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Some Pastoral Responses to the SCOTUS "Hobby Lobby" Decision

July 1, 2014, 3:03 am
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prepared by Reverend Durell Watkins of Metropolitan Community Church Florida

"[MCC] affirms that all people are entitled to the rights and resources that equip them to make their own decisions about their bodies, their sexuality, and their well-being, including the inalienable right of women to control their bodies. We call on all levels of government and civil society to honour and respect those rights." from MCC's Statement of Faith on Women's Reproductive Health, Rights, & Justice

Companions on the spiritual journey:

As a faith leader and a parish minister, I stand in solidarity with other people of faith who are outraged by the US Supreme Court's decision on June 30th, 2014 in the "Hobby Lobby" case. The Court ruled that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. This decision, in my view, privileges the religious biases of a company's owners while treading on the rights and freedoms of individuals.

As so many leaders have already stated, this decision opens the door for a series of injustices. If legal medications can be denied because of someone's religious views (other than the one taking the medication), then it is entirely possible that family owned business could refuse to offer medical coverage for blood transfusions, AIDS therapies, vaccinations, psychiatric mediations, medical marijuana, or any number of medical procedures because someone other than the recipient of the legal medications objected to them for "religious" reasons. Dogma is rarely life-enhancing and in this instance may prove to be very dangerous.

As a religious progressive, I support the idea that universal health care is a right, not a privilege; and I further affirm the verity that that neither churches nor corporations nor governments own human bodies and women are the ultimate authority when it comes to their own health care and procreative choices.

LBGT people know what is to be judged, marginalized, and vilified for their consensual, adult relationships and gender identities; in other words, the Queer community knows what it means to have their bodies and their sovereignty over them diminished. As a Queer man I object to the colonization of bodies even (and maybe especially) when it is done in the name of religion.

The consciences, needs, and values of workers were ruled to be secondary to the religious opinions of business owners in the June 30th decision. The values of the powerful and privileged were affirmed while the values of workers of modest means were dismissed, and that is not justice.

It is time that people of faith insist that patriarchy and its wayward children: heteronormativity, racism, nationalism, and misogyny cease to be elevated to the position of religious values. It is time that we speak out more passionately than ever before when we see people being punished for their class, gender identity, sexuality, or procreative choices.

Yours in the spirit justice-love,




Rev Dr Durrell Watkins
Senior Minister, Sunshine Cathedral

PS ~ Below are some powerful statement by other faith leaders:

Rev Dr Nancy Wilson, Presiding Elder & Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches:
"The high court of the United States put all of our freedoms at risk today. Conservatives will now seek to deny a range of civil liberties and religion will be an excuse to discriminate."

A statement from The Religious Institute, led by Unitarian Universalist minister Rev Debra Haffner:
"The Religious Institute decries today's U.S. Supreme Court decision undermining true religious freedom--the right of individuals to make their own moral choices."

Unitarian Universalist president, Rev Peter Morales:
"I am deeply concerned by the growing rights granted to corporations by this decision and others of this Court and our Congress. I am also deeply concerned by the growing use of the religious freedom argument as a tool of discrimination and oppression."

Rev Harry Knox of The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice:
"The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is dismayed by the Supreme Court's decision...which perverts our nation's historic understanding of religious liberty. As a coalition of denominations and religious organizations, RCRC is gravely concerned about the Court's notion that a for-profit corporation is able to exercise religion."

Dr Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York:
"As a Christian, I believe that God creates human beings individually, and that the mark of our individual blessedness before God is our souls. It is this soul that allows us to be bearers of rights and obligations and rational agents capable of holding religious beliefs. Hobby Lobby would have us believe that corporations, too, have souls. This is not the case. I am horrified by the thought that the owners of Hobby Lobby as Christians think their corporation has a soul, and I'm even more appalled that the Supreme Court agrees."

Bishop Gene Robinson (The Episcopal Church):
"The Jesus I follow always stood with the poor and powerless - and trust me, this struggle is about power. Whether the issue touches women or gays and lesbians, our religion should be about more love, not less; more dignity, not less."
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Betty Ann Blaine Deliberately Conflates Same Gender Attraction & Child Abuse at Christian Anti Gay Mass Rally & in Public Advocacy

July 1, 2014, 4:03 am
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Has anyone noticed that these old child rights activists do not take the time to explain to the public when they do speak on child sexual abuse in particular what is actually paedophilia and that the gender of the victim is not important but the harm done but instead they are more emotional and alarmist about the issue than measured and strategic in assessing and understanding the situation while noting the profile of offenders and the psychology behind same (not that it does not warrant some alarm as the abuse cases lately are frightening) but one would have thought that someone like a Betty Ann Blaine with her “decades of experience” would know better.

Boy was I wrong but I shouldn’t be surprised as she has done it before: Betty Ann Blaine on Poverty, children and the Buggery Law .... and that awful confusion of homosexuality with paedophilia 2012

To accuse the Jamaican gay advocacy structure collectively as dishonest aided by some foreign powers and that we are on some imperialistic agenda to foist the so called “homosexual agenda” on the nation (while using children as the intended target) with little or no evidence is one thing, then to lie on television as Miss Betty did on the controversial Jamaicans for Justice (CVCC funded) controversial sex education course where it had references to anal sex but was misrepresented as to say anal sex is permissible without even able to locate the offending page(s) or sections while just glibly relying on a newspaper sensational report is another matter; She was not able to actually speak to pages 122, 124/5 of the manual that mentioned buggery but also spoke to the illegality of the act and grievous sexual assault that were explained therein.

Now comes the latest repeat episode by the convenor of Hear the Children’s Cry outfit where she conflates same gender attraction with child abuse of which the latter no one denies and even disturbs gay rights activists as well. This strategy has been used by the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, LCF and their protégés the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS at first in the early days it seems as sheer or real ignorance or a mistake but the repeated use of the conflation is clearly deliberate so as to whip up moral panic and hysterical support as evidenced on Sunday June 29th in Half Way Tree Square. Sensible and well thinking persons and advocates do not seek to fan the flames of hysteria and paranoia and fear in society while driving divisiveness in the name of God at that as the smoke from such flames only seek to create cloud cover for real abusers who continue to abuse or prepare via sexual grooming their victims. This noise is only a sideshow that preoccupies the time of the public and the vigilance is misdirected to places where there may be no such abuse in occurrence. Case in point three pastors accused of sexual abuse in recent days with the last known reported case carried in the Star news last week, Pastor Daniel Findlay, charged under the Sexual Offenses Act with three counts of sexual assault with a person under 16 years and one count of grievous sexual assault, was told his case will be tried soon.

Findlay, 36, from Lower York in St Thomas, appeared in the Morant Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. His lawyer was absent and so was the complainant. After exploring the possibility of sending a taxi for the complainant, the magistrate advised the accused to make his attorney aware of the next court date.

"Your case will start soon, as the complainant is not here. You should return to court on August 7," the magistrate advised. She also told the mother of the child to ensure that her daughter is present at the next hearing.

Findlay's bail conditions of $250,000 with stringent measure remains. The bail conditions include two sureties, reporting to the police six times each week and residing with his father. The accused has also been ordered to have no contact with persons under the age of 16 years old.

Finday was identified as a person of interest by the Morant Bay police earlier this year, and was picked up in Kingston after he made arrangement with the police to hand himself in.

ENDS

At Sunday’s mass rally by Jamaica CAUSE whose main goals are to block any coverage under the Charter of Rights protection from discrimination due to sexual orientation, reparative therapy for homosexuals and the retention of the old 1533 English designed buggery law that we retained via the savings law clause post our independence in 1962 where all laws prior to are kept, it is clear the theocratic agenda that lays before us; Betty Ann Blaine among other things proceeded to whip the crowd in a frenzy by saying the following:

“.... now let me tell you something we not gonna allow people with a different agenda from the majority of us in this country to corrupt or children, we not goin’ let them mis-educate our children; we not goin’ let them misinform our children so parents and family members I want to tell them that this is the time to step up to the plate as parents .................... now let me just say something ‘bout the buggery law; there is no way we changing the buggery law; not when so many children are being buggered in Jamaica; do you know Jamaica that the buggery of children in this country has increased by 72% and I want you to know I personally Betty Ann Blaine went to the funeral of the nine month baby who was buggered and murdered and folks are telling us to changes the law; let me tell you something it is now time for the church to stand up.”

Clearly the inference is being made that adult gays who for the most part have no sexual interest in kids deliberately attack or sexually abuse tots & children and it is indeed sad when such cases do come to the public’s glare but paedophilia is worlds apart from innate homosexual attraction to other adults. It seems the mis-education here is on Ms Betty’s part or indeed deception for that matter. Paedophilia has to do with adults who are sexually aroused by prepubescent persons which is a diagnosable disorder under the guidelines of the diagnostic statistical manual for the requisite experts via pharmacological courses and or specially prescribed drugs and as in other jurisdiction state monitored isolation and prison time. The sexual orientation of paedophiles is unimportant but the problematic sexual attraction to children that is of greater import. Ms Blaine’s self professed thirty years in the NGO community and seeing repeated cases of abuse sadly ought to by now know the major difference in the profile of those perpetrators who are sometimes heterosexuals even when they commit same sexed paedophilia and who are even in the church that is silent when one of their own is exposed.

This strategy only seeks to embed homophobia in the minds of the masses while making us more polarised and as JFLAG’s Executive Director Dane Lewis said in a Nationwide interview as to induce “moral panic” which I agree (strange eh?). Sadly as usual the public advocacy moment was not used properly as he failed to use the opportunity to explain the change in their stance on the buggery law to decriminalization instead of a full repeal and to include rape and coverage for abuse of children. Jamaica CAUSE smarting from the meeting yesterday is now implying motive of some kind as to why there was an unidentified drone in the air while the rally was in progress, speaking on Beyond The Headlines President of the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship Helen Coley Nicholson claimed that the drone was spotted and many persons in the CAUSE group are wondering who was using such equipment? The typical victim ploy again being also used here while inflating the numbers of persons who were estimated to be at the rally yesterday.

Another disturbing and disparaging remark made by Ms Nicholson had the host of the show Dionne Jackson Miller do a double take to ask her to properly explain her remark, “I saw civil society rise for the first time in my life in this country, I saw the real Jamaican civil society.....” she was interrupted by Ms Miller who asked her to explain Ms Nicholson danced around the issue as an obvious dig at the other civil society groups.

Would Jesus discriminate or cause more outcasts?

So it seems our fundamentalists friends have their own deceptive and fear-mongering strategies to whip up a crowd that laps up the vomit and simply regurgitates it without question or scrutiny. The game is set and the pieces are going into place let us see where it goes from here.

meanwhile

Peter Espeut, Columnist and Catholic anti gay voice has weighed in on the rally it seems these folks are smarting over their crowd riling episode on Sunday last, he wrote in the Gleaner today:

Last Sunday, elements of the Church staged a demonstration in Half-Way Tree Square against the repeal of Jamaica's buggery laws, and the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) has reacted by stating that it is not daunted by the massive turnout.

Of course, I do not believe for a minute that the Church was trying to daunt J-FLAG; the Church was taking aim at crowd-shy politicians.

Both the People's National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party know what it means to have to rent a crowd to create an impression, and how much they have to dish out in terms of beer, curry goat and 'dallahs'. Last Sunday, the Church was able to assemble a large crowd without having to hardly spend a cent; most of the thousands paid their own way to Half-Way Tree. This is what is likely to have made the greatest impression on the political class.

One of the goals of the LGBT lobby is to normalise buggery in Jamaica, and they are working two strategies at the same time. Just before the last general election, they prevailed upon Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to call for a review of the sections of the Offences against the Person Act referred to as the buggery laws, which may lead to a conscience vote in Parliament.

In addition, they have brought a constitutional motion in the Supreme Court in an effort to decriminalise anal sex. The constitutional motion may fail because of a weak case; in any case, the judges are likely to rule that such a major legal shift is best done in the Parliament rather than in the courts.

The massive demonstration on Sunday last is the sort of language politicians understand, and is likely to affect the direction in which their consciences will drive them.Peace and tolerance needed indeed.

ENDS

also see:
Pastors Push Enumeration As Hedge Against Buggery Repeal (Gleaner July 1 2014) obviously the JFLAG change in the call to decriminalization has gone unheard deliberately or unnoticed. So much for pro-activity from our goodly advocates


Espeut, West says “Homophobia” was invented to abuse Christians as hate speech


Betty Ann Blaine & foreign religious zealots continue their paranoia & misrepresentations of male homosexuality



meanwhile there is descent within the PNP on the matter

PNP MPs now also conflating the sex ed course issue, age appropriateness and homosexuality when page 125 of the sex ed course was clear as to the illegality of buggery yet all who are up in arms seem to ignore that fact

More divisiveness and polarization from the Christian community or sections of it of all places. Should we be surprised history is replete with this kind of ecclesiastical madness before where persons lost their heads for a simple disagreement.

see the Observer: Local churches vow to prevent homosexuality from dominating society

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Woman Labelled “Man Royal” Forced to Relocate from a St Catherine Community

July 2, 2014, 4:06 am
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And the silly season continues.

CONFIRMED



It is not yet clear if this incident is linked to the present national moral panic led by some religious voices who are in opposition to a supposed homosexual agenda and the sacking/temporary reinstatement via court ex-parte injunction of Professor Brendon Bain in a UWI CHART program. Psychologically it feels like ten years ago when the environment felt tense in a sense and persons were far more intolerant and less accommodating.

