Changing costly laws? - Caribbean IRN Update July, August, September 2021

Extract from EL MATRIMONIO Y LA UNIÓN DE HECHO AFECTIVA COMO FUENTES DE CONSTITUCIÓN DE LAS FAMILIAS

Changing costly laws

4.2 billion US Dollars is the cost of homophobia in the Caribbean according to a study published by Open for Business Caribbean.

Guyana Trans United organises a panel led by Candacy Gulliver McEwan, Alessandra Hereman , Annie Megnauth and Kenny Harrinarine to talk about the recent removal of the 'cross dressing' laws from Guyana's books and the impact on transgender lives in Guyana.

CAISO launches "Finding an Equal Place at Work : A Model LGBTI+ Workplace Policy for Trinidad & Tobago"

In Cuba, version 22 of the draft Family Code opens up the definition of family to include families with same sex partners and unions of persons regardless of gender.

The IOM publishes the "Guyana Needs Assessment on Migration Governance " in which they note that "LGBTIQ+ migrants in Guyana remain in a vulnerable state as they are criminalized by the Criminal Law (Offences) Chapter 8:11 and are not protected by the Prevention of Discrimination Act." and they recommend "Create specific provisions to protect particular vulnerable groups and adapt Criminal Law (Offences), Chapter 8:11 to decriminalize homosexuality."

Hundreds of persons supported the Cayman Islands first gay pride march even as some LGBTIQ+ activists protested the ban on public displays of affection.

Jason Jones replies to Archbishop Gordon in Trinidad & Tobago who claimed that "gender ideology was diabolical."

Music, design, books, identity

Guyana born rapper Mz Fontaine is celebrated in Village Voice News. Jamaican musician and advocate for LBGTQIA rights, Dalton Harris shares about moving to Broadway.

Jamaican handbag designer Brandon Blackwood designer shares about the love-hate relationship with Jamaica.

Cover of Nature's Wild by Andil Gosine

Andil Gosine has launched Nature's Wild, Love, Sex, and Law in the Caribbean

Caribbean Beat in its Sept/October 2021 Issue recommends All the Rage by Rosamond S King and Antiman by Rajiv Mohabir

Newsday writes about Nel Schneider who identifies as non-binary.

Nastassia Rambarran affirms queer identity in Ize Queer : Naming and Claiming in the Caribbean

Please support the making of the Guyanese film Eating Pawpaw on the Seashore

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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...

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