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Showing posts from August, 2018

Angel Clarke: “Transgender persons must be independent”

by Rae Wiltshire  Angel Clarke is an independent woman. She has her own home, has her own transportation, and runs a successful catering business – despite the discrimination and challenges that she faces as a transgender person in Guyana. “Homophobia did not hold me back one bit. I don’t care what society has to say, I live my life to please me,” she said. “I have learned to love myself unconditionally. I have to feel comfortable in my own skin, in my own space. When I see the things that gay people go through, you have to love yourself first.” Angel has been working in catering for 20 years. It’s a skill she learnt by observing her mother in the kitchen. She nurtured it, turned her talent into a business and now dreams of owning a five-star restaurant. She believes that all trans persons should strive to attain economic independence and not depend on someone: “As my father always say, ‘It is better to teach a man to fish, than to give him a fish’. Trans perso...

‘As a transgender person in Guyana, you feel you’re in a jail yard’

Photographer : Orpheao Griffith by Rae Wiltshire (Pheches (Joseph) Fraser is a litigant in the challenge to the cross-dressing law of Guyana. Rae Wiltshire is an award-winning playwright, theatre director and short story writer. His play “Creative Burial Ground” and short story, “Me Fuss Fineral”  placed first and second respectively  at the Guyana Annual Competition 2018 . He is currently in his final year at the University of Guyana, studying Literature and Linguistics.) For Pheches Carlina, depression is being in Guyana: “Guyana is a very depressing country. It’s a nice and beautiful place but the thinking of the people is bad. Everything is a threat to them. If you’re black, you’re a threat to Indian. If you’re Indian, you’re a threat to black. To make it worse, if you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, it is seen as out of the norm.” Pheches describes herself as a dominant person. This dominance has ensured her survival as a transgender wom...

I am Isabella - Profile of Isabella (Seyon) Persaud

Isabella (Seyon) Persaud is one of the litigants who brought the constitutional challenge to Guyana's Cross Dressing laws.