A woman who resided in the St Johns Road of St Catherine area was given several days to leave the area by men who said they were concerned for her as alleged persons who were not pleased with her masculine tendencies as it turns out said she was unwelcomed all of a sudden in the area; despite her involvement on the youth football team, despite her likeability from other community members for years; despite her dog business where she raises and sells certain breeds of dogs she was still told to avoid any eventualities as she persons who were threatening seems anonymous but better to be safe and sorry. Apart from the face to face discussions with the males in the area, harmonious socialization with them as in her words she was seen as one of the boys so to speak she received a series of phone calls with threatening tones suggesting she was stealing women from men and causing supposed heterosexual women to turn lesbian. Ironically the alliance with a butch identified woman is a plus for some men as it plays out in polyamorous relational matters since some men also find multi female partnering attractive and the evidence is very visible at certain adult entertainment spots where a butch identified woman may be seen with men socializing or at the bar or in the case of the sex club industry networking sometimes very closely with a lesbian of bisexual woman helps for connections and delivery of paid sexual services from more feminine types who may not even be female attracted but engage in the business for purposes of earning an income.

The woman has since taken evasive action and thanks to the community based assisted phenomenon she has moved most of her belongings almost two weeks now and is temporarily staying at a friend’s flat. Days prior to her departure the frequency of the phone calls increased and became far more threatening to which she took no chance, a recent beheading of a man on Job’s Lane nearby and other matters in and around the area though not possibly linked has had many persons cautious overall so it stands to reason for one not to ignore any threatening actions of conversations. Speculation is rife however that a recent area leader who recently returned to the community after a log prison sentence is suspected as he tries to regain territory and intimidate those who he can in doing so to maintain hold on power in the area. Other persons have been moving out of the area as allegations of extortion rental for persons to stay in their houses which is a relatively new feature of wealth creation for criminal minds has also made some residents concerned. Since her departure from the area the calls has stopped after about two days but she has changed her number so as to avoid contact. It seems more and more butch identified or masculine acting women colloquially named ad “Man Royal” made popular locally by Beenieman in an old lesbophobic song he recorded some years ago unconfirmed reports suggests there has been some spike of sorts of attacks from verbal spats with community residents to public fallouts and physical attacks including an alleged corrective rape case in western Jamaica.

Another lesbian from Portmore a case that is still under investigation according to my sources was also forced to leave her rented flat by the landlord as he complained that other home owners and residents on the walkway complained repeatedly to them of the numerous women visiting and allegations of school girls who though not stopping are friendly with her which the residents fear she maybe inveigling them into lesbianism. So one cannot even enjoy the privacy of their home as in a rental agreement as others without proper proof disturbs one comfort of home, the woman in this matter has denied the schoolgirl bit of the allegations but she has supposedly confirmed that she has friends over on a weekend to lyme and relax. Portmore although a surburban area has had its far share of challenges despite the population types as upwardly mobile and more educated that other domiciles yet the level of homo-negativity and homophobia is worrying sometimes, one can remember the days of repeated forced evictions in Greater Portmore for example even as the housing scheme was new and new owners were moving in or renting them to working class persons to offset mortgages.

Perceived gender non conforming aesthetics and behaviours can cause challenges especially during this hot silly season as indicated in the introduction, persons seems to develop a radar specifically to look for those GNC traits so as to launch some opposition often in public to force the target of such abuse into submission while religious voices who are supposed help gel society are busy creating wedges and polarization on misguided perceptions of homosexuality in Jamaica. 


Strangely Beenieman who was mentioned above alongside his old anti lesbian song 'Man Royal'is now in a feud with another murder music accused Elephant Man as their creativity shrinks so they have to resort to staged stand-offs to get attention, see: Dancehall Acts with Anti Gay Legacy Feud with each other as Creativity Fades ....
Thankfully this displacement case ended with a reasonable resolution and I hope she can settle and recommence her life as before in a safe and comfortable zone.

Peace and tolerance

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German Study: Gay men who discuss HIV status with sexual partners are less likely to acquire HIV

July 4, 2014, 11:29 am
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A case-control study, examining the sexual behaviour of German gay men receiving HIV-negative and HIV-positive test results, identified two key factors which distinguish the groups – consistent condom use with casual partners and discussing HIV status with partners.

The results, recently published in BMC Public Health, lend some support to the idea of serosorting (choosing a partner who has the same HIV status), but only when HIV status is ascertained through a clear and unambiguous conversation. Men who didn’t use condoms because they assumed their partner was HIV negative had a greater risk of acquiring HIV than other men.

This was a case-control study – in other words, an observational study in which a group of people with an infection (called ‘cases’) are compared with a group of people without the infection (called ‘controls’). The past events and behaviour of the two groups are compared in order to help us understand the risk factors for acquiring the infection.

Cases were gay men who attended one of a variety of HIV testing facilities in Germany, were diagnosed with HIV and who were determined to have acquired their HIV infection within the previous five months (based on a Recent Infection Testing Algorithm or RITA). Controls were gay men who took an HIV test and received a negative result, matched to the cases on the basis of their age and country of birth.

Information about the sexual behaviour of cases and controls was collected before receiving HIV test results.

Data were collected between 2008 and 2010. There were 105 cases and 105 controls, who had an average age of 34 years. Nine out of ten were born in Germany and they were generally well educated.

There were numerous variables for which no differences were observed between cases and controls:
Education.
Knowledge of HIV transmission risks during different sexual acts.
Recent HIV testing.
Recent diagnosis of a sexually transmitted infection.
Being single.
Inconsistent condom use in a primary relationship.

However some behavioural factors did distinguish cases (men who acquired HIV) from controls (men who did not) in the first analysis.

More cases (22 men) than controls (10 men) reported having been in a relationship of less than six months duration, and cases were also less likely to be in a relationship lasting more than a year. This points to the risks of HIV transmission during the early stages of romantic relationships.

While equal numbers of cases and controls had only had one sexual partner in the past six months (14 men in each group), average partner numbers were higher for cases (mean 11.8 partners, median 5) than controls (mean 6.6, median 4).

Whereas 60 cases reported having unprotected anal intercourse with a partner of unknown HIV status, this was only reported by 36 controls. There was a marked difference in terms of having unprotected receptive anal intercourse with a partner of unknown status (reported by 43 cases and 18 controls). Cases were also more likely to report inconsistent condom use outside of a primary relationship, with partners met online and with acquaintances.

Moreover, cases were less likely to report ‘always being safe’ with non-primary partners – in other words, consistent condom use or no anal sex. This was reported by 9 cases and 30 controls.

As can be seen only a minority of participants – including the controls – reported consistent condom use. When asked why condoms hadn’t been used on the last occasion of unprotected sex, many responses did not differ between cases and controls. For example, men in both groups said that they hoped nothing would happen, that condoms would have disturbed the mood, or that condoms caused erection problems.

However not using a condom because the respondent had assumed his partner was HIV negative was reported by more cases (25 men) than controls (8 men). Furthermore, while relatively few men said that they didn’t use condoms because they had talked to their partner about HIV status, this was reported much less frequently by cases (3 men) than controls (16 men).

The key results come from the multivariable analysis, which uses statistical techniques to identify the most important factors associated with HIV infection. Only two variables remained statistically significant. Demonstrating the continued relevance of consistent condom use, men who reported ‘always being safe’ were less likely to be diagnosed with HIV (odds ratio 0.23, 95% confidence interval 0.08 – 0.62).

In addition, men who did not use condoms having previously talked to their partner about HIV status were less likely to be diagnosed with HIV (odds ratio, 0.18, 95% confidence interval 0.05 – 0.71).

“One of the key findings was that having an explicit conversation about HIV serostatus before sexual activity reduces the risk of acquiring HIV,” conclude the researchers. “This might be attributable to the mode of serostatus communication: namely a direct and explicit conversation might be protective, whereas other ways of serosorting, such as relying on online profiles, or guessing/assuming HIV status based on appearance, might be much less effective.”

Reference

Santos-Hövener C et al. Conversation about Serostatus decreases risk of acquiring HIV: results from a case control study comparing MSM with recent HIV infection and HIV negative controls. BMC Public Health 14:453, 2014. (Full text available freely available here).
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Gay Men Are Receptive to Sexual Health Info on Hookup Sites says Scottish Study

July 6, 2014, 6:18 am
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Something that most us from the front lines already knew in Jamaica but when oh when are our HIV prevention strategists going to finally be proactive or at least sensible to recognise what has worked and use them? Lest we forget we have 33/4% infection rate in MSM. 

On Facebook even now in on of my groups we often times raise such issues such as hook-up safety tips as recent incidents have raised some concerns and HIV safer sex tips in the heat of the moment, I can remember even the days of GLABCOM when the short lived blog was used to such effect as well. Now comes a study that help us to understand better.

A survey of men who have sex with men in Scotland has found that sexual health promotion is acceptable in online cruising environments such as Gaydar and Grindr, but that a significant minority of men object to health workers initiating contact with them while using these websites and apps.

The researchers from Glasgow Caledonian University make several recommendations for online health promotion with gay and other men who have sex with men. Their online survey was conducted with 1,326 men who were recruited through a social networking website (Facebook), sexual networking websites (Gaydar, Recon, Squirt) and sexual networking apps (Grindr, Gaydar).

Given the recruitment methods, it’s unsurprising that very large numbers of respondents used sexual networking websites (86.8%) and sexual networking apps (56.4%). Around four in ten respondents used one of these websites (38.0%) or apps (42.8%) on a daily basis.

Fewer respondents used BBRT and other sites focused on barebacking (14.7%), with only 4.6% using them every day. Unsurprisingly, unprotected anal intercourse was widely reported by men using these sites. But while it is often thought that they are mostly used by HIV-positive men who want to serosort, this survey found that a significant number of users of those sites believed themselves to be HIV-negative.

As expected, the websites and apps were primarily used for sexual reasons, but they also served a social purpose for some men, especially those living away from the big cities. The main reasons to use them were to meet men for sex, for dating and to swap erotic photos or messages, but around a third of men used sexual networking websites to make new friends or to be connected to the gay community.

‘Killing time’ was also a reason that a third of men used these websites and apps.

The researchers were interested in what kinds of health promotion interventions would be acceptable in these environments. Of note, less than 5% of website users and 2% of app users said they used these services to access sexual health information.

Few respondents objected to health workers taking a ‘passive’ approach. On sexual networking websites such as Gaydar, Recon or Squirt, 85.7% said it was acceptable for workers to have a profile or identity and to wait to be approached by users. Slightly fewer (74.5%) supported this approach on smartphone apps such as Grindr.

There was less support for a more ‘active’ approach, in which health workers approach participants and solicit engagement. On websites this was supported by 54.6% of respondents; on apps it was acceptable to 40.5%.

The researchers note that while the sexual nature of these online environments – and the higher rates of unprotected sex reported by frequent users - would seem to make them appropriate locations for sexual health interventions, proactive interventions may be met with resistance from some users. They say this resonates with research in public sex environments, which has found that specific social and sexual areas are delineated - sexual health promotion is only acceptable in the ‘social’ areas.

Utilising existing social spaces on websites or apps – or creating new ones – for health interventions may be culturally more appropriate than outreach within main areas, they argue. However it remains to be seen whether such an approach would be effective in reaching large numbers of men, especially those with higher-risk behaviours.

The authors also point to the importance of finding acceptable ways to interact with men on the specialist barebacking websites, who are likely to be at higher risk of sexually transmitted infections or of being involved in HIV transmission. Furthermore their qualitative research found that some HIV-positive men reporting these sites being important locations of community support (mentioned more often in interviews than websites established by health agencies.) While this role could possibly be harnessed, health organisations may be uncomfortable doing so. “Orthodox public health systems may have trouble engaging with the transgressive sites favoured by some gay men with HIV,” the authors comment.

Men responding to the survey supported sexual health promotion in various online media – around half said they would be likely to use an app allowing a 1-2-1 chat with a sexual health adviser (52.7%) or a service which would send a text message when it’s time to go for a sexual health check-up (49.4%). The latter was most acceptable to men who would benefit the most – those who reported unprotected sex with multiple partners and those who did not report annual HIV and STI testing.

But the researchers urge local health bodies – such as those who commissioned the research – to collaborate with and promote existing sexual health websites, rather than to create new local services.

They also suggest that sexual health promoters should consider how the negotiation of safer sex occurs in digital settings, where more direct negotiation is possible than in face-to-face encounters and intentions can be signalled by profile options. Health promotion could provide guidance to men who have sex with men on minimising the risks of online cruising - addressing issues such as managing information and disclosure; dealing with truth, ambiguity and omissions within online relationships; and the transfer of relationships from the digital to the physical world.

References

Frankis J et al. Social Media, Men who have Sex with Men and Sexual Health in Lanarkshire: quantitative report. Glasgow Caledonian University, 2014.

Frankis J et al. Social Media, Lanarkshire Men who have Sex with Men and Sexual Health: An Experiential Qualitative Analysis. Glasgow Caledonian University, 2014.

also see:

New Efforts To Halt Spread Of HIV Among Gay Jamaica Men

Concerns for HIV prevalence rate in MSM in Jamaica & connected matters

Health Minister Ferguson on WAD '13 & FBOs fear of a Buggery repeal with future parachuted gay marriage rights

Incestuous messes, poor NGO monitoring & ever deepening mistrust about "gay rights"

Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco ...........

