Caribbean IRN Blog

  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 ...

  Loss The LGBTIQ++ community in Trinidad & Tobago mourned the loss of Anthony Medina  who as CAISO noted "made indelible contributions to LGBTI community and dress-up culture in T&T," Launch of the Digital Archive of the Jamaica Gaily News  The Jamaica Gaily News (JGN) was the publication of the first gay activist organization in the anglophone Caribbean, the Gay Freedom Movement (GFM) in Jamaica.   The Caribbean IRN is pleased to have added the JGN collection of the 82 issues to the GFM archive on the Digital Library of the Caribbean.  The Launch event was held virtually on Friday 20 November, 2020 and featured a panel reflecting on this moment in Jamaica’s history.  The panelists were :- Vidyaratha Kisson – Coordinator, Caribbean International Resource Network Larry Chang – Co-Founder of GFM and JGN Editor Donna Smith – GFM member and JGN columnist Glen McDaniel – GFM member and JGN columnist Jennifer Ffrench-Parker – Jamaican journalist Mo...

Politics In Jamaica, the People's National Party affirmed " its commitment to non-discrimination based on class, colour, creed or sexual orientation, " as it apologised for the homopohobic comments against MP of the Jamaica Labour Party. There was public outrage at the homophobic attacks. In Cayman Islands, MLA  Anthony Eden says that natural disasters and diseases are warnings over the gay lifestyle. In Guyana, the rainbow spreads over Elections 2020 as SASOD presents its LGBTQ Manifesto to the political parties. The agenda does not have anything like "Make Guyana Gay" or "destroy the family" and so most of the parties contesting the elections attend a Town Hall meeting organised by SASOD. The parties  presented a spectrum of positions on LGBTQ+ rights ranging from uncertainty and need for 'public consultation' to outright support . One party Peoples Republic Party is contesting with a manifesto which states "It...

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...

Guyana Trans United leads March for Transgender Visibility - 31st March, 2019 , Georgetown, Guyana "Transgender rights are human rights" the marchers called as they walked past the Brickdam Police Station where many transwomen had been locked up , and passed the courts where transwomen were told to find God or asked to leave the court room. "I thought the Cathedral was a bar" one young transwoman who did not visit Georgetown regularly said as the marchers walked through the area around St George's Cathedral, in Guyana. Some Church people in Trinidad & Tobago object though, as the Church Council and Rebuild TT say that LGBTI people do not deserve human rights.  This all started when a politician, Bhoe Tewarie told religious groups to accept LGBT citizens. Politicians across the Caribbean seem to be coming out in support of their LGBT constituents. In St Kitts & Nevis, a young person asks Ministers about LGBT rights, and the Ministers said tha...

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...

Top quote from "Barbados Pride combats nation's anti-LGBT hatred " , Bottom quote from " Chief Justice laments murder of Sasha Fierce, calls it a hate crime" Love The murder of Sasha Fierce generated hateful comments. There were responses of love from colleagues and friends , and a campaign #SayHerName . (Update : A man has been charged for her murder ) Newsday had an editorial "R IP Sasha Pierce.  "  Chief Justice Ivor Archie called for acceptance instead of tolerance   while lamenting the murder. Sasha Fierce was active in the campaign "Not a Straight Thing" by Friends4LifeTT. Citizenship In Barbados, a Christian youth group marched to reclaim the rainbow. LGBT citizens and allies did a counter protest. The ' Row over the rainbow colours " though seemed to end peacefully and prayerfully, according to  one of the counter-marchers, Luci Hammans, . Another Church leader said that Christians loved the sinners, not t...

Pride In Guyana, the Judicial Service Commission responds to the complaint of Guyana Trans United about the behaviour of Magistrate Dylon Bess . Magistrate Bess had discriminated against Petronella and Twinkle Bissoon, two transgender citizens by excluding them from his courtroom on separate occasions.    In the response , the Judicial Service Commission said that there was a denial of access to justice and that Magistrate Bess agreed with the Commission. SASOD congratulates the Government of Guyana on their support of an OAS resolution which condemned discrimination against LGBTI citizens. The Government of Guyana might not have intended to say they will be having a referendum on removing of the buggery laws. Jamaica t hough affirms that they will only be changing the buggery laws by referendum. St Lucia's United and Strong get to meet their Minister of Foreign Affairs in advance of the OAS resolution on LGBTI rights. "Antiman" politics A Jamaican ...

Left : Cropped image of Mariela Castro in IDAHOT 2017 via Ontop mag, Right : Cropped Image from Bermuda via Caribbean 360 Colin Robinson writes from Trinidad to Guyana to hold out faith  in the leaders and citizens will reject the idea of a referendum to 'legalise homosexuality'. The Attorney General of Guyana and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana had talked about the Government's reluctance to 'legalise homosexuality' In Guyana, the Anglican Diocese convenes its Human Rights & Social Justice Commission which is expected to "work assiduously to confront social issues .. such as discrimination (racial, against persons living with disabilities, sexual orientation and gender identity and torture) ..." A gay  Canadian couple get engaged in Antigua where 'homosexuality is still illegal', while in the Bahamas a gay tourists man is attacked at Junkanoo.  Bermuda will will a llow same sex marriage , after a case which was initiat...

On Left - image from thepolitic.org , Right - image from San Pedro Sun Divergence Recent votes at the United Nations on the role and function of the SOGI expert show the tendency of the Caribbean to keep voting against gay rights at the UN. Global politics might be the reason as countries like Suriname which does not criminalise homosexuality and Guyana where the political parties committed to equality for all in the last elections seemed to succumb to things other than family values and colonial culture . Trinidadian Colin Robinson writes about being   thrown out of a meeting he was invited to by the Office of the Prime Minister.  He and others protested the lack of representation of communities affected by HIV/AIDS on the National AIDS Co-ordinating Committee. Jamaica continued to provide nuances to the story of the homophobic Caribbean. J FLAG celebrated its 18th Anniversary at the US Embassy in Jamaica, while Jamaican refugee Gareth Henry tells his story of ...