Plight and Pride of the Caribbean homosexuals - Caribbean IRN Update October 2013

An editorial in the Kaieteur News of Guyana speaks to the Plight of the Homosexuals, while a BBC documentary (first aired 9 November, 2013) addresses Jamaica's Gay Divide.

Earlier in October, the police conducted a raid in Jamaica on some of the homeless gay youth as reported in this news item http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d2lCYwg5K0 . Their belongings were burnt and no alternative accommodation was found for the youth.

SASOD launches a video with the Envisioning Project entitled Homophobia in Guyana at http://youtu.be/Y2SKNiZnkrg which tells the story of Jessica and Maeve .

On Monday 28th October, 2013 SASOD and other Guyanese organisations made submissions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on "Violence, Sexuality and Gender Issues Affecting Children in Guyana" . The IACHR urged the government to take leadership in ensuring Human Rights.

The hearing can be viewed at http://youtu.be/vFTa6ZL1UBk .

The launch of the book " Legal and Policy Perspectives on HIV and Human Rights in the Caribbean" in Trinidad & Tobago generated discussion about the immigration laws of Trinidad & Tobago which bar homosexuals from entering the country.

The UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS made a special appeal for the laws to be repealed
Former Chief Justice of Trinidad & Tobago, Satnarine Sharma said he personally does not find the idea of two men living together repugnant

In Belize, the parliament has started to discuss amendments to their sexual offences legislation to include further protections for children.

A Groundation Grenada blog talks about Religion and Rights in the Caribbean.

Suriname hosted its third LGBT Pride celebrations which ended on International Coming out Day on 11 October, 2013

Taken from LeKotidien

Comments

British Guiana 1898 : Punishment for Sodomy meted out to Nabi Baksh and Mohangoo on the Mersey

Between 1838 and 1917, the British brought indentured labour from India to the then British Guiana. An 1898 report from the Governor of British Guiana to the Colonial Office in England reports on the punishment meted out by the Surgeon Superintendent of the Mersey against two men Nabi Baksh and Mohangoo for committing sodomy. "Nobibux was put in irons and Mohangu, after blistering his penis, was made to holystone from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. " The Surgeon Superintendent said that he had "known of cases where the penis had been blistered, as a prevention treatment, in cases of Masturbation with boys" When the ship docked in British Guiana, there was an investigation which included testimony from others on the ship. This report was donated by author Gaiutra Bahadur. Ms Bahadur got the report from the Colonial Office Correspondence books at the UK National Archives at Kew, United Kingdom while doing research for her soon to be...

WRITE IT IN FIRE: TRIBUTES TO MICHELLE CLIFF :Call for Submissions

Michelle Cliff (1946-2016) was a remarkable writer who claimed many identities she was taught to despise: Lesbian, Black, Woman, Jamaican. She wrote powerful novels, essays, stories, and poems that make us rethink what it means to love, to hope, and to have community. She also carved space for same-sex loving and diverse sexualities in the Caribbean by representing our desires fiercely and by being deeply rooted in place. She continues to inspire us to write our stories, our sense of self, in fire. “ A theory in the flesh means one where the physical realities of our lives – our skin color, the land or concrete we grew up on, our sexual longings ― all fuse to create a politic born out of necessity. ― Michelle Cliff, “Claiming An Identity They Taught Me To Despise” “ Who can say how many lives have been saved by books?” ― Michelle Cliff, Everything Is Now: New and Collected Stories “ It was Zoe, and Zoe alone, I thought of. She snapped into my mind, and I remem...

Caribbean LGBTIQplus citizenship - Caribbean IRN Update Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, December 2025

(Snapshot of results of Jan 2026 Google Image search of Caribbean LGBTIQ) Hurricane Melissa Recovery Equality for all Foundation Jamaica and other Caribbean LGBTIQ+groups mobilised to respond to the devastating effects of Hurricane Melissa. Living and laws Equality for all Foundation launches its 'Queer Agenda' which does not include anything about making all Jamaicans gay. Jason Jones writes about the "dreaded “savings law clause” which preserves colonial homophobia in parts of the Caribbean Guyanese businessman Harold Hopkinson talked about the personal impact of homophobic discrimination on his family as he called for change in legislation, and another businessman Omkaar Sharma also called for repeal of the anti-gay laws. The Protected Areas Trust is responsible for oversight of Protected Areas in Guyana. The Gender Policy was adopted in 2025. The Policy recognises gender diversity beyond the binary, and that sexual orie...

Caribbean IRN Blog

Search This Blog