So the homosexual community in Guyana is interested in foreign policy

Nov 30, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – In the September 17, 2020 issue of Stabroek News (SN) in the letter pages (poor Kaieteur News, I wonder why Guyanese middle class organizations never send their letters to it; must ask Glenn Lall for his take on it), there appeared a letter titled: “Ensure Caribbean remains a collective zone of peace.” The missive was a subtle denunciation of Pompeo’s visit seeing geopolitical designs hidden in the visit.
The signatories are the usual suspects whose record of speaking out on human rights violations and rigged elections are highly questionable. These very people seek peace in Guyana when it is convenient to speak about it. Here are some of the usual suspects; Bonita Bone, common law wife of Ronald Waddell; Joycelyn Dow, partner of Rupert Roopnaraine; the Red Thread cabal; Dr. Alissa Trotz of the WPA overseas group; Vanda Radzik of the WPA; Josephine Whitehead, wife of Henry Jeffrey whose SN columns echoed PNC/AFC’s claims of election rigging; just to name a few. They forgot to send the draft to well known anti-imperialist fighters from the seventies – Clive Thomas and Eusi Kwayana.
But the one organization among those signatories that stands out like a sore thumb is the LGBT group – SASOD. We will come back to the sudden interest of SASOD in international relations rather than human rights. Readers ought to take interest in the date of the letter – September 17. This is one month and 17 days after the zone of peace in the Caribbean almost broke up when for five months racism and election rigging almost used their Draculean tentacles to try to destroy Guyana and the Caribbean Community but these signatories never penned a line about those evils.
Here is an extract from that hypocritical letter, “We are encouraged by the comments of Guyana’s Foreign Affairs Minister that Venezuela is not on the agenda for Mr. Pompeo’s visit. However, our own histories and lived realities in the Caribbean show overt and covert geopolitics, as well as interventions and interference by the USA. We call on the Government of Guyana and on all parties to ensure that the Caribbean, including its diverse peoples,
communities, cultures, physical environments, territorial and maritime boundaries, among others, remains a collective zone of peace Guyana and the Caribbean region have had a proud history of adherence to the principles of non-alignment, anti-racism, territorial integrity, and non-interference in the affairs of sovereign states.”
Nowhere among those words is a mere mention of five months of election rigging that if it has succeeded the Caribbean would have become a zone of racism and destruction. SASOD is the main curiosity among the signatures for two reasons. First as stated above, the letter was a subtle denunciation of Pompeo. It was ironic that SASOD was birthed through resources from the US embassy and USAID and since then receives constant funding from the embassy. SASOD’s office was in Thomas Street, Kitty then in Charlotte Street.
Secondly, since its formation, SASOD has never lent its name to any newspaper letter for any subject in political sociology, culture and economics of Guyana except in the area of protection of the LGBT community. In fact, SASOD has never issued one word about anything under the sun except matters relating to the LGBT community.
This of course is a monumental irony. If any community should be spontaneous in denouncing wrong-doing in Guyana, it should be the LGBT folks. Despite the legality of same sex marriage in a number of countries, throughout the world, LGBT people face daily harassment, victimization and the application of violence. It happens in poor and developed states.
The LGBT community needs total societal protection because of the hate it frequently encounters. But SADOD has never joined the struggle against human rights violations in this nation. I walk the streets in this country and I hear very insulting things said against homosexuals and it is an unacceptable situation. But any group that faces discrimination has to show empathy and solidarity with oppressed sections of society.
Sugar estates were closed that hurt about 28,000 persons; that takes in family members of all sugar workers affected. SASOD was cruel enough not to show any sympathy. SASOD never uttered a sympathetic voice about the destruction of the lives of many young men found guilty of possession of two or three grams of marijuana. Last week, Magistrate Renita Singh in Berbice gave a man six months for stealing a bale of toilet paper. That could be a death sentence in an age of a pandemic. SASOD could still raise its voice in support of rather than being obsessed with American geopolitics in the Caribbean. What a strange topic for Guyanese homosexuals.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)