tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12013911086830163772024-02-06T18:10:33.644-08:00GLBTQJAJamaican & some overseas LGBTQIQ2S issues from a fair and objective standpoint, ethical considerations and advocacy review, entertainment and related materials. LGBT Advocay in Jamaica, Homosexuality Issues, An extension on the blog Gay Jamaica Watch from an egotist with 18+ years experience.
Contact: lgbtevent@gmail.com or glbtqjamaica@live.com TEL: 1-876-813-4942Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-68983947162687060232014-08-10T04:40:00.001-07:002015-11-18T07:13:55.216-08:00Why The Obsession with Gays Shirley Richards?<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">You may also want to check out posts from sisters blogs under the tabs:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lawyers' Christian Fellowship <a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/search/label/Lawyer%27s%20Christian%20Fellowship">HERE</a>, <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Lawyers%27%20Christian%20Fellowship">HERE</a> and <a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/category/lawyers-christian-fellowship/">HERE</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">JCHS <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/JCHS">HERE</a> and <a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/category/ja-coalition-for-healthy-society/">HERE</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Buggery Law <a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/category/buggery-law/">HERE</a> Charter of Rights <a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/category/charter-of-rights/">HERE</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Christianity & Homosexuality <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Christianity%20and%20homosexuality">HERE</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Religion as Divisive <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Religion%20as%20divisive">HERE</a> and Jamaica CAUSE <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Jamaica%20CAUSE">HERE</a> to see some of the damage this woman has done or heavily influenced over these many years with her anti gay activism but tabs are being kept on her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Shirley Richards takes part in a protest in front of the University of the West Indies, Mona, in support of Professor Brendan Bain, who was fired from his post after gay-rights and human-rights advocates pressured the administration. Richards is a strong critic of gay-rights activism. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Patrick White, Guest Columnist<br /><br />In a major departure from the Dark Ages, superstition no longer has authority in modern jurisprudence, at least in democracies. Fact-based evidence has replaced superstition as the supreme authority. At least that is what I thought until I read attorney Shirley Richards' August 2, 2014 column, 'Can you stop the bolting horse, Mr Boyne?'<br /><br />The column begins with an ill-advised defence of what nearly everyone would agree to be a nonsensical assertion from an earlier column: "Repeal of the [buggery] law will also effectively remove the philosophy that protects true marriage, making the institution of marriage, although thankfully currently protected, much more susceptible to challenge."<br /><br />What "philosophy" could Ms Richards be talking about that protects marriage? I know that my marriage, like most, is a personal contract, a long-term expression of love and commitment between my wife and me. There is no philosophy that I know of that protects this commitment. If buggery was decriminalised, as it should be, I see no reason this will change my view of my wife or her view of me. What possible logic could support Ms Richards' reasoning, which seems so bizarre?<br /><br />Alternatively, perhaps Ms Richards may be fantasising that nations could use the decriminalisation of buggery as the pretext to renege on marriage contracts. If that is the case, let me set her mind at ease. Contract law, as she must know, is at the core of all economic activity. And marriage contracts have a significant economic basis as well, especially in inheritance. Since economics trumps most considerations, it is difficult to see why any democracy would jeopardise marriage contracts, threatening their financial viability.<br /><br />As to Ms Richards' concern over whether buggery should be taught as normal, what if it is true? After all, normality is the scientific consensus; being gay is not considered an illness. It is merely a variation in sexual behaviour across the continuum, typical of our species. We also know that individuals in many animal species, in addition to us, show durably gay behaviours; it is not 'abnormal' there either.<br /><br />NO VALID REASON<br /><br />If being gay is normal, what could be the societal benefit of pretending it is not? Other than upsetting misguided religious sensibilities, my guess is neither Ms Richards nor any of her supporters can cite any valid reason.<br /><br />At the same time, it is easy to show that when we mischaracterise, mistreat and sequester otherwise normal LGBT individuals, we are effectively relegating a percentage of every generation to living on the fringes. And when we substitute religious mythology for a frank, evidence-based discussion of human sexuality, we may also inflict lifelong psychological damage, especially to gay children as they approach puberty, and for the first time realise they are different from most of their peers.<br /><br />And who pays for this insanity? We do. We pay for the criminality, which inevitably follows ostracism and sequestration. We also pay for the medical care, particularly the expensive HIV treatment, which often accompanies life in the sex trade, one of the few economic avenues available to LGBT outcasts.<br /><br />But, more important, this insanity deprives our nation of the contribution LGBT individuals could be making to our economic development. In this regard, I am reminded of Alan Turing, one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century, and who is also credited with laying the theoretical foundations of computer science. A mug with his likeness, a gift from the Association of Computing Machinery, sits proudly in my cupboard. Dr Turing was a leader in the breaking of the Nazi Enigma encryption that was so central to Allied victory in WWII. He was a gay man.<br /><br />How many Dr Turings have we damaged psychologically as children, rendering them incapable of contributing to society?<br /><br />Is there no limit to the economic price that we, as a nation, will pay to indulge the religious fantasies of people like Shirley Richards?<br /><br />Patrick White holds a doctorate in engineering and led research groups at Bell Laboratories and Bellcore (Telcordia). Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and rasta49@me.com. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also see in the Gleaner:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140810/focus/focus4.html">No threat to straight rights</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140810/focus/focus8.html">JFJ Interim Board has Full Authority</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">more reads with the goodly Miss Shirley obsession:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/04/perception-of-jamaican-lgbtq-lobby.html">Perception of Jamaican LGBTQ lobby bullying continues</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/07/keep-it-to-yuself-mentality-on.html">"Keep it to Yuself mentality" on homosexuality part 3 .... stay in our bedrooms?</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/02/lawyers-christian-fellowships-shirley.html">Lawyers' Christian Fellowship's Shirley Richards says lesbian sex should be criminalized as buggery </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/11/shirley-richards-uk-foster-parents.html">Shirley Richards & The Jamaican UK Foster Parents (The Johns) on Love 101 FM ............. on buggery</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/04/lawyers-christian-fellowship-hypocrisy.html">Lawyer's Christian Fellowship hypocrisy from Shirley Richards: "Charter Of Rights And The Moral Divide"</a> read carefully</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2010/01/critical-response-to-shirley-richards.html">A Critical Response to Shirley Richards: Religious Freedoms Under Threat</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/10/no-same-sex-marriage-says-prime.html">No Same Sex Marriage says Prime Minister in Charter of Rights Bill Debate</a> 2009</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/09/shirley-richards-spews-more-homophobic.html">Shirley Richards spews more homophobic garbage (letter to the Gleaner 23.09.09)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/03/response-to-shirley-richards-letter.html">Response to Shirley Richards' Letter - All's not well with sexual mores</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/02/tolerance-or-acquiescence.html">Tolerance or acquiescence?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/more-gay-marriage-paranoia-hijacking-of.html">More gay marriage paranoia & hijacking of the homosexual debate by fanatics</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/08/shirley-richards-breaks-silence-on.html">Shirley Richards breaks silence on the Queen Ifrica fiasco</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2012/05/gays-threat-to-free-speech-veteran.html">Gays' Threat To Free Speech ........... veteran journalist Ian Boyne ....</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/11/anti-sodomy-decriminalizationrepulsion.html">Anti Sodomy Decriminalization/Repulsion action intensifies from the Christian Community</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/08/shirley-richards-breaks-silence-sustain.html">Shirley Richards breaks silence .......... "Sustain Buggery Law!"</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/06/lcfs-shirley-richards-at-it-again-are.html">LCF's Shirley Richards at it again: Are Christians Second-Class? she asks</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/04/shirley-richards-at-it-again-no-truth.html">Shirley Richards at it again: 'No truth that repealing buggery law will help reduce HIV/AIDS</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2010/04/making-scapegoats-of-gays-gleaner.html">Making scapegoats of gays (Gleaner Letter)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/2009-year-that-was.html">2009, The Year that was</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Check out a Shirley of a sensible kind that is Shirley Fletcher author of the book The Dance of Difference which emphasized tolerance, she was speaking on an interview this is an edited clip of one of the best parts:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I swear this woman has some unresolved bitterness</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20151118/mark-golding-really-sincere">Is Mark Golding Really Sincere?</a> (Gleaner)</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-70370617123990621122014-08-07T10:48:00.002-07:002014-08-07T12:18:11.939-07:00Discredited ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapy Group, NARTH, Undergoes Major Rebranding Effort<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see: </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/08/former-ex-gay-leaders-publish-open.html">Former 'ex-gay' leaders publish open letter saying conversion therapy is damaging</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Discredited 'Ex-Gay' Therapy Group, NARTH, Undergoes Major Rebranding Effort<br /><br />Unable to Shake Decades of Failure, NARTH Attempts Extremist Makeover<br /><br />CHICAGO - Truth Wins Out warned mental health professionals today not to be fooled by</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality's (NARTH) cynical rebranding effort. The group, infamous for its failed efforts to "cure" LGBT people, has launched a new website,<a href="http://therapeuticchoice.com/">therapeuticchoice.com</a>, and renamed itself the NARTH Institute, which serves as a division of the brand new Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity (ATCSI). <br /><br />"NARTH can put lipstick on this new pig, but it's the same old swine peddling junk science to desperate and vulnerable people," said Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "This cynical rebranding effort is an attempt to mask NARTH's past failures, history of consumer fraud, and shredded reputation. We urge mental health professionals not to be fooled by NARTH's new facelift." <br /><br />Besieged on several fronts, the embattled "ex-gay" organization's new direction is an effort to confront mounting legal and legislative challenges. Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, (JONAH) an organization run by former NARTH board member and convicted felon, Arthur Abba Goldberg, is being sued by the Sothern Poverty Law Center for consumer fraud. A therapist affiliated with JONAH, Alan Downing, allegedly made his clients undress and fondle themselves in front of a mirror. This behavior echoes that of another prominent NARTH therapist, Christopher Austin, who was convicted for inappropriate behavior with his clients. <br /><br />In the legislative arena, two states, California and New Jersey, have passed laws banning ex-gay therapy (aka reparative or conversion therapy) for minors. Several states are looking to pass similar measures. Explaining the purpose of the new branding, NARTH writes, "In recent years NARTH has been increasingly involved in legal and professional efforts to defend the rights of clients to pursue change-oriented psychological care as well as the rights of licensed mental health professionals to provide such care.... Adding to our board new legal and medical experts (i.e., Geoff Heath, JD, and Keith Vennum, MD) and a new clinical member David Pickup, MFT."<br /><br />A second "ex-gay" organization, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX) also rebranded its website, with a legal focus echoing that of NARTH's. This is no surprise, as prominent PFOX and NARTH member, Christopher Doyle, has been the chief lobbyist against bills prohibiting the barbaric practice of reparative therapy on minors. Doyle gained notoriety for what he admitted online: </span></div>
