Press Release: Fundamentalism has no place in our Caribbean societies

Red Thread, Help and Shelter, Artistes In Direct Support and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination join the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) and other civil society groups in the region is condemning increasing homophobic and transphobic violence in the Caribbean. CVC and its partners are deeply concerned by a stream of reports coming from Caribbean civil society organizations about incidents of violence towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people. The groups are disturbed by the anti-gay march held by evangelical churches last week in Haiti, and the alleged violence towards LGBT people afterwards. We are truly saddened by reports from Jamaica last week that a gender non-conforming 17-year-old was mob attacked and stabbed to death in Montego Bay. CVC extends it condolences to the families and friends of those affected by this hate-fueled violence. 

These tragic events are not isolated acts but instead a reflection of systematic discrimination and violence experienced by Caribbean LGBT people, particularly the most visible and vulnerable.  Organizations such as United and Strong in St Lucia, United Belize Advocacy Movement in Belize, and Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) in Jamaica, Trans Always Friends (TRANSSA) and the Community of Trans-Transvestite Dominican Sex Workers (CONTRAVETD) in the Dominican Republic often have to deal with similar horrific threats, harassment and violence towards their communities because of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. This violence is a consequence of fundamentalist and hateful discourses towards LGBT communities and is likely to be replicated if urgent action is not taken.

We call on our allies involved in Caribbean struggles for social justice – progressive faith leaders, trade unions, feminist organizations, and civil liberties groups – to join us in denouncing and challenging fundamentalist views which fuel violence towards LGBT people in our region. Hate speech and extremism have no place in our Caribbean democracies, where resistance against discrimination, unity, and strength in diversity are hallmarks of our shared history. These hateful views do not reflect the teachings of the region’s religions that variously emphasize respect for diversity, non-violence, justice and unconditional love as their cornerstone values.

We demand of our Caribbean Governments greater protection for all LGBT people, legal frameworks that guarantee human rights protection, and investment in mechanisms that effectively respond to violence. And we call on Caribbean States to ensure that in no circumstance is the right to freedom of expression allowed to endanger the right to life, liberty and security of person, and to the right to privacy.

Without challenging fundamentalist discourses which undermine dignity and rights, and continuing to foster a culture of human rights, Caribbean States cannot expect to develop, and we as Caribbean citizens cannot expect a better future for our families or children. We stand in solidarity with all Caribbean civil society organizations and movements working towards more just and equal societies, where everyone’s rights and dignity are respected.

Logos of Endorsing Organisations

CARICOM heads of government urged to strengthen sexual rights

CARICOM heads of government urged to strengthen sexual rights

Posted By Stabroek staff On July 5, 2012 @ 5:10 am In Local | No Comments

Regional civil society organizations have called on the Caribbean Community heads of government at their July 4-6 summit in St Lucia to implement an Organization of  American States (OAS) General Assembly resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) that every state supported last month.

They were also urged to fully join the Inter-American human rights system, according to a press release from the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) yesterday.

CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action), CariFLAGS (Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities) and the CVC  were joined by NGOs, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) in Guyana, and United and Strong in St. Lucia, where the meeting is being held.

The annual OAS SOGI resolution has been supported by every Caribbean state for the past five years, the release stated.

Among several other actions, this year’s text calls on member states to “consider, within the parameters of the legal institutions of their domestic systems, adopting public policies against discrimination by reason of sexual orientation and gender identity” and to “consider signing, ratifying, or acceding to, as the case may be, the inter-American human rights instruments”. “Other citizens in the Americas have all these human  rights protections guaranteed  by  Inter-American regional instruments and mechanisms that millions of CARICOM citizens simply do not enjoy,” SASOD’s Joel Simpson noted.

The release said further that SASOD helped to pressure the Guyana government through the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process to undertake a national consultation on whether the state should continue to criminalize cross-dressing, and same-sex intimacy between consulting adult men in private.

“One has to wonder how committed our leaders are when the region is so underdeveloped in terms of human rights. Human rights protections are part of citizen security. We live in countries in the hemisphere where the state’s local protective mechanisms are the weakest and indicators of inequality, like access to justice and HIV rates, are the worst. And our citizens don’t enjoy recourse to regional bodies when our local protections fail,” Simpson stated.

Meanwhile, the advocates also protested CARICOM’s marginalization of civil society participation in regional governance and demanded a greater voice in contributing to the future of the Caribbean.

“CARICOM doesn’t yet have the simplest  structures for routine civil society participation, unlike most other regional  institutions,”  said  Trinidad-based  Colin  Robinson,  who  is  leading  the  private-public partnership to develop a region-wide human rights advocacy network CariFLAGS.

CariFLAGS leaders include NGOs in Antigua, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The advocates noted, however, that PANCAP (the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS), is one  of  the  few  regional  mechanisms  that  has  genuinely  sought  to  include  civil  society  in  its governance.

CARICOM’s Head for  Human Resources, Health and HIV/AIDS, St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas just last week “endorsed a new complementarity in mission between the new Caribbean Public Health Agency and PANCAP, with the latter  sharpening its focus on human rights, vulnerability and social justice, the release added.