YOUNG MSM/TRANSGENDER WANT TO BE TREATED AS CITIZENS NOT POTENTIAL HIV/AIDS VICTIMS from March 2014

HIV and MSM community: Should we care? — Pt 2

Layered Stigma among Health Facility and Social Services Staff toward Most-at-Risk Populations in Jamaica

Big AIDS fight boost - Ja gets US$3.8 million from US$7-b fund

2007 MSM Study Reminder

New HIV infections rising in region, Unprotected straight, anal and bisexual intercourse blamed 2011

Review condom policy for prisoners

Continued oversight of same gender loving women in HIV response


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Stop Denying Homophobia! (Gleaner Letter)

July 7, 2014, 4:18 am
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The letter writer refers to an article from JFLAG's Programs persons and Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition CVCC (yes the group who funded the JFJ Sex Ed course that has only landed the struggle in more problems than solving any) board member Jaevion Nelson, you decide on this one readers, sometimes I have to wonder where some folks live? 

The referred article is in orange:

THE EDITOR, Sir:

This letter is in response to Jaevion Nelson's article 'Jamaica not as homophobic as portrayed' (Gleaner, July 3, 2014).

Two senior journalists - Gary Spaulding of The Gleaner and Karyl Walker of the Jamaica Observer - made some salient points at the press conference which was held last month by the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition about the portrayal of Jamaica as a rabidly homophobic place.

We supposedly come from and live in "the most homophobic place on earth". However, while there are scales to measure the people's negative attitudes towards non-heterosexuals, there is no real or accepted way - as far as I know - to determine if or how homophobic a country is.

What makes a country the most homophobic? Is it the murder of LGBT people (in one of the most murderous countries worldwide)? The impunity perpetrators enjoy (which is not uncommon to any one incident)? Is it the number of LGBT people who have had to seek refuge abroad? Is it the stories they tell (this is really what Karyl was getting at)? Is it the existence of an antiquated legislation that peers into the bedroom of consenting adults or the strident activism of an anti-gay movement that seeks to limit the rights and dignity of LGBT Jamaicans?

Unfortunately, what many people know about Jamaica is violence and that is often limited to homophobia. In 2012, I met a young man in York, England, who was terminally ill and had not been out of his house much in the last few years. He felt empowered to apprise me of how, in Jamaica, there is nothing but machete-wielding mobs lynching gay men. I tried desperately to convince him that there is another reality - not for everyone - but I was seemingly inept at doing so. Apparently, I didn't know what I was talking about. I've met so many others like this young man man who believe being LGBT in Jamaica is a death sentence.

DIFFERENT REALITY

I am not denying that many Jamaicans who are or perceived as LGBT are not subject to hostility on a daily basis. I'm not denying that many have had to seek refuge abroad or that a great many living in Jamaica aren't dying for an opportunity to escape. Many LGBT Jamaicans I know are imprisoned with fear and extremely anxious about being a victim of anti-gay hostility or violence. However, there are many who do not identify with the horrific stories that are told every day. I wish foreigners could hear this reality, too.

It doesn't help that we have been inundated with news reports and documentaries of people who have been harassed, beaten, displaced, made homeless, and murdered, among other things, over the last 10 years or so. There is a large community of LGBT people living in the gully in New Kingston. Almost a year ago, a homeless young man, Dwayne Jones, was murdered for not dressing as a biological male. This year, Tiana Miller, who is transgender, was denied entry into a soca party because the security said, "No cross-dressers are allowed".

However, in the middle of the hoopla, there is growing resistance - a fascinating resilience that shows Jamaicans are committed to working towards engendering the kind of society we want to live in and enjoy as human beings with dignity and with rights.

Many people have been enlisting themselves in a protest; are actively engaged in a movement that sees everyone as equal - that says sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression does not determine how we treat each other.

There is progress and we must acknowledge it. We must promote this as a sort of passive resistance to the stereotype about Jamaica. There is value in ensuring that LGBT people, especially those who are young, are not victims of our insatiable appetite for the most horrific of gay experiences. And I am not saying there is no value in sharing these stories, but they can be inimical to our efforts, in that they can further imprison people and keep them in the shadows. I am not suggesting homo-negativity is a thing of the past in Jamaica, but proffering that there is a complexity; a multifaceted process that requires our appreciation to move forward with dignity and right.

Nelson is right that the every member of the LGBT community does not have a homogeneous, death-unto-you experience marked by violence. And true, there is no one way to measure homophobia.

However, here is the problem with his article. There is an implicit denial of the shared experience of fear members of the LGBT community undergo.

No matter how much you resist it, no matter how strong you try to be, if you are gay or bisexual in Jamaica, at some point, you are afraid. You are afraid of what your parents, or friends, will do. You are afraid of what the public will do. You police yourself to ensure you conform with the sex-role stereotypes. And, importantly, most LGBT persons cannot openly claim their sexual orientation without some reprisal.

Our society defends and supports such reprisals and this culture of fear. That is the indication of homophobia. It is foolish to look for violence.

We know there are laws that deny rights to this community. We know there are persons who actively support this system of discrimination and we know the community is marginalised. It is culturally accepted and defended. To say we are not as homophobic because there is nothing to measure it is just blind. It is foolish.

I do not think saying "all gay men and women don't have the same experience with violence" is the same as saying we are not a homophobic country.

What it does say is that the homophobia takes many forms, that it varies according to class and education. Ian Boxill has a study that proves this. Homo-negativity is alive and well and publicly showing itself. So for those gay men and women who do not experience it, good for you, but it does not alter the reality I have described and Jamaica's cultural position on sexual difference.

GLENROY MURRAY
jacques_lebeau@hotmail.com
Kingston

ENDS

It seems the younger ones who come into these organizations somehow get "infected" by the very mindset of the older heads. Where one would expect a change of new approaches we see a continuation of old ideologies pushed through new faces. 

Peace and tolerance

H
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St. Kitts and Nevis PM Douglas defends PANCAP’s Justice For All programme

July 7, 2014, 4:39 am
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St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas has defended the “Justice for All” programme of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), saying it was not designed to encourage a re-order of the Caribbean society in a negative way.

According to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), a joint statement issued by 140 Caribbean organisations, which say they represent thousands of CARICOM nationals, made reference to an April 11, 2014 CARICOM press release which indicated that the regional leaders will be presenting for endorsement, several actionable recommendations on eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

The recommendations were made following a regional HIV consultation earlier this year.

In the statement, the regional groups including churches, the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), the Caribbean Centre for Family and Human Rights, Lawyers for Jesus and Advocate Caribbean, said the recommendations include repealing laws criminalising consensual sexual acts between adults and making sexual orientation a protected category for non-discrimination.

But Prime Minister Douglas, who has lead responsibility for health matters within the quasi-CARICOMCabinet, told (CMC) that he does not think that PANCAP was making any recommendation on issues such as same sex marriages.


“PANCAP has been saying for several years that if we are going to successfully fight the scourge of HIV and AIDS we need to make sure that we fight discrimination and stigmatisation,” said Dr. Douglas, adding “we have developed recently a programme called Justice for All which would have been taken to several Caribbean countries …hearing views on how they can reduce stigmatisation and discrimination.”

He said following the consultations, a report will now go before the regional leaders “to ensure that they are briefed on what is happening and whether they are ready to support the declaration.”

The regional groups said they are “alarmed that the leaders of the Caribbean are pursuing a demonstrably illogical path which with regards to sexuality seeks to define normal without reference to design.”

In a June 24 letter to the regional leaders and the CARICOM Secretary General His Excellency Irwin La Rocque, the organisations called for transparency and accountability in the discussions leading up to the formulation of the recommendations.

“We urge CARICOM heads of government to place the health and well-being of our societies as their top priority,” the statement said, adding “we also urge these leaders to desist from endorsing any recommendation which will fundamentally re-order society in negative ways that could jeopardise the future of our children and our region.”

But Prime Minister Douglas said while many people may have taken the declaration out of context and that issues such as “same sex marriage have never come up.

“We are clearly speaking of the issue of reducing stigma and discrimination against persons who are associated with HIV/AIDS,” he said, adding that the intention also is to ensure that those affected with the virus do not go underground but are allowed to receive proper medication and support.

also see:
Continued oversight or deliberate overlooking of Jamaican SGL Women in HIV Prevention?

Jamaica Increasing Funding For HIV/AIDS Programmes

13,328 Jamaican MSM Reached by HIV Prevention says report on National HIV Program ........ but

New Efforts To Halt Spread Of HIV Among Gay Jamaica Men

Concerns for HIV prevalence rate in MSM in Jamaica & connected matters

Health Minister Ferguson on WAD '13 & FBOs fear of a Buggery repeal with future parachuted gay marriage rights

Incestuous messes, poor NGO monitoring & ever deepening mistrust about "gay rights"

Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco ...........

YOUNG MSM/TRANSGENDER WANT TO BE TREATED AS CITIZENS NOT POTENTIAL HIV/AIDS VICTIMS from March 2014

HIV and MSM community: Should we care? — Pt 2

Layered Stigma among Health Facility and Social Services Staff toward Most-at-Risk Populations in Jamaica

Big AIDS fight boost - Ja gets US$3.8 million from US$7-b fund

2007 MSM Study Reminder

New HIV infections rising in region, Unprotected straight, anal and bisexual intercourse blamed 2011

Review condom policy for prisoners

Continued oversight of same gender loving women in HIV response
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Man reportedly mobbed while dressed as woman case heard in court

July 8, 2014, 1:03 pm
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A woman and her two daughters accused of beating their alleged gay relative and biting him on his ear told the court that they never touched him and that he was beaten by a mob after he showed up at nine-night dressed like a woman.

Patricia Bignall, 51-year-old construction worker of Cockburn Pen in Kingston, is accused of using a stone to hit her nephew on his hand while one of her 19-year-old daughters, Carlene Thompson, is accused of holding the complainant's hand for her sister, Pollyanna Osbourne, to bite the complainant on his ears.

Bignall is also accused of threatening to kill the complainant.

The trio however denied beating the complainant, claiming that he was attacked by a mob of men who saw him in his female attire.

“A him come a de people dem nine night dress up like him a woman," Bignall said. “A de nine-night me deh when me daughter dem run come tell me say him dress up like woman and dem a beat him.

“My daughters then go up to him and say, ‘yeah man, you seet we tell you fi stop gwaan like girl’, and him say that im ago f... them up,” she added.

Bignall said the complainant then wrongly told the police that they were the ones who had beaten him.

“We didn't beat him and all him do a dress up like girl. Him a 29 and him put on uniform and gwaan like him a girl,” she said.


She also told the court that the complainant was a troublemaker.

“Up to yesiday dem charge him fi loitering in New Kingston, him lurking, him thief, this bwoy,” Bignall said.

The complainant however maintained that they had beaten him.

“Har daughter dem gang me a Three Miles and bite me behind me ears,” he said.

Bail for the three accused was subsequently extended for them to return to court on August 11 for trial.

According to the complainant in his statement, on June 10 around 11:45 pm he was at a nine-night in the community when his aunt approached him and told him that she heard that he wanted to beat her. The complainant denied the reports and told the aunt that there was nothing on her to beat.

The aunt reportedly got upset and started cursing the complainant who traded words with her, which resulted in her throwing a stone and hitting him on his hands before leaving.

Shortly after, the complainant was reportedly confronted by the sisters and was bitten on his ears by Osbourne after Thompson held his hands behind him.

The matter was reported and Bignall was charged with unlawful wounding and threatening the crown witness while the others were charged with assault occasioning bodily harm.
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A Response to a Gleaner Commentary: 'CAUSE' Editorials And The Culture War

July 10, 2014, 4:04 am
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I felt moved to respond to this commentary piece from one Alfred Sangster whose poorly thought through article just irked me as I sipped my tea this morning, I hope the Gleaner approves my comment but in case they do not it sits below the article excerpted:

'CAUSE' Editorials And The Culture War


By Alfred Sangster

The Gleaner editorial of July 03, 2014 asks the question, In whose CAUSE? and answers the question in the body of the editorial. Essentially, the editorial is sounding the battle cry against the consortium 'Churches Action Uniting Society for Emancipation' (CAUSE).The article attacks the evangelicals and is strong for the gay-rights movement. The war that The Gleaner has declared is against, "those who are intent on turning back a liberalism that sees same-sex orientations not as a fundamental right, but as an intolerable aberration." There has been a second supporting editorial of July 8, 2014 by The Gleaner titled: 'Good tactic, wrong CAUSE', which was obviously prompted by the fact that the CARICOM leaders at their recent meeting deferred approval of the anti-discrimination document (PANCAP) which has a strong gay-rights agenda. The successful lobby of over 140 organisations against the document must have sent a strong signal to the CARICOM leaders and a jarring message to The Gleaner writers as well!

This so-called culture war is driven by imperialists whose methods have been no different from those of earlier years. Jamaica has had its challenges of culture wars before with threats to life and liberty. The most recent historically was in the '70s when Michael Manley launched his democratic socialism - a cover-up for communism - on the Jamaican people. But Jamaica rejected this foreign imperialistic doctrine and the People's National Party was rejected in an unprecedented way. The Gleaner editorial writers seem to have forgotten their paper's history. It was the same Michael Manley who led a demonstration at The Gleaner's gates with the promised threat of 'Next Time'. The Gleanercried out to the country for help, and people rallied around and bought shares in the company. I was one of them.

WAKE-UP CALL

For our present time, the Brendan Bain issue was a new wake-up call to both the Jamaican society in general and the Church in particular. The communist threat, now history, has been replaced with a new imperialistic threat to the country in the militant gay-rights movement in what the editorial described as the new culture wars. This new value system is characterised by the cleverly disguised use of 'rights' to bypass existing laws and practical questions of right and wrong. In President Obama's reflections on racial and women's 'rights' on issues of freedom, equality and justice, he was correct and argued from the highest ethical and moral value system known to mankind. When he added the rights of homosexuals to his list of rights, he moved America down the slippery slope of moral decay. So the Christian community and many elements of civil society have risen to battle this new imperialism and its challenges. These are the issues and this is the CAUSE.

It is about a lifestyle which has the following sexual elements.

