black woman collected a film from a woman from India, while a young Indian man collected the film from a woman in South Africa. Both of these young persons did not want to be named in their contributions to the festival.
LGBTI Guyanese returning home have expressed surprise at the work being done, and some have used the space created by the film festival to speak about their reconciliation with their memories of leaving Guyana. This has even gone beyond the Guyanese community; it was interesting one year when a young American from Ohio credited Guyana with giving him the courage to come out to his parents.
Diaspora engagements now to extend to research as a young Canadian/Guyanese student presented a paper about SASOD at the 2013 Caribbean Studies Association Conference in Grenada.
One of the complexities of LGBTI diaspora is dealing with the issue of asylum, especially in Canada and the United States. Some activists have felt that they could not get involved in providing ‘expert testimony’ to be used in Asylum cases, while others felt that it is important to help whenever one could.
Who else spoke out and supported the work?
In 2003, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) joined in calling for the Constitutional Amendment. In October 2004, Guyanese Bertie Ramcharran also stated his support for law reform at a public Human Rights forum which included the Prime Minister and other members of Parliament. On International Human Rights Day in 2007, the GHRA invited SASOD to make a presentation. This presentation was then published in the 14 December 2007 edition of Dayclean, organ of the Working People’s Alliance – the first time that any political party in Guyana had endorsed LGBTI activist positions. Other NGOs such as Help & Shelter and Red Thread have included non-discrimination policies in their own activities and supported the work.
In May 2005, the late Grenadian scholar Professor Simeon C. R. McIntosh became the first Caribbean legal scholar to speak to the needed changes, in an article published in the Barbados Advocate “Homosexuality: A constitutional question” while he was Dean of the Faculty of Law at UWI Cave Hill. Other commentators such as Sir Ronald Sanders, Ralph Ramkarran and politicians and newspaper columnists around the Caribbean have also challenged the discrimination which exists in the Caribbean. Some politicians have taken risk at different times including Portia Simpson Miller in Jamaica before the 2011 elections, the Hon Francis Fonseca – Leader of the Opposition in Belize and Dr. Joseph – President of the Senate in Grenada. Fidel Castro in 2010 apologised for the ‘gran injusticia’ of the earlier years.
Other support in Guyana came from different places. The first film festival had the support of the 3HCD/Video Club and Sidewalk Cafe. In November, 2005, the recently opened Oasis Cafe agreed to host an evening of “Readings from the Spectrum: Lesbian and Gay Writings”. In addition to publishing the notice for the event, a young journalist in Stabroek News published the entire text of the epic poem in prose form of Alan Moore’s The Mirror of Love, which looked at the history of same-sex love.
The Government and discrimination
The first project that SASOD engaged in was funded through the Global Fund/Ministry of Health. One of the interesting features of LGBTI activism in Guyana is the required branding of the SASOD website with the coat of arms of Guyana. Cynics might ask whether the Government was funding a revolution against itself. Whenever President Jagdeo was asked about the issue of law reform, his response was always framed in the position of ‘no discrimination’ even as he remained non-committal on law reform.
In March 2011, Cabinet Secretary Dr Luncheon noted “Cabinet reflected on social responses to homosexuality and reiterated its position of not supporting discrimination of those whose sexual orientation offended contemporary social norms and also consequently any advocacy of such lifestyles.” While the public commentary of the Government seems to be shifting towards ‘no discrimination’, these statements are not translated into action.
“Is it homophobic to say that homosexuality is a sin?”
A statement from the Christian Community in Guyana on the proposed decriminalisation of Homosexuality notes that “We also believe … that we are called to embrace and reflect God’s love and compassion for humanity as outlined in the Bible which demands that we reject the acts of violence and hostility meted out to some homosexuals and other attitudes or actions that devalue and diminish our humanity as God intended.” The statement affirms in addition that “…It is evident that homosexuality is an offense to religion, morality and public convenience…”
On the one hand, homosexuals are to be loved (like murderers, thieves, rapists are to be loved?), while on the other hand they are offensive to the public. This experience of loving is manifested in the experience of LGBTI people who are then threatened with the fyah which reportedly destroyed Sodom. Fyah.. in 2013.. in the form of the acid thrown on Sandy Jackman as she dealt with her family duties; and fyah in the cigarette lighter flame held by ‘loving’ citizens to the locks of Ryon Rawlins as he walked down Regent Street going about his business with a reminder of his apparent sin in the chants of ‘bun batty man’.
The agenda for activism has to be responsive to the diverse needs and experiences of the LGBTI community. The goal of LGBTI activism is to create a society in which LGBTI persons have equal access to education, housing, jobs, health, police protection, and equal opportunities to participate in community and national life.
There are cynics who will speak about ‘homosexuals in high places’ who face no discrimination. On the other hand, the experiences of violence, and alienation experienced by other LGBTI persons have to be addressed. The future of activism for equality must be grounded in accountability to those who are affected by the discrimination.
A gay teacher living in a rural area in Guyana said recently he did not have much faith in laws, and was looking instead at fundamental changes in the education of regular people. Ravi Dev was a Member of Parliament when he participated in the first public forum in April 2003. In his reflections on the 10 years since that forum, he said he believed the discussion on sexual orientation and gender identity is one which is related to the general discussions on diversity and difference and who has moral superiority over whom. This moral superiority in this instance often expressed in the violence and discrimination that seemingly has no redress. How then can the views of ‘regular people’ who oppose discrimination against LGBTI Guyanese be given prominence in the national discussion about laws and policies?
In April 2013, I visited the Wedding Expo and used the opportunity to poll on the issue of gay marriage. I asked 13 exhibitors how they felt about offering wedding and honeymoon services to same-sex couples. Eleven of the exhibitors said they had no problem (a few had already done so) while two persons said that offering services to same sex couples would conflict with their faith.
In Trinidad & Tobago, a survey conducted by the Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (Cadres) in collaboration with the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) suggested that 56 per cent of citizens are either tolerant or accepting of the LGBTI community. Guyana’s cultural and social makeup is similar in many ways to Trinidad & Tobago – can we assume that in Guyana a majority of Guyanese would like to see LGBTI Guyanese achieve their potential free from violence and other forms of discrimination?
Is this the majority which would convince the Select Committee of the National Assembly when they consider the submissions to repeal the laws which discriminate against LGBTI? Or would the legislators in the Caribbean and Guyana be siding with those who invoke fyah on LGBTI citizens?
Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com
URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/features/in-the-diaspora/07/01/from-madness-to-mainstream-gay-rights-in-guyana-part-2/
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