Dear Editor,
One month has now passed since our friends and colleagues Jason John and Carlyle Sinclair were brutally murdered on the streets of Georgetown. Jason/Jada and Carlyle/Tyra were loved and valued members of our community and they are greatly missed. We, members of the Guyana Trans United, continue to call for justice for our lost friends.
Along with the families of the victims, we call on the police to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation, and to bring all the persons involved in these murders to justice. In particular, we renew our call for the MMC guards who did not take the murderer to the police when they had him in their custody to be investigated, and for the law to take its course.
GTU wishes to thank all those who reached out and assisted us in our time of need, who made donations to the wake/funeral/families of the victims, and who showed sympathy and affection for our community during this very difficult time.
We hope to remain in contact with them, and hope for their continued support going forward.
We also wish to say something about the media coverage that this tragedy garnered. We were very hurt, disappointed, and angered by the disrespectful and overly sensationalist coverage of this tragedy by the media.
The lack of respect, empathy, and sympathy is saddening and scary. This is especially so since many members of the media involved are members or close friends of our community. It’s a sad state of affairs when persons are afraid to be truly themselves at all times because of stigma and discrimination, and when they feel as though they have to hide behind masks. This type of media coverage contributes to the persecution and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Guyanese, and we call on the media to be more sensitive in their reporting on LGBT matters.
We are peaceful and hard-working members of Guyanese society with the same rights as everyone else, and we will continue to advocate for justice for our community.
We call for an end to hate speech and prejudice especially from politicians and faith-based leaders who should be setting a better example and helping to build a more tolerant and inclusive society. We urge persons to put aside their misconceptions and fears and to stand with us in this quest.
Yours faithfully,
Quincy McEwan
Guyana Trans United