It is an unnatural lifestyle. The plant and animal kingdom have their male and female genders for propagation, renewal and replacement

It is an unhealthy lifestyle. The Brendan Bain statistics - internationally confirmed - noted the realities of the enhanced threat to sexual diseases

It is an unproductive lifestyle.

The gay lifestyle strikes at the heart of the family and the sanctity of marriage currently entrenched in the Jamaican Constitution as a union between one man and one woman, The buggery law is not about prying into people's bedrooms; it strikes at the root of the justice system and creates a false value system.

The firing of Professor Brendan Bain was just such an example. A large number of splinter groups described by The Gleaner headline as 'duppies' led to the false premise that Professor Bain had lost the confidence and support of his constituents.

STRIKES at NATION'S HEART

The gay lifestyle strikes at the heart of a nation's ethical, moral and spiritual value system.

The movement is characterised by some of the following elements.

The tactics of the imperialists remain the same as those of the old slave masters - use any available resource to subdue, or buy out the 'natives',

Use the media to induce 'the hate speech concept' and attack those who stand for Christian values.

Use underhand and deceitful methods to influence the young. The recent sexual material in the children's homes is an example. The interchanges between Carolyn Gomes, Kay Osborne and the Jamaicans for Justice raises the question as to who is telling the truth.

It is clear that The Gleaner editorialists have captured the imperialistic gay-rights agenda, quite the opposite of the struggles of the '70s. What is the policy of The Gleaner's board of directors on this issue? What of the voice of shareholders who supported The Gleaner in the '70s. We need answers.

ENDS
My response:

Dr Mr Sangster,

Please step out of the dark ages and step into the present reality, the procreation argument does not wash anymore as ONE person can be made produce and embryo via stem cell research/manipulation and other scientific methods for persons who cannot have children naturally or same sex couples who do not want to go the route of a surrogate.

Because you are not attracted to the same sex does not make it unnatural for someone's whose experience is different from yours but clearly you wish to IMPOSE your beliefs on others yet pretend that you hate he sin but love the sinner which is a silly argument.

Anal sex as implied in this poorly thought through and under-researched article is NOT the untidy affair as your active imagination would like to think as your mind seems stuck on the "sex of it" instead of the orientation of the individuals (mostly in this case gay/bi men) but bear in mind heterosexuals also practice anal penetration, some for contraceptive means as evidenced by medical doctors who have spoken publicly on the issue. Walk into any pharmacy and there are anal healthcare products similar to those that women use for their own issues.

Please list the actual page(s) that had the so called offensive lines in the JFJ sex education manual as I find many as yourself who are in strong opposition have failed miserably to be specific on that matter but are up in arms at a report by a newspaper, they did bypass the CDA but the reporting mechanism and monitoring visits by the CDA should have picked up in the 6 or 7 months the activity was taking place a point that I have yet to see you self righteous voices elucidate.

You wrote:

"The movement is characterised by some of the following elements. The tactics of the imperialists remain the same as those of the old slave masters - use any available resource to subdue, or buy out the 'natives',Use the media to induce 'the hate speech concept' and attack those who stand for Christian values."

Where is the proof of this when this very newspaper and others has allowed your piece to be published (as nonsensical as it is), so how can it be blocking freedom of speech and you, Rev Peter Espeut, Dr Wayne West, Shirley Richards and others over these many years have contributed articles and so on unimpeded or blocked by these so called imperialists?

The fact that a rally that basically incited hate & reawakened old homophobic feelings was even allowed to occur to supposed fight against as you put it "imperialists" when this is a MINORITY lest we forget is not clear to you yet? ..... it is interesting that very freedom of speech which you defend so stoutly is now being used by you and yours to suppress a minority, wow 15th century England all over again but this time in little Jamaica and then you claim the victim-hood card to justify your arguments ........ are you for real?

Finally stop clouding the atheistic or secularist push with that of the LGBT rights advocacy, not all voices who are atheist are homosexual that is what is causing a lot of this nonesense.

ENDS

also see


Two Good Letters on Gay Person-hood & Paedophile Homosexuality Conflation

Jamaican Gay Unions? Hanna Says Ja Not Ready For Same-Sex Families Despite Int'l Redefinition

The Gleaner Editorial to Anti Gay Group - In Whose CAUSE?

Many more miles to go on understanding and just sheer sensible reasoning it seems

Peace and tolerance

H
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3 LGBT Forced Evictions in Clarendon a Cause for Concern

July 10, 2014, 4:16 am
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It was only earlier this month this blog carried the following: Woman Labelled “Man Royal” Forced to Relocate from a St Catherine Community

Now Confirmed are these latest cases & outcomes:


Two gay men and a same gender loving female in her early 20s are the latest to join the numbers of persons being thrown out of their homes by family members in recent times; these are just cases that have come to hand, there may be more gone unreported or addressed elsewhere, this trio though all hail from one parish that of Clarendon with two from May Pen and one from a small district outside of the town. One of the three persons is now staying at an influentials flat in St Catherine until matters can be settled in a sense and as the female tries to arrange a ride to pick up her belongings as her mother has allowed some time for her to do so.

Other parishes have been seeing their own share of cases many unconfirmed but corroborated which leaves one in doubt yet but Portland, St Catherine, St Ann and St James seem to be the areas that have had the most instances of MSM mostly evicted and transwomen as well.

The SGL female case is the most recent of the three in Clarendon thanks to a friends of hers who alerted me as it was only last weekend when she returned from a sporting event only to be confronted by her mother who said she was told (and she always knew) that her daughter was on Facebook with other girls on photographs and that her lifestyle was wrong, persons have been feeding her information along the whole nine yards. According to the young lady involved she has had run-ins before with her father who resides elsewhere but those had died down somewhat, she was unaware however that other matters were apparently ongoing all this time that it could have led to an ultimatum to have her leave which surprised her. There was an argument some time before on other domestic issues but no hint was given as well to any discomfort of her perceived sexual orientation. We have seen so many cases as this one before where just on the face it it seems normative then comes the surprise.

The young lady who is employed has been making some adjustments in keeping her job while thankfully the news has not reached her employers or co-workers so I do not expect her to be homeless anytime soon which is good news and some relief as those numbers are spiralling out of control. One of our brothers, twenty three years old in this story though is not so fortunate, he was thrown out of his family home from February of this year and kept it down for some time but a lack of steady income and sustenance has left him no choice but to beg literally other community persons, he stayed at my house for a couple days in April but costs did not allow me to continue the assistance for a protracted period as many other community influentials have adopted a shortened assistance when available. Increased bills, a sliding dollar and fiscal prudence has greatly affected this informal type of crisis intervention or community based shelter assistance.

He as I prepare this post is now in Portmore for another short stay opportunity by a friend I begged until some other door is opened which is a difficult way to exist going from hand to mouth so to speak and leaves on feeling disheartened. Thanks so much to that friend (a regular reader of this blog) so much as he was aware of my issue last year in assisting another young man who did not last three days at my pad as he apparently found a thug in my area attractive and brought him to my home without my permission for sexual liaisons which did not sit well with me, so I had to evict him as a matter of principle. I have a policy of not dating or sleeping with “area men” they can become very “sprung” demanding thinking they have one over you.

The second victim in the trio eviction was outed by mistake he reported at home almost a year ago after he returned from a weekend out with friends; he reportedly had women’s clothes in his unpacked bag that he had left in his room on the floor, his mother apparently in causally tidying the house ran into the bag and its contents and waited on him to supposedly cross examine him on the clothes, he claimed she made remarks that he did not have a girlfriend so how could he have female clothes in his possession and for weeks the matter was repeatedly raised in some way, shape or form to his annoyance. Other family members who also told he said as he noticed attitudes from them when they visited or on the phone was distant or different than before.

Even after he discarded the bag and the clothes the matter was still raised and it was during those latter months that the indication that a separation was pending became apparent; the young man however did not take it seriously and thought she was only joking. It was a heated Sunday morning exchange however where the seriousness of the matter was brought home to him as an older brother spoke to him over the phone and warned him to just leave as their mother was not planning on having him stay. Fast forward to the present set of circumstances.

Third victim

Another male who was forcibly evicted in June of this year was also reported in the May Pen are. According to my sources the young man has been the brunt of teasing in his community for some time as he is said to be effeminate and has had run-ins with other community male members who often tell him to stay away from them or their sons implying homo-peadophile intentions by the man. The man who is said to be in his twenties was also slapped with an object of some kind as he left the home jeered and mocked by residents and told by family members not to return for his own safety. This case seems not to be one that was the causation of family members or siblings but more community influenced. As more details come forth and are relevant this post maybe updated but it is clear that this case exists as the female also was able to corroborate the matter as she heard of the issue but could not get in touch with the individual as it was sometime prior to her matter.

His actual whereabouts now is unclear as he was said to be in Kingston upon last check, I am not sure if he has joined the Shoemaker Gully population or downtown.

Forced evictions seem to be on the rise but not surprisingly as there is always a spike in times of heightened public discourse on homosexuality and especially the caustic, inciteful tone and colour of the issues in just four and a half weeks I would not be relaxed and expect to hear of more reports of such evictions. Sadly our goodly advocates who are more interested in getting sex education courses in schools while bypassing the legal authorities do not see a reason to have a proper catchment, half way house or transitional living facility for this kind of long-standing challenges knowing fully well that stigma and discrimination overall produces these visible consequences or displacements and subsequent homelessness.

Since 2014 more than 25 cases of displacements overall have come to hand and that does not include the unreported, unshared and reports to other agencies/individuals unbeknownst to myself. This is a worrying trend and I am particularly concerned about the numbers of lesbians/bisexual women who are factoring in the numbers and in residential areas at that such as Portmore and other housing schemes more so than lower socio economic zones where such evictions are expected due to the levels of homophobia or indeed lesbophobia therein.

Another unconfirmed report of a forced eviction had come to light in Portmore recently as well based on a television newsclip of a buggery arrest matter but details are sketchy as they are when doing this kind of investigative work. Police sources sometime clam up these days on such matters as they claim superiors do not want to create any panic or give persons ideas to incite violence or take matters into their own hands.

Thanks to the community folks who pitched in this time and please help where you can.

Be vigilant be safe

Peace and tolerance

H
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So The Gay Marriage Paranoia Spreads to Dominica?

July 11, 2014, 3:39 am
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I am not aware of any Caribbean state requesting or agitating for gay marriage rights or benefits.


So the paranoia we saw earlier this year of jumping the gun to gay marriage when we cannot even get passed common sense and just reasoning on tolerance, privacy and an archaic buggery legislation has spread to Dominica as well, the last post on here we saw the Prime Minister there in 2013 with Dominican govt says no to changes to buggery laws .......... local homophobes reject "Homophobia" then speaking on the state-owned DBS radio Monday, said his administration’s position on the matter is stated in law “and this matter is still on our books and will remain there for the foreseeable future.” 

He added: “I respect the views of this new group. I understand from persons they intend to write to the government. We welcome their writing to government. We welcome meeting them as as a matter of fact. They are citizens of this country and they would like to express their views.

“But one has to look at the broader context of this request and it will be dangerous for the country to move in the direction of repealing laws against buggery,” Skerrit said.

He said that “as it is now anybody who wants to engage in whatever activities can do so in the privacy of his home. But one should not believe that the government is prepared or thinking of wanting to make this a public affair.”

Skerrit said he has not heard “any compelling arguments for it to be repealed and I don’t think any compelling arguments can be made for it to be repealed.” 

Now in recent days:

Dominica PM Roosevelt Skerrit

ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) — The Dominica Government says it will not accept same-sex marriages, insisting the island will not follow other countries in doing so.

"I will make it clear that there are some things that this Government will not accept and we will never allow for the state to recognise same-sex marriage in our country. If other countries want to do it, that's a matter for them but there are certain guiding principles that we must follow," Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said.

The local group, Minority Rights Dominica (MiriDom), has been calling on the Government to re-examine the Sexual Offence Act of Dominica as it relates to buggery, claiming that the legislation "discriminates against people because of their sexual preferences.

"We are just asking that everybody be treated equally," the group said, adding that it was still awaiting correspondence from Prime Minister Skerrit on the issue.

But Prime Minister Skerrit said while he is willing to meet with MiriDom to discuss issues, concerns and recommendations. "I don't think any one group should impose any views on any other group.

"We are prepared to meet with MiriDom at any time. We will seek to contact them again and arrange for the Minister for Social Services and myself to meet and discuss with them."

The prime minister also dismissed reports that police were threatening to arrest people at their homes engaged in same-sex. "This has never happened in Dominica and I don't think that will be happening any time now or later," he said.

ENDS



also see: 

Earlier this month we also saw our own madness with the Methodist Church jumping the gun to say their priests won't be allowed to conduct marriages in some fear that that will be the next item to reform society. Fear is a hell of a thing and to think heterosexual religious folk mostly are defending stoutly the institution of marriage as they have a right to under the current definition of marriage as one man one woman yet the figures of divorce in Jamaica as of June this year makes me wonder.


Anglican Church in the Caribbean: No to Same Sex Marriages

Opposition sides with Govt on No to same sex marriage (PNP prior to the 2011 elections win)

Gay Marriage - An Invented Issue by the Christian right movement

Jamaica Council of Churches still not clear on the buggery law but resolute in opposing gay marriage

Promoting homosexuality? No, its about freedom of choice, privacy & tolerance

and

BUY NO RINGS, YOU WON’T WED; RELIGIOUS FEAR-MONGERING ON GAY MARRIAGE & THE BUGGERY LAW CONTINUES

Jamaican Artistes say Gay Marriage on 2014 Grammy Awards was too much

A response to Rev Carla Dunbar's stance on gay marriage

NY-Based Co-Founder of J-FLAG sees no need for same sex-marriage

Will same-sex marriages ever be accepted in Jamaica?