“If we’re serious about PANCAP’s commitment to human rights, what we are asking are these two concrete steps by Heads of Government to express that,” said St. Flavia Cherry of the St. Lucia-based CAFRA, which is also campaigning to strengthen protection of sexual and reproductive rights regionally.

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GLBTIQ Issues Make Inroads at Commonwealth Summit

For the first time at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, at CHOGM in Trinidad & Tobago, there was significant representation of GLBTQ (gay/lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender/ queer) activists among civil society participants, and a concerted effort to highlight issues of sexual citizenship and rights. A delegation of GLBTQ activists from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean participated actively in the thematic assembly discussions and drafting process in the November 22-25, 2009 Commonwealth People’s Forum (CPF), a gathering of civil society organizations that meets in advance of, and sends a statement to, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Working in partnership with gender, disabilities and other human rights advocates, they achieved visibility for a number of key concerns, and won inclusion of these issues in the broad civil society agenda for the Commonwealth.

The issues cut a wide swath: repealing laws criminalizing non-normative sexualities and gender expression; preventing and prosecuting bias-related murders and violence, including punitive rape of Lesbians; ending discrimination in accessing health services; creating safety in the school system from violence and bullying; addressing the need for support and resources for parents; and developing training and sensitization for a range of public servants and service providers. Both scheduled speakers and participants from the floor made moving contributions related to human rights violations on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity in Commonwealth member countries. Especially powerful speeches came from Ashily Dior, a Transgender activist from Trinidad; Canadian Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS Free World and former UN Special Envoy on HIV in Africa; and Robert Carr, director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition. Together, contributors raised a comprehensive range of concerns in several of the assemblies, particularly those focused on Gender; Health, HIV and AIDS; and Human Rights.

The final Port of Spain Civil Society Statement to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting includes language calling on “Commonwealth Member States and Institutions” to “recognize and protect the human rights of all individuals without discrimination on the grounds of…sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression”; to “repeal legislation that leads to discrimination, such as the criminalisation of same sex sexual relationships” ; and for “the Commonwealth Foundation to facilitate a technical review of such of laws”. Further, it issues a call for “Commonwealth Member States to ensure universal access to basic” health “services for marginalised and vulnerable groups”, including “sexual and gender minorities”, and to “work to actively remove and prevent the establishment of legislation which undermines evidence-based effective HIV prevention, treatment and care available to marginalised and vulnerable groups, such as sexual minorities”. Its Gender section includes a distinct item on “Transgenders, Gays and Lesbians” (“We call on Commonwealth Member States to include gender and sexuality as a specific theme on sexualities, sexual and gender minorities, related violence and discrimination, making them no longer invisible”) and echoes the recognition in the human rights section “that gender equity implies equality for all and therefore issues related to non-normative sexualities, such as sexual and gender minorities”.

The Statement also makes reference to proposed “Anti-Homosexuality” legislation introduced in the Parliament of Uganda, home of current CHOGM Chair President Yoweri Museveni. The legislation would require reporting of homosexuals, provide a sentence of life imprisonment for homosexual touching or sex, and the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” , if the offender is HIV-positive. In remarks in more than one CPF assembly and in a special press conference, Lewis, Carr and a representative of the Caribbean HIV & AIDS Alliance, spoke out forcefully against the legislation, asking Museveni to take a clear position on it, and calling on others to condemn it. The Trinidad & Tobago Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation joined these voices, asking its own Prime Minister Patrick Manning, who will assume the chairmanship of CHOGM, and other CARICOM leaders, to do the same.

Eighty-six countries in the world currently have legislation criminalizing same-sex conduct between consenting adults as well as other non normative sexual and gender behaviours and identities; half of them are Commonwealth member states. Criminal provisions in these countries may target same sex sexual conduct, men who have sex with men specifically, or more generally any sexual behaviour considered “unnatural”. Some countries criminalize other non normative behaviours, such as cross-dressing, or utilize criminal provisions on indecency or debauchery, among others, to target individuals on their real or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. These criminal provisions not only constitute a violation of civil and political rights in and of themselves because they violate key provisions established by international human rights law; they also have significant human rights implications, representing a serious risk for the exercise of other fundamental rights, such as the right to association, the right to assembly, and the right to expression, the right to health, the principle of non discrimination, to mention a few. Furthermore, the mere existence of these laws is in many countries is an avenue for other human rights violations by state and non-state actors.

We acknowledge and welcome the civil society consensus on the above mentioned issues, and call on Commonwealth member states, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Foundation to implement the recommendations of the Commonwealth People’s Forum.

