From the Intl Candlelight Memorial

From STabroek News, 17 May, 2010
Many Lights for Human Rights: This is the theme under which the Society Against Sexual Orient-ation Discrimination (SASOD) hosted the 2010 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial at the St. George’s Cathedral yesterday. SASOD members lit candles in remembrance of those who died from HIV/AIDS as others look on and spoke out against stigma and discrimination.

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Marking World Day of Social Justice, Transgender citizens, supported by SASOD, move to the courts to challenge Guyana’s law against ‘cross-dressing’

Long misunderstood and seen as legitimate targets for discrimination and abuse, transgender citizens used the occasion of the international commemoration of World Day of Social Justice to file a motion against Guyana’s law criminalizing ‘cross-dressing.’ On Friday, February 19, 2010, the notice of motion was filed before the Supreme Court of Judicature for redress claiming, among other relief, to have section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02, invalidated as irrational, discriminatory, undemocratic, contrary to the rule of law and unconstitutional. The law makes an offence of “being a man, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in female attire, or being a woman, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in male attire.”

February 20, 2010, marks the second annual commemoration of World Day of Social Justice, which recognizes, in the words of United Nations General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/62/10), that “social development and social justice cannot be attained… in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms.” In his message to mark the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon explained that “social justice is based on the values of fairness, equality, respect for diversity, access to social protection, and the application of human rights in all spheres of life.”

The day was chosen to address an act of social injustice against one of Guyana’s most marginalised social groups which took place last year. Transgender persons refer to people whose gender identity and/or expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth, including cross-dressers, female or male impersonators, pre-operative, post-operative or non-operative transsexuals. Trans people may define themselves as female-to-male (FtM, assigned a female biological sex at birth but who have a predominantly male gender identity) or male-to-female (MtF, assigned a male biological sex at birth but who have a predominantly female gender identity); others consider themselves as falling outside binary concepts of gender or sex.

In a series of crackdowns last year between February 6 and 7, the Guyana police arrested a number of male-to-female transgender persons (MtF Trans) and charged them for ‘cross-dressing’ under the archaic Colonial section 153(1)(xlvii) statute. Unrepresented and completely unaware of their rights, the defendants were detained in police custody over the week-end and then hustled through the legal system. When they appeared before Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson on February 9, 2009, they were further ridiculed and told that they are men not women, before being fined by the learned Chief Magistrate. Seon Clarke, also known as Falatama, one of the persons arrested, said: “It was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. I felt like I was less than human.” The motion also pleads that the Chief Magistrate was improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations, discriminated against the MtF Trans on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of Guyana as a secular state. Vigorous and wide-ranging calls within and out of Guyana for the repeal of these discriminatory laws which facilitate such injustices have been ignored by the government.

Since then, SASOD has forged partnerships with human rights interests in the local and regional arenas who have been working collectively and consistently on a voluntary basis over the past year to assist this marginalized group to obtain access to justice for the atrocities endured at the instance of the law enforcement authorities. The 2009 ‘cross-dressing’ crackdowns and prosecutions provided clear illustrations of how discriminatory laws are facilitating grave human rights’ abuses, in spite of the existence of an entrenched regime of human rights protection in the Guyana constitution. Leading the research initiatives to support strategic-impact, human-rights litigation in the region, Tracy Robinson of the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (U-RAP) based at the Cave Hill campus’ law faculty in Barbados described the arrests and prosecutions as “an unfortunate embodiment of the patriarchal use of coercive state power for no clear or rational purpose,” highlighting the need for law reform to ensure social justice and gender equity in Guyana and across the region.

SASOD has mobilized support from local and regional human rights attorneys to provide representation in what amounts to a ground-breaking constitutional case. According to Dr. Arif Bulkan, also of U-RAP and one of Guyanese attorneys involved in the litigation, “unless the wide-ranging constitutional reforms conducted in 2001 and 2003 are to be dismissed as pure window-dressing, then the emphasis placed on non-discrimination during that process should guide the High Court to interpret the expanded equality rights generously in order to protect one of our society’s most marginalised groups.”

Veronica Cenac, a St. Lucian attorney who serves as the human rights focal point on the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition board of governors, lauded SASOD for spearheading the case. “For way too long, we have allowed abuses against the most affected populations to go unchallenged,” she said, quoting the closing words of the UN Secretary-General’s message: “Lack of social justice anywhere is an affront to us all.”

