Magistrates do not own the courthouses
Dear Editor, I write in response to Magistrate Dylon Bess’s recent assault on the human rights of transgender Guyanese when he prevented them from entering ‘his’ courtroom at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on March 2nd, 2017 and dismissed a physical assault case in which a transgender individual was victimized. This is not the first time Mr Bess has demonstrated his hostility towards members of the transgender community; he previously instructed police at the gate of the Magistrate’s Court to deny entry to trans Guyanese, even though they were compliant with the (female) dress code, wearing sober coloured, nonrevealing clothing. Clearly Mr Bess has a personal prejudice against transgender Guyanese which is retarding his ability to afford them equal treatment and access to justice.
Mr Bess’s treatment of transgender Guyanese also seems to beg the question of who the courthouses of Guyana belong to. Are they the personal property of individual magistrates who are free to impose their private moral codes, no matter how discriminatory, or public institutions mandated to provide justice to all citizens, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation?
While much of the rest of the world has evolved a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the complex reality of gender (and sexual orientation), many in Guyana, like Mr Bess apparently, still lack adequate comprehension and cling to outmoded, falsely simplistic, and oppressive binaries. However, the fact is that transgender individuals have the exact same human rights as all other people and deserve equal respect, treatment, and protection under the law. Also, Guyana is a secular state, not a theocracy, and magistrates are public servants who do not own the courtrooms in which they practise. To deny transgender persons entry into public facilities, especially places like courthouses, is a perversion of all that is just, and it is a sad day when magistrates become human rights violators instead of defenders. I call on the Guyana Bar Association to sanction Magistrate Dylon Bess immediately, and prevent him from committing any future violations of the human rights of transgender Guyanese. Yours faithfully, S Nageer