YOUNG people within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community are one step closer to becoming self-employed, after a fruitful engagement with Minister within Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility for rural affairs, Valerie Adams-Yearwood.

Minister of Youth Affairs within the Ministry of the Presidency, Simona Broomes, had met with some of the young people who applied for 20 acres of land at Yarrowkabra, on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

The group intends to use the land to engage in agricultural activity to earn a livelihood.

Upon hearing their aim, Minister Broomes initiated an engagement with Minister Yearwood, so that the group would be able to receive some help. On Tuesday, they met with the rural affairs minister.

This meeting, according to Executive Director of the Guyana Trans United (GTU), Quincy McEwan, was just a follow-up to another engagement the GTU had with Minister of Youth Affairs, within the Ministry of the Presidency, on Friday last.

“This meeting was primarily based on social economic empowerment for the organisation and the community as a large,” McEwan noted.

What the GTU aims to do, according to the director, is to help persons within the ‘trans’ community gain some financial independence.

“I want to change the narrative for trans persons because we don’t have many places to turn to in terms of employment and many of us turn to sex work for employment and that narrative needs to be changed,” McEwan said.

In changing this narrative, the group developed a sustainability plan last year where they agreed that engaging in agricultural practices could be a more viable and safe means of employment.

McEwan noted that the minister did commit to helping the organisation, once they prepare a document and send it to her.

“She also mentioned that once we get the land, we would have to get somebody who knows about soil, because you can’t just go and plant anything because not every plant could grow on the soil, and she committed to have somebody from the ministry do that,” the director noted.

In addition to this, the GTU executive director said that the group would like some assistance in clearing the land at Yarrowkabra and buildings some pens for poultry.

It is envisioned that within the first year, it is expected that at least 10 to 15 persons would gain employment.

Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle on Thursday, Minister Yearwood said she will engage the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission on Monday to follow up and see the status of the group’s application for the land.

“They did make some requests and I mentioned that I would try to help as much as possible; however, I have a limited budget for 2019. What cannot be attained in 2019, I would certainly put it in the 2020 budget,” the minister said. “The Ministry of Agriculture is willing to give help wherever possible,” she said.