2009 No. DEMERARA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDCIATURE

CIVIL JURISDICTION

In the matter of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

-and-

In the matter of an application by QUINCY McEWAN, SEON CLARKE, JOSEPH FRASER, SEYON PERSAUD and SOCIETY AGAINST SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION (SASOD) for redress under Article 153 of the Constitution for contravention of the applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 1, 40, 139, 144, 145, 146, 149 and 149D of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

BETWEEN:

1. QUINCY McEWAN
2. SEON CLARKE
3. JOSEPH FRASER
4. SEYON PERSAUD
5. SOCIETY AGAINST SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION – a duly constituted and registered Trust in Guyana by Trust Deed No. 1032 of 2006.

Applicants

-and-

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Respondents

ORIGINATING NOTICE OF MOTION

TAKE NOTICE that this Honourable Court will be moved on Monday the 21st day of February, 2010, at 9:00 o’clock in the forenoon or so soon thereafter as Counsel can be heard by MESSRS MILES FITZPATRICK S.C., C.A. NIGEL HUGHES, ARIF BULKAN and GINO PERSAUD, Counsel on behalf of the applicants, for redress under Article 153 of the Constitution of the Republic of Guyana in the following terms:

1. a declaration that the refusal of the police to inform the first to the fourth named applicants of the reason for their arrest on February 6^th and February 7^th, 2009 and subsequent detention constituted a violation of their rights to be so informed as guaranteed by Articles 139(3) and 144(2)(b) of the Constitution of Guyana, for which they are entitled to redress;
2. a declaration that the refusal by the police to permit the first to the fourth named applicants to retain and instruct a legal adviser of their choice upon their arrest and before they were first taken to court violated their rights under article 139(3) of the Constitution, for which they are entitled to redress;
3. a declaration that the conduct proscribed by section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02 of the Laws of Guyana, under which the first to the fourth named applicants were subsequently charged, is vague and of uncertain scope, rendering the offence purportedly created thereunder contrary to the Rule of Law and unconstitutional;
4. a declaration that the said offence under s. 153(1)(xlvii) of Chapter 8:02 is irrational, discriminatory, undemocratic and contrary to Articles 1 and 40 of the Constitution;
5. a declaration that the said offence under s. 153(1)(xlvii) of Chapter 8:02 affords different treatment to different persons because of non-conformity to stereotypes based on sex in contravention of the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sex and gender contained in Article 149(1) of the Constitution;
6. a declaration that the said offence under s. 153(1)(xlvii) of Chapter 8:02, by authorizing different treatment based on sex stereotypes, contravenes the guarantee of equality before the law in Article 149D of the Constitution;
7. a declaration that the said offence under s. 153(1)(xlvii) of Chapter 8:02, by preventing persons from giving expression to their gender identity and dressing in conformity with their innermost beliefs and orientation, contravenes the guarantee of freedom of expression contained in Article 146 of the Constitution;
8. a declaration that all criminal proceedings against the first to the fourth named applicants arising out of their arrest between February 6^th and 7^th, 2009 based on the allegation of wearing female attire were unconstitutional, null, void and of no legal effect by reason of the contraventions of the Rule of Law and the explicit guarantees contained in Articles 1, 40, 139, 144, 149 and 149D of the Constitution;
9. a declaration that the learned Chief Magistrate, in telling the first to the fourth named applicants in the course of the hearing that they must attend church and give their lives to Christ, was improperly influenced by irrelevant considerations, discriminated against them on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana as a secular State, in contravention of Articles 1, 40, 145 and 149(1) of the Constitution;
10. damages
11. such further or other relief as may be just;
12. costs.

…………………………………………..

……………………………………………

……………………………………………

……………………………………………

Attorneys-at-Law for the Applicant

Dated at Georgetown, Demerara,

This 19^th day of February, 2010

AND TAKE NOTICE that this Honourable Court is asked to make

such orders, issue such writs and give such directions as it may consider necessary for the purpose of enforcing the applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

AND TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the following are the grounds of this application:

1. On Friday the 6^th day of February, 2009 at approximately 8:30 p.m. the first and second named applicants were arrested at the corner of North Road and King Street in Georgetown, Demerara by members of the Police Force then on mobile patrol. At the time, these applicants were merely waiting on a taxi in order to meet up with friends at the D&J Snackette at 67 Leopold and Cross Streets in Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown.

2. Upon their arrest the first and second named applicants were ordered into the police vehicle and taken to the Brickdam police station. They inquired as to the reason for their arrest but the police refused to tell them. At the station they were photographed and then made to undress, after which they were placed in the lock-ups until Monday February 9^th when they were taken to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

3. In the course of the same night, at about 3:30 in the morning of February 7^th, 2009, the third and fourth named applicants along with a third person were arrested out of an incident which arose while they were eating at the K&VC Snackette in Stabroek Market, Georgetown. At the time, these three were dressed in skirts and were wearing wigs, which attracted verbal abuse from onlookers.

