Trinidad's PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar promises rights for gays in gender policy

In a follow up to a recent article Trinidadian gays may no longer be discriminated in gender policy in the Trinidadian Guardian newspaper just days ago on their controversial gender policy document as to whether homosexuals or indeed Bisexual and Trans persons specifically for that matter as Same Gender Loving or attracted people are not the only ones discriminated against, what about the others under the umbrella? It gets a bit annoying sometimes when the others are left out especially transgender and other gender variant persons.

It seems just by a glance that the report that PM herself has "promised" rights on the twin island republic is welcomed by the main LGBT group there CAISO  Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation but is this a Portia like rhetoric to look good to an ever vigilant and louder LGBT advocacy or to look even better to an international community as other jurisdictions tighten the screws on stigma while affording gay marriage and other civil rights for LGBT people??? Our PM as we know suggested a buggery review that was recently delayed as it was not deemed important now, privately reports suggest she has been raked over the coals for making such a proposal during the leadership debate prior to the December 2011 elections.

Here is the article from the Guardian:

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has promised to end discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the proposed national gender policy.

She said so in a private letter, dated August 14, 2012, to Lance Price, which was obtained by the T&T Guardian.

Price is executive director of the Kaleidoscope Trust, an NGO based in the UK which campaigns globally for gay/LGBT rights and diversity. He served as media adviser to former British prime minister Tony Blair and has also worked as a BBC correspondent.

The PM’s letter to Price was in response to one he wrote to her complaining about T&T’s immigration law and the Sexual Offences Act, which he said discriminated against homosexuals.

Price met Persad-Bissessar when he visited T&T for an International Press Institute (IPI) conference in June, at which the PM spoke. He wrote to her in July expressing concern about the stigmatisation of homosexuality in T&T.

Section 8 of the Immigration Act bars entry to homosexuals, describing them as a “prohibited class.”

Earlier this month, Aids-Free World, an advocacy NGO, challenged the controversial immigration law in court.

Maurice Tomlinson, a gay Jamaican lawyer, the group’s legal adviser for marginalised groups, carried the challenge forward. He received an invitation from the UNFPA to participate in an HIV workshop in T&T on December 3 and 4.
Contacted by the T&T Guardian yesterday, via telephone in London, Price said: “I did receive the letter from the Prime Minister but it was never made public. It was a personal letter from her to me and I can’t discuss the contents with you.

“I found it very encouraging and thought it showed great understanding and leadership on the issue.”

Colin Robinson, head of Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation, wanted to hear what the PM had to say on the matter in her own words. “I am looking forward to her taking leadership and making public statements on the matter,” he said.

Robinson added that the PM’s words in her letter to Price showed brave leadership. He said: “The kind of leadership we have been yearning for from Caribbean politicians... this is the kind of leadership that would make her a legacy.”

Robinson said he did not think a male politician could have done that because of masculinity and other issues. “It’s something about a woman that makes it possible, her maternal instinct, her style of leadership,”

Told bringing gay-rights legislation might cause opposition to Persad-Bissessar, Robinson said: “I don’t know when advocating human rights has marred the leadership of historic leaders. I hope she will be remembered as a brave Caribbean prime minister who acted for justice.”

Jason Jones, of the group I Am One, has been lobbying for full equal rights for the LBGT community.

He said: “We are aware the gender policy is about to be ratified by Cabinet and it’s a great thing the PM is seeking to end discrimination against this group.

“T&T is deemed homophobic and, internationally, this is not looking very good. The Prime Minister has our full approval and support.”

The T&T Guardian contacted Marlene Coudray, Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, but her secretary referred us to the Communications Unit, which promised to respond.

Lisa Ghany of the Communications Department at the Office of the Prime Minister also promised to return our calls.

What the PM said: “With respect to the concerns raised in your letter regarding aspects of T&T's Sexual Offences Act and the Immigration Act which may target persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), I wish to assure you that due consideration is being given to these issues by my Government.

“I do not support discrimination in any form against any individual, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

“I share your view that the stigmatisation of homosexuality in T&T is a matter which must be addressed on the grounds of human rights and dignity to which every individual is entitled under international law.

“As such I am pleased to inform you that I have mandated my Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Senator the Honourable Marlene Coudray to prepare and present a national gender policy to Cabinet over the coming months.

