THE United Nations (UN) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has acknowledged several recommendations from the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), and the Committee has since made these known to lawmakers in Guyana.The Committee is tasked with ensuring that countries meet their treaty obligations in relation to the UN covenant on economic, social and cultural life, and SASOD was the only local body to submit a report on Guyana’s situation recently.

Last October 9, the Committee released its observations in the form of a report and SASOD members yesterday sought to share their analysis of it with the public. It was done during ‘Lunch Talk’, a project started by USAID/APC to discuss social and human rights issues, among others.

SASOD members Joel Simpson, Schemel Patrick, Monica Brinn and Chase Gorishek conducted the meeting yesterday at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Advancing Partners and Communities (APC) – Guyana Office, Lot 6 Oleander Avenue, Bel Air Park.

EXCLUDING LGBTIs

According to Brinn, who performed a central role in compiling SASOD’s report to the UN Committee, while on one hand Guyana’s Constitution forbids any sort of discrimination, the Non-Discrimination Act of 1997 excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, as well as non-discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
“So that is in contradiction to the covenant which we thought was relevant,” she pointed out.
SASOD further suggested that the Committee recommend to Guyana’s Government a repeal of all of the laws criminalizing consensual sex between two males specifically, but between anyone, and cross dressing.
Brinn said the Committee responded that it recognised this as an issue in Guyana and they were specifically concerned that the Prevention and Discrimination Act of 1997 deals with the employment sector and does not cover other aspects of life.
Other SASOD member and contributor to the report, Patrick recalled that in 2014 the then government of Guyana introduced the Modern Education Bill which sought to enhance the quality of education at all levels.
BULLYING

However, this bill neglected to include sexual orientation and gender identity as one of the non-discrimination clauses. “One of the major issues we face is homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools. It continues to plague the lives of many LGBTI youths. We have recommended to the Committee in our stakeholder report that there needs to be policies that tackle such bullying.”
According to her, SASOD has also recommended that the Prevention and Discrimination Act of 1997 be amended to include sexual orientation and gender identity and health status.
“There are no laws that relate to work and employment that protect LGBTI persons in the workforce. So we are calling for the amendment of the Act.”