The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) has launched a social media campaign to curb cybercrimes against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, which it says has been on the rise since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Guyana.
According to SASOD’s Human Rights Coordinator Kobe Smith, the non-governmental organisation, which usually documents cybercrimes against LGBTQ persons in Guyana, has observed an increase in these cybercrimes since Guyana entered a partial lockdown and more persons were forced to stay home. He told Sunday Stabroek that the discovery led to the decision by the organisation to launch an online campaign against cybercrime and cyberbullying.
“We recognised that there is a lot of ignorance when it comes to cybercrimes. In particular, we [had] been documenting issues pertaining to the sharing of nude photographs, without consent, acts of humiliation, vulgar comments about people’s health status and defamation, all targeted against persons within the LGBT community,” Smith said.