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<br />"I tried to have sex with the little girls that my mother watched in her daycare, and eventually, one of the girls told her parents what I was doing. The shame that was placed on me by my parents was more than I could bear. Rather than rescue me, teach me, and put me in counseling, the 'bad boy' was left alone to deal with all of this shame."<br /><br />The huge changes at NARTH are symbolic of the implosion of the "ex-gay" industry. In the past few years, key "ex-gay" groups have shut their doors, including Love in Action, Exodus International, Evergreen International, and Love Won Out. <br /><br />Last week, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) released a letter by several former "ex-gay" activists who explained that such therapy is unethical and harmful. Former Family Research Council "ex-gay" spokesperson, Yvette Cantu Schneider, also released a statement with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where she expressed regret for her participation in the "ex-gay" industry. Last year, former "ex-gay" poster boy John Paulk apologized for his role in promoting these groups, and the year prior, key "ex-gay" activist, John Smid, renounced his role with Love in Action - the first modern ex-gay ministry founded in 1973. <br /><br />"The 'ex-gay' industry is an experiment that has failed," said Truth Wins Out's Wayne Besen. "I can understand why they would want to reinvent themselves, because things didn't work out so well the first time. However, these group are simply repackaging the same old snake oil in a fancy new bottle." <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />NARTH has disingenuously billed itself as a secular therapy group. In reality, this organization served as a front for virulently anti-gay religious groups such as Focus on the Family. The claim that NARTH is a secular organization is betrayed by its own rhetoric. <br /><br />"We, as citizens, need to articulate God's intent for human sexuality," Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, co-founder of NARTH, said in CNN' 360 Degrees with Anderson Cooper, April 14, 2007. At the Feb. 10, 2007 Love Won Out conference in Phoenix, the "secular" therapist told the audience, "When we live our God-given integrity and our human dignity, there is no space for sex with a guy."<br /><br />Although NARTH claims to be a group that offers therapy, what it does isn't therapy at all. Instead, it is anti-gay hate speech wrapped in medical language, in an effort to make it more palatable to mainstream Americans. NARTH co-founder, the late Dr. Charles Socarides, told The Washington Post on August 14, 2007, "Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder, there is no question about it. It is a purple menace that is threatening the proper design of gender distinctions in society."<br /><br /><br />NARTH board member Gerard van den Aardweg is a frequent purveyor of anti-LGBT hate<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjMN26FlbnD0vj2NY8XrMzkS3eNZR2_TzPwYsbOE0TQzdnrz8oLahEsJlzEqgZWeIhZMb5go8o9_hHRpqXjNEIgt8n_Y0W-184OGQ0VDpaWCLnoscXorvkAInRrx5FwcQ4YyItx3ybKdnRvD_kJO65zXOi76j1Q8C7Ikvgxyw=s0-d-e1-ft" />speech. He writes in his book, Homosexuality & Hope: A Psychologist Talks About Treatment and Change:<br /><br /> "The person with a homosexual drive is pulled to a neurotic and conflictions existence. Stubbornly and imperviously, against all advice, despite the sorrow they inflict on their parents, young people with this problem cling to their 'choice' of what their ignorance mistakes for 'happiness.' It may be hard, but it is true: not a few of them degenerate, their youthful freshness and gladness disappear; they become weaklings in many respects - like addicts." (Ch. 2, pg. 24)<br /><br />NARTH is also infamous for its bizarre theories and techniques. The group encourages male clients to drink Gatorade and call their friends "dude," because this will supposedly make them more masculine. Dr. Joseph Nicolosi espoused the idea that, "Non-homosexual men who experience defeat and failure may also experience homosexual fantasies or dreams."<br /><br /> NARTH board member Gerard van den Aardweg said he believes that there is a link between muscle weakness and homosexuality.<br /><br />"The possible correlation between homosexuality and 'muscle weakness' could mean, for instance, that boys with deficient muscular growth run a higher risk of becoming sexually deviant because of their feeling inferior on that account...it is precisely youthful inferiority feelings about the physical appearance, body build, and the like that can motivate a development to a homosexual orientation." (Homosexuality & Hope: A Psychologist Talks About Treatment and Change, Ch. 2, p. 29)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />On its website NARTH endorsed and sold a book from member therapist, James E. Phelan,"Practical Exercises For Men In Recovery of Same-Sex Attraction (SSA)." It is a veritable, step-by-step guide on how one would attempt to transform from gay-to-straight. <br /><br />Phelan's peculiar book urges clients to keep a "masturbation inventory" and practice "safe driving." <br /><br />"Keep your eyes on the road, not on other peoples' cars," the therapist warns. "Focus on driving, not having sex with other drivers." (p. 30)<br /><br />The author also offers a comprehensive list of 236 activities clients can participate in whenever they feel homosexual urges. This list includes: Bowling, singing to myself, watching the sky, reading maps, caring for houseplants, going to a revival or crusade, seeing famous people, crying, seeing or smelling a flower or plant, going to a drive-thru (Dairy Queen, McDonalds, etc.), walking barefoot, bird watching, smiling at people, playing Frisbee, and going to auctions. (Pgs. 93-97)<br /><br />Sexism is rampant at NARTH. This is made clear in exercise 57 of Phelan's NARTH endorsed book where advises male clients what to tell their wives:<br /><br />"It is up to you to help educate her about your needs. Tell her, 'I need to be the man of the house. Let me be the man of the house.' Dominant women only demasculinize men. A man has got to be the lion of the den." (p. 61)<br /><br />Such retrograde beliefs is reminiscent of NARTH board member Gerald Schoenwolf, who in 2006 seemed to justify slavery on the organization's website:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," wrote Schoenwolf. "It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people.<br /><br />They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">More <a href="http://www.twocare.org/discredited-ex-gay-therapy-group-narth-undergoes-major-rebranding-effort/?utm_source=Discredited+%27Ex-Gay%27+Therapy+Group%2C+NARTH%2C+Undergoes+Major+Rebranding+Effort&utm_campaign=worldvision&utm_medium=email">HERE</a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-12326679605050235532014-08-06T13:01:00.003-07:002014-08-06T13:01:35.991-07:00Ensure You are Well-Represented in the 2014 Global Men's Health and Rights Survey!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thank you for your interest in this research survey on the sexual health of gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) worldwide!<br /><br />Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may decide not to participate, or stop your participation at any time.<br /><br />WHO<br /><br />In response to feedback on the 2012 GMHR survey, this survey is specifically designed for men who have sex with men, including transgender MSM. For more information you can contact the MSMGF at the email address below.<br /><br />The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) is a global coalition of advocates, researchers, service providers, and other experts in health, human rights and policy. The mission of the MSMGF is to advocate for equitable access to effective HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services for gay men and other MSM, while promoting their health and human rights worldwide.<br /><br />WHAT<br /><br />This 25 - 30 minute survey will ask you questions about experiences regarding your sexual health, access to services, and your opinions and experiences you may have had regarding other issues related to the wellbeing of MSM where you live.<br /><br />WHY<br /><br />Your responses will join the voices of other MSM around the world to inform and support knowledge generation, programming and advocacy for sexual health needs of gay men and other MSM around the world. You may not benefit personally form your participation in this survey. Your decision not to participate or to stop participation will not result in any penalty or loss of benefits to which you are entitled.<br /><br />CONFIDENTIALITY<br /><br />Absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. There is a risk of loss of confidentiality.<br /><br />Your identity will not be linked with your responses. Your responses will be combined with those of other participants, and together the findings will support knowledge generation, programming and advocacy for the sexual health needs of gay men and other MSM around the world.<br /><br />CONTACTS<br /><br />Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments regarding this survey:<br /><br />Secretariat of the MSMGF: contact@msmgf.org.<br /><br />Sonya Arreola, PhD, MPH I Principle Investigator: sarreola@msmgf.org<br /><br />George Ayala, Psy D I Executive Director, MSMGF: gayala@msmgf.org<br /><br />If you have questions about your rights as a research subject or if you have questions, concerns, input, or complaints about the research, you may contact:<br /><br /> Western Institutional Review Board® (WIRB®)<br />1019 39th Avenue SE Suite 120<br />Puyallup, Washington 98374-2115<br />Telephone: 1-800-562-4789 or 360-252-2500<br />E-mail: Help@wirb.com<br /><br />WIRB is a group of people who perform independent review of research.<br /><br />WIRB will not be able to answer some study-specific questions, such as questions about appointment times. However, you may contact WIRB if the research staff cannot be reached or if you wish to talk to someone other than the research staff.<br /><br />Thank you again!<br /><br />The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF)</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take the survey <a href="http://www.msmgf.org/gmhr2014">HERE</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-44255107672744033842014-07-02T04:34:00.000-07:002014-08-06T12:45:59.916-07:00Anti Gay Group Jamaica CAUSE told We're Not Into You! Gays No Threat To Straight Folk<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am still trying to control my laughter as I typed this post from reading this wonderful article twice that appeared in the Gleaner today, the hysteria, fear-mongering and inciting violence under the guise of a stupid tag line from the anti gay newly formed group Jamaica CAUSE "Straight without the hate" or "love the sinner but hate the sin" had not been bought by many folks including ordinary Jamaicans who are labelling the over reaction by the group as hypocritical owing to the fact that they have not responded so organised to other more serious societal ills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So it must have been the rave thing to do on Sunday when 25,000 men and women left their homes to protest in hope of eliminating or possibly exiling the LGBT community?! Give me a break!<br /><br />I'm just throwing it out there to the 25,000, and please give honest answers! How many of you were fornicating before you took to the streets? How many of you left your homes without ironing clothes for your sons/daughters/husbands/wives for the coming week to jump on the wagon?<br /><br />How many didn't cook Sunday dinner because the march was going to fill your stomachs with all the necessary nutritional elements to keep your bodies alive?<br /><br />How many of you left your children at home to join the march instead of giving your families quality time, helping them get ready for graduation, reviewing summer-school notes or just listening and being present?<br /><br />How many different sins did some of you commit before taking to the streets? How many of you are men and women in the closet living 'down-low' and protested because you didn't want to jeopardise your posts, and so you sold out your own kind?<br /><br />The Church is very hypocritical. The Bible says, "Judge not and ye shall not be judged," yet you put yourselves on pedestals judging others. NEWS FLASH! You people are not GOD. He did not say the Church will have to condemn or commit malicious acts against you before you could get to him!<br /><br />How many of the persons marching have children out of wedlock, are stealing, murdering, raping and committing other heinous crimes, yet you guys are protesting about GAYS that don't see you! The Jamaican dollar has slid to 112:1 with the US dollar. Protest about that.<br /><br />Stay out!<br /><br />My bedroom is NOT your playground, so I don't see why you want to enter it! The same sexual methods that you use to satisfy yourselves are the same ones we use. The only difference is that we choose to be sexually satisfied by someone of the same sex.<br /><br />Our bedroom business has a closed-door policy. Hence, STAY OUT! Sure, we can share a few tips and tricks with you, but why should we? We invented some of the ways you use to sexually satisfy your partners.<br /><br />Portia Simpson Miller, your dear prime minister, gave a commitment to review the buggery law and failed to honour that promise. She is an upstanding political hypocrite with a bang and a hidden agenda to keep her seat in Gordon House.<br /><br />The heterosexual community is adamant that homosexuals are a threat to them and that is contrary to their beliefs. We do have a type that we are attracted to, and it is NOT heterosexual men and women!<br /><br />Let me just say to the 25,000 of you out there and the multitudes: gays will always be in existence and more progressive because we are looking into making the world a better place and more uplifting.<br /><br />So to the pastor man who is lashing out and the politician, what's in the dark must come to light! My bedroom is my play area and what I do there stays there. Your application has been denied!<br /><br />Feel free to respond to columns@gleanerjm.com and kimswaggerkid@gmail.com.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A recent RJR interview a day after the rally showed up the hidden intent as the president of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship Helen Coley Nicholson referred to their group as the real civil society clearly pitting other groups as irrelevant or their causes not clear. This kind of divisiveness is disturbing indeed coming from so called Christians, they have even gone as far as to malign the more traditional churches who have not supported the CAUSE initiative as supporting homosexuality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see for some additional coverage:</span></div>