“It is expected that once adopted, this policy will forge the way forward for T&T as my Government seeks to put an end to all discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.”

Thanking Price for writing to her and expressing his concerns, she added: “Please rest assured that my Government is doing its utmost to uphold the human rights of all citizens and residents of T&T as we remain committed to a democratic, people-centred approach to governance and development.”

ENDS

Welcomed news but I too like Mr Robinson of CAISO want to have it on record as a speech or from a public platform while that won't concretize it but at least she can be held to her word instead of a leaked document being reported on by a newspaper despite they are using the privilege to do so.

Let us keep a close eye on this, meanwhile anti gay head of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society penned another one of his religious policing homosexuality imperative letters: 

Be vigilant about gay rights

Dear Editor,

I write on the trials at Nuremberg and gay rights.

After World War II the victorious Allies sought to bring the Nazi leadership to justice for their deeds such as the atrocities in the concentration camps. During the trial one of the Nazis' defence was that their conduct was legal under German law.

The Nazi leaders were nevertheless found guilty as the court appealed to a higher law which we all intuitively know, and which made the Nazis criminally liable though they had not broken their law. Atrocities remain atrocities, even when made legal by the state.

The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) arose as a consequence of the atrocities of the war. It sought to define a minimum standard of human interaction.

The document, logically, was created within a particular moral framework and must be interpreted within that framework.

Without this it is of no value. The question to be answered is, which moral framework?

Although the UDHR is non-binding, treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which arise from it are binding on nation states.

This is where gay rights activists and feminists have seized an opportunity. Like the Nazis before them these groups are using the law to advance unsatisfactory behaviours; this time the UDHR itself.

Feminists and gay rights activists seek to interpret the UDHR within a moral framework in which autonomy is the highest virtue. United Nations treaties are not crafted within this framework as there would be no consensus for the treaties to go forward.

Nonetheless, feminists and gay rights activists aggressively seek to interpret United Nations treaties in a manner which reflects their position and claim that nations are in violation of their (feminists and LGBTIII) "rights", according to United Nations treaties .

This is the "rights by stealth" approach.

Using this strategy, feminists claim "rights" to abortion throughout pregnancy and the LGBT community claim "privacy rights" to the most bizarre and unhealthy sexual practices which are responsible for the alarming rates of HIV and STIs among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Other groups are already claiming "sexual rights for children regardless of age" in order to facilitate sexual access to children.

The "rights" strategy is brilliant as the term engenders sympathy, and "rights" create a legal capacity to punish people who show dissent. It is said that the "the price of freedom is vigilance".

Jamaicans must be vigilant, or Jamaica 100 will be radically different from what many of us would wish.

"What gawn bad a mawning cyaan come good a evening."

Dr W WestKgn 6
wayne_west@hotmail.com

Mr West sounds most convincing but idiotic at the same time, isn't this very letter a form of dissent and other more public anti gay, anti abortion. anti buggery review actions taken by himself and his group, has he and the others been "punished?" as he puts it, the victim strategy once again is being attempted here it seems but it won't work. We see his sidekick Shirley Richards with the same argument that in the future gay marriage will be foisted on churches to carry out and Christians will be "punished" if they do not comply, nonsense I say, all sheer rubbish to me when we can't even get passed just basic respect as evidenced in real terms and the use of linguistic and legal manoeuvres to slight us for any protection under the various instruments and bills passed in the houses of parliament. 

Sometimes I wonder if there is a personal vendetta against his very out gay son, Rhodes Scholar Dr Keon West?

Peace and tolerance

H

Trinidadian gays may no longer be discriminated in their gender policy

Gays to have rights in Govt’s gender policy 

was the headline in the Trinidad Guardian today but some advocates in the Caribbean are cynical and are saying it is a Portia like announcement referring to our Prime Minister's suggested buggery review which has been sidelined as unimportant at this time, politicians are known to make announcements indeed promises then relapse into the business as usual mode.

The Guardian published:

Cabinet. Minister in the Ministry of Gender, Child and Youth Development Ramona Ramdial

Homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals in T&T will no longer be discriminated against if the national gender policy is approved by Cabinet. Minister in the Ministry of Gender, Child and Youth Development Ramona Ramdial says there is a proposal in the policy that a person should not be discriminated against because of his or her sexual orientation. Asked if that was promoting gay rights, Ramdial said: “Whether we say it or not, it is already an informal part of our society.

