‘Work to do’ as coronavirus hits LGBT+ Jamaicans hard

 | 
06/30/2020

Paris Lewinsky has been taking hormones for almost a year and is starting to grow breasts. But the transgender Jamaican’s long-held dream of physically transitioning is now under threat, because she cannot afford the drugs she needs. Before the coronavirus hit, Lewinsky, 27, made enough money through sex work, food preparation and working as a make-up artist to support herself and fund her transition. But the pandemic has hit all those income streams. “When I normally have my money, I’m taking my hormones,” said Lewinsky, who made about 59,000 Jamaican dollars ($425) a month before the pandemic, when her health insurance paid for the drugs. “But because I stop work, my health card (insurance) stop … Right now, I’m currently looking (to get) back a job so I can maintain myself.” Campaigners for LGBT+ rights say the community has been particularly badly hit by coronavirus restrictions in Jamaica, where they already suffer widespread discrimination.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 04/22/2024
04/21/2024
Sydney, Australia– Sall Grover says she did not think twice when she blocked Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman, from her Australian-based women-only app Giggle …
Added on: 04/22/2024
04/21/2024
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott suggested that he wants to end transgender and gender nonconforming individuals from expressing their gender while teaching in the state. At a …
Added on: 04/22/2024
04/21/2024
Outsider, queer and Indigenous artists are getting an overdue platform at the 60th Venice Biennale contemporary art exhibition that opened Saturday, curated for the …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 04/02/2024
Proudly wearing a rainbow-colored clergy stole and a rainbow flag in her clerical collar, the Rev. Elaine Saralegui welcomed all to her LGBTQ+ inclusive …
Added on: 03/31/2024
Proudly wearing a rainbow-colored clergy stole and a rainbow flag in her clerical collar, the Rev. Elaine Saralegui welcomed all to her LGBTQ+ inclusive …
Added on: 03/14/2024
The situation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is worsening by the hour, a crisis that has been met with a staggering indifference on the part of …