Advocates are calling for legislative protection for members of the LGBT community, including parameters for their protection under the provisions of the Equal Opportunity Act.
Speaking at the Human Rights Day Showcase and Launch of “A Sexual Culture of Justice Project” at the University of the West Indies (UWI) on Monday, Elysse Marcellin, said “Without protections and without rights, we can't actually move forward. The interesting thing is, the Equal Opportunity Act provides limited protection of course but it is the biggest form of protection that we have in the country.”
“By doing something as simple as adding protections onto our legislative agenda for people who cannot protect themselves, we offer them at least one snippet of power that they deserve just because they are human. Not because they're gay or because they're anything else but because they are alive and they deserve to be treated as if they are and not as if they are the enemy for something that nothing to do with reality but your perception of it,” Marcellin said.
This, she believes, is especially important for those who are constantly bombarded with insults, which have a significant and negative impact on their mental health.
“For somebody who's living every single day being told that what they are is disgusting, and less than…to go into an office where they already have to hide who they are, not just because they are gay but because they are mentally ill - and often times these two are inseparable - how do they overcome that challenge?”
Leading the charge for the inclusion of LGBT protection under the Equal Opportunities Act is the Amalgamated Workers' Union, which is also seeking protection based on age and health conditions called the “Add All 3 Campaign”
A representative of the union, Steve Theodore, said the union is seeking this inclusion to the legislation as “every day, employers act in open hostility and willful ignorance to the most basic of employment rights.”
Speaking to Guardian Media following the launch, Marcellin said the implementation of the recent Gender Equality Protocol for judicial officers "Justice through a Gender Lens" by the Judiciary was a step in the right direction to protect the LGBT community.
Asked about the complaints made by several religious groups on the matter, specifically the T&T Council of Evangelical Churches, she said, “I think it's easy to get caught up in who's saying what and to be angry and get an emotional response because that our primal reaction, but on a more broader perspective, I think everything we're experiencing - all of the backlash - is part of an evolutionary process that we have to go through culturally before we get to the next stage that we are yet to reach and yet to encounter. But trying to steer it in a way that might support one person's moral compass or another - we have to come to some sort of agreement and this is how we get there.”
Also speaking to Guardian Media was clinical psychologist and clinical psychology lecturer at the university's medical sciences faculty was Dr Katija Khan who indicated that age-appropriate and accurate sexual education would not only help to protect the nation's youth from dangerous sex practices but could also have a direct impact on their perception of the LGBT community.
“I think sex education is wide and encompasses a lot, and some of that would include us speaking about sexual orientation, sexual diversity, sexual identity and we can teach that to children in an appropriate way. A lot of people are fearful that what we are teaching children about is sex, and it's not about sexual intercourse. It's about sexual identity and sexual health and sexual roles and an understanding. I think if we break apart some of that -because I think right now people rely on a lot of myth and taboos - and if we replace some of that with informative, appropriate education, I think it will have the benefit of breaking down some of the stigma and discrimination we see in our society.”
