Dear Editor,
At the recent Universal Periodic Review of Guyana’s human rights obligations, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett deflected the government from the responsibility to stop teachers beating children. The Minister also denied that the government discriminated against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens even as she noted the “interpersonal prejudices from the 25% homophobic.”
The Minister noted that lack of “general consensus” in the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) which received submissions about whether children should be beaten in Guyana’s schools.
Several of the submissions to the PSSC were from and about Guyanese who changed from beating children to not beating children. The Ministry of Education and the rest of the government seem to have no faith in the ability of Guyanese to transform their beliefs and attitudes to recognise that children are human. This transformation requires exposure to training and rejection of centuries of abuse.
One of the most sickening things about the Ministry of Education is how it panders to those who believe in beating children. Fortunately, Guyana in forming laws does not pander to the views of men who abuse women or people who sexually abuse children. Maybe in the implementation of the laws it is a different story. The government succumbs willingly to those who are violent instead of providing leadership in changing attitudes. That is probably the legacy of years of beating those who are still scared of the licks, or believe that they are okay now as they beat children and engage in other forms of discrimination and abuse. Violence is learned behaviour.
In a society in which violence is intensifying, and in which it is clear that there is a lack of consensus on the use of violence generally, the Ministry of Education has no excuse to not move forward on implementing non-violent forms of discipline in schools.
The Minister said the government is not aware of discrimination against LGBT citizens. Yet, the government supports its own homophobic Minister Edghill in his ‘gays should be on an island’ and ‘evil gay agenda’ philosophy. What is more evidence of the discrimination when there are no sanctions against the Minister who abuses his power to fuel the hatred which drives the 25% homophobic in the “interpersonal prejudices” which the government acknowledges?
It is a shame that the Minister of Foreign Affairs did not report that interpersonal prejudices flourish because sexual orientation and gender identity are not recognised as grounds for discrimination, either in law or even in strong policies which would enforce accountability.
The 2012 report ‘Collateral Damage: The Social Impact of Laws Affecting LGBT in Guyana’ provides evidence of the discrimination which the government does not want to be known about. Guyana Trans United on January 11 of this year used the second anniversary of Tiffany Holder’s murder to reflect on the other unsolved murders and violence, and the police inability to charge any persons in the murders.
The 2013 survey which was used to get the “25% homophobic” might have been the ‘Attitudes towards Homosexuals in Guyana.’ This survey suggested that 58% of Guyanese are either tolerant or accepting of homosexuals, while a further 17% are undecided or had no views. It is sad that the government did not think that this was the opportunity to promote equality for Guyana’s LGBT citizens. Instead the government seems to succumb to those who think that LGBT Guyanese have sinister agendas to destroy humanity, and use their prayers as the reason to abscond from the responsibility to ensure equality for all citizens.
It is a tragedy when the government and other decision-makers choose to align with the unjust, rather than with those who believe that adults should not be beating children and those who believe that LGBT citizens deserve the same rights and protections as all other citizens.
It is sad that the government and other decision-makers have no recognition of the possibility of a Guyana in which all Guyanese including children are protected from violence and discrimination.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