“It is phrased differently (in the policy). It’s more of a human-rights thing, and according to international standards. “The gender policy has been drafted from a human-rights perspective, and is more about equal opportunities.” She noted that the gay groups with whom discussions were held were more interested in equal opportunity in the workplace rather than same-sex marriage.

“They felt they were being discriminated against in the workplace. They were not thinking so far ahead as same-sex marriages.” Colin Robinson, of the group Caiso (Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation), was delighted at the news.

“I am thrilled,” he told the T&T Guardian yesterday evening. “We believe the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in T&T should have the same protection against discrimination that every other citizen enjoys. We are in the 21st century.” Robinson said the group had never advocated for “gay rights,” but about not being discriminated against in the areas of housing, employment and the provision of goods and services.

Former Gender, Child and Youth Development Minister Verna St Rose-Greaves was fired because she had a pro-abortion and pro-gay rights position, Spors Minister Anil Roberts said in a newspaper interview yesterday. But Ramdial said she was not fired only because of that. “There were many different reasons, one being she supported a certain stand the Government did not agree with,” she said.

Ramdial said the Government did not agree with making abortion legal. Asked if abortion rights were not included in the gender policy, therefore, she said: “After consultation with stakeholders, the idea of allowing abortion in rare instances is now being discussed. “For instance, if a very young girl is raped, because of her biological make-up, she will not be able to carry a pregnancy without risk.”

Attorney Lynette Seebaran Suite, head of Aspire, which advocates sexual and reproductive health and rights, said the group would be in favour of decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults in private. All right-thinking citizens would feel the same way, too, she said. She said that would mean doing away with old buggery laws.

Seebaran-Suite said Aspire also would be in favour of abortion in the cases of rape and incest to minors. Dr Gabrielle Hosein, of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, agreed with the Government’s stand on gay rights and abortion.

She said: “If the policy proposes programmes and legislation should be brought in line with the position that one should not be discriminated against, based on his sexual orientation, it is a position we encourage and would like to see formally approved. “Also, if the policy proposes the safe and legal termination of pregnancy on the basis of rape and incest, and to minors, that certainly is a development we welcome.

“That provision does not guide medical practice at present and leads to great confusion in the safe termination of pregnancy.” At Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Minister of Gender, Child and Youth Development Marlene Coudray said the policy was before Cabinet while consultation also was taking place.

“It’s almost to the end, but we are making sure we consult with anyone who has any input to make even at this stage,” she added. Laws which would have to be amended to bring them in line with the proposed gender policy include the Equal Opportunity Act, which does not outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation; the Immigration Act, which allows the exclusion of homosexuals from T&T; and the Sexual Offences Act.

ENDS

Other activists warn that we should read the fine print and watch to see if this is not only an appeasing measure with the struggle in that country. The closest thing we probably have at the moment regarding discrimination via sexual orientation is the Staff Orders in the Public Service of Jamaica that clearly states no one should be discriminated against due to their sexual orientation. Reference was made to it here in this old post from HERE

What little protection that was offered under the Charter of Rights and Sexual Offences Bills were vehemently fought against and had removed due to pressure from anti gay religious zealots, I wouldn't call them Christian at all. Interestingly our gender policy speaks to nothing of sexual orientation or discrimination towards LGBT groups yet it was prepared under the previous JLP administration and released in March 2011 with the assistance of a reputable list of international groups including the Canada/CARICOM Gender Equality Programme (CCGEP) funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of women (UN WOMEN), Fund for Gender Equality (FGE). Just a cursory glance of the document shows how limited the scope was by virtue of employment and geared towards discrimination against women all commendable but the other societal minorities were left out.

The only small mention on gender non conformity in men was in the situational analysis and the policy legal framework where is read: 

"Male involvement in domestic violence as perpetrators is linked to “macho” definitions of men as unemotional beings who do not talk through issues but act out feelings of discontent and frustration in violent aggressive ways. To act otherwise is to be effeminate and not meetup to the heterosexual male norm"

Police reluctant to investigate violence between heterosexual couples – they do so more
readily in cases of violence between two men if they are in a homosexual relationship;

same sex partners in Jamaica cannot appeal to the Domestic Violence Act for recourse or remedy in violent domestic disputes but are able utilize the Offenses Against the Person
Act or Common law for offenses such as assault of unlawful wounding.

parliament unanimously passed the Jamaican Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in March 2011 which bars discrimination on the basis of being a male or female. However, it must be noted that legislative reform by itself will not achieve gender equality especially where gendered roles (and interpretation of law) tend to be rooted in and built on custom, tradition, religion, and deeply held ideology and beliefs about what constitutes “proper” social ordering.

