SASOD Guyana is pushing for an amendment to Guyana’s Prevention of Discrimination Act by 2027 to explicitly protect workers from discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
The proposed reform would come 30 years after the Act was passed in 1997.
A draft amendment prepared by SASOD Guyana would outlaw employment and workplace discrimination on those grounds in the same way the law currently treats discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and other groupings.
SASOD Guyana Managing Director Joel Simpson said the organisation is optimistic that the amendment could be taken to Parliament by 2027.
The issue has gained renewed attention as the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning reviews Guyana’s labour laws with support from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to Simpson, discussions with ILO expert Deborah Thomas-Felix revealed that the government itself pointed to the absence of explicit protections for groups, including LGBT workers and workers living with HIV.
SASOD Guyana subsequently expanded its proposal to include gender, alongside sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.
Simpson said adding gender would also strengthen protections for women, since workplace discrimination can arise from gender roles and expectations rather than sex alone.
The push builds on work SASOD Guyana has been doing for years. In 2017, a UNDP-supported consultation process examined proposed amendments to add. The consultations showed significant support for workplace protections. Representatives of private sector bodies and trade unions backed measures against discrimination, while the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is also supported employment protections.
Prior to SASOD Guyana’s founding, Guyana considered legislation to protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The National Assembly in 2001 voted unanimously to amend the constitution to include sexual orientation as a prohibited ground of discrimination. It was the opposition of religious groups to the inclusion of the term “sexual orientation” as grounds for discrimination in the Guyana constitution that led then President Bharrat Jagdeo to refuse his assent after the amendment was unanimously approved by the National Assembly in 2001.
The realisation of a more limited protection in the context of workplace discrimination today is likely to examine the question of public support.
A 2022 national survey commissioned by SASOD Guyana and supported by the Human Dignity Trust found that 71.9% of respondents supported legislation protecting gay and transgender people from workplace discrimination.
Acceptance rose from 19% in a comparable 2013 survey to about 34%, while the share of respondents describing their attitude as “hate” fell from 25% to 12%.
SASOD’s main challenge now is getting the legislation onto Parliament’s agenda.
Simpson said the organisation had previously received a commitment from Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira that the law would be amended in 2024, but that timeline was not met.
With Parliament expected to resume after its recess, Simpson said regular sittings will be critical if the amendment is to be tabled by early 2027.
“You have to have a functioning, healthy parliament that’s meeting regularly to be reforming legislation,” he said.
SASOD Guyana is hoping the 30th anniversary of the Prevention of Discrimination Act will provide the opportunity to complete the reform.
