British High Commission lights up with Pride

The British High Commission celebrated the end of TT Pride Month on Friday by bathing its building in St Clair with rainbow lights.

British High Commissioner for TT Harriet Cross said it was “an absolute delight” to visibly show the UK’s position on LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning, and other) rights.

At the beginning of Pride Month, the High Commission also installed a large rainbow-coloured sign reading “GREAT” which remained outside the High Commission for the month.

“That’s kind of short for ‘love is great’, ‘love is love’, regardless of who you love, you should be celebrated. And that’s what were doing today.”

“It’s a visible celebration. It’s ally-ship. It’s showing that we care about everybody. And I think that’s really important. I think it’s opening up the conversation as well so that countries like TT can start to have a conversation about their own LGBT+ communities because there are people all around the world who are not allowed to be themselves and the UK government thinks that, frankly, that’s wrong.

“So it’s about governments, it’s about civil society and it’s about every single person thinking about the people in your family, in your community having that conversation and changing mindsets.”

She said Pride was a celebration as well as a demand for action because many people around the world who identify as LGBTQ+ did not have equality as part of their country’s laws. She, the British High Commission and the UK government believed that a policy for everyone, regardless of how they identified, was important.

She, personally felt very strongly about human rights and believed sexuality and gender identity was just another aspect of people’s human nature.

“I can’t understand why people can’t grant equality to other people just because of their sexuality. I find it absolutely bazaar. I’ve got lots of friends in the LGBTQ+ community and they are as ‘normal’ as anybody else. We’ve all got different characteristics that make us up as humans. And that’s just one facet of them, and not even the most important facet of these people.”

Cross said the High Commission funded several projects of LGBTQ+ groups, including the workplace policy with Caiso: Sex and Gender Justice, telling employers they needed to better protect their LGBT+ employees.

The High Commission was also encouraging people who have projects or ideas to promote or support equality, human rights, or LGBTQ+ rights to visit the @UKinCaribbean social media pages and put in a bid for support.

It was also looking at educating children in schools on LGBTQ+ issues, especially as suicide rates within the LGBTQ+ community were high.

“There’s research that needs to be done. We need to understand because there are LGBTQ+ children, children under 18 that identify as LGBTQ+. So it’s a question of looking at, how are they finding their environments? How are they coping? Bullying is a big problem in schools. So that’s the sort of things I’m taking about – how could we reduce harassment and abuse for these children.”