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<a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/jamaica-cause-issues-veiled-threat-to.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Jamaica CAUSE issues Veiled threat to Govt to not Repeal The Buggery Law</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/07/betty-ann-blaine-deliberately-conflates.html">Betty Ann Blaine Deliberately Conflates Same Gender Attraction & Child Abuse at Christian Anti Gay Mass Rally & in Public Advocacy</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/more-overreaction-to-jamaicans-for.html">More Overreaction to the Jamaicans for Justice Sex Education Course & Media Senationalism </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/01/betty-ann-blaine-on-poverty-children.html">Betty Ann Blaine on Poverty, children and the Buggery Law .... and that awful confusion of homosexuality with paedophilia</a> 2012</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/hardened-positions-by-religious.html">Hardened Positions by Religious Fanatics & Their LGBT Detractors Will Only Leave More Blood on the Floor</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/anti-gay-voice-child-rights-advocate.html">Anti Gay Voice & 'Child Rights' Advocate Betty-Ann Blaine Taken to Task on Public Advocacy</a><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/why-did-cvcc-jfj-fund-projecthome-for.html">Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco that now obtains?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/justice-minister-reiterates-his.html">Justice Minister reiterates his personal position on the Buggery Law, Anal Intercourse, Consent & Privacy, government position</a><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/05/j-flag-now-advocating-for.html">J-FLAG now advocating for decriminalisation of same-sex acts</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140701/lead/lead5.html">Pastors Push Enumeration As Hedge Against Buggery Repeal</a> (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<br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-false-dichotomy-of-religious-right.html">The False Dichotomy of the religious right on the LGBT advocacy Godlessness</a><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/05/espeut-west-says-homopbobia-was.html">Espeut, West says “Homophobia” was invented to abuse Christians as hate speech</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/12/betty-ann-blaine-foreign-religious.html">Betty Ann Blaine & foreign religious zealots continue their paranoia & misrepresentations of male homosexuality</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2013/06/church-claims-future-victimization-if.html">Church claims future victimization if buggery is decriminalized in Jamaica</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/11/spilling-homosexual-blood-observer.html">Spilling homosexual blood .... Observer Headline 29.11.09</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/04/lesbians-do-have-morals.html">Lesbians Do Have Morals</a> 2009<br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/more-gay-marriage-paranoia-hijacking-of.html">More gay marriage paranoia & hijacking of the homosexual debate by fanatics</a> 2014</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/professors-bains-testimony-threatened.html">Professor's Bain's Testimony Threatened Foreign Funding (Gleaner letter)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/lessons-to-learn-from-professor-bain.html">Lessons to learn from The Professor Bain Matter?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/anti-gay-voice-child-rights-advocate.html">Anti Gay Voice & 'Child Rights' Advocate Betty-Ann Blaine Taken to Task on Public Advocacy</a></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/ian-boyne-bain-exercised-terribly-poor.html">Ian Boyne: Bain exercised terribly poor strategic judgement</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-deliberate-misuse-of-sexual.html">The Deliberate Misuse of the “Sexual Grooming” Term by Antigay Fanatics to Promote Their Hysteria</a></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/anti-gay-religious-voices-where-are.html">Anti gay religious voices where are they? .... Pastor charged with sexual assault</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/uwi-had-no-choice-but-to-dismiss-prof.html">'UWI had no choice but to dismiss Prof Bain' says Professor Rosemarie Bell Antoine (OAS Rapporteur</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/pro-bain-protesters-to-meet-with-uwi.html">Pro-Bain Protesters To Meet With UWI Today</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/buggery-only-thing-that-makes-church.html">Buggery the only thing that makes church butts sore?</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/01/betty-ann-blaine-on-poverty-children.html">Betty Ann Blaine on Poverty, children and the Buggery Law .... and that awful confusion of homosexuality with paedophilia</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2010/08/blaine-will-be-her-own-victim-observer.html">Blaine will be her own victim (Observer Letter 11.08.10)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/04/jamaica-coalition-for-healthy-society.html">Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society continues its “HIV is a gay disease” campaign with more deception added</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-goes-on-in-minds-of-overly.html">What goes on in the minds of the overly religious?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/betty-ann-blaines-arrant-nonsense-request-of-peter-king-tapes/">BETTY ANN BLAINE’S ARRANT NONSENSE REQUEST OF PETER KING TAPES</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/that-wont-stop-aids-betty-ann-says-gay-lawyer/">THAT WON’T STOP AIDS, BETTY ANN SAYS GAY LAWYER</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/buy-no-rings-you-wont-wed-religious-fear-mongering-on-gay-marriage-the-buggery-law-continues/">BUY NO RINGS, YOU WON’T WED; RELIGIOUS FEAR-MONGERING ON GAY MARRIAGE & THE BUGGERY LAW CONTINUES</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance really needed at this time as the silly season continues, hope we can ride this one out in one piece.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">More podcasts on the subject</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/djhowiejam/the-hypocrisy-of-jamaican-anti-gay-groups-selective-actions-of-societal-ills/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Hypocrisy of Jamaican Anti Gay Groups & Selective Actions of Societal Ills</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/djhowiejam/buggery-bain-bullshit-buffoonery-in-jamaican-lgbt-discourse/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Buggery, Bain, Bullshit & Buffoonery in Jamaican LGBT Discourse</a> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-41826252955081176612014-06-30T13:06:00.000-07:002014-06-30T13:06:02.168-07:00Lloyd D'Aguilar on The Church Preaching Itself Out Of Relevance in Jamaica<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Radio host and rights advocate with his own style of advocacy Lloyd D'Agular's letter became the letter of the day and pleasantly surprisingly so seeing that the Gleaner in recent times had sunk to a low in terms of true journalism from walkouts by award winning staff from press conferences (CVCC) to the tabloid type writing on the JFJ CVCC funded sex education course.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am not a big fan of his per say but give unto Ceasar what is due unto to Ceasar and he has been interviewing more LGBT spokespersons since his new stint at HOT102FM's Morning Edition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With yesterday's mass rally by a hastily formed anti gay group Jamaica CAUSE and their threats to vote out any administration that repeals buggery (when that call has since changed by JFLAG though so late to decriminalization) the deceptive conflation of same gender sex with abuse is on twinned with reparative therapy and blocking any attempt to allow coverage under law for sexual discrimination.</span></div>
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Lloyd's letter:</span></div>
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LETTER OF THE DAY - Church Preaching Itself Out Of Relevance</h1>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />THE EDITOR, Sir:<br /><br />It appears that the last moral lynchpin of the Jamaican Church (the fundamentalist wing at least) is hatred of homosexuals.<br /><br />The Church has been forced to accept human frailties - adultery, fornication, stealing, murder, covetousness - as things which secular laws either don't regard as crimes or which the State reserves the exclusive right to punish.<br /><br />The clergy cannot use biblical admonitions to advocate stoning and murder for such transgressions. To do so, they themselves could be prosecuted for criminal conduct.<br /><br />But now it seems as if the clerics believe that the last moral code on which they cannot concede is homosexuality.<br /><br />They are gearing up to take their last stand against the 'gay agenda', which seems also to be a referendum on their own relevance. This gay agenda, which the clerics keep fuming against is, in fact, a human-rights agenda.<br /><br />Morally speaking, the State does not have the right to be involved in the bedroom affairs of consenting adults - gay or straight. Nor can the Church realistically do anything about what people do in the privacy of their bedrooms.<br /><br />Modern State<br /><br />The premise of the modern State is that chattel slavery is over and the State, therefore, has no business regulating personal thoughts, beliefs, morality or sexual behaviour. The last bastion of this attempt to regulate personal behaviour seems to be drugs (marijuana and coke), abortion, prostitution, and homosexuality. It is, of course legal to drink, smoke and eat yourself to death.<br /><br />The United States has moved decisively on the matter of homosexuality, going so far as to recognise gay marriage. Legalising marijuana may not be too far off.<br /><br />The Jamaican clergy have a mortal fear that removing the buggery law will lead to legalisation of gay marriage à la the USA. The buggery law is unenforceable in any event, unless the participants engage publicly, which is a very rare occurrence, or the police decide to come kicking down your door based on evidence!<br /><br />No gay agenda<br /><br />There is no gay agenda in Jamaica other than that criminalisation of gay sex is a violation of the basic tenets of the Constitution. This criminalisation has led to murder, discrimination and social ridicule.<br /><br />Having lost their thunder against fornication and adultery, which is considered normal human behaviour, buggery is now the Church's new clarion call.<br /><br />The clerics never challenge the State over its terrorist methods against inner-city youths, such as the 2010 Tivoli Gardens massacre. They have nothing to say about institutional corruption - indeed, they have regular prayer breakfasts with state officials who are known kleptomaniacs.<br /><br />Now is therefore not the time to flinch in front of clerical irrelevance. God is dead. He seems to have died a long time ago.<br /><br />The buggery law must be repealed. LGBT Jamaicans must be protected against violence, stigma and bigotry. Clerical hysteria on the matter of gay rights sounds too eerily similar to the echoes of Fascism.<br /><br />Jamaica either becomes a civilised state or it further descends into barbarism and proto-Fascism.<br /><br />LLOYD D'AGUILAR<br /><br />Campaign for Social and Economic Justice<br />lgdaguilar@gmail.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see and hear podcasts:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/jamaica-cause-issues-veiled-threat-to.html">Jamaica CAUSE issues Veiled threat to Govt to not Repeal The Buggery Law</a></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/uwi-vice-chancellor-e-nigel-harris-uwi.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">(UWI) Vice-chancellor E. Nigel Harris - UWI Didn't Bow To Gays</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-hunt-for-blood-continues-jfjcvcc_29.html">The Hunt for Blood Continues ..... JFJ/CVCC Children’s Homes Sex-Ed Programme Under Police Investigation part</a> 2<br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/more-overreaction-to-jamaicans-for.html">More Overreaction to the Jamaicans for Justice Sex Education Course & Media Senationalism</a><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/why-did-cvcc-jfj-fund-projecthome-for.html">Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco that now obtains?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/professors-bains-testimony-threatened.html">Professor's Bain's Testimony Threatened Foreign Funding (Gleaner letter)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/lessons-to-learn-from-professor-bain.html">Lessons to learn from The Professor Bain Matter?</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/ian-boyne-bain-exercised-terribly-poor.html">Ian Boyne: Bain exercised terribly poor strategic judgement</a><br /><br /><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/anti-gay-religious-voices-where-are.html">Anti gay religious voices where are they? .... Pastor charged with sexual assault</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/uwi-had-no-choice-but-to-dismiss-prof.html">'UWI had no choice but to dismiss Prof Bain' says Professor Rosemarie Bell Antoine (OAS Rapporteur</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/pro-bain-protesters-to-meet-with-uwi.html">Pro-Bain Protesters To Meet With UWI Today</a><br /><br /><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/buggery-only-thing-that-makes-church.html">Buggery the only thing that makes church butts sore?</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mixcloud.com/djhowiejam/the-hypocrisy-of-jamaican-anti-gay-groups-selective-actions-of-societal-ills/?utm_source=widget&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;utm_campaign=base_links&amp;utm_term=resource_link" style="color: grey; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Hypocrisy of Jamaican Anti Gay Groups & Selective Actions of Societal Ills</a> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-73897997558509635602014-06-16T11:05:00.003-07:002014-06-16T11:05:56.699-07:00Freedom under Attack! Bain, freedoms and a complicated way to dialogue<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://unitedbelizeadvocacymovement.blogspot.com/2014/06/freedom-under-attack-bain-injunction.html">Courtesy of Belizean LGBT Rights</a></div>