Bruce Golding's Waffle on Buggery

Government says there will be zero tolerance for gay marriages 2008 under the JLP's Bruce Golding

MoBay Church Fraternity Says No To Buggery Review

Minister of Education says no to condoms in schools & grooming of children to see homosexuality as accepted

Same-Sex Marriage A Misnomer, Fraud (Gleaner Letter)

Lesbian couple celebrate their marriage locally ..

PNP 2006, No plans to Legalise Same Sex Union in Jamaica(FLASHBACK)

No Same Sex Marriage says Prime Minister in Charter of Rights Bill Debate 2009

Gay Marriage posts on GLBTJA Wordpress: HERE


The False Dichotomy of the religious right on the LGBT advocacy Godlessness

Continued misconceptions of adult homosexuals being paedophiles

Peace and tolerance needed indeed at this time as arrant madness seems to take over and fear of what I am not so sure

H
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Officers rescue alleged male fondler from mob

July 12, 2014, 4:12 am
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I heard about this incident via a text message but was not sure of it until it appeared in the Star yesterday as happened in St Thomas, it seems the eastern side of the island has been having its fair share of issues regarding sexual inappropriate behaviour the arrest of a pastor accused of sexual assaulting three girls in his church under the age of consent was the last major drama I heard.

see: Anti gay religious voices where are they? .... Pastor charged with sexual assault

That case was heard in court and his house was almost torched by angry residents also the church as well, another matter involving a man who is charged for buggering a teenage boy though unconfirmed is widely circulated and the man is said to be on the run.

The Star carried yesterday:

The police in St Thomas had to move swiftly earlier this week to rescue a man who is on a sexual assault charge, accused of fondling a young man's private parts.

Reports reaching The WEEKEND Star and the police are that residents in the Phanpret area of St Thomas have been threatening to attack and beat the 40-year-old man for the alleged assault.

granted bail

He was arrested and charged by the Yallahs police on June 30, for allegedly sexually assaulting a young man in the community. He was granted bail in the sum of $8,000 and booked to appear in court on July 25.

The charge comes against allegations that the man offered a young man accommodation at his home for a night after the young man failed to find a family member he was visiting.

They young man was allegedly awoken by the man fondling his private parts. An investigation by the police led to the charge being laid against the accused.

ENDS

Question is was the fondled man gay or was it an arrangement gone bad? Does this fondler have a mental issue for an urge to do so in public?

We may never know these things as incidents do not just happen like that as those of us who are experienced can attest to, there is far more to this than meets the eye.
One can recall the so called sodomatical attack case in 2009 with the subsequent murder of a priest in so called self defence (gay panic defence) as well - PRIEST'S FREAKY ACTS EXPOSED - Court hears accused pressured for sex

The details of the alleged intimate acts that took place between a priest and the man accused of murdering him were revealed yesterday in a document which was tendered in evidence and read to the jury.

The revelation was made during the trial of 25-year-old labourer Prince Vale of Tommy Hill district, Stony Hill, St Andrew, who is charged with the murder of Anglican priest Father Richard Johnson.

The priest was fatally stabbed on the night of November 12, 2006, at the Anglican church rectory at Stony Hill.

Deputy Superintendent Roy Boyd testified in the Home Circuit Court yesterday that on November 15, 2006, he interviewed Vale. He said attorney-at-law Arthur Kitchin represented Vale during the interview that was in the form of questions and answers.

Vale said he used to go to the priest's house and they would discuss work and Bible knowledge. He said that they would telephone each other as well.

Vale said during the interview, that on previous occasions when he went to the rectory, he and the priest watched television in the bedroom. He said they also watched 'blue movies'.

Questioned as to whether the priest had ever said anything to him about having sex, Vale said "yes". The accused man further said that the priest had asked him if mi could have sex with him, which he refused.

Vale told the police during the interview that on the night of the incident he went to the priest's house sometime after 9 p.m for a pair of pants and to discuss work.

He said that when he went to the house, the priest let him in. He said that he asked the priest for a drink and it was given to him.

After he tried on the pair of pants, it could not fit and he told the priest it would be better for him to keep it.

He said that after he took off the pants the priest tried to fondle him. Father Johnson, he said, touched his penis and chest but "I told him I was not in those things".

Vale said that the priest who was wearing a pair of shorts took it off and tried to make him touch his erect penis. Questioned further Vale said "mi put mi hand on it." Vale said that for about three to five minutes, the priest was trying to have intercourse with him but he told him to stop.

In response to the question "why did you stab Johnson?" Vale replied "mi never want him to ..... me." Vale said at the time when he stabbed the priest he had been lying on top of him.

Also see the Observer report HERE 

Back to the matter at hand though is public fondling though a sign of other serious mental issues with the foldler? This needs research I think

Peace & Tolerance

H
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Bi-invisibility in LGBTQ Discourse a continued cause for concern

July 17, 2014, 4:27 am
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In an email sent to me by a reader of one of my blogs some days ago a woman who identifies herself as a local bisexual said she is lost and amazed at how bisexuals in Jamaica are treated or omitted from any coverage and agitation for rights by the main voices in advocacy or otherwise. She said she only found my blogs as the only source it seemed for Jamaican bisexual discourse or rantings on the subject.

Apart from one or two social media groups that cater to bisexuals or so they say hardly any real discourse takes place but more hunting for one night stands and such.

The matter of bi-erasure and omission is one thing but the stigma from cisgender gay and lesbian persons towards bisexuals is another matter in and of themselves as scorn, ridicule and sheer hate comes to such persons or issues when they arise. Deep mistrust comes readily to mind for some as relational matters of the heart and persons who do not follow a rigidly same sex view of attraction are either confused, greedy or plain deceptive and want to have their cake and eat it too. It seems the forumatic activities for example from back in the day that once were active non defunct that would help to air such matters are gone, the online social media engagement is limited to buggery laws, advocacy advertisements, superstar voices intellectually masturbating at the expense of the least amongst us and a lack of deeper analysis on person-hood, developmental thrust at the community level to include not so visible groups such as transgender, lesbian and bisexuals.

A recent Facebook group poll in a group of over 500 members where the question of bisexuality as a discussion in a yes or no answer the vast majority of voters voted amazingly no with some comments suggesting bisexuals should go and sort themselves out and or they need to make up their minds on which sex they desire and so on. There is a disturbing lack of understanding of the issues surrounding sex & sexuality, sexual orientation within the LGBTQ populations and real tolerance from within first before we go demanding same from a homo-negative John public. Similar mismatches and disdain comes to drag queens after all these years versus transgender females despite the visibility of both groups and the some of their issues but persons still confuse a transwoman as a drag queen simply because they present aesthetically in terms of dress and makeup techniques without said persons condemning them taking the time to understand their identity difference, there seems to be no group work in any meaningful way to raise awareness and breaking this cycle.


In a previous post on this blog the matter of the biphobia in the community was examined and it seems very little has changed. On The Biphobia in the community (Gay, Lesbian) maybe higher than thought published 2011 on the strength of a series of discussions on bisexuality and how persons felt during April and May of this year we saw the obvious signs that many same gender loving persons have a perception that somehow persons who are double gender lovers or bisexuals are untrustworthy, more risky in regards to sexually transmitted diseases with HIV/AIDS and may not be able to be monogamous. The opposite also is true for the bisexual representatives who have responded some in very tersely worded responses. The poll photographed above was floated on social networking site Facebook to get a further glimpse into what persons were thinking on the issue a large percentage the respondents saying yes to the question:

"Do you believe bisexuals should declare themselves so prior to entering a long term relationship?"

The other comments are not as kind and will not be posted here but suffice it to say we have to begin to address this issue I feel, if we as lgbt people are asking the mainstream to be tolerant of us then why aren't we tolerant of a section of the community that has their own orientation issues to deal with, this is also sadly with the absence of the main advocates who are more interested in the Buggery Law than the inter community cohesiveness as well, biphobia by default as I have termed it.

How can we rebuild the trust or keep the conversations going when the main LGBT groups are not even paying attention to the sub-groups under the umbrella but are quick to use the call letters so easily when formulating positions and press releases but no real work in the final analysis.

Peace and tolerance

H
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Jamaica Observer’s ‘reasoned stance’ on homosexuality applauded?

July 21, 2014, 4:29 am
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See what you make of this..........

Jamaica Observer online readers reacted with strong interest to their July 16, 2014 editorial titled "Homosexuality: the long, painful search for workable rules of engagement". Here are some of the many comments received:

* Gwoods: Thank you Mr Editor for your more nuanced views on homosexuality. It is a far cry from a former very strident homily that you delivered a short while ago when you described it as a 'beast amongst us'. I hope that the zealots on whatever side of the fence will see your more reasoned stance on the subject as something to be applauded. But, the key thing in this debate is for all to study and reflect on this topic; for, when we do, we will come to understand that there are some powerful assumptions driving both the homosexual debate, and human sexuality. Keep up the otherwise excellent standard of your newspaper.

* Obeah_Man: As a Jamaican of African descent, who has lived abroad and felt the whip of discrimination, I must strongly object to the right you would give church leaders and entertainers to discriminate openly, without non-governmental repercussions. The point is the distance between a negative characterisation and the action that supports it is vanishingly small. This is why the slogan, "love the sinner, hate the sin," makes no sense at all. The workable rule of engagement should be to embrace the words of Confucius, and later by Jesus: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If we did that, Jamaica would be a much better place to live.

* TK46: Obeah_Man, repercusions against the church/entertainers by govt? Freedom of opinion Obeah_man, gays don't discriminate?

* PhilOiseaubay: Mr Editor, your words are welcome but they don't match some of your recent works. Like America's Fox News' claim to be 'Fair & Balanced' you sometimes appear anything but. Take the recent article about the hunt for the gully-living gay murderer. It appeared that you let the homophobe commenters run rampant while refusing to post any nuanced pieces like mine on how these boys came to be homeless in the 1st place - kicked from home and community by over-zealous religious bigots. Did you feel that any critical assessment like that lacked 'decency' or did you just want to whip up more hate for the gays? Perhaps gays in tolerant, developed countries do not suffer any different rates of crime than the general population because they are not forced to the streets by their parents. Your claim for holding the high ground is, at times, sadly off mark.

* CArlton Reynolds: PhilOiseaubay, you are off mark. I bet you never watched Fox News to determine whether they are fair or balanced! There are many homeless people who do not behave like those homos, and homosexual children are not chased from their homes by religious bigots as you claim, otherwise there would not be so many well placed and powerful defenders of the cause.

* PhilOiseaubay: CArlton Reynolds, you are wrong on all counts! The well-placed gays are most likely from loving, accepting families - not many of those evidently in J'ca. If you cannot see the fallacy of Fox News, then you are beyond hope...probably fodder for their Tea Party loyalists...and probably believe the gully-residing gays chose to live a feral existence in abject poverty.

* CArlton Reynolds: PhilOiseaubay, you are just repeating the propaganda of your failed idol Obama! Is it only gays living on the streets?

* Chantelle Brady: CArlton Reynolds, you've got to be kidding me. Where do u live? U really don't live in Jamaica. A father helped guys in his community to beat his gay son. Get ur head out the clouds and back to the reality of Jamaica and their dangerous homophobia.

* CArlton Reynolds: Chantelle Brady, the danger is you guys or is it gays telling lies about the dangers gays face from homophobic Jamaica!

* BlackBritish: You are being disingenuous, CArlton. What would be the purpose of lying? Did the father help the mob beat his son, or not? That's a yes or no question...I know of gays who have been harassed for no reason, except that they are gay - one having a fire extinguisher sprayed in his eyes; others beaten...Things will not get better until people like you are able to hear the truth. What are you afraid of?

* Chuckl3s: BlackBritish, your story of a gay having a fire extinguisher discharged in his face, is not verified, and could be a one-sided story as well.

* BlackBritish: Ok, you got me... I made it up. And this is why the country will not move forward. The editorial is about reconciliation and respect. That cannot happen while people like you are in denial. As I asked the other person, what would be the purpose in lying? I am a heterosexual woman with ZERO desire to conquer the world with homosexuality! As someone who knows gay persons in my private and professional life, my only concern is with their mental health, which is impaired by the discrimination and bigotry they endure.

* kittywally: As long as tolerance is not synonymous with acceptance!

* Chantelle Brady: kittywally, a part of tolerance is accepting things you can't change. U don't have to like it or even understand it but give people the freedom to choose their partners the same way we get to be intimate with who we want to be intimate with. Let's not create a whole new Jim Crow.

* kittywally: Chantelle Brady, you are free to be with whomever (you can claim that as your right) the same way in which I have the right to not being accepting of it. I have no problem being the friend of someone who is gay (and in fact have a friend who will remain my dear friend until death do us part)...But we have agreed to disagree on the gay lifestyle, yet civility reigns in our relationship.

* F Young: "But what we can reasonably expect is tolerance of the different lifestyles..." Is heterosexuality a lifestyle? Of course not, heterosexuals have countless different lifestyles, and they are usually the same homosexuals have. Retirement is a lifestyle, for example, but neither homosexuality or heterosexuality is a lifestyle, since lifestyle implies choice, even eccentricity. However, homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality are inborn and immutable, like race. The only correct medical and legal term to refer to them is sexual orientation. It is an easy word to remember and use. On the other hand, "lifestyle" is an insulting term used only by those who are ignorant or anti-gay. "...all Jamaicans must be free to choose to live their sexuality in conformity with the laws of the land..." Why do you support oppressive laws that imprison people for victimless crimes?

