Guyana Trans United

Location: Guyana

Focus: Supporting the trans community

GTU ensure that the rights of Guyana’s trans people are recognised in all domains through human rights advocacy, promoting respect and acceptance within society, and empowering trans individuals through creating and sustaining an environment free from violence, prejudice, and discrimination.

A former British colony, Guyana continues to criminalise sex between men with a punishment of life in prison. While rarely enforced, the law contributes to ongoing negative perceptions of LGBTQI people. Politicians regularly use anti-LGBTQI hate speech and evangelical Christian leaders vocally oppose the human rights of LGBTQI people. As a result, public attitudes are mostly negative and LGBTQI people are threatened, harassed, attacked and stigmatised. 

However, public opinion, especially among younger generations, has been shifting. In 2018, the Caribbean Court of Justice overturned a ban on transgender ‘cross-dressing’ widely used to criminalise transgender people in Guyana. The ruling could prove beneficial to GTU’s ongoing campaign to overturn the British colonial era ‘buggery law’ which could improve access to health and rights services for transgender people.

In 2021, GiveOut’s grant will support GTU’s core costs in facilitating community access to a range of services, including HIV counselling and testing, legal advice, and peer and psychosocial support. 

GiveOut is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity Number 1176434).