The policy objectives outlined were as follows:

OBJECTIVES

 1. To reduce all forms of gendered discrimination and promote greater gender equality

  and social justice.

 2. To strengthen institutional mechanisms and develop the skills and tools required to mainstream gender in cultural, social, economic, and political institutions, structures, and systems.

 3. To promote sustainable behaviour change and improve organizational effectiveness

  and the capacity of public sector entities to develop, implement and monitor gender

  responsive plans, projects, programmes, and policies.

Read the full document HERE

Some other developments:

Anil: Verna fired for gay/abortion rights

Anil: Verna’s attack on PM, vile and dishonest

Let reason guide Gender Policy debate

Activist calls for answers: Leadership lacking in Govt gender policy

UPDATE December 31

Kamla praised for moves to remove laws against gays

Gay Rights And Great Leaders

PM promises rights for gays in gender policy

Petition ........... Stop Xpressing Hate in support of Trinidadian LGBT allies

Our friends in Trinidad have asked us to join and sign to remove an ad similar to the one that appeared in our paper some time ago. The offending advertisement which mentioned Exodus International appeared in a leading paper there. 


An article from "FreePride Foundation Project" aka FREEPRIDE read in part that - The same His Way Out Ministries as were mentioned; visited our nations last year with their homophobia and 'the cure" in hand to smear the name of people who identified as homosexuals. In the article supported by a bounty of references by their "accredited" "religious" institutions to which is by the way now available on Amazon cause why not hit two birds with one stone and boost book sales as well.

However the disturbing nature of the article was the many "facts" claimed of someone that experience same-sex attraction:

"homosexuality is a manifestation of sexual brokenness...seeking affirmation and love - may result in homosexual relationship, adultery and sexual abuse."

To the impressionable, statement like these would only justify the stigmas that people who experience same-sex attraction are not "normal" but are all sexual defiant, mentally unstable, promiscuous and self-selecting.

Claiming homosexuals are "associated with serious health risk" thus further fuels social ostracization and stigmatization as was shown when a national survey conducted by the The Ansa Mcal Psychological Research Centre for Ministry of The People and Social Development Social Investigations Division[1]. Nearly half of the respondents (48%) indicated “no” they will not go out liming with someone whom they knew was gay/lesbian/homosexual." READ THE FULL PIECE HERE

It was only some weeks ago we saw the Lawyers' Christian Fellowhip aligned Isaachar Foundation full paged ad as well that challenged the call for the decriminalization of buggery here in Jamaica by the lobby groups and advocates. Here is a scanned version I did from the Gleaner newspaper on December 1 when it came out:

HERE IS THE DIGITAL COPY

Interesting that religious groups find funds for full paged ads but we see obvious things that need attention and they are ignored yet they all want to stop persons from making personal private decisions. What about the thousands of children missing where we see Ananda Alerts in the newspapers highlighting such? yet the zeal for that seems non existent but for gays, well!.... see the digital copy of the above local ad here on On The Ground News, one can imagine how caustic they are

SIGN PETITION STATEMENT

This petition seeks to demand an apology from The Express Newspaper (Trinidad and Tobago) for their recent publication on Sunday December 11, 2011 titled "What you should know about HOMOSEXUALITY". Please sign this petition to let Trinidad and Tobago know that you are tired of siting back and reading blatant attempts of public hate and discrimination such as this. This is an outcry to human rights and by signing you can help others demand an apology from the Express and a retraction of this article online.

You do not need to understand Homosexuality to recognize hate and discrimination, you simply need to sign.

GO HERE TO SIGN

We have a long way to go it seems and with a recent meeting by the same Isaachar team with the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship at the Norman Manley Law School where some advocates and bloggers attended they were bombarded with religious rhetoric laced with anti homosexual sentiments and fear that decriminalizing buggery will release homosexuality on the nation whilst implying the free abuse of little boys according to one attendee of the meeting

Sign the petition please and keep watch.