"We uphold the right of the Jamaican church to take a stand against homosexuality..." So, are you okay with preachers and singers that incite murder by stoning? Does religion make it right?

* Chantelle Brady: Good editorial. Dats what I've been saying too. You don't have to understand homosexuality but you can be balanced and fair. Allow people to make their own choices and determine their own destiny very much the same way you want to. Equality and freedom for one, equality and freedom for all.

* Pete: Chantelle Brady, uhm...yes, but the only "choices" people make is who they sleep with...the gender they are sexually attracted to is not a choice. Neither homosexuality, bisexuality, or heterosexuality and anything else in betweeen are choices. They are part of the makeup of human beings.

* Jumpy1: The singular problem is that although everyone, theoretically, has a voice and ought to be heard, homosexuals are in the minority and greatly outnumbered on all sides. Their situation is not unlike that of black people in the American states where Bible-thumping masses quoted from the shared Bible that, non-whites, being "lesser" children of a shared-God should capitulate and accept their God-assigned place in life. Any equality, would, assumedly, come after the grave. Definitely not before; since even mortuaries were segregated! The issue of pith and moment is, "should the buggery law be repealed"? And, concomitantly, "if not, why not? Most of those who speak articulately in favour of non-repeal underscore that they believe that if Government gives in, to whomsoever, and passes a repeal, these lesser citizens will want more: much more; like the right to wed and share in rights enshrined for all other citizens. This, they say is wrong. Very wrong! How so?

* Reggie: Clap, Clap, Clap. Bravo. Great Editorial. Now answer your own questions and do your own analysis of your own journalists and your own paper. What do you get, you may share your results too.

* African_Chief Reggie: Last week in the observer — "JCSC response to anti-gay mass meeting comes late in the day". Does the Observer not see the irony of today's editorial?

* BlackBritish: African_Chief, at least they're trying now. Yes, it's a bit late, but better late than never. When someone is trying to give an olive branch, the thing to do is to accept it (albeit sceptically). Some of us who are vehement advocates for the LGBT pop were once the biggest bigots and homophobes.

* kidd: Romans 1:25-28

* BlackBritish: In the 19th Century, the church started evolving in its teaching about slavery. In the 20th Century, the teachings on the role of women was re-evaluated. Could the Church's 21st Century issue be homosexuality? Many scholars believe so.

* speakthetruth: Matthew Vines has been advocating his position on gay Christians. I disagree with his position because it is inconsistent with the scriptures. One of the key requirements of becoming a Christian is self denial. Denying self means embracing what God requires of us....not what we require or desire for ourselves. Homosexuality is a sin as is adultery and fornication. None of these sins will ever be deemed acceptable by God simple because God is not evolving.

* Kirk: Red Alert! If homosexual nomenclature is given credence, then we're all fighting a losing battle. It merely reflects the levity and conspiratorialism of a few. Political correctness only promotes discrimination and bias; it doesn't uphold truth, decency, honour, civility, and sanity. In other words, homosexuality does not produce longevity, nor is it sustainable foundations for progeny. "Man to man is so unjust, you don't even know who to trust" (Bob Marley) - Do any of these relationships promote true independence, cultural bliss, or harmony of a community? If it is difficult enough to discipline our children as they grow into adults, imagine a generation of sexual rebels mirroring what adults do...There are those in society today functioning similarly to the 14th Century Italian Niccolo Machiavelli, who guide the elites in dominating the populations around them, but unlike De la Fuente who discovered that people can be free from mind control when they withdraw their consent, I choose likewise.

* BlackBritish: And that's fine, Kirk. You have the freedom to do so. However, you are under the misconception that the Government is manipulating a "crisis" for their own expediency...Do you really believe the Government wants this headache — doing what they know to be right, but at GREAT political risk? No, Kirk. What you are witnessing is a minority group, tired and fed up with the way they are treated by people who are prejudiced and discriminatory because they are ill-informed. The LGBT population, with their allies, are finally speaking out! You may quote a man who was reared in this prejudiced country, but I quote those who were the recipients of the prejudice: "We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day."

* Pete: I had to read this (editorial) twice...just to make sure I was reading correctly, on the Ja Observer website. You are absolutely correct, though the trend in your paper over the past several months would suggest you had a homophobic agenda, Shout out to your columnist Karyl, how are you?
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US University Claims its Found Way To Eliminate HIV from Cells

July 22, 2014, 4:06 am
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TEMPLE UNIV. TEAM MAKES BREAKTHROUGH IN HIV-AIDS RESEARCH 

 ABC 6 news carried this news item on their website on July 21, 2014



PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) --

Local researchers have made a breakthrough in attacking HIV, and it could be the first step toward a cure.

Currently, HIV has been difficult to stop because it doesn't just float around in the bloodstream - it inserts itself into someone's DNA.

Current drugs won't take it out. But for the first time, researchers at Temple University have been able to eliminate it from human cells.

Dr. Kamel Khalili from Temple University School of Medicine explains, "The current therapy for AIDS does not eliminate viruses, but rather suppresses virus replication."

Dr. Khalili says current drugs do a good job of keeping patients alive, but they don't cure HIV-AIDS.

If there's a break in taking the drugs, the virus starts building again.

That's what happened with a baby in Mississippi. Experts had previously said the baby was "cured" of AIDS.

So instead, Dr. Khalili's team has created a protein combo that targets and attaches itself to the HIV in a cell's DNA. It then cuts out the infected part. The cell repairs itself and becomes a healthy cell again.

"Precise, fast, and has no harm to the cells," Dr. Khalili said.

The process has worked on human cells in the laboratory, and animal tests have begun, to make sure it kills all the HIV.

Dr. Khalili says the next challenge is to determine the best way to give it to humans. It may take several years, but his team believes it will work... and may even go a step further.

He says, "We hope that the technology that we have developed can also help protect individuals - uninfected individual - from HIV."

The results of the Temple team's work were published Monday by the National Academy of Science, and it's getting a lot of attention.

Dr. Khalili believes the process will also work on other viral infections, and possibly for cancer.


Having trouble seeing the video above then go HERE
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Petition: Actively safeguard the interests, rights and freedoms of all Jamaicans.

July 23, 2014, 11:52 am
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The following was sent to me by a concerned emailer to share with my readers as a request for you to sign the related petition.


This statement comes from a group of concerned Caribbean people across partisan, social, religious, racial and spatial locations in Jamaica, the wider Caribbean and beyond.

Many of us in Jamaica, in the Caribbean region and in diaspora have been watching the developments concerning sex education and the buggery law in Jamaica. By Sunday 29th June when an estimated 25,000 marched across Kingston against the repeal of the colonial buggery laws, it became obvious that the atmosphere had become so emotionally charged and so polarized that it was impossible for any respectful discussion or actions across differences to take place.In some cases, irresponsible media reporting has also contributed to this polarization by circulating misleading and biased reports.

Rhetorical statements are not without deadly consequences. Indeed the atmosphere has become so volatile that many are not just afraid to speak, but are also afraid for their very lives, afraid of being attacked for their views or merely being thought to be gender non-conforming. Many others are afraid for family and friends.

The issue and how it is discussed in Jamaica is precedent setting for the entire region and has dire implications for the lives of many across the region and in the diaspora. A recent indication of this is the backing away from the “Justice For All’ deliberations by CARICOM Heads of Government at their meeting in July in St. Kitts and Nevis. At that meeting, because of objections of several church groups, CARICOM governments deferred approving a report by the Pan-Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP) and a declaration entitled: Getting to Zero Discrimination Through Justice For All as part of efforts for the elimination of HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

This debate then, is about life and death, health or ill-health. It is about the responsibility of governments to citizens, about the Caribbean we want to live in and about the way we want to live as Caribbean people wherever we reside.

We therefore welcome the voices of moderation from among the church leadership and note the recent articles of Bishop Howard Gregory, Bishop of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and the Rev. Dr Paul Gardner, Head of the Moravian Church in Jamaica and Cayman. These church leaders have made a significant contribution to opening up space for respectful discussions across difference. We add our voices to this cause and hope to contribute similarly by clarifying and separating some of the issues that have been confused in the discussion of sex education, sexual and gender identity and the law.

1. We took note of the leadership of some several churches in the march on Sunday June 29th and want to point to a need for separating questions of faith and spirituality from questions of moral judgment of others. St Paul famously said “ For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galations 3: 27-28.

Most of the prescriptions against homosexuality are in the Old Testament in Leviticuswhich also speaks in support of slavery, stoning, extreme discrimination against women, domestic sacrifice and burning of bulls as an act of reparation in conflict and so on. Would the church leaders of the march speak in favour of any these today?

The most important ethic of Christianity is its message of and its injunction not to judge – ‘Judge not that ye be not judged’ is being ignored when it comes to matters of sexual and gender identity differences.

2. Education is not the same as conversion. When schools teach children about different religions they are not being ‘converted’. Similarly, educating children on issues of sex and sexuality is not to be equated with converting them to a particular view. Making such an equation is disingenuous.

Children need to be sensitively taught information about the range of sex issues they are confronting in society. The fact is that many children are sexually active at an early age and many are, unfortunately, survivors of horrific sexual violence and sexual abuse of all kinds including heterosexual abuse. Teaching children about sex of all kinds is a responsible strategy for helping them to protect themselves and prepare for meaningful relationships. It helps them be safe and healthy, prepares them for dealing in a non-sensational way with realities that they will unavoidably confront in the media and society. It helps them understand and deal sensibly and from an informed position with the sexual feelings they inevitably develop one way or another. It will encourage respect for diverse views and in so doing contribute to undermining the tendency to violence within the society.

Educating children about sex and sexuality is not the same as using power to draw children into a particular sexual acts or into a sense of shame and confusion about feelings that they are experiencing. It is preparing them to confront in a non-biased way the issues regarding sexuality that they will face whether adults like it or not.

3. Pedophilia and violent coercive sex is not the same as homosexuality. The blending of these issues has been a repeated strategy in the campaign against reform. This strategy misleads the public and spreads inflamatory and harmful rhetoric.

Homosexuality is a sexual attraction or act between consenting adults of the same sex or gender.Homosexuals are by no means the same as pedophiles as the current discussion suggests.

A pedophile is an adult or older adolescent who acts on sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 11 years or younger. Infantophilia specifically refers to sex with infants (ages 0–3 or those under age 5).Pedophiles and infantofiles are to be found among both heterosexuals and homosexuals. In the current media spectacle around sexuality, the frequent participation of heterosexuals in acts of sexual violence seems to have disappeared.

Sexual violence is any sexual act or attempt to obtain a sexual act by violence or coercion. Both homosexuals and heterosexuals can carry out acts of sexual violence. Obviously all heterosexuals are not pedophiles and neither are all homosexuals.

Acts of sexual violence, including sex with children on the part of adults, whether heterosexual or homosexual are to be condemned as they are harmful.

4. We call on the activist churches working in favour of the colonial laws on sexuality to disclose the sources of their own support in the campaign being waged. Many of the activist church groups speak of protecting Jamaica from ‘outside influences’. Much of the content of material circulated prior to the march of the 25000 and videos being shown in some churches can be traced to American organizations which consider Barack Obama dangerously radical and oppose any government intervention in a wide range of issues. They also oppose education about sexuality, abortion and gay rights. The role of these organisations in the Jamaican and wider Caribbean debates and indeed in influencing the decisions of our governments should be made transparent.

5. We remind our Governments of their responsibility to serve the needs of all citizens. Abandoning the health and human rights needs of any group of citizens is not an acceptable response by the State. Contrary to what is being said by many church leaders, Jamaica is a secular state even as some of its Laws derive from Judeo-Christian principles, which principles are to be found in many other Faith and ethical traditions. This is not the same as making and imposing Bible Law as national Law.

The present Jamaican government must stand by its election promise to give leadership on questions of sexuality and the Law, a position which we support. We noted with deep concern the Leader of the Opposition’s appearance at the recent march that promoted unequal treatment of some of the country's citizens. The Opposition Leader’s seeming endorsement by virtue of his appearance is to be placed in a context in which violence against gender non conforming groups has been all too common in Jamaica.

We remind our leaders that all Jamaicans are equal before the law and their interests and freedoms must be actively safeguarded. One way to do this is to promote a respectful discussion across sexual difference and to provide education on the issues which is both accurate and socially just.

ENDS

Frankly Mrs Simpson Miller made no promise to do anything more than saying the right words to get the votes at the time in 2011 as voter apathy was high elsewhere and we must remember they are a minority government so to speak.

With this news item from last evening from a local PNP meeting it shows the issue is loaded at the local level despite two members of parliament basically declaring their hand on the subject of the buggery law:


also see:
Member of Parliament Lloyd B Smith on Of Buggery & Rationality

Promised (I mean suggested) Conscience vote on Buggery law not a priority right now (yet again) says Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller


Buggery could dominate review of sex laws (Observer)

PNP's Damion Crawford on Homosexuality's legality .

Milk River PNP Councillor says no to buggery repeal .............



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Alarm rings on low uptake of existing prevention options for anal STIs and HIV

July 25, 2014, 8:45 am
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Despite overall progress in HIV prevention, rates of HIV infection among key affected populations such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people remain alarmingly high. For example, recent data indicates that MSM are up to 19 times more likely to have HIV than the general population – transgender women are almost 50 times more likely. Overall new HIV infection rates have dipped by 26% in Asia and the Pacific region since 2001,but not for MSM and transgender.

According to a 2013 UNAIDS report, estimated population of MSM in the region is between 10.5 million to 27 million. HIV incidence continues to remain very high among MSM in cities such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta among others.
(L-R) Dr I Gilada, Midnight P,Dr V Chakrapani, Dr Suwat C Midnight Poonkasetwattana, Executive Director of Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) addressed a press conference jointly organized at 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014) by AIDS Society of India, APCOM, AVAC - Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, Citizen News Service (CNS), International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) and Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES), Chiang Mai University.