4. When the three responded, the said onlookers began to pelt them with bottles and other objects. They attempted to defend themselves, but outnumbered by the hostile crowd they were overpowered and forced to retreat.
5. In the course of running away, the three persons were stopped in the vicinity of Parliament Buildings by members of the Police Force, arrested and taken to Brickdam police station.
6. At the police station the three persons each inquired why they were being detained, but the police refused to answer, instead stating that they were not obliged to answer questions asked by “certain people”. They were all made to undress, in the course of which they were also subjected to full body searches.
7. The three persons asked for medical attention because of the injuries received in the course of the incident at Stabroek Market at the hands of the hostile crowd, but the police denied their request.
8. All four applicants along with the fifth person were detained at Brickdam police station until Monday, February 9th, and they did not learn of the charges against them until they were taken to court, when the Chief Magistrate informed them that they were charged with “loitering” and “wearing female attire” contrary to section 153(1)(xlvii) of Chapter 8:02.
9. The four applicants along with the fifth person all pleaded guilty to the charge of “wearing female attire”, though at the time they were unrepresented and did not fully understand the nature of the proceedings or the applicability of the charge to them.
10. After imposing sentence, the learned Chief Magistrate, Her Worship Ms. Melissa Robertson, told the applicants that they must go to church and should give their lives to Jesus Christ. Her Worship also told the applicants that they are confused about their sexuality and that they are men, not women. Her comments, which we are informed and verily believe to be true, were reported in the newspapers, including the Stabroek News of February 10^th and 15^th, 2009.
11. The remaining charges against the applicants were eventually dismissed for want of prosecution.

.........................…………………

……………………………………………

…………………………………………….

……………………………………………

Attorneys-at-Law for the Applicant

Dated at Georgetown, Demerara,

This 19th day of February, 2010

AND TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that the applicant intends to use the affidavits of the Applicants filed in support of this Originating Notice of Motion and such other affidavits and/or viva voce evidence as Counsel may advise.

THIS ORIGINATING NOTICE OF MOTION is issued by MESSRS MILES FITZPATRICK S.C., NIGEL HUGHES, ARIF BULKAN and GINO PERSAUD whose address for service and place of business is at the Chambers of

De Caires, Fitzpatrick and Karran, 80 Cowan Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Demerara, Attorneys-at-Law for the Applicant.

.........................…………………

……………………………………………

……………………………………………

……………………………………………

Attorneys-at-Law for the Applicant

Dated at Georgetown, Demerara,

This 19th day of February, 2010

2010 No. DEMERARA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE

CIVIL JURISDICTION

In the matter of the Constitution of the Republic of Guyana.

-and-

In the matter of an application by QUINCY McEWAN, SEON CLARKE, JOSEPH FRASER, SEYON PERSAUD and SOCIETY AGAINST SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION (SASOD) for redress under Article 153 of the Constitution for contravention of the applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 1, 40, 139, 144, 145, 146, 149 and 149D of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.

BETWEEN:

1. QUINCY McEWAN
2. SEON CLARKE
3. JOSEPH FRASER
4. SEYON PERSAUD
5. SOCIETY AGAINST SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION – a duly constituted and registered Trust in Guyana by Trust Deed No. 1032 of 2006.

Applicants

-and-

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Respondent

AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF MOTION

I, Joel Simpson, of ……………………………………………………………………………, being duly sworn, make oath and say as follows:

1. I am the agent of the fifth-named applicant herein and am authorised to swear this Affidavit on its behalf.

2. The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (hereinafter referred to as ‘SASOD’) is a Trust, duly constituted and registered in Guyana by Trust Deed No. 1032 of 2006, and whose registered office is at 180 Charlotte Street, Lacytown, Georgetown.

3. SASOD is a non-profit organisation whose registered objects are to advocate for the human rights of all persons in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to encourage acceptance of diversity in a plural society, and to work towards the elimination of discrimination particularly on the grounds of sexual orientation and identity as well as gender identity and expression.

4. The first to the fourth named Applicants herein were variously arrested between February 6^th and February 7^th, 2009, though at no time were they informed by any officer of the charge for which they were arrested, after which they were taken to Brickdam Police Station and detained without charge until February 9^th, 2009.

5. On Monday the 9^th February 2009 the first to the fourth named applicants were taken to the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court along with one Anthony Bess who had also been arrested with them, where they were all charged (inter alia) with ‘wearing female attire’ contrary to section 153(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02 of the Laws of Guyana.