Peace and tolerance

H

Privacy rights for LGBT people in T&T advances says blogger

According to Colin Robinson from CAISO Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation via his blog some progress though small has been made recently with regards to LGBT rights issue in his homeland Trinidad and Tobago.

Here is an excerpted segment of the post speaking to the issue.

Privacy rights for sexual orientation calmly take a small step forward in T&T

The President last Wednesday (June 22) assented to the Data Protection Act, a landmark piece of legislation that establishes an ambitious framework “to ensure that protection is afforded to an individual’s right to privacy and the right to maintain sensitive personal information as private and personal.” The legislation: promulgates rules and standards for all persons who handle, store or process personal information belonging to another person, in either the public or private sector; regulates the authority of public entities to collect personal information, its use, protection, accuracy and access; establishes hefty fines and corporate penalties for breaches; and includes whistleblower protections.

It also provides for the development of binding industry-tailored codes of practice in the private sector.

Of great significance to gay, lesbian and bisexual communities in Trinidad & Tobago, the new law provides heightened protections for “sensitive personal information”, which is defined to include one’s “sexual orientation or sexual life”. Ensuring citizens’ autonomy in their consensual sexual affairs requires bothprotecting their sexual lives from unwarranted intrusion and protecting them from discrimination based on their sexuality.

This is the first piece of legislation recognizing sexual orientation and related rights that we are aware has been enacted in the history of Trinidad & Tobago’s Parliament. Originally drafted and introduced in November 2008 by the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government, the bill was reintroduced by the People’s Partnership in January of 2011, and shepherded to passage with bipartisan support.

To follow lawmaking in Trinidad & Tobago, visit the Parliament website: www.ttparliament.org

The sexual orientation provision was never hidden from the public, and was reported on in the media both times the bill was debated. It is an important lesson about the ways in which our Parliament should be legislating on sexual orientation: soberly, fairly, and without appeals to politics, division, manufactured hysteria and controversy – or imaginary verses from Leviticus. It also demonstrates how legislators can integrate questions of sexual orientation into a broad approach to rights and protections for everyone, and frame them in relationship to matters of broad public and political consensus, e.g. privacy for one’s sexual life.

What is of further significance for legislating on sexual orientation is that the bill was subject to unusually vigorous debate and amendment by the Senate’s Opposition and Independent benches, which left the sexual orientation provisions intact. Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister MP Collin Partap, who piloted the bill, was saluted by the PNM for his flexibility and that of his staff in building consensus on the legislation.

We have previously congratulated the Government for its leadership in moving this legislation forward. Today, on behalf of the nation’s tens of thousands of gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens, the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation pays tribute to all parties in Parliament and our Senators on the Independent bench for their support and vigorous contributions to strengthening of a forward-thinking piece of legislation that strengthens respect for human rights, and for our inclusion in it. We are proud today of our Parliamentarians, and we thank them.

Bill manager Collin Partap was saluted for facilitating bipartisan legislating

This is gspottt’s 100th post!

Trinidad Happenings: International Day against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHO) 2011

Source

Hostility fails to dampen gays’ spirits on awareness march

Members of CAISO walk out of the Port-of-Spain waterfront complex as they embark on what was intended to be a gay rights awareness march through the streets of Port-of-Spain yesterday. From left are Pamela Rodney, Colin Robinson, Kevin Brendt, Stephanie Leitch, of the Network of NGOs of T&T, Kennty Mitchell, activist and walking behind is Cyrus Sylvester. PHOTO: KARLA RAMOO

A little hostility." That's what gay and transgender citizens met on May 17 when they went about presenting packages to several ministries to raise awareness of gay rights. But it wasn't enough to dampen their spirits.

The Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) walked to 15 ministries to mark the country's first observance of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

The event observed the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness. Despite the "little hostility" they received, CAISO's Colin Robinson said: "We weren't deterred and people warmed up anyway. "We didn't hear any name-calling and we haven't been treated as anything but citizens and we also noted the (Gender Affairs) minister in the Guardian has commented positively on our effort."

Robinson said there was a lot of work to be done on the situation in T&T regarding gay and transgender people.