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<br />For the first time ever, Belize and Jamaica has almost simultaneous protest regarding professor Bain termination. The debate pitted the issue of religious-base bigotry which has a moral stamp of approval against a collective who is concern about the intersecting issues of rights enforcement and protection as part of an overall health policy concern. Historically, CARICOM member states, have not constructively and responsibly addressed the rights concerns of its L.G.B.T citizens in any substantive way. The Bain case, offers the region an opportunity to teach us all about the limits of free expression and thought and the obligations of individuals in a fiduciary relationships that involves vulnerable groups.<br /><br />The broader concern for the region, is does religious-base bigotry gets a moral stamp of approval to undermine the rights of L.G.B.T citizens in the region and what happens in the struggle for rights acknowledgment which are already in many states constitutions. The recent debate about Professor Bain termination was argued as an issue of Freedom of Speech in both Belize and Jamaica. Bain, as a result, filed for an injunction on Wednesday to hold on to his job at CHART that he has held since 2001. The article says he is suing on 15 grounds and that Bain is arguing that said disagreement and subsequent termination conflicted with his right to freedom of expression, thought and conscience. He was granted his request for an injunction to prevent his dismissal from Chart on Friday this until his case is heard.<br /><br />If he is really suing on the basis of "his constitutional rights of freedom of expression and thought," the case has more to do with legal limits on employee behavior than it does on contractual provisions. Interestingly, as I am researching this matter, it does not appear citizens of Commonwealth nations have a protection for "freedom of speech" as contained in the US constitution. Instead, they have laws that protect "freedom of expression and opinion," which may be lawfully restricted to respect the rights and reputation of other persons, national security, public order, public health or public morality. Basically, the distinction limits the actions of people breaching the expression of others to obscenity, defamation and discrimination.<br /><br />The filing base on "his constitutional rights of freedom of expression and thought," will be interesting as the case moves through the court. In the US, there have been a whole slew of decisions (Garcetti v. Ceballos, Connick v. Myers, Pickering v. Board of Education, Waters v. Churchill, Schumann v. Dianon, Perez-Dickson v. City of Bridgeport, etc.) which uphold that neither employees in the public or private workplace are entitled to First Amendment protection if their speech: is “extraordinarily disruptive” to the workplace or work being done, interfered with the employees job performance, placed strain on his relationships with co-workers, created division within the company, or is insubordinate.<br /><br />In on case precedent, out of Canada which is extremely interesting and pertinent. "Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v. Whatcott - The decision rests on a compelling premise: that published statements treating members of vulnerable minority groups as somehow less worthy of dignity or respect – as less human – than the rest of society don’t warrant the same degree of Charter protection as other exercises of expressive freedom." (Please read case link for conclusion)<br /><br />In another case, Burns v. Dye out of New South Wales is also interesting. Basically a man filed a complaint under the anti-vilification laws (the Australian equivalent to Hate Crimes discrimination laws). The ruling is interesting because it states that just because a homosexual might find the words used offensive, they are not necessarily covered by the law. (I would argue that the absence of such legislation in the Caribbean would equate to the situation where language was not covered by law.) HOWEVER, the court ruled in favor of the complainant because of the public nature of the verbal abuse. <br /><br />Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom was a decision that was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. It ultimately is applicable under 2 provisions. One of the litigants Ms Ladele was employed by the London Borough of Islington, which had a“Dignity for All” equality and diversity policy, from 1992. When in 2004 the Civil Unions law was passed, Ladele, a Christian, refused to conduct civil partnership ceremonies. The court ruled that her view of marriage was not the same as her right to practice her religion and stated that "Islington was not merely entitled, but obliged, to require her to perform civil partnerships" as part of her employment agreement. Another litigant, Mr McFarlane, was a practicing Christian who worked for Relate, a national private, confidential sex therapy and relationship counselling service, as a counsellor from May 2003 until March 2008. He initially had some concerns about providing counselling services to same-sex couples, but following discussions with his supervisor, he accepted that simply counselling a homosexual couple did not involve endorsement of such a relationship and he was therefore prepared to continue. He subsequently provided counselling services to two lesbian couples, which did not consist of sexual therapy, without any problem. However, in 2007 he refused to offer psycho-sexual therapy, on religious grounds, to gay, lesbian and bi-sexual clients. Throughout 2008 employer and employee met many times to resolve the issue. In 2008, McFarlane was dismissed for stating that he would comply with company policy when he had no intention of doing so. McFarlane appealed to the the Employment Tribunal, and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, losing both times as they found he not suffered direct discrimination on the basis of conscience. He had not been dismissed because of his faith, but because it was believed that he would not comply with company policies. With regard to McFarlane's claim of indirect discrimination, the Tribunal found that Relate’s requirement that its counsellors comply with its Equal Opportunities Policy did put McFarlane’s religious beliefs at a disadvantage; however, those were legitimized by the aim to provide of a full range of counselling services to all sections of the community, regardless of sexual orientation. The European Court of Human Rights concurred that the decisions limiting religious freedoms were acceptable for the greater good. This case seem to Mirror the issues around Bain and will be interesting to see how the conservative Jamaica court responds in its final decision. <br /><br />The case of Bain is going to be interesting in its discourse, as there is an issued about intersection of rights which the Court will be ask to define. What has happened in this bi-national case, is an ensuing discourse about the limits of free speech and its impact on vulnerable groups; the limits of employer/employee relations regarding persons in substantial leadership in carrying out the mission of his employer.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TLMva0c_K6e3bFFugqBxwsxUOZ-DZepYgB529TubN9YZbmjyOs3MX051gpFSniY2wdKT8e6WnTAE8O2e1FWCueTnISvzfpwjuhe3pWhG2kHuYPVc0qbmWrblCtdstL7B4J3U7dZVqHTY/s1600/bain+imagery.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TLMva0c_K6e3bFFugqBxwsxUOZ-DZepYgB529TubN9YZbmjyOs3MX051gpFSniY2wdKT8e6WnTAE8O2e1FWCueTnISvzfpwjuhe3pWhG2kHuYPVc0qbmWrblCtdstL7B4J3U7dZVqHTY/s1600/bain+imagery.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Professor Rose-Marie Belle Antoine wrote on the termination of Professor Bain contextualising the issue best: "At the core, it is about a program leader publicly undermining the very program and principles he was mandated to support. By his words and action, he voluntarily aligned himself with and gave endorsement to, a diametrically opposed, unacceptable message on an issue of grave import for the UWI. <br /><br />The essence of the harm, therefore, more so than the content of the words that Professor Bain spoke, is the fact that an authoritative leader of the UWI, spoke with one voice with a litigant partywhose purpose and objectives are in direct conflict with the policies of CHART and the UWI. This litigant clearly advocates the retention of a discriminatory regime that excludes persons from enjoying rights of equality on the basis of their sexual orientation. Consequently, the testimony instantly became associated with the UWI in deeply negative and enduring ways, placing deep question marks on the UWI’s integrity and on its public commitment, not only to progressive notions of public health and HIV programming, but more fundamentally, to non-discrimination, equal opportunity, justice and human rights.<br /><br />It is a fact that the elimination of discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation is a key ingredient of the UWI’s HIV programming which Professor Bain had the honour to lead for many years and about which he testified. Anti-discrimination training is a vital part of CHART’s own program, as conceded in the expert testimony. Significantly, too, the mandate of PEPFAR and the Global Fund for Aids, which funds CHART, is “to develop programs aimed at reducing HIV related stigma.”The mission of UWI’s HIV programming, HARP, as well as CHART, from the very beginning, has co-existed with a human rights agenda, a central plank of which is the need to abolish discriminatory laws on sexual orientation. This is incontestable and no one associated with itcan ever claim to have been unaware of this. I can speak authoritatively to this as one who has been intimately involved with the work of the program from its inception. Further, as an HIV & Law consultant who has been actively engaged for over 20 years in policy development across the region, for governments, international organisations and NGO’s, including on important issues of human rights and justice, I understand why this must be so.<br /><br />Professor Bain’s longstanding and excellent work on HIV and public health, is without question. Ironically, it is precisely because of his high profile that his remarks and chosen association are so damaging to UWI’s reputation and credibility. The retention of Professor Bain in such circumstances threatened to destroy much of the hard-fought gains and trust that UWI has won in the fight against the scourge of HIV and discrimination in general and seriously undermined its own institutional interests. In this context, such testimony cannot be viewed as a mere personal viewpoint, isolated and insulated from CHART and the UWI’s policy position.Indeed, typically, the very reason authorities like Professor Bain are called upon to speak is because of their professional capacity which is inextricably linked with the institution, the UWI. Thus, Professor Bain cannot separate his personal views from these comments that have come to represent the institution that is the UWI, which is why they are viewed as harmful and irresponsible. <br /><br />While intellectual freedom is to be protected and encouraged, the UWI has a duty to ensure that on issues where it holds itself up as perpetuating a particular policy for the benefit of the community, the persons who are chosen to take the lead on the matter, are demonstrably in accord with that policy. I cannot think, for example, that UWI could ever appoint an academic known to be a racist, or supporting racist ideology, to head Departments devoted to Race Studies or even History Departments, or a person demonstrating that he or she believes or asserts that women are unequal and their place is in the home, to head the Gender Department! There have been several ‘scientific’ studies that claim that blacks are lazy and intellectually inferior, or women the ‘weaker sex’. Does this mean that in the name of academic freedom, the UWI should compromise its core principles of equality and allow its very integrity to be highjacked? I think not. <br /><br />Professor Bain, as Head of CHART, was in a fiduciary relationship, where one is placed in a position of great trust, which in turn, induces greater responsibility and duties of care. Professor Bain, and by extension, the UWI, with this testimony, violated these fiduciary duties owed to persons living with HIV, the LGBTI community and to the many who look to it for protection and guiding principle.The bottom line is this: Having given this testimony, it would be impossible for this community, the very constituency that he is supposed to serve, ever to trust Professor Bain again. Thus, the UWI had no choice, after careful review, but to change the leadership of CHART. "<br /><br />The interesting thing is all this, is what will the Jamaican court decide? We will have to wait, as the drama unfolds. What we do know is that CARICOM member states have failed to uphold the fundamental rights and freedoms of their L.G.B.T citizens in any substantive way. What Bain case may do, is amplify the concerns and needs of L.G..B.T citizens in the region and finally visibilised the fundamentalists movement in the region as well as among CARICOM member state once and for all. Only time will tell.