Pride committee promotes ‘belonging’ for 2025 parade
(CNS): Cayman will be included in the global celebration of the LGBTQ+ community with its own Pride Parade this weekend. The Pride Parade Committee is marking the event with the theme of “belonging”, which is about “creating safe, affirming spaces where every human being — citizen or resident — feels seen, respected, and included”.
in a recent press release, the committee stated, “One of the most powerful human needs is the need to belong. For too long, being LGBTQ+ in Cayman has carried a stigma. It’s time to rewrite that narrative.”
Local and regional advocacy group Colours Caribbean, which has been the voice of the LGBTQ community here for many years, has offered its support to the new committee and encouraged people to join in the celebrations and to be visible. The activists are all urging the LGBTQ community to occupy public spaces throughout the rest of this month with their loved ones, family, friends, colleagues and the community at large.
“Hold your partner’s hand in public — and do not be scared to show your affection and appreciation of one another — this is something I have done for more than 25 years with my husband, on a daily basis,” said a spokesperson for Colours. “Some may label these actions as unnecessary displays of public affection. I prefer to see them as a natural gesture of respectful romanticism, and something that has helped to keep us bound together happily all these years later.”
Colours believes that during Pride Month, these actions are important and send a message that courage should always overcome the shame that members of the community may have been made to feel.
“This is what Pride Month is for: to say loud and clear that we are rightfully part of the community and proud of belonging to it,” the activists added. “Colours Caribbean, not without some mistakes, fought tirelessly for our rightful place in our community amongst our people every day of every week of every year since our foundation. We never sought mere tolerance.”
Over the years the non-profit has fought several legal battles. Recently, it has been focused on the challenge by local attorney Kattina Anglin, who represents a fundamental Christian organisation that has opposed the LGBTQ community’s efforts to achieve marriage equality and to overturn the passage of the 2020 legislation that provided same-sex couples with a long overdue legal framework equivalent to marriage.
But the courtroom fights against diversity and LGBTQ rights continue, which Colours said is disappointing and hard to reconcile with the “Caymankind” spirit and general tendency towards compassion, love and mutual respect. The case is now before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Despite the challenges over the years, the Pride Parade has become an established event, and a new committee has emerged this year to organise the celebrations. Tara Bush, Dr Chantal Basson, Julian Foster, Schmarrah McCarty and Zee Wright are organising the free event and encouraging everyone to be visible and confident about belonging.
“We express heartfelt gratitude to Noel Cayasso-Smith and Billie Bryan for their foundational work in bringing the LGBTQ+ community together,” the committee said. “To Noel in particular for laying the groundwork for what the PRIDE Parade in Cayman has become and to Billie for making with the pledge and Colours Cayman (now Colours Caribbean) our community visible as such in the Cayman Islands.
”We also thank Dr James Reeves and Dr Leonardo Raznovich for their dedication through Colours Caribbean and the legal victories achieved under Dr Raznovich’s leadership. As legal counsel, Dr Raznovich successfully defended key protections in the Grand Court and Court of Appeal against efforts to overturn the Civil Partnership Act — matters now before the Privy Council,” the committee added.
The members also noted the courtroom battle that Vickie Bodden and Chantelle Day fought that ended with the development of civil partnerships in Cayman.
The Pride Parade takes place on Saturday, 28 June, at 5:00pm, with an After Party at Bonny Moon Beach Club. For more information, follow the Pride Committee on Instagram: [@caymanpride]
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Community, Local News
Ok, I will address the elephant in the room and ask the unspoken question:
Does the local and regional advocacy group Colours Caribbean advocate that trans persons be able to access facilities (such as shower rooms, restrooms etc) that reflect their chosen gender? It would seem so as Colours Caribbean’s stated mission is to foster a discrimination‑free environment for all LGBTQIA+ people throughout the Caribbean and Latin America–explicitly including on the basis of gender identity.
Their signature Colours Caribbean Pledge commits participating businesses and public venues to “never … deny … provision of service nor sale of goods to any persons on the basis of their … gender identity”.