“The glass is half full but there’s a lot of opportunity. Because of this particular Government there are openings to begin to create the T&T I would like to be able to live in. There are real opportunities in the current moment,” he added. CAISO is advocating sex education in schools to equip youths to deal with life better, protect themselves against sexual abuse and understand the mechanics of sexuality.

Other groups also have called for decriminalising of homosexuality. Robinson said the first step was for protection of gays from discrimination and violence which CAISO wanted Government to ensure.

He said the group met former Gender Affairs Minister Mary King earlier this year and raised the issue of the damage which debate in Parliament in February had caused. Robinson noted that one Government Minister in the debate had shouted reminders about a Leviticus verse. He added: “That sort of thing doesn’t help. It only polarises society. That’s not the kind of climate we want to foster.

“We want a reasonable environment where people can disagree on issues of principle and still afford basic civilities and human dignity and with the same rights for everyone.”

Interview with Colin Robinson of CAISO from globewriter on Vimeo.

Colin Robinson of the Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation on ieTV's One on One program. Program was recorded and aired on May 18, 2011 on ieTV 1 Trinidad & Tobago.

According to the Trinidad Express:

THERE were no rainbow-coloured flags, flamboyant costumes or shouts of "we are here" yesterday. Instead, there was a quiet message delivered to six government ministries advocating policy change toward the gay and lesbian communities in Trinidad and Tobago. more than 50 countries around the world celebrated, IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia).
It is the date which marks the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Colin Robinson, president of the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), told reporters at the International Waterfront Centre that he had handed over to ministers' representatives "six politically feasible steps that our government can take to end and to address homophobia in Trinidad and Tobago".
These steps include Government speaking forcefully about embracing the full citizenship and humanity of Trinbagonians who are gay.
The other steps include equal opportunity for members of the community, reduction or eradication of crime against the gay and lesbian community and the police's treatment of members of this group.
The other three proposals include the creating of measures which would steer members of the gay and lesbian community away from sex work, a solid gender policy for the gay and lesbian community and safe schools for all sexual orientations.
Robinson said that yesterday morning they encountered, "some hostility", but were able to "charm" their way through to the ministers' representatives.

Trinidad Happenings: Guardian Newspaper on Asylum

thanks to CAISO for alerting us to this:

The story read:

Trini gets US asylum after gay persecution claim

Wesley Gibbings

At least one T&T national was granted asylum in the United States last year, based on the claim that he faced continued persecution in this country as a result of his sexual orientation. Immigration Equality (IE), a US-based human rights NGO, handled 37 asylum claims from T&T in 2010. There were 38 successful actions by Jamaican nationals and four from Grenada. The names of applicants are not usually disclosed and not all claims are handled by the organisation. Legislative shortcomings that do not address discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation were cited in most instances.

“In many cases, the clients who turn to Immigration Equality for help are literally running for their lives,” IE executive director Rachel B Tiven said in a press release. This, US-based Puerto Rican immigration attorney Sheila Velez said, frequently occurs because there was a lack of access to adequate anti-discrimination legislation in the Caribbean and the result can often be acts of violence including torture and outright job and other discrimination. Local activists do not believe such claims were exaggerated.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) spokesman, Cyrus Sylvester, told the Guardian: “While some may be of the opinion that this claim is overstated, for many members of the GLBT community here in Trinidad and Tobago, persecution based on sexual orientation is a frightening reality. “While all claims for asylum will not be of the same merit, I strongly believe that some of these cases can amount to legitimate claims for asylum in other, more tolerant societies,” he said, adding he was aware of other successful applications in Canada and Europe.

“It (persecution) happens and some persons are so traumatised by these attacks that they sometimes contemplate or even commit suicide, some become withdrawn from (GLBT) social activities and continue a life in seclusion, some become introverted and some even attempt desperately to flee from these shores vowing never to return,” Sylvester said. Velez, who has spoken extensively on Caribbean human rights issues, suggested in an interview with the T&T Guardian that “the stigma and discrimination against all homosexual acts, gays, lesbians, transgenders and ‘all sexuals’ in Caribbean societies is largely due to a longstanding heteronormative culture.