<br /><br />Source:<br />Take a Principled Stance<a href="http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2014-06-04/taking-principle-stand-hiv"> http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2014-06-04/taking-principle-stand-hiv</a></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />R v Keegstra case: <a href="http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/695/1/document.do">http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/695/1/document.do</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Saskatchwan Human Rights Commission v Whatcott:<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web..."> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web... </a><br /><br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Burns v.Dye New South Wales: <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web..."> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web... </a><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bain takes UWI to Court <br /><a href="http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/bain-goes-to-court">http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/bain-goes-to-court</a><br /><br />Bain gets injunction to prevent dismissal<br /><a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=53531">http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=53531</a><br /><br />Eweida and Others v. the United Kingdom<br /><a href="http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/fra/pages/search.aspx...">http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/fra/pages/search.aspx...</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile in Jamaica a new anti gay group AGAIN! has been formed with some wanna-be superstars pastors from unimportant churches called Jamaica CAUSE as they are not members of the Jamaica Council of Churches or other groups and claiming to be fighting homosexuality and gay marriage with a rally at Half Way Tree slated for June 29, 2014</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-62809077660699236992014-06-13T12:59:00.002-07:002014-06-13T12:59:22.606-07:00Rapsist should be hanged ......... reactions to male rape jogger case continues <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Atty-at-Law</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Barbara Gayle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The report that a male jogger was buggered recently in Queen Hill, St Andrew has led to some Jamaicans calling for all rapists to be hanged.<br /><br />Many Jamaicans have been shocked by the incident and have expressed sympathy for the victim of that heinous crime and are hoping that the perpetrators will be caught.<br /><br />Some vendors downtown Kingston were extremely upset about the situation, and in expressing their disgust, called for such criminals to be hanged in public.<br /><br />"These things are really getting out of hand," one female vendor said as she started a conversation among the group of vendors. "Imagine this man left his house to go and jog and these wicked, no-good criminals held him up with gun and raped the man. I can just imagine how shocked and frightened the poor man must have been. I really feel sorry for him," she said.<br /><br />In response, one of the vendors pointed out that the ordeal will haunt the victim for the rest of his life. She was quick to point out that no one in Jamaica is safe.<br /><br />"The children are not safe, old people are not safe, women are not safe and men are not safe either from being raped or murdered," she said.<br /><br />A man who was among the group said the reality just hit him that one day, he could be attacked by some homosexual men.<br /><br />"Boy, oh boy, I don't think I could get over it. You know, to me, this is worse than murder because then I would be dead and would not have to live with the thought that a man raped me," he said.<br /><br />The woman agreed with him that buggery was indeed a horrible crime, but said they were not sure it was worse than murder because the man's life was spared.<br /><br />"All I am saying is that men who rape men must be hanged because I don't know how I would survive if a man raped my son or my husband," the woman remarked.<br /><br />"Hang them, yes, they deserve to die for raping men and women. Yes all rapists should be hanged when caught," another women echoed.<br /><br />Although the vendors felt that men convicted of rape and buggery should be hanged, there is no provision in law for hanging to be the punishment for such offences. The death sentence can only be passed for certain categories of murder.<br /><br />However, it must not be forgotten that although the judges have been passing death sentences, the last hanging took place in Jamaica in February, 1988. There have been debates and calls for the abolition of the death penalty, but so far, it has not been abolished.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/is-observer-male-jogger-sodomatical.html">Is the Observer's Male Jogger Sodomatical Attack Story a Lie? ..... A Jogger/Blogger Poses Questions</a></span><div>
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<a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/male-jogger-allegedly-sodomised-in-up.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Male Jogger allegedly sodomised in up-scale </a></div>
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<a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/male-jogger-allegedly-sodomised-in-up.html" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">neighbourhood says Observer</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/06/homo-thugs-observer-claims-gun-toting.html">Homo Thugs, Observer claims Gun-toting gays creating fear in Kingston ........ endgame here?</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/homo-negative-homophobic-feedback-on.html">Homo-negative & homophobic feedback on the male jogger rape case continues</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-32166043212855285362014-06-11T11:18:00.001-07:002015-04-10T10:06:20.930-07:00Dr Shelly Ann Weeks on Homophobia - What are we afraid of?<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Former host of Dr Sexy Live on Nationwide radio and Sexologist tackles in a simplistic but to the point style homophobia and asks the poignant question of the age, What really are we as a nation afraid of?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />It seems like homosexuality is on everyone's tongue. From articles in the newspapers to countless news stories and commentaries, it seems like everyone is talking about the gays. Since Jamaica identifies as a Christian nation, the obvious thought about homosexuality is that it is wrong but only male homosexuality seems to influence the more passionate responses. It seems we are more open to accepting lesbianism but gay men are greeted with much disapproval.<br /><br />Dancehall has certainly been very clear where it stands when it comes to this issue with various songs voicing clear condemnation of this lifestyle. Currently, quite a few artistes are facing continuous protests because of their anti-gay lyrics. Even the law makers are involved in the gayness as there have been several calls for the repeal of the buggery law. Recently Parliament announced plans to review the Sexual Offences Act which, I am sure, will no doubt address homosexuality. Jamaica has been described as a homophobic nation. The question I want to ask is: What are we afraid of? There are usually many reasons why homosexuality is such a pain in the a@. Here are some of the more popular arguments:<br /><br />The Bible say it's an abomination<br /><br />The Bible is perhaps the most popular reference when it comes to proving why homosexuality is wrong. The famous verses: Leviticus 18:22 - "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination." and Leviticus 20:13 - "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them." The problem with quoting the Bible is that not everyone is a Christian. Also there are other things that are "abominations" in the Bible such as adultery, fornication, lying among others. Are we suggesting that people should be put to death for these transgressions as well?<br /><br />Gay men prey on young boys<br /><br />There is a clear difference between paedophilia and homosexuality. Paedophiles are interested in pre-pubescent children who are unable to consent to any sexual activity. Consenting adults getting sexual is very different. Also, there is a lot of concern about boys getting raped, but the attention paid to young girls who are repeatedly molested is not quite the same.<br /><br />Gay men cause HIV<br /><br />In the 1980s HIV/AIDS were thought to be caused by homosexuals. That theory has long been dismissed. Heterosexuals have contracted the disease and passed it on to their partners as well. As a matter of fact, anal sex is not only enjoyed by same sex couples, heterosexual couples have been entering through the back door and they face the same risks.<br /><br />Homosexuals can't procreate<br /><br />I personally think that this is probably the most hypocritical of all the reasons because most persons who are having sex are not trying to procreate. For many individuals, pregnancy is a consequence, not a decision. So if you are using any form of contraceptive, you are not trying to procreate.<br /><br />Gay parents will make gay children<br /><br />This theory is flawed because of one simple fact: Most gay children come from heterosexual households. So clearly sexual orientation is not dependent on that of the parents.<br /><br />Personally I do not think that what consenting adults engage in sexually should be a matter for legislation. Sexual identity is a personal thing and should be treated as such. As for the buggery (anal sex) law, I think it is antiquated, irrelevant to 21st century life and very difficult to enforce. I mean, are there individuals looking into homes to ensure that the penis is placed in the correct hole? Regardless of how we feel individually about this issue, remember one important fact: every human being is entitled to choose who they love, including homosexuals.<br /><br />Have fun and stay sexy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Send your questions or comments to sexychatwithshelly@gmail.com</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: #2ba94f; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">see: </span><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/06/buggery-could-dominate-review-of-sex.html" style="background-color: black; color: magenta; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: x-large; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Buggery could dominate review of sex laws (Observer)</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-13771081319324276432014-06-09T13:22:00.000-07:002014-06-09T13:22:11.876-07:00UK to deport Uganda woman for ‘not being in a lesbian relationship for 5 years’<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Harriet Nakigudde" src="http://denisnzioka.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/harriett.png" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The UK is planning to deport a Ugandan woman who applied for aslyum saying she was a lesbian saying she cannot possibly be a lesbian as ‘she has not been in a lesbian relationship for 5 years.’<br /><br />Harriet Nakigudde, a 30 year old Ugandan lady applied for asylum in the UK fearing for her life because of her sexuality as a lesbian according to official documents.<br /><br />Ms. Nakigudde removal directions have been issued for Tuesday, June 10, 2014, even though she has a pending Judicial review application in the High Court. There is an <a href="https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/UNITED_KINGDOM_HOME_OFFICE_CANCEL_HARRIET_NAKIGUDDE_REMOVAL_DIRECTIONS_NOW/share/?new">online petition</a> seeking to halt the deportation.<br /><br />The spokesperson, Edwin Sesange, for Out & Proud Diamond, a lobby group that advocates for LGBTI African asylum seekers notes:<br /><br /><br />“This is a miscarriage of justice for the Home Office to predict the outcomes of the courts of law in the UK. It is very clear that no action should have been taken by the Home office to issue any removal direction while a person has applied for her case to review by the courts.”<br /><br />It is further reported Ms Nakigudde collapsed while boarding a plane on May 17 when the Government tried to remove her.<br /><br />The UK Home Office reportedly denied her asylum on the basis that she did not get into a relationship whilst in the UK for the period of 5 years she has been here.<br /><br />Under questioning, Harriet was asked what she used to do sexually with her partner in private, ;even though she explained to them briefly, she feared and was humiliated at the encroachment on her privacy.’ The Home office also used this against her.<br /><br />The UK Home Office has been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/08/gay-asylum-seekers-humiliation-home-office">accused</a> of asking very private and lurid questions to LGBTI asylum seekers, especially those from African countries.<br /><br />Sesange noted, even though Harriet did reveal the names of two previous partners to the Home Office, they did not believe her, because those people are hard to track down or expose: “Harriet has kept her private life secret and she is not used to talking about it to strangers, even though it is a requirement for the Home office to encroach on people private, we strongly encourage them to stop it.”<br /><br />This case highlights the handling by the UK home office of African LGBT asylum seekers after the <a href="http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/03/14/murder-of-ugandan-lesbian-deportee-at-the-hands-of-uk-authorities-reliance-security-and-qatar-airlines/">death</a> of another Uganda lesbian who died after being deported from the UK.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-37804550945065741122014-06-02T11:16:00.002-07:002014-06-02T11:16:56.199-07:00CARIMAC Intern accounts on Millsborough Ave Homeless MSM/Observer Stoning incident <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Welcome to the real world as the author got a taste of what an angry set of gay youth can be like after being neglected by not only their families but also their more privileged peers as well</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">photos from Observer at the time of the original report featuring some older members of the displaced populations from the closed Safe House Pilot 2009<br /></span><h2 style="background-color: white; color: #214a92; font-family: 'Arial Black', sans-serif; font-size: 28px; line-height: 30px; margin-bottom: -1px; text-align: center;">
