Belizean LGBT Rights Violations

19th June, 2015 The coalition has met since 2007 in Panama, Medellin, Honduras, El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Paraguay and Washington DC in 2015. Belize have been to all OAS General Assembly through the LGBTTTI coalition. Learning about thematic hearings, the Inter-American Court and Commission, resolutions process and its value. No where in the world, has any international institution adopted seven resolutions on Human Rights:Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.   This year was different as our trans colleagues were denied visa to attend the meeting to attend the OAS meeting. The coalition was upset about it and issued a release in response. We engaged the LGBT Unit to speak about reporting process and followed up in regards to it internal programs on another day. We strategised about how to respond to the fundamentalists along with coordination process.                ...

Posted: May 31, 2015 Written by Kay Johnson An indignant opinion piece entitled The New York Times Magazine Lies! was published in The Amandala on May 29th, 2015, by Russell Vellos, regarding Caleb Orozco, and UNIBAM - http://amandala.com.bz/news/york-times-magazine-lies/ Vellos' outraged spluttering was an attempt to buttress The Amandala's penchant for slandering the LGBT community. It seems poor Russell Vellos is under attack at every turn by those not in sympathy with the Amandala's blatant bigotry. In fact, in an opinion piece from 2011, Vellos portrayed himself as being constantly in fear for the sanctity of his body, due to his irresistible attractiveness to men. Amandala - 25 November 2011, by Russell Vellos http://amandala.com.bz/news/of-this-and-that/ Using the "find" feature, search for "homosexual" (found 54 times) and you'll see clearly who is obsessed, to the point of a seriously unhealthy fixation. If hi...

17th May, 2015 IDAHOT is not a single day, but a daily reminder how Young Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender resist threats, beating, murder, accusations, the lack of legal protection and political indifference in not giving up on their lives. It is a story of victimhood and we in Belize must acknowledge the pain of our Y.L.B.G.T. A pain that crosses a generational divide where the older generation have sought to self-medicate in binge drinking and smoking to help to sustain personal calm, in an atmosphere of hostility and self-guarded socialisation. To the media, he was 18 year old Joseph Sanchez, cross-dresser, murdered victim who died in January,2014 in women's clothing. To the police, ASP Calbert Flowers he was  simply a person, who experienced an attempted robbery and was murdered as a result. Flowers said in a channel 5 interview, " The investigation reveals that this person was walking on Elston Kerr Street when he was attacked by two persons. The investigation...

28th, April, 2015 At the Parliamentary Assembly of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, meeting at its 35th Session in Strasbourg, France on 14 and 19 March 2014, leaders supported a declaration against the suspension of Nigeria and Uganda from negotiations of the Cotonou Agreement for its criminalisation of own L.G.B.T citizens  A declaration which spoke of 'that democracy and human rights do not allow forceful imposition of unilateral points of view by one country over another sovereign country ;' and goes on to say, 'the laws passed in Uganda and Nigeria were proposed by democratically elected Parliaments, and complied with all the necessary legislative procedures, including consultations with a cross-section of their populations;' lost on me is how the rights and dignity of citizens can be subsumed by sovereignty rights. The declaration goes to speak of, 'i ts rejection of any attempt to pressure the ACP countries into accepting values co...

22nd April, 2015 I was at a presentation at Michaal Kirby lecture called : Can the Commonwealth of Nations Survive? A Dismal Story of Human Rights .  and it was fascinating to listen to the evolution of the Commonwealth. What was clear from the presentation was that political rights did not occur without a cost. He explained that The Commonwealth of Nations being a voluntary association of 53 states, constitute more than 25% of the membership of the United Nations; nearly 40% of the World Trade Organisation; more than 35% of the Organisation of American States; and just under 40% of the African union. The represent 26% of the South East Asian Association for Regional Cooperation; around 90% of the Caribbean Community and Pacific Islands Forum and over 20% of the Organisation of Islamic Countries. He pointed out that litigation helped to advance rights, among Commonwealth countries came 'in a number of courtroom',..For Example, ' in...