6. The said applicants, who were all unrepresented, pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘wearing female attire’ and were fined the sum of $7,500.00. In the course of the arraignment they were told by the Chief Magistrate Madame Melissa Robertson that they are confused about their sexuality in that they are men and not women, and that they must go to church and give their lives to Jesus Christ.

7. On 13^th February, 2009 the first to fourth named Applicants came into the registered office of the fifth named Applicant where I interviewed and took statements from them as related above.

8. SASOD has been advised by its Attorneys-at-Law Messrs. Miles Greeves Fitzpatrick S.C., C.A. Nigel Huges, Arif Bulkan and Gino Peter Persaud and verily believes that the refusal of the police to inform the first to the fourth named applicants of the reason for their arrest and detention was contrary to article 139(3) of the Constitution and accordingly unlawful.

9. SASOD has been further advised by its Attorneys-at-Law herein and verily believes that by instructing them to attend church and give their lives to Jesus Christ the Chief Magistrate discriminated against them on the basis of religion, and violated a fundamental norm of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana as a secular State, in contravention of Articles 1, 40, 145 and 149(1) of the Constitution.

10. Because the first to the fourth named applicants are transgendered persons who are accordingly compelled to dress in the manner of the gender with which they identify, there exists an ever-present danger of them being arrested and charged in the future under the same section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act. In these circumstances SASOD has been advised by its Attorneys-at-Law herein and verily believes that the provisions of this offence pose a continuing threat to the Applicants’ right to be protected from discrimination on the ground of sex and gender under article 149 of the Constitution of Guyana, as well as their right to equality before the law and equal protection and benefit of the law under article 149D and their right to freedom of expression under article 146 of the said Constitution. SASOD is further advised by its Attorneys-at-Law herein and verily believes that this likelihood renders the said offence unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.

11. SASOD is further advised by its Attorneys-at-Law herein and verily believes that section 153(1)(xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02 of the Laws of Guyana is vague and of uncertain scope as well as irrational and discriminatory on the ground of sex, rendering it a violation of articles 1, 40, 149 and 149D of the Constitution and thereby null, void and of no effect.

12. In the premises I respectfully pray that this Honourable Court would be pleased to grant the orders as prayed for in the Notice of Motion filed herein.

