Caribbean IRN Blog

CENESEX Cuba image from Struggle La Lucha blog     Our thoughts are with all citizens affected by Hurricane Beryl.     All gorgeous gender s  The Dominica High Court has decriminalized consensual same-sex relations as the Government says the ban on buggery has not been lifted if the act is without consent. Daryll Phillip shares about the rest of the fight for liberation. Dominica, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago are the former British colonies who have since decriminalised consensual same-sex relations. The Barbados LGBTQ+ Coalition writes about the concerns for legal protectio ns as Barbados engages in the constitutional reform process.    CAISO publishes its report Insights 2023 speaking about the experiences of discrimination and violence in Trinidad & Tobago.      Gabriele Hosein writes on Discrimination against Transgender citizens in her Newsday column and Newsda...

Composite Image derived from Left - Cuba Conga 2023 Yamil Lage/AFP , Right - Barbados Pride from Barbados Today   Pride A conga against homophobia and transphobia was held in Cuba in May 2023 , returning for the first time since 2018.     Pride Month in June was commemorated by Pride Barbados , concluding in a march.  The Guyana Pride Festival was held in June and included the Pride Parade .   In July,  Pride Parade was held in Cayman Islands and in Martinique Pride Trinidad and Tobago was celebrated in July. St Lucia Pride Week was held in August for the fifth time. Pride Week in Belize was held in August., around the anniversary of the Court ruling which struck down the sodomy laws in Belize. The theme for Bermuda Pride was 'Homecoming'. Pride Ja was celebrated in August in Jamaica.  The Pride March in Guadelope had six persons.  The US Embassy in Bahamas raised the Pride Flag, and US Vice-President Kamala Harris reportedly e...

Unity and disunity   'Unite the people' seems to have b een the message of T.O.K as they bun their Chi-Chi-Man song even as fans and others insist they should stand their ground as many Caribbean governments continue to stand their ground.  In Guyana , the British High Commissioner invokes  LGBTIQ+ equality and press freedom and other human rights as represents of the Government enjoy cake after Coronation of King Charles. In Guyana as well, the Government uses an image of a Pride parade to show  they endorse  'Freedom from Discrimination' as they continue to sustain the discriminatory legislation and other practices and policies. The Jamaica Observer reports on the delays in the Constitutional case brought by Maurice Tomlinson, while an Editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner recognises that the Jamaican Constitutional Reform Committee might be screening people who are in favour of LGBTIQ+ equality. "Different Boats, Same Sea: Gender & Climate Advocacy in t...

By Shivsharan Trasi - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,       Laws and rights The Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) and the Saint Kitts Nevis Alliance for Equality (SKNAFE) welcomed the ruling of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on 29 August, 2022 which said that the buggery laws were unconstitutional.     In December 2022, the S upreme Court of the Republic of Barbados ruled that similar legal provisions were unconstitutional. The Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba ruled in favour of  same-sex marriage in Aruba and Curaçao,   Colours Caribbean in Cayman Islands says the UK Privy Council ' continues to enable the oppression of LGBTQIA+ people in the Caribbean by reversing progressive lower court decisions and upholding the enforceability and constitutionality of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws in those states (most of which were themselves introduced by the UK)." But legislators in ...

  We are wired to love.. "..we're wired to love" Colin Robinson shared in one of his many discussions on love. Colin Robinson - activist, poet, hopeful citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and the world died on March 4 2021.  Andil Gosine wrote his memorial column in Newsday TT. Gabrielle Hoosein also writes about Colin and his activism. Friends and family also shared L oving memories in a Life Portrait and Libation event which has been recorded on the CAISO TT Facebook page In Guyana, Namela Baynes-Henry died on March 25 2021. Namela worked in the media, a nd was also a strong ally and activist for LGBTIQ+ equality and in responding to HIV/AIDS.  She was a member of the Board of Trustees of SASOD . Rights and Politics The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights publishes its decision on the petition brought by Gareth Henry and Simone Edwards. The decision calls on Jamaica to repeal its sodomy laws.   Tina Brown and "Sean" who fled Jamaica ...

Image from article "Men in Dresses - and a village is divided," The Sunday Chronicle, Sept 5 1971. Charlot Jeudy, Haiti Charlot Jeudy, leader of Kouraj was found dead on November 25, 2019. "Men in dresses" "Men in dresses - and a village is divided" is an article in a 1971 article in the Sunday Chronicle in Guyana. The story tells of Anita the Iceberg, Miss Diamond, Shakira, Penny and Miss Viking Queen who lived in Grove village, East Coast Demerara. This article was reported on by Akola Thompson in her  column The Minority Report in Stabroek News. The title of the column is" Trans history and remembrance: Beyond the stereotypes "  Almost five decades later, in Jamaica, Renaè Green and Donique Givans from Transwave Jamaica tell their stories of dealing with discrimination .  Neish Maclean shares his story in the Jamaica Gleaner, and makes the front page of the Sunday Magazine. In Guyana,  the CCJ ruling struck down the cross-dre...

L - Image from BBC News , R - Image from Nation News Barbados Pride in the Caribbean Police arrested LGBT Cubans who decided to march against homophobia , after the Cuban government cancelled the IDAHOBIT  March. The organising committee though said the other activities in academic spaces would continue. NOW Grenada features GrenChap on the 17 May. In Guyana, the pride events and the Pride parade  went ahead without any challenges. While t he Trump administration might be seen to answering the prayers of some Caribbean Christian leaders to save them from gay marriage ,  the US Embassy in Belmopan, Belize held a Pride Month celebration .  In Guyana, the US Ambassador spoke at a IDAHOBIT cocktail. Guyana's Pride celebrations are part of  an article about Global Pride events .  Vogue features Zeleca Julien from Trinidad&Tobago as one of the "LGBTQ voices around the world which would not be silenced."  Jamaica born Stacey Ann Chin is...

Second Photo (Guyana Trans United) - Protest in 2016 against the actions of Magistrate Dylon Bess Difference  In November, 2018 the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that the cross-dressing laws in Guyana were unconstitutiona l. After the appeal filed by Gulliver (Quincy) McEwan, Isabella (Seyon) Persaud, Angel (Seon) Clarke and Pheches (Joseph) Fraser and SASOD, Quincy McEwan explained the ruling in a TV interview Tracy Robinson and Arif Bulkan from the University of the West Indies reflected on the case during the seminar Modern Vagrancies, LGBTQI lives, Discrimination and Strategic Litigation in the Caribbean  . Caribbean Solidarity Network shared the video. Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that Guyana 'respects the ruling'. The ruling generated some regional responses. The Jamaica Gleaner  editorialised "Judicial Courage and the Buggery Law"  . In Trinidad & Tobago, Colin Robinson wrote about the CCJ being a 'small man court" , and Ga...

L: Cartoon Kaieteur News, 3 June, 2018; R Extract from Judgement in Jason Jones vs AG of Trinidad and Tobago and others Judgement On 12 April, 2018 Trinidad & Tobago, Justice Devindra Rampersad  ruled in favour of Jason Jones in declaring that the country's sodomy laws are unconstitutional. . The case and the judgement saw protests and counter-protests.  Writer Monique Roffey reflects on the circumstances of case, and describes the win in Trinidad and Tobago as  "A Win against Homophobia in the Caribbean" . There has been backlash as some persons have been fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes. Three Barbadians petition the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights against the 'buggery laws ' in Barbados. The Democratic Labour Party had protested gay marriage  as part of their campaign, but it seems the Barbados electorate rejected them entirely, and Barbados got its first woman Prime Minister who didn't really say much about LGB...