…PPP boycotts meeting with human rights group

THE Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), on Tuesday, launched an ‘elections’ manifesto and the body says it has engaged several small political bodies and plans to engage the major parties contesting next month’s regional and general elections.
SASOD head, Joel Simpson, told members of the media that the group has met with several small political parties, including the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) and it has extended an invitation to the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) to take part in an event, later this month, organized to air its views on a range of issues relevant to the manifesto.

Simpson, who was flanked by other members of the group, told members of the media, at the organisation’s Duncan Street office, that the group has a range of issues which it wants the new government to consider.

The issues include constitutional and law reform matters and, according to the body, the group is calling on the new government to repeal, by the end of 2020, sections 321-353 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, which speak to criminalizing same-sex intimacy between consenting, adult-men in private.

The body also wants the laws of Guyana to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as grounds for discrimination in the Prevention of Discrimination Act (Section 4) by the end of 2020.

In terms of sexual and gender-based violence, the group wants the new government to fully implement and apply existing laws regarding sexual and gender-based violence, ensuring there are adequate resources to provide services to all victims, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer(LGBTQ+) persons.

SASOD also wants the new government to ensure that all police, probation officers, social workers, and child protection officers are trained on gender, sexual diversity and human rights, so they could be fully equipped to respond to instances of sexual and gender-based violence, as well as hate-motivated crimes.

According to SASOD, sexual and gender-based violence is a silent epidemic affecting LGBTQ+ Guyanese. “Although the Domestic Violence Act is gender-neutral, persons in LGBTQ+ relationships are unlikely to seek out health, protective and judicial services provided by the state because of ignorance and insensitivities towards LGBTQ+ issues, and high levels of discrimination,” the group said.

The group also wants the new government to address its concerns as regards bullying of LGBTQ youth and those in the education sector to feel safe. The group also listed concerns relative to the public health sector including equal access to treatment and provision of targeted and specialized health services for communities which fear discrimination and stigma.

When asked by the Guyana Chronicle if the body is confident that the 15 items listed in its manifesto will be addressed by the new government, Simpson said he was optimistic about such an eventuality.

He said the group hopes to engage several political parties in the weeks leading up to the March 2, 2020 elections.

Simpson noted, however, that last month the body was left in the cold by a major political party. He said on January 24,2020, the body organized a meeting with the Opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the Bharrat Jagdeo-led party promised to attend the meeting. He said the party even dispatched party paraphernalia the day before the event but no one from the PPP showed up.

Simpson said a large gathering of SASOD members and associates turned up at the body’s Duncan Street office but to their disappointment the party’s members never showed up.
He said Jagdeo has promised to engage the body at a later date.