“However, the fact that it is a long- standing part of our culture does not mean we should not do away with it,” she said. The immigration attorney cited as one example, moves to address issues such as domestic violence—something she said that was “for many years sanctioned as part of the justified exercise of authority and control of a husband over his wife. “By now, most Caribbean states have adopted legislation protecting women from domestic violence,” Velez said. Colin Robinson, who serves on the steering committee of the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (Caiso), expressed some discomfort with media attention on the issue. “Irresponsible media scrutiny on a mechanism that can be a matter of life and death can trigger political conservatism and responses that can be quite harmful,” he said.

Caiso has rebuffed a proposal by Gender Affairs Minister Mary King to have a national debate and referendum on same-sex marriages, saying it would make the country a “laughing stock” in the international community. When the suggestion arose in the Senate, Minister in the Ministry of National Security Subhas Panday cited a “chapter” in the biblical book of Leviticus in an apparent attempt to invoke religious opposition to the practice of homosexuality. This incident, Caiso said in one blog, was evidence of the “circus” the national debate was likely to become.

article ENDS

notes:

Of course the twin island republic has been seeing vigourous debate on same sex marriage, sexual orientation and other related issues in the recent month of February with the historic debate on same sex marriage among other things in their parliament a steady stream of articles in the major newspapers as well most of which seem well written have also been appearing feeding the discussion with The Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) being the leading voice advocating for lgbt rights and recognition.

CAISO calls for equal rights - TV6 Morning edition, 21 February 2011 from CAISO on Vimeo.

The new T&T Gov't doesn't have a position on whether gay people have a right to life from CAISO on Vimeo.

The most recent article appeared in the Express newspaper entitiled the Gay Debate and Equality part of which reads:

While the words of our national anthem suggest equality for all, this notion should not be confused with the spurious idea that one has the right to do whatever one pleases or prefers regardless of its moral and ethical offensiveness to a large cross-section of society, or the bitter consequences of violating the norms of nature, and, ultimately, to exhibit behaviour that is an affront to and rebellion against God's creative order.

The postmodern thinker, the secular humanist, the new-age philosopher, the atheist, etc may all immediately raise a red flag here at my reference to God, but that is the sad mistake that so many are making. Truth cannot be suddenly discovered in a bag or some esoteric emotional feeling; if it is truth at all, it must be first ontological (from the foundation of what is "really real") before it is epistemological (what is known or believed).

Thus policies or precepts governing human life must be rooted in objective reality, which cannot get more fundamental than God as the architect or designer of morality. The question of equality cannot be divorced from moral or ethical standards already established by the one Being who only can do so—God, our Creator—or simply an ultimate appeal to theology.

This brings us to the present gay debate. One cannot speak of "failure to admit sexual orientation as a ground of discrimination" as causing T&T to lag "behind the rest of the progressive world" (to quote a newspaper columnist), when such sexual orientation was never a choice allowed for by our original design.
The male and female genitals were designed mainly for procreation. That is the means by which all of us, living or dead, came into this world. Sexual satisfaction was never meant to be the ultimate purpose, and a pivot on which legal policy must be based. This was to be a private, fringe benefit to the married heterosexual.

By J Vernon Duncan

Read the rest here

We are watching developments there as closely as possible.

Peace and tolerance

H

Trinidad happenings: CAISO on Government Action on Violence & Discrimination

With the recent historic debate and subsequent public discussion on rights and sexuality in Trinidad leading advocates CAISO, Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation has been speaking out and on the happenings, here is an excerpt of a well researched and prepared blog post from our friends down the twin island republic.

We don’t need debate on gay marriage. We need Government action on violence and discrimination.

“No thank you!” CAISO has responded to Government’s proposal the day after Valentine’s Day for a national debate and referendum on same-sex marriage, made by Minister of Planning, Economic & Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs during Senate debate on the Statutory Authorities (Amendment) Bill. That legislation seeks to extend a death benefit available to public servants’ next of kin to the employees of statutory authorities. It goes further, to include in the potential beneficiaries the common-law partners of unmarried employees and children born out of wedlock – but restricts the benefit to only partners “of the opposite sex”. In floor debate, Government Senators defended on religious and cultural grounds their decision to recognize fornicators, but not sodomites.