Terror, as gays armed with bottles chase photographer</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Terror--as-gays-armed-with-bottles-chase-photographer-16765371">Danger on the streets logo</a><br /><br />By KIMBERLEY HIBBERT<br /><br />MY first real taste of journalism was during internship for the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) when I was placed at the Jamaica Observer. I was excited about roving with the ace crime reporter.<br /><br />One Wednesday morning we got word that a group of gay men had illegally occupied a house on Millsborough Avenue in Barbican, North East St Andrew, and were being a nuisance to residents there.<br /><br />Our news team drove to the property to check out the story. On arriving, the driver instructed the photographer to be quick, and take photos from inside the vehicle.<br /><br />But our photographer insisted on exiting the vehicle to get the pictures. We watched and waited anxiously.<br /><br />"Weh him deh man, how him a tek so long fi come back? Mi tell yuh bout him enuh, weh him a do up deh so long?" mused the senior reporter.<br /><br />Within a second of his expression of impatience, we saw the photographer racing towards the vehicle, arms and legs pumping, his camera over his shoulder. Behind him, the men in question were also sprinting with two crocus bags filled with glass bottles which they started hurling.<br /><br />I was terrified. The driver turned on the engine and started signalling to the photographer to get in the vehicle quickly.<br /><br />But, out of fright, the photographer started pulling too hard on the door latch and the central lock engaged. He was in for the fright of his life.<br /><br />Realising what had happened, instead of waiting a few seconds to try the door again, the photographer ran, as the men were within 10 metres of him. For about 10 minutes they stood outside the vehicle playing dandy shandy with the bottles, while the senior reporter, the driver and I sat crouched in the vehicle. At one point the photographer opened the driver's door in a bid to enter, but failed.<br /><br />When one of the bottles hit the vehicle the driver started going down the road slowly, with the photographer jogging behind. Eventually he ran to the passenger side of the vehicle and by that time more men had joined the bottle throwers. The driver then stretched across to the passenger door and swung it open for the photographer to jump in while the vehicle was still moving. The photographer attempted to get in and ended up having one leg inside the vehicle. Eventually he steadied himself, and we drove towards Barbican Road with a half of the photographer's body outside the vehicle.<br /><br />The entire vehicle was silent up to the main road when I started snickering, then the other occupants burst out laughing.<br /><br />The photographer, however, was not amused and insisted that we drive to the police station.<br /><br />If our hilarity was hard for him to bear, the ordeal at the police station was something else.<br /><br />We went inside and began telling the sergeant on duty what had happened. The entire station then gathered to listen. One constable sat in a corner trying to suppress his laughter.<br /><br />But what knocked the ball out of the park was when the sergeant, while smirking, sarcastically asked: "So what you want me to do? Go up there for them?"<br /><br />The senior reporter, not the least bit amused, gave a dry laugh and said in a very stern tone, "Yes". The sergeant then told us that if the owner did not come forward to remove the men, there was nothing he could do.<br /><br />It was a hair-raising experience. I phoned my lecturer at CARIMAC and gave him the 411 about the incident. After having a good laugh, he asked in the most concerned tone, "Are you OK?" My response: "Yes sir, and I'm enjoying my internship."<br /><br />We thought that was the end of it, but when we finally composed ourselves and drove back to Beechwood Avenue, we were in for more teasing.<br /><br />We entered the Editorial Department and most persons appeared to be minding their business until we sat down. One brave soldier approached us and asked about the experience, some details of which had already been leaked to the newsroom. When I looked up, 12 men had gathered to hear of the showdown. While we did a re-enactment of the incident, the senior reporter and I took turns acting out what had happened to the photographer, to the delight of the editors who laughed heartily. The senior reporter jumped and I, balancing on one leg, showed them how we escaped danger.<br /><br />Despite the humour of the situation, we all acknowledged the danger we would have been in if a bottle had smashed the windscreen or one of the windows, or had struck the photographer.<br /><br />Kimberley Hibbert completed her first degree journalism programme at CARIMAC recently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The house was subsequently destroyed (the developer above) and since then the men and transgender collegues have been struggling with all kinds of deception to mask the major causation of the over populations of persons in New Kingston especially at the Shoemaker gully.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A recent documentary on <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#clip-3559883969001">UK Channel 4</a> <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/4od#clip-3559883969001">(or HERE</a>) of the newer populations deliberately overlooked the Safe House Pilot that was located at 4 Upper Musgrave Avenue under Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, JASL and suggested the property was destroyed due to homophobia by the landlord when that was not the actual reason which also led to the eviction of both JFLAG and JASL with the other tenants.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see: </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/05/new-efforts-to-halt-spread-of-hiv-among.html">New Efforts To Halt Spread Of HIV Among Gay Jamaica Men</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So much for deception and why we cannot get anywhere with either frontline work or finally beating stigma and discrimination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">See more posts from sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch on the issue including the original closure entry <a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/Homeless%20MSM%20in%20Jamaica">HERE</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-6158517439550384902014-05-26T10:25:00.003-07:002014-05-26T10:25:56.603-07:00Easier access to public health care for HIV-infected gay men (Observer)<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/assets/10716048/Fenton-Ferguson01.jpg" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Easier-access-to-public-health-care-for-HIV-infected-gay-men_16738534">Ingrid Brown</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSMs) now experience little or no barrier in accessing services at the island's public health facilities despite Jamaica's stringent buggery laws which criminalises the practice.<br /><br />This has been made possible by the Ministry of Health which recently facilitated the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) training of some 60 health-care professionals, to sensitise them on dealing with this population.<br /><br />Minister of Health Dr Fenton Ferguson told the Jamaica Observer that J-FLAG has undertaken the training of a number of health professionals across the island to sensitise them on the need to better treat with this vulnerable population.<br /><br />Ferguson expressed delight that J-FLAG was able to satisfactorily complete the training programme with the health-care professionals.<br /><br />"That will be very helpful, as a major concern for Jamaica is the MSMs which is now consistently showing a HIV prevalence rate of 32 per cent," Ferguson said, adding that he will be reinforcing this point when he speaks at the upcoming graduation exercise for those who benefited from the training.<br /><br />Meanwhile, J-FLAG said Jamaica AIDS Support (JAS) has always operated a fully functional clinic to treat its clients, including MSMs, who shy away from the island's clinics and hospitals.<br /><br />According to Brian Paul, sub-regional co-ordinator of the Caribbean Forum of the Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities (CariFLAGS) and advocate for J-FLAG over the last decade, agencies like JAS were empowered to do work with MSMs and transsexuals because the government's health system was not very embracing of diversity<br /><br />given that there was a lot of hostility against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.<br /><br />"When you get to the gate security guards would turn you away and nurses and other administrative staff within the compound would have been hostile, and so a lot of LGBT people relied on NGOs like JAS to provide that clinical care," he told the Observer. "However, over the years with greater exposure and education, the health-care providers at all levels are now more knowledgeable on sexual diversity and because of that they are now more sensitive to the needs of the population, so we are seeing a lot<br /><br />more LGBT people accessing health-care in the public sector," Paul said.<br /><br />He noted that this has been the result of years of advocacy work.<br /><br />"The national HIV programme has also done a lot to empower its staff and to train persons to be better equipped to deal with the population," he said.<br /><br />He noted, however, that while the majority of health care providers at all levels are sensitive to the issues of diversity, there are some<br /><br />who are still interacting with their own personal prejudices and stigma.<br /><br />"So they may know very well that their jobs depend upon them being tolerant and embracing of diversity, but their own personal stigma and prejudices are still present. But with the advent of the HIV-redress system and with empowerment of NGOs, less and less are we hearing of reports of real discrimination," he said.<br /><br />Paul said J-FLAG's recent training session with public health-care professionals included persons from deep rural Jamaica as well as the urban centres.<br /><br />The training, he said, was necessary because some persons were still not sure how to deal with LGBT people.<br /><br />"Those from the furthest rural parish said they had no idea about these issues and on the rare occasion if they had to deal with a gay or<br /><br />lesbian client, they were figuring it out as they went along," he said.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Dr Ferguson told the Observer that he recently had a major consultation with Pan Caribbean Partners Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) as well as a Global Fund official and a number of other high-level stakeholders to address the issues faced by the MSM population.<br /><br />"It was a two-day consultation on justice for all which is focusing on those most-at-risk such as MSMs and sex workers," he said.<br /><br />Dr Ferguson said Jamaica was able to secure US$19 million from Global Fund for its HIV programme.<br /><br />Jamaica was initially expecting to receive $5 million for the transitional period 2013-2015, but as the alternate member on the Global Fund Board for Latin America and the Caribbean, Fenton said he engaged the international community about the need for upper-middle income countries to continue to receive support.<br /><br />"We cannot afford to lose the gain of the last decade with HIV and so we are now in a position where we will be getting US$19 million from The Global Fund which I believe coming from US$5 million is significant," he said.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-8249201239192269692014-05-03T06:41:00.001-07:002014-05-03T06:41:10.115-07:0013,328 Jamaican MSM Reached by HIV Prevention says report on National HIV Program ........ but<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A statement has come to hand in recent days that the new round of Global Fund money is now available for the national program to the tune of $506 million and as of March 2014 some 13,000 plus men who have sex with men <a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/04/continued-oversight-or-deliberate.html">(while excluding specific programs for same gender loving women)</a> have occurred but what does this outreach means, only condom distribution and testing? when we know especially the least amongst us in the form of homeless LGBT youth in particular (bearing in mind Maslow's theory) how can they make safer sex decisions given the sensitivities involved?</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Why for example was the HFLE manual placed as an achievement when the fiasco that played out in the public domain proved that sanitization of sexuality issues is the main reason why we have the homo-negative culture fuelling the problems of displacements?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">see more on the HFLE matter:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/urgent-need-to-discuss-sex-sexuality-nationally-part-2/">URGENT NEED TO DISCUSS SEX & SEXUALITY NATIONALLY PART 2</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2012/09/urgent-need-for-sex-sexuality-to-be.html">Urgent need for sex & sexuality to be discussed nationally</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/06/childrens-advocacy-lgbt-agencies.html">Children’s Advocacy & LGBT Agencies inconsistent approach to Homeless MSM Youth</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2010/03/missed-opportunities-in-hiv-aids.html">Missed Opportunities in HIV-AIDS outreach on the social scenes</a> from 2010 for additional scope </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is the statement on the latest round of funding:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