While they may not have published a specific policy addressing access to restrooms or shower rooms by trans individuals, their broad anti‑discrimination stance, with emphasis on equal rights regarding service provision, clearly encompasses ALL public facilities. In other words, Colours Caribbean by advocates that trans people be allowed to use “services”–which by default must include bathrooms, changing rooms, and similar spaces–that correspond to their chosen gender identity, without facing discrimination. This is where I draw a line in the sand: Biological men with penises, do NOT “belong” in women’s facilities. Nor do biological women belong in men’s facilities. Hard NO to “belonging” there!
Someone with knowledge in regard to that relevant policy please explicitly clarify.
“one of the most important human needs is the need to belong”. I mean who comes up with this nonsense. Society dictates what belongs and doesnt belong, anything else is communism/fascism disguised as human rights.
Its either a society accepts it or rejects it, the government should adhere to the wishes of the society it is elected to represent. That being said i think the Cayman society has being very understanding to the gay comunity who is quite prevalent and visible here. This type of parading will most definitely cause uneccessary disivion.
Humans need
#1 clean air and water, basic food and shelter and an environment free of bombing, constant risk of injury and death.
They can’t survive without it. Humans are social beings, they need social interactions.
#2 Education, sickcare, jobs to support themselves.
Humans want to feel:
Loved, valued, accepted, respected, supported, appreciated…
They want to be healthy, happy, prosperous, have stability, feel fairness, feel secured …
“one of the most important human needs is the need to belong” – this is straight from the AI generated content, word to word. But basically, in human words, this falls under a wish for wellbeing.
A interesting point. I believe it’s called Corporate Fascism.
The Trans ideology hijacking the movement was a set back. Not that most people have a problem with trans people. But the pushing by activists of biological men into women’s sports and single-sex spaces has lost the Pride movement a lot of support.
I just informed my wife I can no longer do the dishes since Trump banned men from women’s sports.
It always amazes me how much straight men are bothered by gay men, it’s almost as if they’re jealous that someone is living in their truth. Any true straight man wouldn’t care what another man does in the bedroom, because he’s secure enough in himself.
you are not a straight man so don’t tell straight men how they should feel about it. most people don’t even like to see overtly PDA from heterosexual couples, so why you think we want to see 2 men do it?
And yet here you are still being amazed about something that you’ve made up to help yourself feel better.
How long did it take you to come up with that crap? No reasoning, no substantiated argument or anything convincing. Just you believing your thoughts are facts
It always amazes me that gay people have to have parade to show the public they are gay and proud, but in reality I think most people don’t really give two sugars.
Ask CNCF what they think, they do after all claim to represent Caymanian culture.
Pride is becoming an ideology. I think that’s why a lot of gay people want nothing to do with it. Thankfully gay rights have come along way, but pride is diminishing that progress.
Continuing from Poster 27/06/2025 @ 2:07pm
I’m a Caymanian Gay Man. Proud and fully accepted by myself, family, and friends. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.
To other gay men and women, let’s face the facts. Cayman is still a very safe place to be gay. We are not persecuted, executed, or put in prison for it. This is such a blessing to ponder on.
Let’s not expect to be able to flaunt our affection in public just because we want to prove a point. As a Caymanian gay man, I do not condone such behaviour. This is not, and will never be, a part of our culture. Accept it or leave if you feel the need to do so.
This is especially noted for the expat gays who, may at times, forget this fact and cross the line. Let’s have a ball or two or three, but let’s keep doing it behind closed doors where such behaviour is nobody’s bloody business.
Stop trying to ‘rock the boat’ and spoil what ‘good thing’ we have here in Cayman for the rest of us!
for the great christian communnity of cayman..ask yourself one question:
what would jesus do?
Cast out usury.
He would hang out with his 12 male apostles in the desert.
Gingerly washing their feet and drying with his hair?
He would break bread with sinners.
6:50:
And He would call the sinners to repentance and obedience to God and making themselves subject to God’s laws and precepts– including those regarding sex and marriage.
Any other questions?
What about Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month? We just had a young man take his own life but let’s celebrate sexuality as though that is some sort of accomplishment or even something to celebrate. Rather than supporting pleasure seeking and attention seeking let’s celebrate responsibility.
Thank you to all the hard working men who societies are built upon, who take responsibility, who accomplish impossible things doing impossible jobs all while supporting their families with little or no recognition.
Give them the support and recognition they actually deserve. Do something special for the men in your life.
We support Men’s Mental Health Awareness Month.
why can’t we support both? I completely agree that mental health in Cayman should be better supported but the two are not mutually exclusive. Your comment is making it worse for everyone.
