The
United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) has issued six (6)
commemorative stamps which promote the human rights of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as part of the "Free & Equal"
campaign - an official UN campaign which promotes LGBT human rights
worldwide, launched and led by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
While the UN is being heralded in the global media as the first
international organisation to issue stamps promoting LGBT human rights,
it is completely erroneous and misleading for the CIOG to suggest that
the UN has released "stamps promoting homosexuality and transgenderism."
The six, commemorative stamps promote the human rights of LGBT people -
the same human rights to which members of the CIOG are entitled, and
probably take for granted. It is also irrelevant whether or not the
CIOG, other groups and countries approve of this publicity move. One of
the fundamental pillars of the United Nations is the promotion of human
rights. The human rights of sexual and gender minorities have way too
long been neglected by the UN and it is way past time that the rights of
this historically marginalized and socially disadvantaged group is
given much-needed attention by this global, human-rights body.
SASOD
is also concerned that CIOG feels it can speak for "Muslim community of
Guyana." All Guyanese Muslims are not homophobic and transphobic. In
fact, many prominent Guyanese Muslims who SASOD engages in our work to
promote equality are very supportive of LGBT human rights. If however,
the CIOG has taken this homophobic position that the human rights of all
people, including LGBT Muslims, are "detrimentally opposed" to the
CIOG's "beliefs and culture," then the organisation should simply not
purchase or use the stamps - which are not even available in Guyana;
only at UN Headquarters in New York, Geneva and Vienna. Guyana is a
plural society made of diverse peoples of many beliefs, cultures and
faiths. We are not homogeneous. Our diversities should be celebrated and
promoted in all its forms - be it ethnic, racial, religious, gender,
sexual, bodily and any other forms of human diversity. While we might
not all the share the same views on any given issue, we are all entitled
to freedom of expression under the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and the Guyana Constitution. Guyanese are not all Muslim, nor are
we all religious, but the CIOG is freely entitled to print stamps
promoting Islam in Guyana. Non-Muslims, atheists, agnostics and others
who do not subscribe to Islam would not be justified in any attempt to
trample on freedom of expression to print stamps promoting Islam. So why
is the CIOG seeking to use its own prejudices to justify a violation of
human rights against another group? The reasoning - or lack thereof -
in the CIOG statement is the anti-thesis of human rights. The CIOG is
sadly mistaken if it thinks the role of the United Nations - or even the
Government of Guyana - is "upholding the moral values" enshrined in
Islam or any other religion. History has taught us that many of these
"moral values" of the "great religions of the world" have lead to wars,
destruction and despair at the hands of human beings who have misused
religion in the most divisive socio-political ways - as the CIOG is
seeking to do with its statement - which lead to the need for global
institutions like the United Nations, and its precursor the League of
Nations. If the CIOG really believes the UN should "foster peace,
inclusion and respect for the rights of others," then the organisation
would not issue such a toxic statement. It would in fact support the UN
"Free & Equal" campaign in these efforts. It is because groups like
the CIOG still exist in the twenty-first century, that the UN needs to
have a "Free & Equal" to promote respect for the human rights of
people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. SASOD is
disappointed, but not surprised, that the CIOG would use its own "fear"
to threaten the "already fragile coexistence and religious tolerance and
harmony that currently exist" in Guyana and the world. SASOD opposes
the extremism of the CIOG in all its forms.
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