Homophobic Murder and honeymoons in paradise- Caribbean IRN Update July 2013

The mob murder of 17 year old Dwayne Jacobs in Jamaica is a brutal reminder of the danger which many LGBT people face in their communities. July also saw in Haiti, the mobilising of 'anti-gay' marches which resulted in violence towards Haitian LGBT persons.

The Government of Haiti issued a response to the violence (document shared by CARIFLAGS) and the Jamaican Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding also condemned the murder of Dwayne Jacobs. No one has been arrested.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre launched  a report Dangerous Liaisons: The American Religious Right & the Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize   which questions the role of the United States  religious groups in fueling the anti-gay rights initiatives in Belize.  There have been marches and other kinds of public interactions over Belize's Gender Policy as reported in this News 5 collection.

However, other alternative religious views are being articulated such as those of Reverend Dr Clinton Chisolm and Father Sean Major-Campbell.



The commemoration of Emancipation in Trinidad & Tobago resulted in a commentary by Dr Ernest Massiah, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team,  calling for 'Emancipation for All' including the region's LGBTI citizens. The issue of law reform and dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic was also addressed by Prime Minister Denzil Douglas.

In Guyana, CADRES launched the survey report "Attitudes towards Homosexuals in Guyana" which noted that 58% of Guyanese seemed to be either tolerant or accepting of homosexuals.

The Caribbean complexity of tolerance and acceptance ranges from the violence in some places to one in which Curaçao welcomes LGBT citizens to "honeymoon in paradise."

The Caribbean IRN has just concluded a course in Critical Sexuality Studies at the Institute for Gender & Development Studies at the University of West Indies St Augustine Campus. The feedback from the students, and the videos of several of the activities are available on the IGDS Youtube Channel.

Some of the students created this PSA for sexuality education. (http://youtu.be/A869wxIZ-Fc )




The Cross-dressing law in Guyana was the subject of a panel discussion on 'Skeptically Speaking' an Internet based discussion - hosted by Jamaicans and featuring Guyanese in Guyana and the diaspora . The panelists included Sade Richardson, Rosemarie Cadogan, Zenita Nicholson, Joel Simpson, Dr Alissa Trotz and Vidyaratha Kissoon. The co-hosts are Hillaire Sobers and Clive Forrester. The video is at http://youtu.be/RMUQfUN7jkA


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