You can access the Port of Spain Civil Society Statement to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 25 November at: http://www.commonwe althfoundation. com/governancede mocracy/CPF2009/ NewPublicationsC PF/

· Alternative Law Forum (ALF) - India
· Center for Popular Education and Human Rights Ghana (CEPEHRG) - Ghana
· Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) - Trinidad & Tobago
· Gay and Lesbian coalition of Kenya (GALCK) - Kenya
· GrenCHAP – Grenada
· Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays – (J-FLAG) - Jamaica
· Knowledge and Rights with Young People through Safer Spaces (KRYSS) - Malaysia
· Lesbians and Gays Bisexuals Botswana (LEGABIBO) - Botswana
· People Like Us (PLU) - Singapore
· Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) – Guyana
· The Independent Project (TIP) - Nigeria
· United and Strong - St Lucia
· United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM) - Belize
· United Gays and Lesbians against AIDS Barbados (UGLAAB) – Barbados
· Global Rights
· International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC)

Caribbean Inferno Party

SASOD @ CARIFESTA X - 23 to 30 August, 2008

Vele kleuren, één regenboog/Many colours, one rainbow/Beaucoup de couleurs, un arc-en-ciel/Muchos colores, un arco iris

Please see main programme on our website

Press Release from National AIDS Committee on the murder of Gay Jamaican HIVAIDS advocate Steve Harvey

PRESS RELEASE

MURDER OF GAY JAMAICAN HIV/AIDS ADVOCATE
MUST BE STRONGLY CONDEMNED

The National AIDS Committee strongly condemns the brutal killing of Jamaican, Steve Harvey, a gay HIV/AIDS outreach worker on November 30th. 2005. The NAC is calling for a prompt and thorough investigation of his death. Steve Harvey was taken by unidentified armed men from his house on November 30, the eve of World AIDS Day, and later found dead from gunshot wounds.

The NAC is also requesting that the December 17 concert sponsored by the Government of Guyana and USAID/GHARP launching a new HIV/AIDS campaign to fight stigma and discrimination be formally dedicated to Steve Harvey. Given the way popular music and concerts have been used by Jamaican musicians to promote homophobia, the NAC believes the Guyana ‘Don’t Dis Me’ concert, which is to be addressed by both the President of Guyana and the Ambassador of the United States, is the ideal venue to launch a sustained assault on this form of intolerance and discrimination.

Jamaican popular musicians have been in the forefront of the homophobic campaign in Jamaica which has led to deaths and maiming of men suspected of being gay. Reggae star Buju Banton, for example, is presently before the courts along with others charged in an attack in which a gay man was blinded.

The Jamaica AIDS Support Society (JAS) for which Steve Harvey worked was supported by Christian Aid, the development arm of the British Council of Churches and one of Britain’s largest private charities. JAS is involved in fighting homophobia through education. Specifically JAS pledges “to promote changes in attitudes and behaviour and empower persons to respond positively to the challenges”.

Harvey was described by Human Rights Watch as “a person of extraordinary bravery and integrity, who worked tirelessly to ensure some of Jamaica’s most marginalized people had the tools and information to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS”.

While homophobia – hatred of gay people - is exceptionally virulent in Jamaica, the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean is too complacent on this issue. It must bring itself to reject and condemn this barbaric behaviour and the attitudes which support it. Jamaican singers, whose lyrics inciting hostility to gays are banned in other parts of the world, are feted with no such reservation around the Caribbean.

Given our capacity for ‘follow pattern’, steps are needed to ensure copy-cat homophobia must be emphatically discouraged. Caribbean people are generally tolerant of many things. People of gay orientation have lived – some quite openly in communities - without comment for decades. Opinion-makers, particularly religious and political leaders, need to reflect how much they may be responsible for fostering intolerance and homophobia.

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The Caricom community in general has to decide whether it wants to function in a world governed by tolerance and respect for diversity, or to remain entrenched in bigotry, vindictiveness and discrimination. Those who have assumed leadership of the fight against HIV/AIDS – governments, donors and church leaders – have a particular duty to demonstrate leadership in this area.

We realize taking a public stand against homophobia requires a degree of courage. However, in light of Steve Harvey’s death and its implications for the rest of the Caribbean, the ‘Don’t Dis Me’ concert should not risk passing off as one more ‘feel good’ event.

Let Steve Harvey’s death be the start of a new era.

National AIDS Committee
December 6 2005

Contact Persons:
Gloria DeCaires (NAC) tel: 254-0311
Merle Mendonca (NAC) tel: 227-4911
Rev. Barrington Litchmore (NAC) tel: 226-1215
Sharon Santiago (RAC Sub-Region 1) tel: 777-5029
Shondell Butters (RAC Reg.#2 tel: 774-4227
Dennis McKenzie (RAC Reg.#3) tel: 254-0761
Janice Bowen (RAC Reg.#5) tel: 221-2209
Therysa Lewis (RAC Reg#6) tel: 333-2391
Ivor Melville/Marilyn Sobryan/Patricia Smith tel# (RAC# 7) tel: 4552462/455-2339
Sandra Rodrigues (RAC Sub-Reg.#9) tel: 772-2006
Carla Nedd (RAC Reg.#10) tel: 442-0877

The National AIDS Committee (NAC) is a voluntary body which promotes HIV/AIDS policy and
advocacy issues, advises the Minister of Health and assesses the work of the National AIDS Programme
Secretariat (NAPS) in relation to the National AIDS Programme/Strategic Plan. The NAC also encourages
the formation of Regional Aids Committees (RACs) and networking amongst NGOs involved in the fight
against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.