……………………………………………

Joel Simpson

Sworn to at Georgetown, Demerara,

This 19th day of February, 2010

BEFORE ME

A COMMISSIONER OF OATHS TO AFFIDAVITS

World AIDS Day 2009

World AIDS Day (WAD) on December 1, 2009, was commemorated under the theme ‘Universal Access and Human Rights,’ which will foreground global observances on HIV over the next year. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon placed on record a strong message urging the repeal of “punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the AIDS response.” He was clear that laws which institutionalize discrimination against sex workers and men who have sex with men only serve to fuel the HIV epidemic and prevent cost-effective programmes. While we commend these calls consistently being made at the international level, SASOD is alarmed that even the rhetoric at home seems to be wearing thin. In an ambiguous interview reported just a week before WAD in the Stabroek News of November 24, 2009, Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy has said that he does not view homosexual sex as criminal but at the same time it would be a mistake to impose decriminalization on the nation. There also seems to be some confusion that decriminalization is equivalent to legalization, as Minister Ramsammy is also quoted saying “Criminalizing it is wrong, but that doesn’t mean we should legalize it either.”
Responding to Minister Ramsammy’s comments, SASOD Co-Chairpersons, Namela Baynes-Henry and Joel Simpson took issue with his dubious positions. “Minister Ramsammy needs to lead Guyana’s HIV response to live up to the commitments to universal access and human rights the government has made abroad,” charged Henry, who represented SASOD last year at the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS where Minister Ramsammy acknowledged the need to address antiquated laws which stigmatise marginalized groups. “Why is he ‘singing a different tune’ now? Minister Ramsammy should ‘talk the talk’ and ‘walk the walk’ as Guyana has signed UN declarations to that effect,” she added. Picking up on this point, fellow Co-Chair Simpson added, “If the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS means nothing to Minister Ramsammy, then the Guyana government should not have signed on. Why are we putting on one face on the international stage and then when we are at home it’s a different story? That just smacks of hypocrisy.” Simpson continued that “I want to remind Minister Ramsammy that these discriminatory laws were imposed on us by our colonial rulers. Decriminalizing behaviours of stigmatized minority groups, which should not have been criminalised in the first place, is in no way an imposition on the majority. The state is duty bound to protect its minorities, regardless of what opinion polls say. This is the true test of any real democracy – how well we protect our minorities.”
Minister Ramsammy’s reported remarks had seemingly marred the climate for advocacy on “universal access and human rights” but thankfully civic organizations were brave and bold where political courage is apparently now diminishing. First, the Clerical and Commercial Workers Union (CCWU) in its WAD message called for all vulnerable groups including sexual and gender minorities to have equal access to HIV prevention without discrimination, as this is critical to halt the spread of the disease. “Same-sex relationships must be decriminalized so that these persons dare to exercise their rights and seek health services,” its statement unequivocally said. Following on, the National AIDS Committee (NAC) its WAD press release called for rights-related barriers to universal access to be addressed, including the failure to decriminalize same-sex intimacy which discourages men who have sex with men from seeking health services and tackle homophobia promoted by religious dogma, popular culture and negative masculinities. We salute the CCWU and the NAC for their principled positions on these issues.
Even as the United States Embassy in Georgetown announced its renewal of support for the next five years to HIV response in Guyana through the President’s Emergency Fund Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we are concerned that the funding allocated for prevention programmes is not reaching the most affected communities. “While national HIV prevalence in Guyana has been declining, and that is to be commended, HIV prevalence among MSM in Guyana remains scandalously high at an unrestrained 21 per cent,” said Ian McKnight, who is the new Executive Director at the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), a regional coalition which supports frontline organizations working with vulnerable groups. “I am dismayed that in a Caribbean country with such elevated rates of HIV among MSM, that existing community-based organizations advocating for the health and human rights of these groups are not able to access funds to implement prevention programmes,” he noted. McKnight was referring to a recent debacle between USAID’s local PEPFAR programme in Guyana, and SASOD.
This past July, SASOD was invited by the Guyana HIV & AIDS Reduction and Prevention Phase II project (GHARP II) to participate in an institutional assessment to determine if SASOD meets USAID’s eligibility criteria for funding. On July 27, 2009, SASOD was formally notified by GHARP II on behalf of Community Support and Development Services Inc (CSDS), local funding agent for USAID, that SASOD was approved to receive funding for the financial year October 2009 to September 2010 contingent upon participation in the funding process laid out by CSDS and GHARP II. SASOD participated in a series of NGO work-planning activities culminating in the submission of a work plan and budget for funding on August 14, 2009 and receiving feedback for revisions from GHARP II and its affiliate, Management Sciences for Health (MSH), on August 24, 2009. On Monday, August 31, 2009, at 8:45 hrs, SASOD received a telephone call summoning a representative to an urgent meeting at 10:00 hrs that day for all the NGOs involved in the funding process.
At that meeting, a representative of USAID in Guyana, Edris George, announced that due to a decrease in the overall PEPFAR budgetary allocation for 2010, that out of the 3 new NGOs to be funded, SASOD and a CBO working on HIV prevention with vulnerable groups, would not be receiving operational funding.
This announcement was subsequently confirmed in writing in an email sent by a CSDS staffer on September 2, 2009. SASOD responded to USAID, CSDS and GHARP II by email on September 7, 2009, calling out the homophobia SASOD has experienced with a CSDS official, and rejecting any form of collaboration or partnership with USAID, CSDS and GHARP II other than that which was originally proposed to receive direct funding. To date, 3 months later, none of these agencies has responded to the concerns raised by SASOD directly with them.
Reacting to these reports, Dr Robert Carr, Co-Chair of the Global Forum on MSM and HIV (MSMGF) expressed disappointment that frontline organizations working with vulnerable groups are not equally able to access resources to implement prevention programmes. “This is a huge blow to community-based efforts to stem the tide of HIV among MSM in Guyana,” Dr Carr posited. “The local PEPFAR programme has lost a golden opportunity to make inroads in providing prevention services to key populations which are very hard to reach,” he added.
As we approach the next United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS (UNGASS) review and reporting period in 2010, Guyana is still missing the mark in terms of attaining universal access for HIV by failing to reach key populations necessary to halt the spread of the epidemic.
It seems as if the promise to “stop AIDS” is the proverbial ‘comfort to a fool’ for communities most affected by the stigma and spread of the disease.

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)

The Village.

SASOD presents

“The Village”

annual costume party
on Saturday, October 31

at the new Sky 7 Nite Club

8 Pere Street, Kitty, G/town

Tickets: $1000. Gate: $1500.

Tight Security in Effect

"The Village" gate opens at 10 pm

Proceeds in aid of SASOD’s work on

Homophobia, Human Rights & Health


Ticket Locations:

Oasis Cafe - 125 Carmichael St.

