May 14, 2001
In conservative Caribbean, transsexuals fight for rights
SAN FERNANDO, Trinidad (AP) � Inside Jowelle De Souza’s small beauty
shop, she’s the master of color and cuts. Outside, she’s hailed as a champion of
transsexual rights in this socially conservative Caribbean country.
De Souza, who had a sex change operation when she was 19, was recently
awarded $5,000 by a High Court judge in an out-of-court settlement to pay for
charges of unlawful arrest and police harassment.
She is the first transsexual in Trinidad to sue the state for a violation of
constitutional rights. Such suits are rare throughout the Caribbean where sexual
minorities often stay silent about mistreatment for fear of reprisals.
“It’s one of the biggest problems in our community. It primarily affects
transsexual women � male to female,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney for the
National Center for Lesbian Rights, a U.S. organization that gives legal aid to
gays, lesbians and transsexuals.
Fe Souza doesn’t like to talk about the incident that propelled her to
heroine status. Her lawsuit was settled after one of the policemen accused of
harassing her, Eric George, killed himself and his wife before a trial could be
held.
“Between you and me, it’s over with now,” said the 27-year-old woman, wearing
a sparkly blue dress in her second-floor hair salon.
Police arrested De Souza and charged her with assault in March 1997 after she
pushed a photographer. She said the photographer knew all about her past and was
taking pictures of her without permission.
De Souza said that after officer George took her to the police station, he
and other male officers taunted her for hours about her sexuality.
The men insisted on searching her, even though her identification and
appearance indicated she was a woman. They eventually relented but insisted on
having a female officer strip-search De Souza.
“There was no legal right to search,” she said. “I pushed (the photographer).
I didn’t assault him with a deadly weapon.”
Cases of violence and police harassment far more serious than De Souza’s can
be found everywhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, said attorney Minter.
Activists point to a record of indifference by the justice system toward
violence against sexual minorities. The International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission says the number of rights violations against transsexuals and
transvestites in Latin America is staggering.
In Guatemala, gay rights activists have documented six to 10 murders of
transvestites every year between 1997 and 1999. In El Salvador, seven similar
killings were reported in 1999 and 12 in 1998. Activists say most of these cases
were not seriously investigated and none was solved.
Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island nation off Venezuela, has very few
transsexuals, De Souza said, and even fewer documented cases of abuse toward
sexual minorities. That’s in part because gays and transsexuals are afraid to
speak up.
“There is no public voice in the community,” said Colin Robinson, a
Trinidadian member of Caribbean Pride, a New York-based gay rights group.
Robinson, who now lives in New York, said De Souza’s case is significant not
just legally but in terms of the public response.
He said he was astonished that some Trinidad media reported the case
sympathetically.
“The challenge for sexual minorities in gaining equality in developing
countries is not just around legal rights but it’s fundamentally about shifting
the kind of social spaces that people have to operate in,” he said.
Robinson said one reason for De Souza’s success was that unlike many
transsexuals in developing countries who cannot afford good legal counsel, she
was able to hire one of Trinidad’s most prominent lawyers � the attorney
general’s wife, Lynette Maharaj.
De Souza said she is no longer afraid of being harassed by police and
believes her case should end similar fears by gays and transsexuals.
“I know now that police officers are not going to take that chance again,”
she said.
Source:
http://www.courttv.com/archive/news/2001/0514/transsexual_ap.html
May 14, 2001
In conservative Caribbean, transsexuals fight for rights
SAN FERNANDO, Trinidad (AP) � Inside Jowelle De Souza’s small beauty
shop, she’s the master of color and cuts. Outside, she’s hailed as a champion of
transsexual rights in this socially conservative Caribbean country.
De Souza, who had a sex change operation when she was 19, was recently
awarded $5,000 by a High Court judge in an out-of-court settlement to pay for
charges of unlawful arrest and police harassment.
She is the first transsexual in Trinidad to sue the state for a violation of
constitutional rights. Such suits are rare throughout the Caribbean where sexual
minorities often stay silent about mistreatment for fear of reprisals.
“It’s one of the biggest problems in our community. It primarily affects
transsexual women � male to female,” said Shannon Minter, an attorney for the
National Center for Lesbian Rights, a U.S. organization that gives legal aid to
gays, lesbians and transsexuals.
Fe Souza doesn’t like to talk about the incident that propelled her to
heroine status. Her lawsuit was settled after one of the policemen accused of
harassing her, Eric George, killed himself and his wife before a trial could be
held.
“Between you and me, it’s over with now,” said the 27-year-old woman, wearing
a sparkly blue dress in her second-floor hair salon.
Police arrested De Souza and charged her with assault in March 1997 after she
pushed a photographer. She said the photographer knew all about her past and was
taking pictures of her without permission.
De Souza said that after officer George took her to the police station, he
and other male officers taunted her for hours about her sexuality.
The men insisted on searching her, even though her identification and
appearance indicated she was a woman. They eventually relented but insisted on
having a female officer strip-search De Souza.
“There was no legal right to search,” she said. “I pushed (the photographer).
I didn’t assault him with a deadly weapon.”
Cases of violence and police harassment far more serious than De Souza’s can
be found everywhere in the Caribbean and Latin America, said attorney Minter.
Activists point to a record of indifference by the justice system toward
violence against sexual minorities. The International Gay and Lesbian Human
Rights Commission says the number of rights violations against transsexuals and
transvestites in Latin America is staggering.
In Guatemala, gay rights activists have documented six to 10 murders of
transvestites every year between 1997 and 1999. In El Salvador, seven similar
killings were reported in 1999 and 12 in 1998. Activists say most of these cases
were not seriously investigated and none was solved.
Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island nation off Venezuela, has very few
transsexuals, De Souza said, and even fewer documented cases of abuse toward
sexual minorities. That’s in part because gays and transsexuals are afraid to
speak up.
“There is no public voice in the community,” said Colin Robinson, a
Trinidadian member of Caribbean Pride, a New York-based gay rights group.
Robinson, who now lives in New York, said De Souza’s case is significant not
just legally but in terms of the public response.
He said he was astonished that some Trinidad media reported the case
sympathetically.
“The challenge for sexual minorities in gaining equality in developing
countries is not just around legal rights but it’s fundamentally about shifting
the kind of social spaces that people have to operate in,” he said.
Robinson said one reason for De Souza’s success was that unlike many
transsexuals in developing countries who cannot afford good legal counsel, she
was able to hire one of Trinidad’s most prominent lawyers � the attorney
general’s wife, Lynette Maharaj.
De Souza said she is no longer afraid of being harassed by police and
believes her case should end similar fears by gays and transsexuals.
“I know now that police officers are not going to take that chance again,”
she said.
Source:http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TSsuccesses/Jowelle/Jowelle.html