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Pride, Prayers and Law - Caribbean IRN Update July, August 2018

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Left (Snap shot from Guybow/Sherlina Nageer; Right - George Alleyne via CaribbeanLifeNews
Pride 
Pride celebrations continued in the Caribbean in Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados and Belize.

The celebrations in Trinidad & Tobago  started with a flag raising."amid resistance".  The six weeks of events ended with a parade, and in memory of Sasha Fierce, There was rich reporting and commentary in the Trinidadian media including a reflection by  on the Pride and the anniversary of the coup; that tolerance is good for the economy,


Angelique V Nixon , Caribbean IRN member , read a piece The story of resistance at the parade. (video from Silver Lining facebook page)


B-GLAD in Barbados also had a month of activities ending with the first pride parade on 22 July, 2018

Donya Piggot explained in Barbados Today news clip.





J-FLAG in Jamaica also had Pride celebrations

The second Pride Week was celebrated in Belize from 4 to 12 August.

News clip from 7 News



The Jamaica Star tells the story of Vanice (Pretti Don) Parkes who is intersex.


Prayers
Leaders and Pastors of the Christian Community in Guyana took out a full page ad to call on the Government of Guyana to "..maintain existing existing legislative provisions and criminal laws regarding buggery and gross indecency.." .
The Government has not  indicated that they will be changing any laws.

Guybow in Guyana has started a campaign at bus stops which addresses the religious hatred.

Were  the Christian leaders and pastors were confused that the discussions about what to to do with Guyana's oil money were linked to gross indecency and buggery and the destruction of families ?

The pride celebrations in Barbados and Trinidad received opposition from some religious groups.

In Barbados, the LGBT community had to condemn the transphobic song 'Sex Change' - a song which was part of the Crop Over celebrations. The religious community who condemned Pride did not condemn the song.


Law
The Caribbean Court of Justice heard the appeal in the challenge to Guyana's Cross dressing case.

The profiles of the litigants Isabella (Seyon) Persaud, Gulliver (Quincy) McEwan, Pheches (Joseph Fraser) and Angel (Seon) Fraser  are shared in video profiles 






In Trinidad & Tobago , 'marriage equality' seems to be applied by the court in a property dispute matter between two men.

The Times of India writes about the connection between the jurisprudence in Trinidad & Tobago and in India. in removing homophobic discrimination.

Cuba's revised Magna Carta  could "pave the way for gay marriage." as Bermuda appeals the ruling to reverse the ban on 'same-sex marriage '

SASOD in Guyana advocates for PrEP treatment against HIV/AIDS.



 Events

In Guyana, Painting the Spectrum 14 - SASOD's LGBTQ+ Film Festival will be held during September

Montego Bay Pride will be in October in Jamaica.

Our (Queer) Caribbean will be held in London, UK on 26 October, 2018. This event commemorates the 10th Anniversary of the anthology Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles? edited by Thomas Glave.

Don't forget to check our collection at Caribbean Sexualities – Love | Hope | Community – Sexualities & Social Justice in the Caribbean and share it with others.

The collection includes selected pieces from the Sargasso Print Edition, as well as special online features, including "Write It In Fire - Tributes to Michelle Cliff" (prose, poetry, visual and performance art)
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