CAISO: Sex and Gender Justice, a feminist and queer advocacy group in Trinidad and Tobago, recently held a media launch for its Growing Spaces initiative, a civil society project focused on LGBTQI+ inclusion, community support, and access to justice. The event brought public attention to the realities faced by LGBTQI+ persons in Trinidad and Tobago, including stigma, discrimination, lack of protection, and barriers when seeking support from police, healthcare workers, and other service providers. CAISO representatives Johannah-Rae Reyes and Chinyere Brown used the launch and related media engagement to highlight how homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, gender-based bullying, and sexual harassment remain pervasive, including in political spaces such as Parliament and on social media.
The event is significant for the enabling environment because confidential information indicates that the Ministry of the People, Social Development and Family Services, including the Gender Affairs Division and the NGO Unit, was invited to attend, but representatives were reportedly not permitted to do so. According to a Ministry staff member, internal approval was delayed or withheld despite a written memo justifying attendance. The concern reportedly raised was what government policy the work aligned with, and officials reportedly stated that they could not support LGBTQI+ issues because they were not aligned with government policy and because the Ministry had to operate within Trinidad and Tobago’s domestic laws.
This suggests that the current legal and policy environment may be limiting state engagement with LGBTQI+ civil society initiatives. Combined with the homophobic political discourse highlighted in the subsequent Trinidad Express article, the event points to a deterioration in the enabling environment for LGBTQI+ civil society actors, particularly in relation to state responsiveness, civic culture, and equal participation.