Crossdressing and Gay Sex Should be decrimalised

President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana listening to Gay rights groups is now considering the repeal of laws which criminalizes consensual sexual conduct between persons of the same sex and cross-dressing and should be the subject to public consultations he said.

“I think this matter should be subjected to consultation,” he said when asked at a press conference on Monday, where he emphasized that the government has a responsibility to pay attention to what society feels.

However, he also indicated that there is need to strike a balance between the public’s feelings and the need to prevent discrimination. It doesn’t mean that you are going to follow it completely, because you have to make sure that society advances in rights and term and other ways, making sure people are not stigmatized, Jagdeo explained.

Last week, six gay rights groups wrote to President Jagdeo, urging him to stop arrests and end abuses against people on the grounds of their perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities, Global Rights, Guyana Rainbow Foundation, Human Rights Watch, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) specifically called for the repeal of the laws that criminalize wearing clothes considered appropriate only for the opposite sex. Women have not been prosecuted under the law.