House passes amendments to decriminalise cross-dressing

Aug 11, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – The National Assembly, early Tuesday morning removed the offence of cross-dressing from the Summary Jurisdiction Offences Act. The move is in keeping with a decision which the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) handed down to have cross-dressing as an offence struck from the law books, some three years ago.

Attorney General, Anil Nandlall SC.

The amendments to the Act were made after Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall SC successfully presented the Bill to amend the law.
Yet, the matter was met with arguments from some members of the opposition benches who raised contentions over the matter given their strong religious views. Prior to the passage of the Bill to amend the Act, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Parliamentarians, Richard Sinclair and Annette Ferguson were most vocal in their disapproval of decision to strike cross-dressing off the law books.
The two parliamentarians essentially argued that the decision offends God. Throughout his presentation, Sinclair references verses and bible scripture that disapproves of cross-dressing
“The word of God affirms a clear distinction of what our dress code should be…When we behave like this, Mr. Speaker, it is a sin because we have broken our relationship between that and Almighty God,” Sinclair stated.
Ferguson raised similar objections. “Simply put,” Ferguson argued that, “cross-dressing crosses the line that God set for gender expression.”
She held that indulgence of the act is “an abomination”.
However, in support of the Bill, opposition member and AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan noted the amendments to the Summary Jurisdiction of Offences Act are in keeping with the United Nations Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
“I will support this to the extent that it is logically concluding that cross-dressing is an offence because it violates the human rights of the persons who want to cross-dress and especially in the context of when they are not creating any harm,” Ramjattan said.
Meanwhile AG Nandlall in his response to the opposition noted that while some people have some strong Christian views “in a liberal secular society , in a democratic nation, you’re entitled to those views but the Constitution says, civil liberties say that those people are also entitled to dress in that way.”
Nandlall emphasized too that civilisation and democracy “compel a peaceful co-existence” of competing interests. “You will see whatever concerns you have, as a religious community, the world has moved away. The thinking is that we are all God’s creation,” he added.
The CCJ had in November 2018 struck out cross-dressing because it is a violation of Guyana’s Constitution. This was after three men and the Society against Sexual Orientation against Discrimination (SASOD) had brought against the State after the men had been arrested by police and charged with wearing female attire.
The case of Quincy McEwan, Seon Clarke, Joseph Fraser, Seyon Persaud and SASOD v The Attorney General of Guyana began with the arrest of the appellants in February 2009.
Back then, Attorney General Basil Williams had noted that even if the law was not amended, neither the police nor prosecutors could take any action against cross-dressers because the CCJ had already removed that section of the law by its judgment.

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