Trinidad welcomes activists marching for the human rights of LGBTQIA people — at least in the context of the weekend’s women’s rights march — but the story is much different for an LGBT activist who sued to overturn the country’s anti-sodomy law. Continue reading
Caleb Orozco struck me as nervous but determined when we first met in 2007. We were among only a handful of Caribbean civil society delegates at an Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in Panama. In the very Latin space that is the OAS, I affectionately referred to our grouping as the “English ghetto” … Continue reading
Jamaican activist Maurice Tomlinson discusses the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia: Today I had the honour of delivering the keynote speech at the inaugural IDAHOTB Leadership Breakfast hosted by the Mayor of Toronto. I joined in celebrating the fact that this multicultural city has indeed become a sanctuary for many LGBTI activists from … Continue reading
The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network reports: Increasing the visibility of LGBTI people and their rights in the Caribbean Two separate, but related events supported by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network took place in the Caribbean last week: Police LGBTI Sensitization Training in Antigua and Barbuda from November 24–27 and The launch of the Barbados Pride … Continue reading
LGBTI advocates are mourning the death of Guyanan activist Zenita Nicholson on Oct. 26, apparently by suicide. She received the International Woman of Courage Award in 2014 from the U.S. Embassy in Guyana in recognition of her work for women’s rights and the human rights of LGBT people. Her apparent suicide “has shown that even … Continue reading
What is the role of economic incentives, perhaps including boycotts, in encouraging homophobic countries to recognize the human rights of LGBTI people? Jamaican/Canadian activist attorney Maurice Tomlinson and A.C., a reader of this blog, discussed that issue in the following interchange. First, excerpts from a blog post by Tomlinson on May 11, 2015: Will tourist-dependent … Continue reading
Denis LeBlanc is a pioneer of the LGBTI liberation movement in Canada and has been a visible activist for SOGI equality for over 40 years. He was among the first Grand Marshals for Ottawa Pride. Maurice Tomlinson is a leading LGBTI activist from Jamaica and has also been collaborating with local activists across the Caribbean … Continue reading
First of two articles about the challenge of breaking through emotional barriers that people erect between themselves and victims of persecution who act or look unlike them. This article, by activist lawyer Maurice Tomlinson, focuses on affluent gay men’s barriers to understanding poor LGBT Jamaicans, Trinidadians, and themselves. The following article, by activist/commentator Scott Long, … Continue reading
The fundamentalist Christian group, Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), is one of the island’s most strident campaigners against LGBTI human rights. The organization’s Chairman and most outspoken representative, is Dr. Wayne West, a medical doctor and Senior Lecturer in radiology at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. West regularly uses his medical … Continue reading
Hundreds of my dear friends, family members, and acquaintances, sent me warm and heartfelt birthday wishes yesterday. But, hands down, the one that I treasure the most came from Jamaican lesbian activist Angeline Jackson. She said: “Happy Birthday Maurice! Also a day when this young activist you believed in got recognition from the ‘leader of … Continue reading