German's Restaurant - 8 New Market St.

D & J Snackette - 67 Leopold & Cross Sts.

Sea Breeze Hotel (Front Desk) - 8 Pere St.

Rainbow Fashion Boutique - Bent & Camp Sts.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE COALITION OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,TRANSVESTITES, TRANSSEXUALS, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX ORGANIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAS

The Coalition composed of organizations from 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries and its partner Global Rights, are denouncing the coup in Honduras, which we consider not only an affront to the national constitution and the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS), but also an attack on democracy, respect, equality, rights and lives of the Honduran people.

As always in crisis scenarios, the most affected people are those under hightened vulnerable conditions, such as our lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, transvestites, transgender and intersex Honduran brothers and sisters. Our colleague Vicky, a Honduran trans-woman, and other members of the LGBT sector, have been killed as a result of this brutal military intervention. As well, human rights activists and people who were born in a free country are in imminent danger, have now lost their freedom and their individual rights are suspended.

The LGBTTTI Coalition expresses its solidarity with the Honduran democratic sectors, who, rejecting military interventionism and political assassinations, arbitrary arrests, beatings and intimidation, demostrate on the streets to express themselves and
fight with their hands against hand-guns, machine-guns and tanks. We reject military interventionism, and request that those who cowardly and through force have taken power, to desist and restore the country to the democratically- elected president President José Manuel Zelaya; engage new communication chanels and a democratic and peaceful
solution to differences and problems they have. We urge the international community, international organizations, governments and civil society to remain mobilized and alert until the return of constitutional order in Honduras.

Coalition members:

1. AIREANA – Paraguay
2. C TTT- Honduras
3. COLECTIVA MUJER y SALUD - Dominican Republic
4. CORPORACION OPCION – Colombia
5. ENTRE-TRANSITOS – Colombia
6. GRENCHAP – Grenada
7. HUMANA NACION TRANS – México
8. IGLHRC – Argentina
9. INSTITUTO RUNA – Perú
10. LIDERES EN ACCION – Colombia
11. SMU - Suriname
12. MESA JOVEN POR LA DIVERSIDAD SEXUAL - Colombia
13. MULABI – Regional
14. ORGANIZACIÓN DE TRANSEXUALES POR LA DIGNIDAD – Chile
15. RED AFRO LGBTI – Brasil
16. J FLAG – Jamaica
17. RED LACTRANS – Argentina
18. RED TRANS Nicaragua – Nicaragua
19. SASOD – Guyana
20. TALLER MUJER Y COMUNICACIÓN – Ecuador
21. UNIBAM – Belize
22. VELVET UNDERGROUND – Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Inferno Party

Groups Put Pressure on Governments to Reform Harmful Drug Policies

GEORGETOWN, GUYANA: June 26, 2009— As the United Nations launches the 2009 World Drug Report this week, more than 40 international groups and experts worldwide today issued a call to action that presses governments to adopt a humane approach to drug policy.

The Call to Action, signed by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, former president of Brazil Fernando Cardoso, and others, urges governments to enact policies that are based on scientific and medical research rather than politics. The Call has been signed by a total of 46 people from a range of professional backgrounds, including economists, drug policy/harm reduction experts, AIDS and human rights activists, and professors of medicine, representing 14 international organizations and 32 national organizations from 21 different countries.

“We need a more humane approach to drug use based on harm reduction principles and respect for human rights to eliminate the negative impact of the drug trade here in Guyana,” said Donna Snagg, President of Juncata Juvant Friendly Society. “Old methods are not working so we must turn to more evidence-based approaches,” she continued.

Rather than receiving treatment, millions of nonviolent drug users are languishing in prisons as a result of current drug policies. The drug trade continues to grow while families are torn apart by the global war on drugs. As the HIV and AIDS crisis spreads, policies that drive away drug users are creating public health disasters.

“Laws and policies that drive drug users underground, keep people away from life-saving HIV services and allows AIDS to spread,” said Joel Simpson, Co-Chair of Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD). “These are very similar dynamics of exclusion which we see against sexual and gender minorities, and other marginalized groups,” he added.

Instead of continuing with these ineffective and harmful policies, today’s call to action urges governments to focus on reducing the harms of drug trade and use. It is time for governments to support needle exchange, substitution therapy, and decriminalization of possession for personal use. Drug control measures must respect human rights with penalties that are proportional and humane, and recognize that drug cultivation is primarily a development issue—not simply a security threat.

ENDS

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Juncata Juvant Friendly Society (JJFS) is a non-governmental, charitable, non-profit organization, providing services to persons who have been deported for resettlement into the Guyanese society.

Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is a local, non-governmental, advocacy organisation working on issues related to homophobia, human rights and health promotion in Guyana.

Press Contacts:

For JJFS, email juncatajuvant@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.juncatajuvant.org.gy/

For SASOD, email sasod_guyana@yahoo.com

Website: http://www.sasod.org.gy/

Painting the Spectrum 2009 : SASOD's Fifth Lesbian & Gay Film Festival

Painting the Spectrum 5 : Schedule of Films

Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from Monday 1 June to Tuesday 30 June, 2009

Venue : Sidewalk Cafe, Middle Street, Georgetown Guyana

Programme starts at 7pm each night

Admission is FREE. All films are intended for mature audiences unless otherwise indicated

Special Event : Discussion on Spirituality and Sexuality - Wednesday 10 June, 6pm at Sidewalk Cafe.


Monday 1 June Brother Outsider : The Life of Bayard Rustin (2003)
/USA Documentary/

A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.
Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era. Five years in the making and the winner of numerous awards, BROTHER OUTSIDER presents a feature-length documentary portrait, focusing on Rustin’s activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice and human rights (85 mins)

Film donated by the Bayard Rustin Film Project


Tuesday 2 June Karmen Geï (2001)

Senegal/ Musical/ French and Wolof with English subtitles

Karmen Gei is the African adaptation of Bizet's popular opera Carmen. The conflicts between conventional morality and sexual freedom, between constraint and liberation, between complacency and passionate self-abandon, which are always present in iterations of the Carmen myth, will here acquire a very African political dimension, as well as a very modern one in terms of its sexual politics. (85 mins)

Donated by California Newsreel


Wednesday 3 June Le fate ignoranti/ His Secret Life (2001)

Italy:Turkey / Drama/ Italian/English subtitles

This beautiful film is another triumph from Director Ferzan Ozpetek in which he explores the sub rosa aspect of the lives of his characters. Antonia is happily married to a handsome Italian man (Massimo) who dies suddenly in an accident, leaving her bereft and lonely. Massimo's friends at work bring Antonia his belongings and in opening the office clutter she discovers a painting ("The Ignorant Fairy") which has an inscription on the back that it is from a lover of seven years. Antonia is convinced that her husband has had another woman and sets out to confront her, only to discover that the lover was a man (106 mins)





Monday 8 June Dreams Deferred : The Sakia Gunn Story (2008)
USA/ Documentary

This documentary tells the little known story of Sakia Gunn, a 15 year old student who was fatally stabbed in a gay hate crime in Newark, New Jersey. Sakia was a homosexual woman of color who dressed in masculine attire but did not necessarily identify as either lesbian or female-to-male transgender. Sakia was stabbed while waiting at the bus stop, after rejecting violent advances from young men. What lessons does her murder have for the way in which we perceive youth violence and violence against girls who reject violent masculine advances? (71 mins)

Film donated by Third World Newsreel







Tuesday 9 June Dostana (2008)

India/ Comedy

Abhikshek Bachan and John Abraham play Kunal and Sameer, two straight guys who pretend to be a gay couple to secure an posh Miami apartment, but both of them fall for their gorgeous room-mate Neha, hilarity ensures as they strive to convince one and all they are gay! Secretly they are trying to win Neha's heart! (120 minutes)

More information..






Wednesday 10 June Toul Omry / All my Life (2008)

Egypt/ Drama/ Arabic with English subtitles

For Rami, all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, as long as he keeps to himself. But when his longtime lover leaves him to marry a woman and his best friends drift away, he comes face to face with the harsh realities of life as a gay man in Egypt. Against the backdrop of the choreographed crackdown on gay men and the notorious Queen Boat arrests of 2001, he plunges into a world of loveless friendships and spirals downwards to his ultimate downfall.(120 minutes)

Film Donated by Maraia Films



Monday 15 June Milk (2008)

USA / Drama

Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant directs Academy Award winner Sean Penn as gay-rights icon Harvey Milk. Mr. Milk (1930-1978) was an activist and politician, and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in America; in 1977, he was voted to the city supervisors' board of San Francisco. (128 mins)

Read the Stabroek News Editorial





Tuesday 16 June Bi the way (2008)

USA / Documentary

Bi the Way had its World Premiere at SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. The film is an enjoyable and entertaining documentary about the changing nature of sexuality and sexual identity in America today and how the next generation is redefining its sexual mores. The directors travel across the country talking mostly to young people about their new definitions of sexual identity. It is an eye-opening film, because it really begins to break down our normative dichotomous definitions of heterosexuality and homosexuality. (85 mins)

More information..







