Strike balance between religion and gay rights – British high commissioner

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gender (LGBT) community in Guyana May 17, marked International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) with British High Commissioner to Guyana, Simon Bond, urging that it is important to strike a balance between religious freedoms and the rights of LGBT people not to be discriminated against.

Bond said homosexuality remains illegal in about 80 countries, noting that it is punishable by death in seven countries: Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Nigeria. He said, too, that some 43 Commonwealth countries still criminalise homosexual behaviour.

“It’s fair to say that the international community continues to struggle to fully recognise the rights of LGBT people; and many countries, including many in the Organisation of Islamic Conference in Africa and the Caribbean, continue to actively block promotion of LGBT rights in international fora. The arguments for this approach tend to be based on religion, morality and culture, and that LGBT issues are somehow a “Western thing”.

Bond said customs and traditions are constantly changing, and that this happens everywhere. “There was a time, of course, when women were treated as inferior to men in every culture and tradition. Culture and tradition cannot justify denying people their rights. Homosexuality exists among all people, and has done so since the start of recorded history. It was not something invented or practised only in the West.”

Bond said human rights are universal. “They cannot be subject to different interpretations of morality. States have an obligation to ensure that laws guarantee the same rights to everyone, regardless of sexuality. And sometimes that means governments need to lead their people, not simply to follow public opinion.”

He said that although the picture in the Caribbean on LGBT issues may not always seem bright, among Guyana’s neighbours to the south it is often different. He mentioned Brazil’s Supreme Court recently recognising the legal rights of same-sex unions; Argentina and Uruguay also recognise such rights. “So, not just decriminalising sexual acts, which they did many years ago, but recognising legal and financial rights.”

He said the government of Guyana committed, at the Universal Periodic Review at the UN in Geneva in May last year to “hold consultations on this issue over the next two years”. “We encourage progress on an open and constructive debate.”

Additionally, Bond said the UK opposes all forms of violence and discrimination against LGBT people as a matter of principle. We believe that human rights are universal and that LGBT people should be free to enjoy the rights and freedoms to which people of all nations are entitled. Discrimination is never acceptable. The UK is committed to combating violence and discrimination against LGBT people, as an integral part of the UK’s international human rights work.”

At the event on Tuesday, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and partners launched a documentary on cross dressing. The goal of the documentary is to create a more supportive socio-cultural environment for sexual and gender minorities through public education efforts which aim to mitigate stigma faced by these marginalised groups, SASOD said. It aims to create a supportive infrastructure by building a more enabling socio-cultural environment, which encourages ordinary people to embrace these groups who are stigmatised because of sexual taboos and gender non-conformity.

Guyana’s laws criminalise cross-dressing. Section 153 (1) (xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act Chapter 8:02 makes it an offence “being a man, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in female attire; or being a woman, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in male attire…”