ERASING 76 CRIMES
Maurice Tomlinson
Original Article: bit.ly/1BWBYd1
The case started with me giving evidence based on my witness statement. As expected, the lawyer for Trinidad and Tobago (who had previously said that the ban on gays was necessary to keep out “terrorists”) tried to undermine my credibility. So he:
1) Questioned if I was really a homosexual because I had been married and have a son (clearly he has no concept of the distinction between sexual BEHAVIOR and sexual PRACTICE).
2) Questioned my statement that Hijra is a universal belief and/or practice of the Hindu faith, including in the Hindu communities of Trinidad, Suriname, and Guyana;
3) Questioned how, as a lawyer, I was not able to say, on the witness stand, if a later law directly repealed an earlier one (I had not reviewed the later law so I seriously could not offer any opinion).
4) Questioned if the Belizean Trans* person, Mia, who had been stopped and interrogated for several hours by a Trinidadian immigration officer was detained because of her sexual orientation or her gender expression.
Full text of article available at link below: bit.ly/1BWBYd1
