– SASOD Women’s Arm plugs Community Work

By Shunza Samuels

THE Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has been championing the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Guyanese since its establishment. They continue to exert every effort to ensure that their voices are heard as far as possible, where the rights of these marginalised communities are concerned.

Last March, their efforts took on another dimension as SASOD’s women members launched a group, which is intended to empower lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. SASOD Women’s Arm Guyana (SWAG), gained immediate prominence in the work that the organisation does, and in October 2017, it participated in the Fifth Annual Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference (CWSDC) in St. Lucia.

At the conference, Guyana was represented by SWAG Chairwoman, Terianna Bisnauth, as well as SASOD member, Dr. Nastassia Rambarran , SASOD board member, Twinkle Bissoon, and Devanand Milton, both also from the Guyana Trans United (GTU), and Tameka McEwan from the Guyana Rainbow Foundation (GuyBow).

These Guyanese ladies joined over 50 activists and presenters from 20 countries, including the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize and Suriname.

Their participation in such a major event was an experience like no other and of course, it even brought greater value to the work they do here in Guyana. This ground-breaking, pre-eminent networking event was convened under the theme, ‘Self-Development for Community Empowerment’ and was held from October 5 to 9, 2017.

Bisnauth described the event as a revolutionary and life-changing experience. “The opportunity to learn, participate and work together with fellow participants and facilitators, even when it was uncomfortable and shakes our very foundations was amazing,” she said. “We demonstrated maturity, respect and understanding which certainly created a space for persons to be comfortable. Our fluid identities allowed us to talk about our differences and challenges within our political spaces, whilst being conscious of our vulnerability of our shifting selves and using creativity and self-love to embrace our lives.”

McEwan said her participation has allowed her to have a greater appreciation for the work she does and her contributions to this cause. “The presentations on topics like ‘Gender and Grant Writing’ were the most outstanding learning experiences for me. Consequently, I acknowledge COC Netherlands for making this possible.

Every lecture imparted by women leaders and every experience shared by Caribbean peers brought me to the realisation that my country’s struggle for the attainment of equal opportunities is by no means isolated,” she said. ” Inspired by the challenges and successes that CWSDC5 sisters were both living daily or striving to accomplish, I’m now more motivated to step up the level of my advocacy towards the benefit of lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ) women in Guyana.

Through CWSDC5, my thought process and learning experiences will see me adopting strategies in calibration with similar groups in and out of Guyana, to increase the visibility of women and obtain the rights that belong to every human being.”

For Dr. Rambarran, the experience at this conference was second to none. “It was awesome being in a space for the first time with so many amazing, talented and strong women, who were trying to uplift and empower each other. Personally and professionally, it really helped in strengthening my drive to be a better advocate and also to improve in my area of interest, which is public health,” she said.

“Also, coming out of that engagement, we realised that there is a pressing need for an online space, where the health needs of LGBTQ women are addressed. Currently, there is no such space in the Caribbean and this sometimes poses a challenge. However, there are a few such spaces in North America but it is not very structured.”

Dr Rambarran continued, “Therefore, there is a need for such a space where all types of health information can be accessed. We actually got the idea to develop a website for LBTQ women and I am currently trying to get funding for that. I have shared this idea with the conference organisers and we will collaborate shortly to try and brainstorm donors that can support this work,” she said.

“Also, coming out of the conference, I found that the lessons learnt can help to improve my work that I am doing in Barbados and Guyana as well with LBTQ women. I am currently doing a study on body image: issues and experiences for LGBQ women in Barbados. It was really exciting and I hope we can attend this year’s conference as well.”

According to Kenita Placide, one of the CWSDC organisers, over the years the conference has focused on empowering activists to better serve their communities and region.

She went on to state that this empowerment is reflected not only in the work that these activists do in their home country but also their growing involvement in the conference as presenters and organisers.

This year’s sixth annual conference will be held in Belize, and incidentally, SWAG will mark its one-year anniversary later this year as the arm of SASOD led by and focused on women.

The organisation has big things planned for this grand celebration and chief among these would be its’ feminine hygiene drive. The project will culminate on International Women’s Day (March 8) to commemorate SWAG’s first year of existence.

This will see the distribution of feminine hygiene and toiletry hampers to homeless and poor Guyanese women.
SWAG is currently soliciting the contributions of companies, organisations and individuals in donating items such as sanitary napkins and pads, tampons, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and other personal-care items.

Persons, agencies and businesses desirous of donating to this cause can contact SASOD’s office at 203 Duncan Street, Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown or by Telephone on 225-7283 or 623-5155.

The women’s group believes that by reaching out and providing these underserved women with these essential items, they are providing a humanitarian service.