THE laws against sodomy, same-sex sexual activity, and cross-dressing in Guyana have been described as a form of apartheid, which should be expunged. This was the view of speakers at the launching of a report on the social impact of laws affecting lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons (LGBT) in Guyana.
The speakers agreed that those laws were vestiges of colonial imperialism, and were repugnant because they were part of an alien legacy and of a system of moral regulation of subjugated populations.
The view was that the imperialists of today were those who sought to have the anti-sodomy laws maintained, and not those who sought to have them deleted from the Laws of Guyana.
The report, titled “Collateral Damage – the social impact of laws affecting LGBT persons in Guyana”, was prepared by Dr. Christopher Carrico, a United States-based independent researcher, who holds a PHD in Cultural Anthropology for a dissertation on the history of the Akawaio people of the Upper Mazaruni.
The study on which the report was based was sponsored by the University of the West Indies Rights Advocacy Project (URAP), and was co-funded by the British High Commission for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and the British High Commission for Guyana.
The launching ceremony was held at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Building at Main and New Market Streets, Georgetown. There were welcoming remarks by Dr. Arif Bulkan of the Faculty of Law of URAP; and by Ms. Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland, Director of Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP); Ms. Ulele Burnham, a Barrister from the Doughty Chambers of London; and then the presentation by Dr. Carrico.
The 32-page report on human rights violations of sexual minorities in Guyana was handed over to several persons at the end of the presentation.
Recipients included Ms. Azeema Baksh, Attorney-at-Law and Legal Research Officer of the Governance Unit of the Office of the President, who represented Presidential Adviser on Governance, Ms. Gail Teixeira.
URAP had sponsored the study in keeping with its objective of   promoting human rights and social justice in the Caribbean through  pivotal public interest  litigation, and related activities of legal and social science research on the situation relating to human rights in the Caribbean, and public education.
In her presentation, Ms. Ulele Burnham spoke on “Anti-Sodomy Laws and Associated Laws: Offences against equality.” She said the laws displayed blatant disrespect for the diversity and dignity of all sections of the Guyanese community.
“It is not for government to determine who a person’s sexual partner should be; that decision should be left to the person them self.”
She said those laws dated back to 1893, and charged that they were analogous to the situation in  the George Orwell book ‘Animal Farm’, where it was stated by edict that all men are equal, but some are more equal than others.
Dr. Carrico said he had found in his studies that LGBT Guyanese had been victims of harassment and physical abuse, discrimination, and even vicious crimes, simply because of their sexual orientation.
He said that existence of the anti-sodomy laws encouraged that disrespect and abuse, and opined that steps should be taken to delete those laws, because the decriminalization would mean that LGBT persons could no longer be targeted; and the next step would be enacting laws ensuring that LGBT persons have equal rights in all spheres of life.