Dear Editor,
The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) is grateful for the media coverage of the panel discussion on mental health issues held on Tuesday, June 17, as part of our 10th annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) film festival, ‘Painting the Spectrum 10.’
However, I am writing to correct an inaccurate section of the report titled ‘Gays more prone to commit suicide – Dr Harding,’ which appeared in the Guyana Times dated Thursday, June 19, 2014. The report stated firstly that a question was posited, “Were you President of Guyana and a Bill to legalise gay marriage …” and secondly that, “one member of the audience… sprang to his feet, passionately declaring that it is wrong for the Government or any constitutional body to deny the LGBTI community the right to marriage when the same right is afforded to heterosexual couples.”
We wish to state that neither of these statements was made during the panel discussion. The discussion centred on mental health issues, particularly depression and suicide, and how anti-LGBT laws contribute to Guyana’s repressive environment which causes these mental health issues. The discriminatory laws which were discussed are the laws criminalising same-sex intimacy and cross-gender dressing. No one asked any question about gay marriage neither did the panel or any member of the audience comment about gay marriage in their contributions to the discussion.
SASOD is happy to make available an unedited audio recording of last Tuesday evening’s panel event should any media house require it for accurate reporting of the discussions as they transpired.
Yours faithfully,
Schemel Patrick
Advocacy and Communications
Officer
Society Against Sexual Orientation
Discrimination
