Twinkle A. Paul is a transgender Guyanese human rights activist with 8+ years of fearless frontline advocacy experience fighting for trans rights and social justice in Guyana and New York City. As an activist in Guyana, Twinkle worked with the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) and Guyana Trans United (GTU) to speak out against human rights violations and discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community. In New York City, Twinkle is the Policy Advocate for Caribbean Equality Project and does work with Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (GLITS, Inc).

Twinkle has participated in various leadership trainings, featured in several trans visibility campaigns, and has been openly advocating for the advancement of human rights for the LGBTQ+ community at the local, regional, and international levels. While living in Guyana, Twinkle was brutally attacked in a minibus by a man who assaulted her with a beer bottle because of her gender identity. During her reporting of the transphobic hate incident at the local police station, Twinkle was further assaulted by her attacker.

On March 21, 2016, at the court hearing, presiding Magistrate Dylon Bess refused to even acknowledge the case, and demanded that Twinkle change her clothes before she could even appear in his courtroom. Twinkle was eventually banned from entering the Georgetown, Guyana Courtroom. In response to the Magistrate’s blatant discrimination against transgender people, on March 22, 2016, Twinkle worked with the Guyana Trans United organization to organize a protest, denouncing Magistrate Bess’s decision.

On March 31, to commemorate the 2016 International Transgender Day of Visibility, the Guyana Trans United and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination held a special media engagement titled “Brunch Talk” to discuss the recent case where Twinkle, was barred from attending her case in the Georgetown court by Magistrate Dylon Bess for “cross-dressing” by presenting herself in female attire.

The case made international media and was amplified by the Caribbean Equality Project to educate the diaspora of Guyana’s enforced colonial-era laws and the fearless activism of the Guyanese trans community.

In 2018, Twinkle migrated to New York City and is currently enrolled as a student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, a CUNY school.