HPP: Equality

This report by the Human Rights Watch showcases through empirical analysis and individual testimony how existing discriminatory legislation in seven Eastern Caribbean countries negatively impacts LBGTQ populations. The current legislation brings an elevated risk of discrimination, violence and abuse to those identifying as homosexual, bisexual, transgender, etc. Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines all possess versions of 'buggery' and 'gross indecency laws', echoes of British colonialism, that prohibit same-sex conduct between consenting persons. Within the report are outlined accounts of LGBTQ individuals who have had their lives radically altered by the revelation, or otherwise by secrecy of their sexual orientation. Because church and community are key components to social life in the Eastern Caribbean, news travels quickly and fear of being stigmatized, ostracized, or even physically abused constantly lingers around every societal pillar. 

This really got me thinking about Anzaldúa's idea of the mestiza way and how bastardized the notion of freedom and acceptance in comparison to the fluidity of the mestiza way are for LGBTQ people in the Eastern Caribbean. First of all, somebody of LGBTQ orientation would certainly have experienced indoctrination to the mestiza way by notion of being alienated against the cultural or societal idea of an acceptable community. They exist in the borderlands by way of their being and consistently struggle against an oppressive society. What is even more bizarre is the laws that have shaped the culture surrounding LGBTQ were established by British invaders decades ago, and seem to be an implanted network of oppressive ideology that's leaked it's way into the sociocultural way of island life for these countries. This only accentuates the murkiness of the borderlands these people must exist within, and stunts what may be an otherwise organic cultural growth for these islands.