news

thursday, september 30, 2010 | guyanatimesGY.com

Govt sees pro gay lobby
as cultural invasion
G
overnment’s chief
spokesperson, Dr
Roger Luncheon,
has described internation-
al pressure to do away with
corporal and capital punish-
ment and put in place “gay”
legislation as an invasion
contrary to Guyana’s cultur-
al norms.
He made the comment as
Guyana completed another
Universal Periodic Review
before the Human Rights
Council held in Geneva,
Switzerland last week.
Luncheon said that the
international pressure would
be “foisting on Guyanese cul-
ture what the Western world
Dr Roger Luncheon
human rights organisations
for neglecting to adopt sev-
eral recommendations made
Population and Development
group, which stated that
Guyana is mistaken in stat-
ing that people are not dis-
criminated against based on
sexual orientation at a state
level. However, Presidential
Advisor on Governance, Gail
Teixeira, told the Human
Rights Council that the
Christian evangelical move-
ment greatly influenced
Guyanese society and gov-
ernmental decisions sur-
rounding attitudes towards
sexual orientation. She stat-
ed that government is, how-
ever, trying to bring the is-
sue of sexual orientation out
7
GT&T plugs $5M
into GuyExpo
Over time the Caribbean
has been put under pres-
sure to scrap laws against
sodomy as part of efforts to
reduce stigma and discrim-
ination against groups vul-
nerable to HIV and AIDS.
Edghill said the religious
community in Guyana wants
gays and lesbians to have
rights to health care, edu-
cation and housing, but the
IRO is worried youths were
being exposed to unnatural
sexual activities, with the
dissemination of material
about homosexuals. Several
months ago, SASOD made a
court filing challenging the Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad in a group photo with GT&T
constitutionality of colonial Marketing Director Wystan Robertson and the GuyExpo girls

feels, assumes and would
like to have established else-
where as enlightenment,
and for their cultural norms
to supersede ours in a very
uncritical way that ignores
our robust culture”.
According to him, the re-
moval of capital punishment
and sexual orientation dis-
crimination is being advo-
cated because such is sup-
ported by many developed
countries. He pointed out
that while Guyana’s nation-
al legislative agenda does
not support discriminatory
laws, constitutional changes
of this nature and magnitude
would require the clearance
of Guyanese stakeholders.
“The administration
would be most attentive
to what Guyanese want…
the Guyanese community
here and the diaspora,” he
highlighted. Dr Luncheon,
however, pointed out that
Guyana, having acceded to
these international rights, is
obligated to the process.
Guyana recently came
under scrutiny from several
on its Universal Periodic
Review (UPR) at the 15th
session of the Human Rights
Council, regarding the death
penalty, phantom squad
killings, and sexual orienta-
tion discrimination. Of the
112 recommendations made
by United Nations member
states, Guyana supported
57, 14 of which had already
been implemented. Of the re-
maining 55, 15 were accept-
ed, 28 would be considered,
and 18 were simply noted.
Amnesty International
had said it was disappoint-
ed that Guyana rejected rec-
ommendations to establish
a moratorium on the death
penalty. It also suggested
that the country remove leg-
islation that discriminated
against individuals on the
basis of their sexual orien-
tation or gender identity,
and repeal laws that crimi-
nalised sexual activity be-
tween consenting adults of
the same sex. Similar sen-
timents were expressed
by the Action Canada for
of the closet and is working
to promote non-discrimina-
tion. As regards the death
penalty, the presidential ad-
visor confirmed that differ-
entiated sentences were cur-
rently being established. In
some cases, the death penal-
ty would still be applied, but
life sentences would also be
an available option.
Back in June this
year, the Inter-Religious
Organisation (IRO) had
strongly condemned a gay
and lesbian film festival,
branding it as promoting ho-
mosexuality as a new form
of Western colonisation.
“We cannot allow the
Western world to come and
foist their lifestyles and
thinking on to us; this will
simply mean that we are
just allowing a newer form
of colonialism,” said IRO
spokesman Bishop Juan
Edghill. Christians, Hindus,
Muslims and Baha’is com-
prise the IRO. The Society
Against Sexual Orientation
Discrimination (SASOD had
organised the festival.
laws against cross-dressing
after several gays were ar-
rested by police and prose-
cuted for the offence.
Meanwhile, Cabinet be-
lieves that the general con-
sensus at the recent complet-
ed session is that “Guyana,
over the period of review,
had indeed subscribed to its
obligations, human rights
to its people and adhered to
the provisions to those in-
ternational and other legal
instruments that were be-
ing enforced”. Guyana’s re-
port, which was presented
by Teixeira, disseminated to
the nation and Parliament,
Dr Luncheon said. This, he
believes, is an indication of
government’s commitment
to human rights.
“This government’s at-
tention to human rights will
continue and even more im-
portant its reporting on re-
spect for human rights
would be a permanent fea-
ture of the administration’s
mandate,” he outlined.
T
he Guyana
Telephone and
Telegraph Company
(GT&T) has handed over
a cheque for $5 million to
the Tourism Ministry to
aid with the GuyExpo ac-
tivities, which will begin
today.
Making the donation
was GT&T’s Marketing
Director Wystan Robertson,
who said that the company
is pleased to be support-
ing the much-anticipated
event.
He expressed best wish-
es on behalf of GT&T for
the success of the exposi-
tion, which is one of the
largest running exhibi-
tions in the region.
Robertson noted that,
this year, the company’s
booth will place much
emphasis on its Internet
service, and the entire
GuyExpo site will be an
emagine hotspot, so that
any person with a laptop,
smart phone or another
wifi device can have unlim-
ited access to the Internet.
He also pointed out
that GT&T will also be as-
sisting in the distribution
of tickets for the exposi-
tion, where persons can
send an SMS to purchase
their tickets to avoid join-
ing a long queue.
Meanwhile, Tourism
Minister Manniram
Prashad, who received the
donation, expressed grati-
tude to GT&T for its con-
tinued support over the
years. “GT&T has always
been good citizens.
The private sector, as
well as small businesses, is
able to move forward from
their support, since the ex-
position showcases entre-
preneurs across the coun-
try,” he said.
He also pointed out
that GT&T has supported
the event in terms of the
infrastructure.

Govt condemns... From page 2

Bharrat Jagdeo said 11,290 outstanding will be those

policyholders whose premi-
ums do not exceed $30 mil-
lion will be covered with a
payout of $3.6 billion. There
are only 39 large policyhold-
ers with balances in excess
of $30 million. President
Jagdeo said the balances
as at the time judicial man-
agement commenced in
February 2009, noting that
government and the liqui-
dator will “at some point in
time in the future” deter-
mine how to treat with re-
lated parties.

CLICO employees standing outside the premises after

the bomb scare

Dr Singh also said that poli- numbers, and there has

cyholders have exercised the
same patience demonstrat-
ed from the beginning of the
debacle and continue to do
so even when faced with a
situation of further delay to
facilitate queries. The min-
ister explained that policy-
holders were sent letters as-
signing them days to visit
the office at which point the
processing of claims and the
execution of payments would
be carried out. Singh noted
that policyholders have been
turning out in “significant”
been positive feedback. The
Government Information
Agency (GINA) said it visit-
ed the CLICO Camp Street
offices and persons who were
hand to collect their cheques
were extremely happy. One
policyholder indicated that
it took her 10 minutes upon
entering the office for her
transaction to be processed
and for her to receive pay-
ment, GINA said.
At a meeting at the
National Cultural Centre
on September 16, President