Blog: Perspectives

As a trans female student, Nada Chaiyajit, gender activists from Thailand, faced severe barriers in accessing her education, continually being banned from sitting in exams when she dressed and presented herself as a female, and facing discrimination and harassment from teachers and students. Nada eventually dropped out of school and did not pursue her Bachelor’s degree again until 2013 at the age of 33. The second time around however Nada took it upon herself to challenge her university’s regulations and succeeded.

Neish McLean is Co-Founder and Executive Director of TransWave Jamaica, an organization in Jamaica that works to build the trans rights movement by raising awareness and increasing the visibility of transgender Jamaicans to improve the needs of the community. We spoke with Neish McLean about the formation of the organization, Jamaica Pride (#PRiDEJA), and more.

A short while back, we posted a compilation of the different flags of the LGBTIQ community on our Instagram account. We asked our followers to guess what each flag represents. Here, we’ll reveal the answers, and share some of the history and symbolism behind each flag. Of course, there are many more pride flags than our post includes, and many people take various positions about whether a flag properly represents their community or identity.

The first PRiDE JA took place in 2015, becoming the first Pride celebration in the English-speaking Caribbean. The events have been incident-free for its first two years, and organizers hope to see participation from bigger crowds from across the Caribbean and the Diaspora at this year’s celebration. Same-sex sexual relations between males remain explicitly illegal in Jamaica, but advocates are hopeful that with increased awareness will come increased acceptance from Jamaican society.

Paola Paredes is an Ecuadorian photographer known for her focus on LGBTIQ topics. Her previous work includes Unveiled, a photo series documenting her coming out to her parents in a three-hour conversation. Paredes’ most recent photography project Until You Change, is based on interviews with three women who spent time in the clinics—pseudo-medical facilities meant to “cure” LGBTIQ people of their homosexuality.

In the previous blog post, Right to Development vs. Human Rights-Based Approach to Development, I posed an open-ended question: Is the debate between these two developmental ideologies largely abstract and rhetorical or are there economic implications to each approach?

The term “Right to Development” was first proclaimed by a UN General Assembly resolution adopted in 1986.