Illustrating the circus such a debate would be, Leader of Government Business in the Senate Subhas Panday, a Hindu, interrupted an Independent Senator, Corinne Baptiste-McKnight, as she criticized the bill for “entrenching” this discriminatory provision and bucking where the world was moving, shouting a reference to an imaginary verse of Leviticus: 52. (Leviticus has only 27 chapters.) CAISO doesn’t trust that this proposal won’t simply take Trinidad & Tobago down the same path of national conflict and global embarrassment as Uganda, ironically as we too chair the Commonwealth of Nations. Holding a popular “referendum” (the word the Government used) on whether a minority group of its citizens has equal rights would also make the nation a laughingstock in the international community.

The proposal is a distraction, Government clearly isn’t listening, and has its priorities on GLBT issues wrong. CAISO has consistently given the Government six politically feasible national priorities for action; and this was never one. We’ve written the Prime Minister, and we met with Minister King early in the new administration to share these.

Three of them address responses to areas where social vulnerability is highest for members of the GLBT community, none requiring legislation or referenda:

• supportive transitional housing to address the homelessness, undereducation and employability issues created by discrimination
• training to reduce police bias and abuse
• making schools safe from bullying and violence for young people, including heterosexual young men who are also harmed by homophobia

We also advocated that Min. King build her own Ministry’s capacity to support the Government with planning, policy and programme development related to sexual orientation and gender identity, through staffing, and government-to-government technical assistance; and we submitted an FY2011 citizen’s budget proposal for a SOGI desk in the Ministry.

Most important, we asked the Government to take action to protect us from the discrimination and violence we face on a daily basis because of who we are, discrimination that is fuelled when national leaders speak of us on television and radio from the chambers of Parliament, not as citizens who have sex in our bedrooms with other adults and party and form organizations and love each other and voted for them, but as people who are controversial and sensitive and connected to illegality and whose rights and relationships require debate.

The Equal Opportunity Act, a brainchild of the UNC Government, which has just entered its second decade, is an ideal vehicle to enact those discrimination protections. (The Catholic Commission on Social Justice, which opposed the 2004 Gender Policy, agrees that we ought to be so protected.) There is furthermore measurable national consensus in Trinidad & Tobago on protecting people from discrimination in basic walks of life, regardless to their sexuality.The Equal Opportunity Commission the Act established is also an ideal vehicle to take the national look at equality, sexual orientation and discrimination, and needed responses, that Min. King is concerned with – in a sober, deliberate and apolitical fashion. In the functions the Act assigns the Commission, it provides for it to review emerging questions of discrimination, conduct research and make recommendations.

follow the rest of this interesting post HERE

Only days ago the Trinidad Express carried the happenings as posted here in excerpts as well.

Senators in biblical clash over gay unions in TrinidadTrini Gays ask Govt for equal rights
Interesting developments to watch as we are sure they will have some impact on our lgbt rights struggle locally.

Trinidad happenings: Coalition Advocating for the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO) on "His Way Out Ministries" tour there .......

When Phillip Lee (left) gets on a plane on October 29th and leaves our shores, the story of the His Way Out Ministries’ visit to multireligious T&T will not be about a “reformed” American gay man who came to combat growing acceptance of homosexuality here…to deliver a message that homosexuality is acquired…reinforce the Lordship of Christ and the authority of scripture, which says homosexuality is a sin…and spread the news that no one has been delivered from homosexuality except through Christ.

UN Right to Education Special Rapporteur Vernor Muñoz said sex education is a human right

It will instead be about three other stories:

that the GLBT community in T&T is ready to organize and advocate visibly for equality; that public opinion in T&T is that gay people should be able to live their lives; andthat young people care about something other than themselves, and that they hold a vision for citizenship that is about taking care of each other and standing up for what they believe in.

The mainstream media hasn’t been very interested in this last story. Even when the young people organizing to demonstrate an alternative local vision to Lee and his hosts’ visited media houses to tell their story, except in the case of Power 102, they didn’t think young people’s agency and vision that newsworthy. But a few journalists did.

Please follow this story on CAISO/GSPOTT Blog: HERE

Let us not forget that this same Ministry along with Phillip Lee was in Jamaica some time ago

Stokeley Marshall, then President of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and Pastor Phillip Lee, (centre in the photo on right) Executive Director of His Way Out Ministries based in California, USA outside of Kings House just before paying a courtesy call on the Governor General of Jamaica His Excellency Sir Patrick Allen on May 26, 2009. His Way Out Ministries is a Christian based ministry that supposedly provides support for men and women who seek freedom from unwanted same sex attraction.

Peace and tolerance

H