As it continues to strengthen the multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS infection rates in Jamaica, the Government has budgeted $506 million for the Transitional Funding Mechanism programme.</div>
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As contained in the 2014/15 Estimates of Expenditure currently before the House of Representatives, existing gains consolidated, and activities scaled up to reduce transmission of new HIV infections, while mitigating the impact.</div>
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The project, which is being jointly financed by the Government of Jamaica and the Global Fund is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Health.</div>
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Targets for this fiscal year include: increasing the number of schools targeted from 43 per cent to 74 per cent, with at least one teacher trained in life-skills based Health and Family Life Education, and who has taught in the last year; and reaching 490,000 students through life skills based Health and Family Life Education Interventions in School.</div>
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Additionally 3,870 commercial sex workers (CSW); 3,030 Men Having Sex With Men (MSM); and 975 inmates will be reached through prevention activities. Meanwhile, HIV counselling and testing will be carried out for 270,000 persons; and 12,833 adolescents (in the 10 to 14 age group) and 47,800 youth (in 15 to 24 age group) will be reached through prevention interventions in out-of-school setting.</div>
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Anti-retroviral combination therapy according to national guidelines, will be provided, and 63,265 CD4 tests done according to national guidelines for 8,182 men, women and children with advanced HIV.</div>
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The programme will also provide Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing according to national guidelines to 2,497 infants born to HIV positive mothers; increase from 60 per cent to 75 per cent Persons Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) on Antiretroviral drug (ARV) reporting at least 90 per cent adherence by pill count; increase from 25 per cent to 60 per cent reported cases of discrimination receiving redress by setting; as well as increase from 162 to 176 the number of institutions adopting policies to address HIV/AIDS.</div>
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Some of the achievements up to March 2014 include: increasing the number of schools from five per cent to 43 per cent with at least one teacher trained in life-skills based (Health and Family Life Education) HFLE and who taught in the last year; reaching 289,626 students through life skills based Health and Family Life Education Interventions in School; reaching through prevention activities 20,998 CSW, 13,328 MSM, 1,866 Inmates, 90,000 Sexually Transmitted Infection clinic attendees.</div>
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Also 24,241 adolescents (10 to 14 years old) and 75,973 youth (15 to 24 years old) were reached through prevention interventions in out-of-school settings; counselling and testing provided for 200,000 persons; 7,684 men women and children with advanced HIV received antiretroviral combination therapy according to national guidelines; 27 per cent reported cases of discrimination received redress; 162 institutions adopted policies to address HIV/AIDS; and the number of individuals in stakeholder organisations trained in strategic information, were maintained.</div>
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Owing to the fact that there are no residential responses to homelessness in particular (remembering the Safe House Pilot 2009) that can greatly help with self efficacious work and better results but simply distributing condoms which is overall what the national systems in indeed none state actors such as Jamaica AIDS Support do with very little psycho-social, psycho-sexual work (outside of AIDS 101 workshops) and if the work is so penetrative why do we still have a high rate of infection based on the last survey suggested a rate of over 33% in the MSM cohort.</div>
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It seems rather odd to me that since the 1980s we have had hard evidence of the infection and psychological issues with some four major studies in the MSM populations and yet all that has ended as a response is condom distribution and testing, there must be more in terms of personal developmental work and not just meeting targets of testing us a guinea pigs. What is even more egregious about all this is that some of the agencies who do HIV work with MSM are either owned or managed by or linked to anti gay groups albeit that in order to qualify for funding they have to take on such populations though discomforting it is and so they do not put out any extra effort to see the needed changes and life improvements for LGBT people; then to add insult to injuries the LGBT groups or allied agencies too are just doing only enough to provide some sort of track record but no major or extra effort.</div>
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See: <a href="http://glbtqja.wordpress.com/2014/03/15/young-msmtransgender-want-to-be-treated-as-citizens-not-potential-hivaids-victims/">YOUNG MSM/TRANSGENDER WANT TO BE TREATED AS CITIZENS NOT POTENTIAL HIV/AIDS VICTIMS</a> from March 2014</div>
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</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2010/04/hiv-and-msm-community-should-we-care-pt.html">HIV and MSM community: Should we care? — Pt 2</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2012/05/layered-stigma-among-health-facility.html">Layered Stigma among Health Facility and Social Services Staff toward Most-at-Risk Populations in Jamaica</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/12/big-aids-fight-boost-ja-gets-us38.html">Big AIDS fight boost - Ja gets US$3.8 million from US$7-b fund</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/11/concerns-for-hiv-prevalence-rate-in-msm.html">Concerns for HIV prevalence rate in MSM in Jamaica & connected matters</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2010/02/2007-msm-study-reminder.html">2007 MSM Study Reminder </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-hiv-infections-rising-in-region.html">New HIV infections rising in region, Unprotected straight, anal and bisexual intercourse blamed</a> 2011</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-condom-policy-for-prisoners.html">Review condom policy for prisoners</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/04/continued-oversight-or-deliberate.html">Continued oversight of same gender loving women in HIV response</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-23295709208064489502014-05-03T05:26:00.001-07:002014-05-03T05:26:31.385-07:00Methodological Questions in Childhood Gender Identity ‘Desistence’ Research<br />
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<img src="http://www.wpath.org/uploaded_files/140/files/thailandwpathflyer2014.jpg" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Kelley Winters, Ph.D.<br />GID Reform Advocates<br /><br />An expanded presentation to the 23rd World Professional Association for Transgender Health Biennial Symposium, Feb. 16, 2014, Bangkok, Thailand. (Presented remotely, from Loveland, Colorado, USA)<br /><br />It is frequently repeated in mental health literature and popular media that the vast majority of children whose gender identity differs from their assigned birth-sex, or who are severly distressed by their birth-sex, will “desist” in their gender identities and gender dysphoria by adolescence. As a consequence, gender dysphoric children are pressed to remain in their birth-assigned roles throughout the world. But are gender dysphoria and diverse gender identities just a phase?<br /><br />This presentation reexamines research in Canada and The Netherlands that underlies the “desistence” axiom, with respect to methodological rigor and validity of claims.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/31641774" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px; max-width: 100%;" width="427"> </iframe> </div>
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<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/kelleywinters/201402wpathtranskids-e" target="_blank" title="Methodological Questions in Childhood Gender Identity ‘Desistence’ Research">Methodological Questions in Childhood Gender Identity ‘Desistence’ Research</a> </strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conclusions<br /><br />(1) Evidence from these studies suggests that the majority of gender nonconforming children are not gender dysphoric adolescents or adults.<br /><br />(2) It does not support the stereotype that most children who are actually gender dysphoric will “desist” in their gender identities before adolescence.<br /><br />(3) These studies do acknowledge that intense anatomic dysphoria in childhood may be associated with persistent gender dysphoria and persistent gender identity through adolescence.<br /><br />(4) Speculation that allowing childhood social transition traps cisgender youth in roles that are incongruent with their identities is not supported by evidence.<br /><br />(5) These studies fail to examine the diagnostic value of Real Life Experience in congruent gender roles for gender dysphoric children.<br /><br />References<br /><br />American Psychiatric Association (2014). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: Author.<br /><br />Byne, W., Bradley, S.J., Coleman, E., Eyler, A.E., Green, R., Menvielle, E.J., Meyer-Bahlburg, H.F.L., Pleak, R.R. & Tompkins, D.A. (2012). Report of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(4):759-796.<br /><br />Drescher, J. (2013) “Sunday Dialogue: Our Notions of Gender,” New York Times, June 29, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-our-notions-of-gender.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/opinion/sunday/sunday-dialogue-our-notions-of-gender.html</a><br /><br />Drummond, Kelley D.; Bradley, Susan J.; Peterson-Badali, Michele; Zucker, Kenneth J. (2008), “A follow-up study of girls with gender identity disorder,” Developmental Psychology. Vol 44(1), Jan 2008, 34-45.<br /><br />Kennedy, N. (2012) “Transgender children: more than a theoretical challenge,” Goldsmiths College, University of London, <a href="http://academia.edu/2760086/">http://academia.edu/2760086/</a><br /><br />Reed, B., Rhodes, S., Schofield, P., Wylie, K., (2009) “Gender variance in the UK. Prevalence, incidence, growth and geographic distribution,” GIRES – the Gender Identity Research and Education Society, <a href="http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/GenderVarianceUK-report.pdf">http://www.gires.org.uk/assets/Medpro-Assets/GenderVarianceUK-report.pdf</a><br /><br />Steensma, T.D., Biemond, R., de Boer, F. & Cohen-Kettenis, P.T. (2011). Desisting and persisting gender dysphoria after childhood: A qualitative follow-up study. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 16(4):499-516.<br /><br />Wallien, M.S.C. & Cohen-Kettenis, P.T. (2008). Psychosexual outcome of gender-dysphoric children. J American Academy Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 47:1413-1423.<br /><br />Winters, K. (2013) Response to Dr. Jack Drescher and the NY Times About Childhood Transition, GID Reform Weblog, July 5, <a href="http://gidreform.wordpress.com/category/childhood-social-transition/">http://gidreform.wordpress.com/category/childhood-social-transition/</a><br /><br />World Professional Association for Transgender Health (2011), Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People: Author. <a href="http://www.wpath.org/">http://www.wpath.org</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-66717614604989376692014-04-20T09:15:00.003-07:002014-04-20T09:15:51.987-07:00Britain, Jamaica and gays ...... the UK murder asylum matter continued <div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A continuation from the previous post on a recent case in the UK of a Jamaican using or claiming homosexuality in order to remain in the UK:</span></div>