Bigotry hidden messaging
Yup. Pete Hegseth-ish.
What makes people happy in life (yes men too) is human connection. Quality friendships and meaningful relationships.
In order to have quality relationships, you must have compassion, you must be caring, you must be vulerable.
Get rid toxic masculinity that tells boys and men they can’t be caring or vulnerable and you’ll see a huge improvement in men’s mental health.
Humans need connection to feel fulfilled.
Care and empathy are not pie. We can care about more than one thing, without running out.
They’re proud to be gay and i’m always relieved to be heterosexual.
I thank god every day for not making me gay
Hope you have no children who are gay.
That will be up to god to decide
Not God, but a personal decision.
“The Pride Parade Committee is marking the event with the theme of “belonging”, which is about “creating safe, affirming spaces where every human being…”
It is more like a parade to say ‘hey look at me I’m gay’, but really no one gives two sugars.
Oh, and the misuse, out of context and overuse of the word ‘bigot’. Anyone that has an opposing view on homosexuality is called a bigot, but that is not what it means.
I’m guessing you’re not gay.
In any case, may a rainbow bless your day.
Peace and love.
Now do the Cayman debauchery, you hypocrite.
Ooh you called me a hypocrite, now go look it up to see what it means. Hint, it doesn’t mean a person who disagrees with you is one.
Exactly!!! why is it a thing to celebrate being gay? Just live your life and dont worry about indoctrinating the rest of the world. I prefer women as a heterosexual man, but I dont need a parade to express it.
Its the same with Trans people accusing people who dont agree that a Trans woman is “really” a woman when science completely debunks their claim.
Just simmer down and do you, no need for parades and re-education campaigns aimed at children.
Ps. Will Wayne Panton be attending or will not bother this year since he was already re-elected?
“but I dont need a parade to express it.”
That’s called the half-nude, vulgar dry-humping carnivals. Commonly see women whining up on other women, but they’re wearing bikinis on the road while intoxicated, so men like you give a bly.
The same could be said about carnival, why does anyone do anything? If it doesn’t affect your life, why do you care?
We only have one day for veterans, but a whole month for gays?
Because veterans don’t get harassed, abused, threatened, not given equal rights or killed, like LGBTQ in many countries. Think before saying dumb stuff.
Dumb is not understanding that Human rights are for ALL.
What veterans?
Gay veterans get a month and a day, then?
Life is so unfair etc etc etc. I want to know when tall white people with small feet will finally get their day in the sun!?!
Grow up, it’s very pathetic.
….
I thought they had everyday!
The gay veterans get a whole month and an extra day.
Uh oh, the modern world is colliding with dinosaurs, again.
Live and let live. If that’s a problem, stay home and simmer in your own hatred.
Thanks, and have a great day.
To haters and bashers: When we die, we are only accountable for what we did, not others; in other words, mind your own business and give up policing what others do. As long as consenting adults are not doing something against their will, there is nothing to see here.
Well at least there won’t be any of “those types” in heaven.
Christians?
😅😝
To 12:31pm: “Heaven”? Please provide irrefutable evidence that such place exists other than in your conviction.
Please provide irrefutable evidence that it doesn’t, other than in your convictions.
The burden of proof lies on you to prove the existence of the tooth fairy, not the other way around.
@12:31pm Are you implying that the whole spiel about sins being forgiven and washed away by accepting your Savior, etc., etc., are fabrications? Are you indirectly admitting that such promises are part of an effort to manipulate people’s free will under the guise of religious belief? Are you implying that gay people should not hope to reach Heaven, whereas hetero people who abuse children or the elderly get a pass? If so, I ain’t buying the bull crap you’re selling.
Fairy tales. When you’e dead, you’re dead.
So profound.
Jesus was gay. Have you seen images of his abs?
There’s no hate like Christian love.
See ye first the kingdom of God!!
This is yet again another concoction by certain a ethnicity to destabilise humanity. See some of its earliest pioneers… Magnus Hirschfeld…
With the end-goal of what, you loon?
What do you mean destabilized? If I’m not mistaken, every major issue on earth has been caused by straight, white men. Seems like there’s bigger fish to fry than to worry about who someone is sleeping with. I don’t think my gay neighbors are the reason eggs are $10……
Heterosexual partners, married, engaged, dating are scorned if seen holding hands, kissing or signs of affection in Cayman.