Midnight said: "Key affected communities should be in the heart of the delivery of services by the government, then only perhaps the impact will be maximal. Commission on AIDS in Asia (2008) had predicted that if no action was taken to increase the investment to MSM programming then they will account for nearly 50% of new HIV infections by 2020. That is a cause of serious concern. Punitive laws and practices that criminalize same-sex behaviour are still prevalent in many Asia Pacific countries. Such laws deter MSM and transgender people to have access to existing health services they need. We need to work on destigmatisation of healthcare services, and working with the law enforcers for supportive health policies. At policy level we need to advocate with the government, we need to ensure that policy barriers get removed so that MSM can actually access those services."

Investment continues to remain very low in MSM programming. "Less than 7% of the money is going for HIV prevention among MSM. To be strategic we need to increase investment for MSM programming especially younger MSM in cities" said Midnight.

Dr Ishwar Gilada, ASI

Dr Ishwar Gilada, President of AIDS Society of India, and a noted HIV physician who was among the first few medical professionals who responded to HIV care when first case was diagnosed in India, was moderating this panel discussion at AIDS 2014. "Unsafe sexual practices among transgender women were rare at that time when I did my study with Hijra community in 1983-1984. We could never have imagined then that Hijra community will come to International conferences. People used to laugh at them when transgender people used to come to JJ Hospital for care. I started a special clinic in OPD from 2pm-4pm in 1983 at JJ Hospital for transgender people. Back then we used to write male or female H (Hijra) as sex, but it took decades for government to finally recognize the third gender."

Dr BN Saxena

Dr Badri N Saxena, Chair of Microbicides Expert Group of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said (via web link) that there is hardly any choice under national HIV or STI prevention programmes except barrier method such as male condoms (female condoms are limited to very few targeted interventions or other social marketing initiatives). Few more options are available in private healthcare sector such as vaginal creams. Dr Saxena pointed out that there are 30 million episodes of STIs annually. Dr Saxena also advocated for a need-based phased introduction of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to provide another option to MSM people who might benefit from expanded range of HIV and non-HIV STI prevention options.

'Invisible' key population

Dr RR Gangakhedkar, NARI, ICMR (CNS Image library: December 2012)

Dr RR Gangakhedkar, Deputy Director, National AIDS Research Institute, ICMR said (via web link) that according to the mapping estimates there are 0.412 million MSM in India. Overall HIV prevalence rate among MSM is 4.4% and TGs is 8.8% (2011). There are targetted interventions (TIs) for both key populations in India offering STI services, linkage with HIV testing and care services, condom promotion, peer education, outreach, among others. There are over 201 MSM TIs that include over 37 community-based organizations-led TIs. Coverage as per the MSM population estimates is over 70%. Additionally, a program named "Pehchan" is also being implemented. 20 TIs are exclusively for transgender people.

Dr Gangakhedkar added: Though the overall coverage is high among MSM TIs, very little is known about the coverage in 'invisible' part of MSM population. With re-criminalization of same sex behaviour perhaps more MSM may opt to be 'invisible'.

Stigma lurks

(L-R) Dr I Gilada, Midnight P, Dr V Chakrapani, Dr Suwat C

Although situation has changed some shades for the better, but still stigma in healthcare settings rages high and often blocks access to existing services for MSM and transgender people even today.Dr Venkatesh Chakrapani, Director, Centre for Sexuality, Health Research and Policy, said: "Knowledge about HIV and STIs is perhaps not that big a challenge because despite knowledge, condom use among MSM and transgender people is low. For example they may not like to use condoms with their regular partners. If I need treatment for anal STIs I need to disclose to the doctor that I am MSM. Likewise talking about partner notification and simultaneous treatment of STIs in both partners becomes a huge challenge if stigma lurks in healthcare settings in India. Another issue is that condoms are free but lubes are not. Including lubes will help with dealing with issues such as condom breakage and augmenting HIV prevention among MSM and transgender."

Dr Chakrapani remarked that re-criminalization of consensual same-sex activity in India is having negative impact on health services for MSM and transgender people. "We spoke with few doctors this year and some of them were not clear if they should report to police if any MSM and transgender person comes to seek treatment for anal STIs. Some doctors were also not clear on whether they are abetting a crime by managing anal STIs among MSM and transgender people. No wonder MSM and transgender people are often reluctant to seek care in government hospital."

Unique needs and contexts of transgender people

Simran Shaikh, India HIV/AIDS Alliance

Simran Shaikh, a leading transgender activist with India HIV/AIDS Alliance, lamented that despite advocacy transgender related issues still get overshadowed by MSM related issues. She called for more space for addressing transgender issues as they are unique and need special attention. She said that there are exclusive transgender and Hijra interventions taking place now in India but we need to accelerate the scale up. Simran said that national HIV rates among transgender and Hijras are as high as 8.4% in India (general population HIV rate is about 0.27%). She mentioned specific situations that escalate this risk for transgender and Hijra community such as lack of opportunities for education, employment, or other social support systems.

Simran too echoed concerns that current STI and HIV prevention options are not working well enough and uptake remains low. Condom negotiation is very difficult for a transgender person to do with a client or regular partner, said Simran. She identified high consumption of alcohol and substance abuse among transgender people in India as another key challenge that ups their vulnerability to HIV and abuse.

Rectal Microbicides provide hope

(L-R) Midnight P, Dr V Chakrapani, Dr Suwat Chariyalertsa, RIHES

Dr Suwat Chariyalertsak, Director, Research Institute for Health Sciences (RIHES), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, who is a key researcher at this site for a rectal microbicide phase II study (MTN017), explained that we need to expand the range of HIV prevention options for those practicing anal sex.

Rectal microbicides– in the form of gels or lubricants – are products that are currently under research and are being developed and tested to reduce a person's risk of HIV or other sexually transmitted infections from anal sex. The risk of becoming infected with HIV during unprotected anal sex is 10 to 20 times greater than unprotected vaginal sex because as the rectal lining is only one-cell thick, the virus can more easily reach the immune cells and infect them.

Dr Suwat shared that the first-ever phase-II extended-safety study (formally called MTN017) of a rectal microbicide in the Asia-Pacific region has begun in Chiang Mai, Thailand since February 2014. In total, there are 8 study sites including Chiang Mai, such as: CDC Bangkok (where study will commence very soon), South Africa, Peru and in US. The objective of this rectal microbicide study is to study the safety and acceptability of a rectal microbicide gel for now. This study will perhaps also give information on issues such as adherence of study participants to the study product. Depending upon the outcome of this study (if study product is found safe and acceptable) efficacy studies will be conducted later. In this study, every MSM and female transgender study participant will have the same duration of exposure (eight weeks) to three different regimens (with a one week gap between each regimen): oral Truvada/PrEP daily for eight weeks, rectal gel (reduced glycerin and tenofovir gel) daily for eight weeks, and sex dependent rectal gel for eight weeks (applied anytime during the window period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after having anal sex).
Brian Kanyemba

Brian Kanyemba, Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, Cape Town, South Africa said that phase II study of rectal microbicide (MTN017) has also started at their site which is the only site in Africa. 7 out of 24 study participants have been enrolled so far.

Condoms... and lubes!
Jim Pickett, Chair of International Rectal Microbicide Advocates (IRMA) said in a press conference at AIDS 2014 (via web-link): Project ARM (Africa for Rectal Microbicides) was started by the IRMA few years ago to make sure that as the HIV prevention field moves ahead for research and development of rectal microbicides, these products [when eventually made available] are safe, accessible, and affordable to the people who need them [in African context]. There was a realization that we need to do some specific work in Africa in context that there are many countries where anal sex is illegal, people can be prosecuted and there is lot of [anal sex related] stigma and discrimination too."

Jim Pickett (CNS image library: July'12)

"Project ARM was born out of the growing need to create a research and advocacy agenda for rectal microbicides in Africa. Project ARM shows us what are the priorities in terms of research, advocacy and community mobilization around rectal microbicides in African context. One of the priorities that came out of Project ARM discussions was lube access. The reason was that people who practice anal sex cannot access lubricants."

"We have to recognize that it is not just MSM and transgender people who have anal sex but also men and women in heterosexual relationships. If that route of HIV transmission is not looked at then HIV rates are bound to rise in those practicing anal sex."

Jim briefed about "Global Lube Access Mobilization - GLAM". He said "Having safer lubes will not be enough unless policies and programmes start addressing access to lubes. This is how GLAM came into being. If we provide condoms to people and not provide lubes then it is a big problem because then people use whatever they can find and at times they use lubricants or products that are not condom compatible. Lack of condom compatible lubricants in Africa was acute. With no lubes people often resort to body lotions, cooking oil, pre-cum, creams or other things that are not necessarily condom compatible."

IRMA grants announced
Jim Pickett announced in this press conference that few grants have been awarded to some projects to advocate for national and local-level access to safe, affordable, condom-compatible lubricant in Africa to improve the impact of HIV prevention services. These projects are based in African countries such as Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania among others. This is the second year for IRMA to support projects in Africa. This year the grants are supported by amfAR, AVAC - Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, COC Netherlands, and IRMA.

PrEP and WHO Guidance for key populations

(L-R) Deirdre Grant, Dr Ishwar Gilada, Midnight Poonkasetwattana

Deirdre Grant from AVAC – Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention said that "WHO Consolidated guidelines on HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations" which were released at AIDS 2014, are first set of guidelines for key affected populations that not only addressed the common areas which affected them all, but also addressed population specific ones. Deirdre informed that these guidelines were for five key population groups which were: MSM, injecting drug users, sex workers, transgender people and people in prisons.

PrEP is recommended as an additional HIV prevention choice within comprehensive HIV prevention package for MSM in these guidelines. On use of PrEP by transgender people, Deirdre said that there needs to be more evidence before strong recommendation can be made for its use among this key population. Deirdre called for heightened advocacy around PrEP and noted that WHO guidance helps with agencies and funders but does not directly help people who want to access services. Lots of other issues such as barriers, investment needs, dearth of smart programming, lack of implementation science, etc must be addressed alongside rolling out the guidance.

Dr Seema Sahay,NARI,ICMR

Dr Seema Sahay, Deputy Director, National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), who is a noted social scientist said: "We are focussing on how to reach ‘hidden’ MSM especially adolescent MSM as this population is also surfacing right now. This is one problem we will like to have some advocacy and challenge we face. We conducted a small qualitative study and realized that knowledge about PrEP is very low. 2/39 MSM had heard of that. There should be some education programme and advocacy for PrEP as message about PrEP has not reached majority of MSM."

Vijay Nair, who demonstrated leadership years ago in India to organize HIV positive MSM as a network called NIPASHA+. Currently he is involved with India HIV/AIDS Alliance. Vijay expressed concerns if new HIV prevention technologies will ever reach those MSM who are in need.

VIjay Nair

Discussions about these new HIV prevention technologies are often limited to global conferences or meetings with little ground work taking place in our countries. He expressed concern why it has taken over two decades to do female condom programming after US FDA approved it in 1993? PrEP was approved by US FDA in July 2012 but still there is no clear sense how PrEP will reach MSM in need. He agreed with Dr Seema Sahay's observation that there are 'hidden' MSM in India who are not part of (or perhaps do not want to be part of) targetted interventions for MSM, and PrEP could be an option for them.

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Constitutional Court Strikes Down Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Act

August 1, 2014, 9:38 am
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Constitutional Court Strikes Down Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Act:

Wonderful news indeed (GLBTQ Jamaica)

A Victory for the Human Rights of All Ugandans

(Kampala, Uganda) Health GAP reacted to today’s ruling in Uganda’s Constitutional Court striking down the Anti Homosexuality Act: “Today lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender Ugandans along with all human rights defenders in Uganda have scored a decisive victory against the
politics of scapegoating and the politics of hate,” said Asia Russell, Director of International Policy at Health GAP. “Parliament is not above the law and the Constitution guarantees fundamental rights for all Ugandans—no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Parliament passed the bill on December 20, 2013 and President Museveni signed the bill into law on February 24, 2014, despite earlier public pledges that he would not assent to the bill. It is widely believed that he reversed his position in an effort to strengthen his chances in 2016 for reelection as President.

The law, which is now nullified, increased the punishment for same sex acts between consenting adults to life in prison and criminalized ‘promotion’ of homosexuality and ‘aiding and abetting’ of homosexuality with 7 years’ imprisonment and hefty fines. These crimes
were defined so broadly as to criminalize provision of essential health and social services, such as HIV prevention and treatment.



Uganda’s Penal Code Act already includes colonial-era provisions criminalizing “carnal knowledge against the order of nature.” Today’s ruling does not affect that pre-existing law.

Today’s ruling was also hailed as a crucial development for increased access to life saving health services: Uganda is one of the only countries in East Africa reporting recent increases in HIV incidence.



Criminalised populations including gay men, sex workers, transgender women and drug users are at higher risk of HIV infection and disease progression as well as violence and abuse. For example, gay men in Kampala have an estimated HIV prevalence of 13%, more than three times the prevalence of other men.

Today’s ruling comes as a result of a case filed March 10, 2014 in Uganda’s Constitutional Court by ten petitioners, including Ugandan politicians, human rights activists, and legal experts. The petition argued that the law violates Ugandans’ constitutionally guaranteed human rights, including freedom from discrimination and freedom of expression. (The petition is available at ugandans4rights.org.)