Wednesday 17 June The Sum of Us (1994)

Australia / Comedy

Happy Father's Day!!!! A widowed, beer-drinking ferry driver who is looking for Ms Right and his rugby-playing, beer-drinking, gay plumber son both search for love and romance. Starring Russel Crowe, this film tells the story of a father son relationship and the difficulties they encounter as they try to intervene in each other's lives (100 mins)









Monday 22 June

Spectrum Celebration - An evening of poetry, prose, drama acknowledging the struggle and the achievements.

Featuring a reading from Beautiful Little Lies , a play by Judith Rudakoff

A Cuban cocktail with a twist.

Cuba, February 1998. The Pope’s historic visit raised the spirits of the Cuban people but a few weeks later, nothing has changed. Tourists are still drinking “Cuba Libre” (Free Cuba) cocktails, and bartenders are still calling them “Mentirita” (Little Lie) when no one is listening.

But this is Cuba. Someone is always listening.

Beautiful Little Lies follows the adventures of Juancy, a Cuban transvestite performer, Suzanne, a Canadian woman tourist whose mother has just died, Moffi, a little white Cuban dog with attitude, Bob, a closeted male homosexual tourist, and Maria, a Cuban mother with a passion for all life has to offer. And like Cuba, the world of Beautiful Little Lies is also populated by the ever present Orishas, the iconic and earthy spirit guides of the AfroCuban belief system...








Tuesday 23 June Straightlaiced: How gender's got us all tied up (2008)

USA/ Documentary

With a fearless look at a highly charged subject, Straightlaced unearths how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens. Their stories reflect a diversity of experiences, demonstrating how gender role expectations and homophobia are interwoven, and illustrating the different ways that these expectations connect with culture, race and class.
From girls confronting media messages about culture and body image to boys who are sexually active just to prove they aren’t gay, this fascinating array of students opens up with brave, intimate honesty about the toll that deeply held stereotypes and rigid gender policing have on all our lives.

Film donated by Groundspark




Wednesday 24 June The World Unseen (2007)

South Africa / Drama

The film is set in Cape Town, South Africa during apartheid in 1952 and is based on the novel by Samin Sharif. The films stars Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth as two Indian South African women who fall in love in a racist, sexist, and homophobic society. This film has a background of beautiful music from that period. (100mins)

More information






Monday 29 June Three films

Coolie Gyal (2004)

In this coming-out story, an honest and sincere letter is read from a daughter to her parents. A familial montage is incorporated with a heartfelt narrative filled with the expectations and anxieties of a young woman. Renata Mohamed is a Toronto-based Indo-Guyanese filmmaker born in the British Virgin Islands.( 7 mins)

Contributed by Director Renata Mohamed








Blu in you (2008)

Canada/Tobago / Essayist Documentary

Directed by Guyana born Michelle Mohabeer PhD

BLU IN YOU is an essayist rumination mediated through the lens of a female observer (Melanie Smith), who watches the staged conversations between a visual arts curator (Andrea Fatona) and a writer (Nalo Hopkinson). These conversations bridge historical and contemporary representations of the black female body, subjectivity and sexuality exploring various thematics from a cultural history of violence and spectacularization (embodied in the figure of "the Hottentot Venus") to discussions of art, representation and celebrated cultural icons (Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge and the figure of the muse Jeanne Duval), to a contemporary black queer female erotic body and sexuality. (50 mins)

Film donated by Dr Michelle Mohabeer


Flores en el Parque (2006)
Spain / Short / 10 minutes

Ana and Lola arrange to meet in the park. Lola will bring flowers. Ana will bring doubts.

Film donated by director Mariel Macia


previously announced as
A domicilio (2008) (programme changed for this film )

Spain/ Drama
Rosa has thought of everything, she’ll treat Flor to a sushi dinner; they’ll drink white wine and listen to music. Both know what they are there for. However, things not always go as planned and some words, some time together can make them reconsider the prejudices they have about themselves and about one another (25 mins)

Film donated by director Mariel Macia







Tuesday 30 June Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008)

USA / Comedy

Noah and Wade invite their friends to Martha's Vineyard (Massachusetts) for their wedding. This feature-length version of the TV show gives the characters a chance to learn more about each other - and themselves - while living in close quarters. Relationships are tested and there are plenty of surprises. (101 mins)

More information..





Acknowledgements


With the support of




For arranging the delivery of films :-

Scheherazade Khan
Stacey Gomes
Dion Small
Greg Jagroo
Sherlina Nageer