Have a great parade!
No they aren’t. Get real.
Oh yes they are!
Let’s assume heterosexual couples holding hands are “scorned” by someone. Does it really matter? Nobody cares. No low has been broken, and the scorner is probably a local whackamole.
However, if a gay couple hold hands, the scorner has the ability to make headlines, and depending upon their personal iron here, they might be able to make waves. This is the complete terror of the situation.
We should all be equal in the eyes of the law, and everything else really doesn’t matter, or can be rightfully ignored.
Haven’t been to Batabano, eh?
Oh I do know!
Cayman has two carnivals that celebrate and flaunt heterosexual sexual freedom, so if I’m not mistaken, y’all seem to have quite good in this society.
@ 5:32 pm what negative impact are the LGBTQ+ having on your life ? if it’s mental that’s your demon and something you will have to seek help for, if it’s physical then you are part of the family and will also have to seek help to rectify whatever issues you face
The negative impact is that you’re too noisey and no one cares.
You are shoving your preferences down our throats. We don’t care who you are, but you keep demanding some special rights.
Where are the parades for straight people??? Why don’t we demand anything from you?
@11:47 am, they’re not demanding “special” rights, but rather “equal” rights. big difference!
What do you mean special rights? They want the right to marry. That’s a normal thing to advocate for. In my eyes, no one is free until everyone is free to do what they want. And as it stands, gay people in this country are still unable to fully marry. And until then, the fight continues.
Bigots hate the Pride parade while cheering for half naked women bumping and grinding for Caymas.
A lot of homosexuals do not support the LGBTQ+ movement and quite embarrassed to be associated with them. The focus has changed from gay rights to redefining what a woman is. Most gays just want to live their life and not be part of a “political movement” which this has become. Some supporters even go as far as telling gay people they’re not queer enough because they do not support every aspect of the agenda. All the work that has been done to change the view that gays are not normal has been in vain as most gays are lumped into fringe activism.
“Homosexuals”… what a tell.
Thankfully, it seems enough queer folk know well enough and have a good enough memory and conscience not to throw the next approved target under the bus.
I’m “special” so I belong too. It’s good to belong so why don’t we have a straight parade to balance things out?
Walk directly into the sea.
That’s called CayMas, where you can dry hump your bonkeh on police officers and little boys in your thongs under the guise of “dancing” for a “carnival”.
That was Batabano, but yes.
Oh, you mean the walking streethump. Well, what’s good for the goose…. erm, and goosed
Strangely intolerant remark there from the tolerance lobby.
We already have those. They’re called “parades”.
June 9, 2025, Naples, FL
PrideFest went on in Naples — but not without last minute changes.
A court order moved the drag show indoors and limited it to adults.
Which should serve to demonstrate how not to treat your own people.
why are we subject to idealogical colonisation? why does the foreigner get to tell me, a caymanian, that my opinons on these folk are wrong? no thanks. theres never been a place in society for them in cayman, they havent been accepted.
LOL. The board is compromised of generational Caymanians, whether you are willing to admit it or not.
Why are we subjected to your beliefs?
Because you live in MY country. There are generational Caymanians involved yes. Your tricks have worked on them just like the tricks and brutality the colonial European used on natives in North and South America. It’s funny to see the foreign labour squirm and beat us across the back when their idealogical colonisation doesn’t work. You don’t get to come to MY country and dictate to me. Same applies to me going elsewhere. If it is the norm here, regardless of how “archaic” and “inhuman” it is so be it. I would never go to the UK and expect them to change their ways for ME, someone in the minority. Ridiculous.
Incorrect. As you don’t live in a country, you in fact reside in my territory, as I am a fully fledged British Citizen, not just a paltry BOTC such as yourself.
Your country? lol. If anyone can say something like this, it’s Dart. At least he bought most of it. Cayman is not a country. It’s a BOT, with everything that comes out of this fact.
British Overseas Territory
LOL your own every day Caymanians been doing it for years…just hidden from people like you!
Go travel!
What you do in your home, bedroom?