“This decision is a bright spot in a dark record on human rights,” continued Russell. “It is the bravery and courage of gay and trans Ugandan activists that we have to thank for this decision. But we cannot rest—we must continue work to realize health and human rights for all, in Uganda and in other countries around the world that criminalize the sexual behaviour of consenting adults.”

According to activists, the signing of the law is part of a pattern of troubling actions indicating a deteriorating environment for human rights in Uganda, including the recent passage by Parliament of the HIV Prevention and Management Bill, which would criminalize people
living with HIV.

“Today in Uganda we are still far from that reality—for example the HIV Prevention and and Management Bill, which would criminalize people living with HIV and undermine the national AIDS response, is awaiting
signature by President Museveni. He should reject this flawed Bill without delay and recommend Parliament eliminate its provisions on HIV criminalization, mandatory HIV testing and mandatory HIV reporting.”

Contact for more information: Asia Russell, Health GAP +256 776 574729 (Uganda mobile) or +1 267 475 2645asia@healthgap.org

Asia Russell Health GAP (Global Access Project)
tel: +256 776 574 729 (Uganda)
+256 703 574 729 (Uganda)
skype: asia_ilse
twitter: @asia_ilse

Meanwhile the LGBT EU Intergroup said:


In a landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court of Uganda nullified the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act.


The Court argued that procedural rules were not followed when Parliament passed the bill in December, as not enough lawmakers had been present at the vote.

The now void Anti-Homosexuality Act foresaw life imprisonment for consensual same-sex activity. ‘Promotion of homosexuality’ carried a maximum of 7 years imprisonment.

Ulrike Lunacek and Daniele Viotti, Members of the European Parliament for Greens/EFA and S&D, reacted to the ruling: “Today’s ruling is a victory for Uganda and a triumph for human rights.”

“We congratulate those who have worked so hard in Uganda to fight this hateful law. Finally, this law, which had already shown vast negative consequences, ceases to exist.”

Dennis de Jong and Tanja Fajon, Members of the European Parliament for GUE/NGL and S&D, continued: “This is a wonderful day for LGBT people in Uganda and those who are defending their rights.”

“However, the struggle is not over: under the penal code, homosexuality remains a crime, as in almost 80 other countries around the globe. We call on all these countries to stop criminalising LGBT people and respect human rights of all of its citizens.”
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Don't Mix Religion With Politics & The Ugandan Antigay Law Overturn

August 2, 2014, 4:27 am
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It good news indeed as we watched from outside Uganda for the ruling from the Supreme Court there as to the constitutionality of their anti gay law and it is instructive for us here in Jamaica as to how the law ought to be fashioned especially given the recent threat by some anti gay religious groups that any administration that changes the buggery law will be voted out while they will do everything in their power to block any protection under the charter of rights from discrimination due to sexual orientation.


The tyranny of the majority I suppose now comes a letter in the Gleaner which I agree with given the previous post on the turn over of the law in Uganda, see HERE or Constitutional Court Strikes Down Uganda’s Anti Homosexuality Act

Now to the letter:

Don't Mix Religion With Politics

THE EDITOR, Sir:

And so it was, while many in Jamaica and elsewhere were busy celebrating Emancipation Day, the freedom and right to be who we are, many of our brothers and sisters in Uganda were busy celebrating a different type of emancipation.

The courts in Uganda struck down the anti-gay law imposed by the ruling government which made Uganda one of the most brutal and homophobic places. The anti-gay law, which was originally intended to impose the death penalty, was later revised to life imprisonment.

The law, though extreme compared to ours, where gays could be imprisoned just for being gay in Uganda, in essence isn't much different from Jamaica's. The emphasis in Jamaica is based on actual sexual activity (ignoring consent), and the punishment here is less severe.

The ruling in Uganda has set the tone once again to show that we're indeed living in a changing world, where education is the basis of emancipation, and that values and attitudes towards gays are evolving.

Fighting losing battle

I've said before homophobes are fighting a losing battle. People are entitled to their personal views, but what they are not entitled to do is to impose these views publicly where people's lives could be endangered, or their human rights could be violated. Although a small step for Uganda's LGBT community, it is a giant step in the right direction.

The Ugandan anti-gay law created much controversy and resulted in international outcry against the Ugandan government, tarnishing relations, especially with the West. And, although the ruling could possibly be appealed, a natural recourse in the law, it is likely that Uganda's Government, which is tightly controlled by President Yoweri Museveni, a former guerrilla fighter who has been ruling for close to three decades, must be having second thoughts.

Wake-up call

The ruling could also be a wake-up call for those in Jamaica who support the archaic buggery law which could imprison persons up to 10 years. It is interesting to note that Uganda's anti-gay movement began only a couple years ago when American fundamentalist preachers went to Uganda and worked closely with legislators there to draft a bill that called for putting gays to death!

Our own fundamentalist church leaders, who are often labelled 'the local Taliban Church', should also take note. Religion is personal. We worship privately in groups, and we have the right to choose our churches, our faith, where, when and how we worship.

When we start to mix the business of religion with the business of the State, history shows this never works. Slavery was once endorsed by religion, for example! This is why the State should always separate itself from the Church, especially when it comes to drafting legislation and protecting human rights!

PETE DELISSER
pdelisser1988@yahoo.com

ENDS

meanwhile Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati on Friday said that the Attorney General will petition the Supreme Court over the Constitutional Court ruling on the Act; just hours after court nullified it (Anti-Homosexuality law) which was approved by President Yoweri Museveni in February 2014.

“I want to thank the speaker, MPs who stood for what is right. The lawyer that represented government said she was not given chance to prove that there was quorum in parliament.

The court case ruling is no victory at all, the morals of the people of Uganda will prevail,” Mr Bahati said in a press briefing before adding, “The Attorney General who is very competent will petition the constitutional court over the constitutional court ruling. Our competent legal team will continue to petition the Supreme Court and I believe we will win.”

Bahati was the sponsor of the Private Member’s Bill. There has been no confirmation from the Attorney General’s office. The Constitutional Court is made up of five members of Uganda’s Court of Appeals and is subordinate to the nation’s Supreme Court.

Definitely this is not the end but it is a crushing blow to an unjust law how can one legislate morality or private sexual matters when consent is key?

TV news there have covered the issue fairly it seems:



Peace and tolerance

H
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Ian Boyne on "Do Gays Threaten Free Speech?"

August 3, 2014, 4:25 am
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Another decent article from veteran journalist and theologian Ian Boyne at least some reasoning is coming through despite the hysteria from other religious fanatics. Similar to last week's article he examines the present realities especially the perception of stifling of free speech in relation to those who "oppose homosexuality" as it were.

also see: War Over Buggery Law from Gay Jamaica Watch and antigay voice Shirley Richards' response: Can You Stop The Bolting Horse, Mr Boyne?


Ian Boyne

This debate on homosexuality is so polarised and politicised that there is diminished space for reason. It's largely a dialogue of the deaf. There is hardly any genuine desire for dialogue. It's easier to attack, accuse, malign, distort and rock back on old prejudices and stereotypes.

For those who are still capable of thinking rationally on this issue, perhaps a few points can be made. The first prerequisite for any dialogue is understanding the various points of view. There are some gay people who can't understand why Shirley Richards and Wayne West are constantly talking about the threats of the gay lobby. They see their talk as sheer hysteria-mongering. These persons ask how are gay people any threat to as Christians.

One online writer responded to my piece last week by saying: "While the Bible categorically condemns homosexuality (with many other things), their simple position on the matter should be: Christians are separate from the world, therefore they have no authority to set standards for the world outside the Christian congregation. Just as they benefit from laws set by Government to allow them freedom of worship, they should not interfere with whatever law the Government may grant to others with whom they are scripturally displeased. Their only concern should be to make sure those they accept as members of their churches are not people practising things the Bible condemns (homosexuality being one of them)."

Well, that's the first major misunderstanding. Once the State passes non-discrimination laws, religious institutions can't exempt themselves. There is increasing rejection of any religious exceptionalism. There was, indeed, an earlier period when the US courts, for example, were sympathetic to religious exceptionalism, but that has been coming under increasing pressure. President Obama just signed an executive order last month prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in federal hiring that might have implications for religious institutions.

LIVE AND LET LIVE

This 'live-and-let-live' view that some moderates hold might not apply if some gay-rights activists have their way. There are some who hold that just as religious organisations should not be accorded the right to discriminate on race, they shouldn't have the right to discriminate on sexual orientation.

So just as how it would be abominable for any church to openly declare it would never appoint a black man as a minister or a bishop, so some believe the Church should not have the right to declare that it won't hire an openly gay minister or bishop. When gay rights are framed as human rights, and when discrimination against gays is equated with discrimination against black people, it's hard to maintain any religious exceptionalism.

So my online respondent's view that Christians should just concern themselves with setting standards for their members is naïve.

If some gays have their way with legislation, Christians won't be able to live their lives based on their understanding of Scripture. This is not outrage-mongering. And it is a fact that on many university campuses (of all places) in North America, hate-speech codes are so restrictive that even mild criticism of homosexuality is banned. In Scandinavia, political correctness vis-á-vis homosexuality has reached absurd proportions, and in Britain, there have been scandalous violations of people's free-speech rights as well as their right to practise their religious convictions. Shirley Richards and Wayne West have not been manufacturing these cases.

If you think conservative Christians who fear the squelching of their rights are just fearmongers, note the British House of Lords and House of Commons Human Rights report a few years ago titled Legislative Scrutiny: Sexual Orientation Regulations. It says explicitly that for even private religious schools: "We do not consider that the right to freedom of conscience and religion requires the school curriculum to be exempted from the scope of sexual orientation regulations." It is saying schools should not be free to teach homosexuality is a sin or is abnormal.

"In our view, the regulations prohibiting sexual-orientation discrimination should clearly apply to the curriculum, so homosexual pupils are not subjected to teaching as part of the religious education or other curriculum that their sexual orientation is sinful or morally wrong." Now if this is not an attack on freedom of religion, I don't know what is.

If conservative Christians are not free to teach in their own schools their views on homosexuality - however misguided or wrong-headed the State might think - their free speech is severely compromised.

MINDFUL OF OTHERS

If I were a gay man, I would not, as a free-speech libertarian, care one heck if people want to teach in schools, churches, media and on the streets that my behaviour is abominable and worthy of a lifetime in hellfire. If people want to take out ads and run public campaigns against my lifestyle, I might deplore it, but as someone committed to liberal democracy, I would do nothing to impair the right of those persons.

Yes, it's stigmatisation, but so what? A liberal democracy has to tolerate such messiness. This desire to sanitise everything is what leads to autocracy.

I believe that too many people on both sides of this propaganda war - gays and Christians - are deeply hostile to liberal democratic values. There are Christians who want to impose their religious dogmas on the whole society, adapting a Christian Shari'a. Left to them, they would ban Sunday racing, carnival, casino gambling and all forms of gambling, drinking and they would close down all exotic clubs. They don't hold that Christians are exiles. Rather they are theonomists who feel Christians must impose the Kingdom on the heathens now. I believe in a pluralistic democracy; people have a right to resist this.

We need a new, fresh discourse on this Christian-gay debate. It's time for rational voices like those of gay-rights advocate Brian-Paul Welsh to emerge. I have corresponded with him and I have found him to be eminently reasonable, charitable, conciliatory, gracious and humble. The arrogance of so many gay people repels me. It's one thing to have contempt for religion and for "silly, Stone Age religious dogmas", as the enlightened gaytheists would put it.

I am not offended if you think I hold preposterous ideas. I can understand if you have contempt for my ideas. But you should not have contempt for me because I am brainwashed.

There is an excellent article on the Christianity Today website (July 16, 2014) titled 'Religious Freedom vs LGBT rights? It's more complicated'. The author calls for a reframing of this dialogue. He tells Christians that, increasingly, people are abandoning the idea of religious exceptionalism. They are also having less regard for religious liberty. They don't see why Christians should have the right to discriminate against women and gays in religious appointments and they don't be believe Christians should be exempt from discrimination laws.

As Christian intellectuals, we have to fight our battles on the ground of pluralism, not religious exceptionalism. "The pluralist argument is not clothed in the language of religious liberty, but extends to religious groups and institutions ... - the idea that in a society that lacks a shared vision of a deeply held common good, we can and must live with deep difference among groups and their beliefs, values and identities."

He goes on to say: "More pointed, every one of us holds beliefs that others find morally reprehensible. Pluralism rests on three interrelated aspirations: Tolerance, humility and patience. Tolerance means a willingness to accept genuine difference, including profound moral difference." Tolerance permits differences to coexist.

Significantly, he says, "Pluralism does not impose the fiction of assuming that all ideas are equally valid or morally benign. It does mean respecting people and allowing for the right to differ among serious matters." And I end by reminding both the Christian and gay-rights Taliban that "patience reminds us that the best means to a better end is through persuasion and dialogue, not coercion and bullying".

Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist working with the Jamaica Information Service. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and ianboyne1@yahoo.com.

ENDS

Also see:
A Response to a Gleaner Commentary: 'CAUSE' Editorials And The Culture War

The False Dichotomy of the religious right on the LGBT advocacy Godlessness


Blakka Ellis on "Jamaica a christian country?"



Atheism, Secularism and Buggery . 2012





Letters & Opinions: Anti-gay Christians threaten free speech ............Christian Ethics And The UTech Beating 2012

Lawyers' Christian Fellowship's Shirley Richards says lesbian sex should be criminalized as buggery

Shirley Richards & The Jamaican UK Foster Parents (The Johns) on Love 101 FM ............. on buggery

Ian Boyne on ....... Storm Brewing Over Gay Ad 2011

The elephant is the room (Pt 1) subscription to the Gleaner may be required

Let the dialogue continue.

Peace and tolerance

H

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