GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) Wednesday launched a campaign to increase public tolerance of gays and convince both government and opposition to amend legislation that violates the human rights of its members.
SASOD’s general manager and founder, Joel Simpson, said the next phase, to be achieved over the next two years, is to have these laws criminalized and repealed.
Simpson said that’s because of the significant impact of the “Guyana Together” campaign on public education and the roll-on effect of people pressuring the legislature’s ordinary legislators.
The campaign has been endorsed by 63 organizations and businesses, including the Black Entrepreneurs Association, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Guyana Presbyterian Church, and Help and Shelter.
Simpson said Sections 351 to 353 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act Chapter 8:01 criminalize intimacy between consenting adult men in private by regarding those acts as gross indecency, attempted buggery” and buggery.
He said a poll conducted last year found that 54 percent, or more than half of Guyana’s population, supported repealing laws that criminalize intimacy between consenting men in private.
The survey found that acceptance had grown from 19 percent to 34.5 percent, with a significant number of Guyanese indicating that they would accept Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LBGT) people in their lives.
Simpson said the new campaign was developed based on figures from the 2022 poll that shows 49.4 percent of Guyanese who did not know an LGTB person personally, “We needed to bring real-life stories of people to them- to their homes, to their workplaces, to their communities, to their faith groups|.
The poll states that 50.6 percent of Guyanese said they knew an LGBT person, and there was a correlation between knowing someone and acceptance of LGBT persons.
“Friends, we all know in our hearts that all Guyanese deserve nothing less than full equality under the law and freedom from discrimination. Guyana cannot progress without addressing discriminatory laws, which hurt individuals, families, communities, and the nation as a whole,” he said.
Presbyterian Pastor Reverend Patricia Sheerattan-Bisnauth supported the Lesbian, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ) community, adding that Guyana has a moral obligation to stand up for common humanity as well as join in solidarity with marginalized siblings, caste out and denied equal rights under the laws of Guyana. “As children, we were taught the golden rule of treating others as we would like to be treated, but currently, our laws allow some of us to be treated with disregard, disrespect, and even with disdain, and we have seen here in Guyana great prejudice and harm against LGBTIQ persons,” she said.
The pastor warned that Guyana could not progress with discriminatory laws that hurt individuals and said the time has come for Faith communities to support a review of the legislation in the quest for full human dignity.
She recommended that national dialogue start based on respect, a key ingredient to overcoming fear and prejudice.
Chair of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry membership and diversity committee, Kerri Gravesande-Bart, said her organization was eager to arrange events, workshops, and discussions and find “tangible solutions and actionable steps towards a more inclusive society.”
She urged other private sector organizations to “create a nationwide conversation to revise Guyana’s laws where diversity is celebrated and equal treatment is a norm.”
Senior representatives of the United States, British, Canadian, and the European Union attended the campaign’s launch. These countries have sometimes called for legislative reforms to end discrimination against LGBTQI persons.
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