Watch tv and sleep
Your primary error is believing that LGBT are “coming here” to YOUR country, rather than being born. LGBT are born the way they are; it isn’t a choice. Run away run away! They are all around us, furtively living their lives to the fullest, the way you should be doing!
If you believe that people choose to be gay, I want you to recall when you chose to be straight. Did you weight the options? DECIDE whether you liked men or women? hmmmmm. Pitcher or catcher? Or did you just KNOW what you liked from a early age.
Nope. OP has a different theory – generational Caymanians got “converted” to being gay by “tricks”. Difficult to believe but then again look how many voted for Dwayne, Kenny or JuJu. No fixing stupid.
What’s YOURs is this inelastic hateful thought and whiny diatribe. Nobody Caymanian or otherwise needs to seek your approval, bobo. See JC Golden Rule for more info.
Tell your disgusting old married men to stop approaching with their words and hands to leave women alone…you want names, prominent ‘Caymanians’. Sit down n go talk your ‘Caymanian man’ and the crap women n family that ‘stand by their
man’. And the so called christian who think she God herself, waiting on others to provide her with coffee LMAO. Sit down, no matter where you are, not interested in your self adoration and hypocrisy!
Ahh so the country is YOURS and yours alone. And all the Caymanians who disagree with you don’t count. Got it.
Male anal sex is scientifically linked to fecal incontinence, this is not a matter of opinion it is a matter of FACT. See; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26753893/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34645594/
It is not a normal act and we should not be encouraging this behaviour. It is medically damaging.
To 8:35am. As long as it is not *your* incontinence, it is someone else’s risk and decision, n’est-ce pas?
errr what?
Not all gay people indulge in this. Many straight people do. Romans, greeks etc are famous for it.
Plenty of STDs are passed between hetero coupling…so, what is your point, exactly???
Anal sex should not be practiced period.
Lol why? You don’t have to, that’s the beauty of living in a civilized place: you chose what you want to do with your body. Don’t tell me not to have it. It’s not your decision to make about anyone’s anus. Know your place.
lol, people will do what they want without your blessing. Go worry about something that matters.
You got two hands though, no?
And woman to woman…? And man to woman…? And woman to man…?
So, under your theory, the government should be able to legislate against the medically inane things that YOU do, right?
No more three starches with every meal. Substitute boiled cabbage for your rice & peas. Force you to lose every pound above your idealised BMI. Make you get up every day (except Sundays) and do 45 minutes of calisthenics.
Limit your booze intake to two ounces per day. No more pork, or cowfoot. No more staying up late. No more than 1 cup of coffee in a 24-hour period. ABSOLUTELY NO soft drinks, especially diet soda.
No more driving. It’s walking and cycling for you, mate. Those man boobs ain’t gwan fix themselves.
But not female anal sex? Do you understand that straight people also engage in the same practices?
You’d love it.
you ever eaten bacon? ever inhaled exhaust by the side of a busy road? ever been out in the sun too long?
These are all deemed risky to some extent.
I’ll give you a fact though. All people who lived in the middle ages who DIDN’T have anal sex, well they’re all dead. Do with that information what you will!
I’m confused by your comment on ideological colonisation. What do you think religion is??
If they were really Caymanian, they would surely know about Jesus’ Golden Rule, instead of spewing hate and intolerance. Ignore the idiots, most Caymanians are kind.
You should come out and realize how foofool you look when you make claims like this. There are *many* Caymanians involved in the movement towards equality. Many of us are straight, too. We just believe that, as long as you’re not hurting anyone, it is not for anyone else to dictate whatever you do with other consenting adults.
Yes. It’s called “civil rights or equal rights” and is codified in our Constitution.
Equal in the eyes of the law.
Not a place in society for many ‘them’! Your archaic attitude is not accepted.
No one is saying you’re wrong, they’re just trying to tell you you’re an a**hole.
(Holding a mic) Your opinion sounds more colonialist than the upcoming parade. Do you really believe there is still a place in our community, in this day and age, for such narrow-mindedness?”
By whos definition is it “narrow-mindedness” the white Eurocentric man? Sounds very much like European colonialism of the Americas.
LMAO best joke if the century!!
Come on out of that closet, it will set you free!
Meanwhile your niece, nephew, brother or sister are getting on somewhere with the same sex. Plenty of gay Caymanians cave-dweller.
Oh get out the closet sweety
If the slipper fits, wear it.