On June 13, the Caribbean Equality Project organized and hosted the first LGBTQI+ affirming celebration for Pride and Caribbean Heritage month in Richmond Hill, Queens: Little Guyana Pride.
Taking place at Liberty Place, the evening festivities featured an opening reception, the sharing of delicious Caribbean cuisine, a panel conversation among queer Caribbean and other immigrant political leaders in the city, and a film screening of the short film “Caribbean Queen” (2024), directed by Sekiya Dorsett. This was followed by a series of community cultural performances featuring a trans-led Indo-Caribbean dance troupe, the Shakti Dancers, International Dancer Zaman, and drag performances by artists Tifa Wine and Melany Sanchez of Make the Road New York. Tiffany Jade Munroe, the Trans Justice manager of the Caribbean Equality Project, hosted the historic Pride celebration.
At a time when queer and trans communities, undocumented folks and asylum seekers, as well as racialized and immigrant communities are facing ongoing threats against safety and belonging, Little Guyana Pride showcases the resilience and fierce advocacy of community led organizing and arts activisms in New York City. Speaking back to the event’s slogan of “our visibility is resistance,” Little Guyana Pride produced a collective space where Black, Indo-Caribbean, Latinx, and South Asian queer and trans and immigrant communities could engage in essential conversations related to the precarities of their experiences as well as build space for celebration and joy.
As the event came to a close, DJ Xpo curated a set of soca, dancehall, and chutney hits as our communities moved, sang, and danced together. In such moments, the space made room for expressions of fun and festivity — itself an important act of reclaiming our bodies — specifically at a time when many of the harms enacted upon us are beyond our control. As executive director of the Caribbean Equality Project, Mohamed Q. Amin stated proudly at the event: “We don’t just want to survive, we want to thrive.”
The community panel produced a series of meaningful conversations related to queer and trans legal protections, the politics of surveillance in our communities, access and current barriers to gender- and trans-affirming healthcare, what it means to politically visible in our contemporary moment, how to support those who cannot engage in public forms of activism, and how to engage in meaningful and cross-racial solidarity work at a time of deep anxiety and fear. The panelists were Chanel J. Lopez, deputy director of LGBTQ+ affairs for Gov. Kathy Hochul; Dr. Sundeep Boparai of the Queer Sikh Healthcare Advocate; Amin; Blasian March founder Rohan Zhou-Lee; and Ariel Clarke, who serves as the civic engagement coordinator of South Queens Women’s March. The panel was moderated by Tifa Wine, cultural researcher and board member at the Caribbean Equality Project.
As community organizations, non-profits, and local art activism projects continue to experience cuts to their funding, and the loss of stability and security across multiple areas of life, community initiatives such as Little Guyana Pride continue to carve out space for ongoing practices of resistance, liberation, and the collective freedom of us all. The Caribbean Equality Project helps to continue building this space in future Pride celebrations.
