Canadian High Commis-sioner Nicole Giles says there is potential in Guyana for the changing of attitudes towards the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community to ensure they have the same legal protections as all citizens.
During a reception on Monday evening to mark the conclusion of the globally celebrated Pride Month, which celebrates LGBT peoples and is also used as a platform to advocate for change on the issue of LGBT rights, Giles said laws which discriminate against the LGBT community by criminalising their sexual preferences proliferates discriminatory practices against them, and breeds an atmosphere not conducive to them speaking out against such discrimination.
During an interview with Stabroek News, Giles noted that ensuring and protecting the rights of the LGBT community is, from the public policy perspective, a human rights issue and should be dealt with as such. She also noted that the High Commission’s support for LGBT rights is propelled by the Canadian government’s commitment to effecting change, which she says is evident in its foreign policy.
“Canada believes that human rights apply to all people–regardless of nationality, race, gender or sexual orientation,” she told those gathered at the reception on Monday.
Giles said that laws which criminalise the private, same-sex relationships between consenting adults perpetuate a slew of discriminatory practices and dangerous trends of violence against the LGBT people. Such practices, she noted, include discriminatory practices against them at hospitals when they try to access healthcare, in schools, when they try to secure work and when they go out in public spaces.
Very often, she said, members of the LGBT community fall victim to physical and/or verbal attacks. But, though LGBT persons continue to suffer, Giles lamented, they are reluctant to disclose or report acts of aggression meted out against them for fear of what may stem from the disclosure.
These realities help to forge “a culture of silence where victims remain voiceless and powerless and this can undermine an individual’s growth, mental health and social interactions,” Giles warned. She also noted that some persons who practise alternative sexual lifestyles are even disowned by their families.
According to Guyana’s laws, it is illegal for a man to have sexual intercourse with another man. It is also illegal in Guyana for a man to dress in women’s clothing, although a recent decision by Chief Justice Ian Chang allows a man to dress in women’s clothing so long as he does not have nefarious purposes. It should be noted that no such laws prohibit such behaviours among women.
Even divide
In order to meet commitments made to the United Nations Human Rights Council since 2010, the PPP/C administration two years ago referred the possible repealing of anti-gay laws as well as laws on corporal and capital punishment to a parliamentary select committee.
Giles said that Guyana should be commended for the establishment of the committee and added that it is a signal that change is possible.
Presidential Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira, during her address at the reception, agreed that the potential exists for change but signalled that such change may not occur in the near future. She recalled that in 2001, legislation which would have addressed the matter was passed. However, the legislation was not signed by the president because of the level of opposition demonstrated by society and particularly religious groups.
Referring to government’s renewed efforts to address Guyana’s buggery laws, as well as laws on corporal and capital punishment at the level of the National Assembly, Teixeira said, “All three issues are controversial and face heavy opposition… the select committee has commenced its work on the abolishment of corporal punishment and will go sequentially through the three items.”
She noted though, that the voices inside and out of the committee are evenly divided on the matters.
She nevertheless said government will continue to deal with the matter as it has done for twenty years. Reflecting on the struggle which faces advocates for LGBT rights in Guyana, Teixeira reminded that the struggle for women’s rights went on for about two centuries before it became significantly recognised. Even now, she pointed out, when women’s rights are highly regarded and advocated around the world there is still opposition.
“In my mind, therefore, there is no fast track, the word of mouth, the convincing, the talking are absolute critical components of winning people to see change and to support new heights… each society goes through its own evolution and democracy and rights emerge with the advancement of people’s own consciousness and conditions…slow sometimes, with many ups and downs, reversals and forward movement. I have no doubt that the parliamentary select committee, when it has finished its work, will be able to bring the change that is necessary in Guyana to all three issues–the abolition of corporal punishment, the death penalty and the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual relations,” Teixeira stated.
