Ashley Binetti is the Dash-Muse Teaching Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Human Rights Institute (HRI). In this capacity, she co-teaches HRI’s Fact-Finding Practicum, directs the Human Rights Associates Program and leads all human rights programming at the Institute. These are the author’s reflections from HRI’s 2018 Fact-Finding Project research trip on LGBT rights in Guyana. She writes this piece in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.

“He was burned to death in a house . . . They burned him to death. They tied him up and then burned the house . . . [The police failed to properly investigate] . . . How bad is it going to get before good comes?”

This story has haunted me since I returned from Guyana. Grace, a pseudonym, is a 44-year-old transgender woman who lost one of her best friends; he was murdered for being transgender and the police refused to investigate. While in-country, I witnessed this discrimination firsthand and bore witness to the scars and stories LGBT interviewees revealed. Another interviewee lost a friend the week we conducted interviews. Trishell, a 28-year-old transgender woman, was killed on Feb. 17, 2018, after a festival celebration in Georgetown. Her death was reported as an accident caused by a car crash — despite interviewees who reported the wounds were wholly inconsistent with this explanation.

Our research team interviewed nearly 70 stakeholders — including LGBT persons, religious leaders, human rights defenders, civil society representatives, law enforcement officials and other government officials — and uncovered a cycle of violence, discrimination and abuse that permeates all aspects of life for LGBT individuals in Guyana. The discrimination and violence start at home, continue through the education system, into the employment sector and affect their ability to access quality healthcare, safety in public spaces and justice. Read more via Washington Blade