“Nothing about us without us” is a motto with a long history. Now it’s a theme of a protest by Caribbean LGBTI rights activists against the London-based LGBTI publication Pink News. Continue reading
Tag Archives: St. Lucia
Barbados training: Police learn about LGBTI community
In the Caribbean, 16 officers from the Royal Barbados Police Force took part in sensitivity training sessions aimed at helping them to improve their understanding LGBTI people and the local LGBTI community, the Nation News of Barbados reports. Continue reading
Caribbean nations inch their way toward LGBTI rights
Several Caribbean countries with laws against same-sex intimacy are at least discussing the possibility of repealing them. In Belize and Jamaica, those laws are being challenged in court. In Guyana, the prime minister talks about repealing them. In Dominica, the prime minister says they’re not enforced. But sexual minorities suffer from intense social stigma in … Continue reading
Toolkit for progress toward LGBT rights in 53 countries
The Commonwealth of 53 nations, formerly the British Commonwealth, can play a positive role in improving the lives of LGBT citizens even though dozens of those countries still have anti-LGBT laws inherited from their former colonial overlords. So say the LGBT rights advocates at London-based Kaleidoscope Trust, which this week published a “toolkit” of recommendations … Continue reading
Grenada is making progress on LGBTI human rights
The island of Grenada is probably best known for the 1983 US-led invasion. However this beautiful tropical paradise — also called the “Spice Isle” for the abundant nutmeg trees, as well as the exotic feel of the country — may soon achieve a much more enviable reputation as one of the English-speaking Caribbean nations that … Continue reading
Progress + disputes: Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia
A recap of recent news about LGBTI rights in three of the Caribbean nations with laws against homosexual activity (Guyana, St. Lucia and Jamaica), with help from coverage in the Caribbean IRN Blog of the International Resource Network: Guyana Stabroek News of Guyana editorialized favorably on Ireland’s vote in favor of Marriage Equality: “Marriage … … Continue reading
Does the Anglo Caribbean need Bahamas Pride?
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) Pride has a very political history. These events are often held to mark major milestones in the gay liberation struggle. For example, the world’s first Pride parade took place in New York on June 28, 1970 and commemorated the brutal police raids on the infamous gay bar, the … Continue reading
Working toward a Caribbean that’s no longer anti-gay
The Caribbean is the only region in the Western Hemisphere that still criminalizes same-gender intimacy. Recently, fundamentalist religious groups across the region have mounted large demonstrations condemning homosexuality, and appear to have successfully lobbied local governments to keep these British colonially imposed anti-gay laws. Not coincidentally, attacks often occur against LGBTI people, most recently a … Continue reading
Caribbean youths seek repeal of 6 nations’ anti-gay laws
Youthful leaders from Caribbean countries with anti-gay laws met last weekend in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, where they signed a declaration seeking greater social acceptance of LGBT people and the repeal of unfair laws against them. Youthful members of the LGBT communities heard first-hand descriptions of the discrimination that LGBT people face on a daily basis in … Continue reading
Impoverished, Jamaica still rejects gay tourism dollars
Jamaica was recently selected to chair the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Ironically, our homophobic laws and practices cuts the country off from a very lucrative segment of global tourism, namely gay travelers. Together, the estimated spending power of this group is about US$140 billion annually. Just a portion of that sum could effectively eliminate … Continue reading
