Caribbean trans activists form advocacy group

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Meeting of the new Transgender Caucus Group. (Photo courtesy of ECADE)

Eight transgender activists from the Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana and Antigua have formed a new Caribbean advocacy initiative, the Transgender Caucus Group.

Its initial organizational meeting was held during last week’s Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference (CWSDC) on Saint Lucia.

The Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), which organized the conference, announced today:

LBTI Conference Births New Caribbean Trans* Group

Logo of the Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference

(Castries, Saint Lucia, Oct. 13, 2017) During the 5th Annual Caribbean Women and Sexual Diversity Conference [CWSDC], held during the first week of October 2017, on Saint Lucia, trans men and women from across the region convened to form a new Transgender Caucus Group.

This year’s CWSDC was the first time that such a representative group of transgender activists from different parts of the region were together in one location, and they made the most of the opportunity. Activists took the initiative to hold dialogue about moving forward during two lunch-time meetings during the conference.

This was initially chaired by Alexus D’Marco, the Caribbean representative of REDLACTRANS [the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Transgender People] and Vice-Chair of [the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS] PANCAP’s Steering Committee on Youth Advocacy.

Subsequently, an interim management team guided discussions. The new management team is tasked with reaching out to potential members among transgender activists and advocacy groups in the region, community mobilisation and education of transgender persons and the wider LGBQ+ community. The team consists of some eight persons from The Bahamas, Haiti, Jamaica, Guyana, Antigua, along with an advisor from Fiji.

The initial CWSDC-5 group was constructed to give voice to transgender persons in the region and to ensure that discussions on human rights, social equality and sexual and reproductive health are inclusive of trans-men and transwomen’s issues in the Caribbean.

“These persons now have a seat at the table of decision-making and visibility and are available for front line advocacy,” notes D’Marco. “There is now greater visibility and unity among trans-people in Caribbean and as a group we will be moving forward, upward, onward and together as one Caribbean voice. We may all be from different Caribbean countries, but as the meetings demonstrated, our issues are all the same.”

The organisers of the CWSDC, which had as its theme, “Self-development for Community Empowerment”, are pleased that the trans persons in attendance made use of the opportunity to connect and took the lead with the establishing of this new group.

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ECADE logo

“At the CWSDC, we made the decision a long time ago to be as inclusive as possible and are proud of these individuals for seizing the moment to create this entity which will work towards improving the lives trans-persons across the Caribbean. We expect to hear great things from them in the months ahead and will definitely continue to support their efforts,” Kenita Placide of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) said.

The CWSDC was organised and executed by ECADE, a regional human rights organisation, with support from United and Strong of Saint Lucia and [the University of the West Indies’ Institute for Gender and Development Studies at Cavehill] this year. It hosted some 50 plus activists and presenters from 20 countries.

The Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality Inc. (ECADE) is a network of organisations working across the eastern Caribbean. Drawing on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights” and “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”, ECADE works to increase the competence of activists and conscientise the people of the eastern Caribbean for the advancement of LGBTQI and marginalised populations in the region. Learn more at www.ecequality.org or follow @EC_Equality on Twitter and Instagram.

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