United Caribbean trans network

Location: Caribbean

Focus: Strengthening the trans movement in the Caribbean

Website: https://twitter.com/uctransnetwork

In 2019, with GiveOut’s support, activists from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States established UCTRANS. 

Across the Caribbean, trans people face discrimination and widespread physical and sexual violence. In most countries, there is no legal recognition of their affirmed gender identity. Activists campaign for visibility, acceptance and legal changes. However, the trans movement has been disconnected in the region. 

In 2020, GiveOut’s grant supported UCTRANS in uniting the movement, providing a space for sharing ideas, creating connections, and building an internationally credible Caribbean network separate from the culturally distinct Latin American trans movement, with which the Caribbean movement is often associated.  

In 2020, UCTRANS launched the first holistic survey to look at trans and gender diverse lives in the Caribbean, releasing a report in collaboration with Outright Action International on the experiences of trans and gender non-conforming people in the region. This research found that the most significant challenge experienced is discrimination related to the inability to show a valid identity card or documentation that aligns with their gender identity and expression.

Also in 2020, as the pandemic continued, UCTRANS distributed emergency care to 10 countries in their network. They also made huge strides towards establishing their central hub in the Bahamas.  GiveOut’s 2021 grant will continue supporting UCTRANS’ core costs as they further mobilise and strengthen the Caribbean trans movement. 

GiveOut is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity Number 1176434).