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<a href="http://glbtqja.blogspot.com/2014/04/illegal-jamaican-immigrant-on-murder.html">Illegal Jamaican Immigrant on murder charge suddenly recalls his GAY to remain in the UK?</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Britain--Jamaica-and-gays_16489122">Diane Abbot</a> wrote in today's Observer on the matter:</span></div>
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MAY… insisted on ordering the Jamaican’s deportation in 2009</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">JAMAICANS and immigration continue to be a subject of interest in the British press. The most recent story manages to combine Jamaica, immigration and homophobia.<br /><br />Last week, a British court ruled that the authorities could not deport a Jamaican who stabbed a 15-year-old schoolboy to death less than a year after arriving in Britain. The court based its ruling on the fact that the young Jamaican was gay. Predictably, the court ruling has caused outrage here in Britain.<br /><br />The background to the case is that the Jamaican arrived in the UK in December 2000 when he was 15 years old on a temporary visa to visit his mother. As is common, the application for a temporary visa was apparently only a device for him to get into the country and then stay here permanently.<br /><br />The young Jamaican applied for permanent stay, did not get it, but stayed anyway. Sadly, the young Jamaican appeared to have got into drug-related activity quite soon after entering the country. And less than a year later, he and a 14-year-old stabbed a fellow schoolboy to 'save face' after he humiliated them by refusing to pay a £10 debt. He apparently owed them for cannabis.<br /><br />In the weeks beforehand, the schoolboys had threatened to 'chop' or 'stab' the victim, and the young Jamaican sprayed him and a friend with CS gas. Finally, the young Jamaican and his accomplice knifed the 14-year-old to death in front of his horrified classmates outside their school. The victim died shortly afterwards in hospital.<br /><br />The pair were jailed for life in September 2002. The court ruled that they should serve a minimum of eight years and two months and be deported at the end of the sentence. But this was reduced on appeal to six years and two months, with the deportation recommendation set aside.<br /><br />However, the home secretary, Theresa May, insisted on ordering the Jamaican's deportation in 2009. So the Jamaican appealed. His first appeal failed. But undeterred, the Jamaican's lawyers submitted a second appeal against deportation in 2012. This time they brought up a brand new argument, that their client was in fact gay. And this time they won.<br /><br />The home secretary made one last attempt to get the Jamaican deported, by taking the case to the Court of Appeal. And once again the Government lost. At the Court of Appeal the Government barrister had argued that the offender's 11th-hour assertion of homosexuality should have been rejected "on credibility grounds", as "he had made no mention of it" during a previous asylum application.<br /><br />The barrister also argued that "the claim of homosexuality was contrived and brought as a last resort to avoid deportation". But the Court of Appeal accepted that the young Jamaican was gay. His mother had apparently given a very moving testimony to that effect at earlier stages of the legal process. So, because the British legal system seems to accept that sending a gay person back to Jamaica is tantamount to a death sentence, the deportation order was struck down.<br /><br />The political reaction to the court ruling was swift and condemnatory. Douglas Carswell, Tory MP for Clacton, said: "Most people would think this is outrageous. It's a gross distortion of the concept of justice."<br /><br />Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, said: "Whether or not this man is sent back should be entirely at the discretion of British courts. When it comes to murderers, courts should have the absolute right to sentence people for as long as they want, or to send them home immediately after."<br /><br />Enfield North Conservative MP Nick de Bois said: "I have no doubt that the British public would back the home secretary on this one."<br /><br />Even my Labour colleague Keith Vaz, chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, stressed the Government had a "problem" removing foreign national prisoners and called on the Home Office to urgently clarify what constitutes acceptable evidence in cases where sexuality is an issue.<br /><br />This case forms part of the ongoing debate here in Britain about the need to deport foreign criminals. But Jamaicans also need to reflect if they really want the British legal system to take for granted that sending a gay or lesbian person back to Jamaica is tantamount to a death sentence. Maybe more could be done to improve Jamaica's reputation on these matters.<br /><br />— Diane Abbott is the British Labour Party MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington<br /><br />www.dianeabbott.org.uk</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-77912690046333988142014-04-18T10:45:00.000-07:002014-04-20T09:08:30.143-07:00Illegal Jamaican Immigrant on murder charge suddenly recalls his GAY to remain in the UK?<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">According to the Daily Mail yes it seems so but I am not surprised as several years ago a plot like this was discovered when some dishonest solicitors were accused of telling accused criminals to take on a "camp" persona at the holding areas and so on and plea for asylum when infront the judges and even dress and act the part, effeminate that is as at that time hypermasculinity in gay men was not seen as a marker for homosexuality.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now comes this story published April 16, 2014 which has launched a firestorm in legal circles in the UK surrounding gay Jamaicans, safety upon deportation and immigrants accused as criminals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An illegal immigrant who stabbed a 15-year-old schoolboy to death less than a year after arriving in Britain cannot be deported because he claims to be gay, judges ruled yesterday.<br /><br />The 29-year-old Jamaican was jailed for life aged 16 when he and another schoolboy knifed Abdul Maye to death over a £10 debt outside his school in east London.<br /><br />A judge at the Old Bailey ordered that he be kicked out of Britain once he had served a minimum of eight years.<br /><br />Judge Paul Focke told the thug, who cannot not be named for legal reasons: ‘You are a Jamaican national and within months of coming to this country you committed murder.<br /><br />‘I am of the view that your continued presence in this country will be detrimental to its citizens.’ <br /><br />But yesterday, the Court of Appeal ruled that he could not be sent back to Jamaica because he could face degrading treatment for being homosexual that would breach his human rights.<br /><br />In an extraordinary judgment which has provoked outrage, Lord Justice Kay said he believed his mother’s evidence that he was gay – even though the Home Office said he ‘had made no mention of it’ until his first appeal against deportation failed.<br /><br />The decision is expected to infuriate Home Secretary Theresa May, who has battled to send him home since he was released from prison in 2012.<br /><br />The judge referred to Article Three in the Human Rights Act, which protects an individual from inhuman or degrading treatment.<br /><br />Douglas Carswell, Tory MP for Clacton, said: ‘Most people would think this is outrageous. It’s a gross distortion of the concept of justice</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />‘Until we have freed ourselves from the European Convention on Human Rights, these sorts of basket-case decisions will carry on happening thick and fast.’<br /><br />Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough, said: ‘Whether or not this man is sent back should be entirely at the discretion of British courts.<br /><br />‘The idea that his human rights should have any impact whatever when he has come in to this country illegally in the first place to murder someone is absurd.<br /><br />‘When it comes to murderers, courts should have the absolute right to sentence people for as long as they want, or to send them home immediately after.’<br /><br />The murderer, referred to only as JR, arrived in the UK in December 2000 when he was 15 on a temporary visa to visit his mother.<br /><br />An application for leave to stay longer was refused, but the yob remained in the country anyway.<br /><br />And less than a year later he and a 14-year-old stabbed a fellow schoolboy to ‘save face’ after he humiliated them by refusing to pay a £10 debt – a payment which he owed them for cannabis.<br /><br />The Old Bailey heard JR, who only has an IQ of 63 – putting him in the lowest two per cent of the population – knifed Abdul in front of his horrified classmates outside Little Ilford Comprehensive School in Manor Park after the victim had just finished a mock GCSE exam on December 7, 2001.<br /><br />The victim, whose family fled to Britain from the civil war in Somalia in 1995, died shortly afterwards in hospital.<br /><br />In the weeks beforehand, the schoolboys had threatened to ‘chop’ or ‘stab’ the victim and the Jamaican sprayed him and a friend with CS gas.<br /><br />The pair were jailed for life in September 2002 and told to serve a minimum of eight years and two months. But this was reduced on appeal to six years and two months with the deportation recommendation set aside.<br /><br />However, the Secretary of State ordered JR’s deportation in 2009. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Read the rest here <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2606128/Illegal-immigrant-murdered-British-teenager-deport-GAY-kept-quiet-packed-off.html">on Daily Mail</a> also see MP Diane Abott's piece updated Sunday April 20th: <a href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Britain--Jamaica-and-gays_16489122">Britain Jamaica and Gays</a> published in the Jamaica Observer</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-50512203407610429122014-04-18T08:10:00.000-07:002014-04-18T08:10:02.610-07:00Bisexual teen faced psychological prison, told not to tell anyone or else ..............<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A seventeen year old teenager from St Andrew is the latest reported case of family ostracism that has come to my attention as more LGBT youth and adolescents find themselves on the frontline alone sometimes due to sheer ignorance by parents and urged by said elders siblings also participate willingly in making outcasts of their blood relatives. The young man who made contact with me via Facebook outlined his frustration in settling after the lengthy ordeal for some two and half years where he finally was told by his father to leave the only home he has known for all his life; although he has a neighbourhood female friend and of course other social ones as well his father according to the teen’s subsequent hand written report that I asked him to produce from which permission was granted to prepare this post outlining the details (less names of course) suspected he was gay and would occasionally make snide remarks.<br /><br />The teen said at one point he responded to his father that if he did not see that he had a girlfriend and that she came by the house at times to which the elder would dismiss with a hmph and words to the effect “ ..... girlfriend nuh?” or girlfriend eh? Unbeknownst to the teen his immediate brother was actually set to monitor the youth’s movements and literally report to their father what he was about, so after school shenanigans or conversations and so on were watched and passed on, in one of the heated arguments the ostracised teen was surprised to learn that his father knew of a fight he was in at a bus stop one afternoon with another boy which surfaced in the cross talk several months after the fact which led him to suspect he was being informed on. While the young man’s mother was slightly more tolerant in a sense she too would warn him that if he was “battyman” he had to leave the house as she did not want that kind of nastiness around her.<br /><br />Things came to a head however in September of 2013 when a male student who the teen was friendly with had met the ostracised teen first online then face to face and have been seeing each other for some time mostly away from the reporting brother but apparently other eyes were at work and word somehow got back to the brother, the teen had tried not to make this contact known to his younger informer sibling but the secret could not have been kept for long, the other party was said to be girly in a way and their meeting at a burger king store was told the father of the boy who confronted him of this other “battyboi” The ostracised teen’s neatness, order in his room and so called “prim and proper” ways were also made mention in the confrontation session where chastised the teen for being too “clean” implying that it is not a masculine trait for men to be so neat, the exchange grew in intensity according to the written report and a physical tussle ensued where the teen said he had to defend himself as his father lunged towards him with a frying pan to which he responded with the nearest thing he could find a large Jergens lotion bottle which he threw in retaliation, the matter continued where homo-negative curse words and warnings that if it was found out he was gay he would have to leave the house or change his ways in order to stay. Such are some the circumstances I have seen over the years which is sad for our young LGBTQ teens who have to exist under pain of some punishment be they psychological or physical abuse if not for some evidential reparative change.<br /><br />Fast forward to March of this year where the straw that broke the camel’s back came in a fight between the teen and his prying brother to whom cordial relations had deteriorated in his bid to please his father while pressuring his bigger brother, the fight landed the ostracised teen facing an ultimatum among other things contained in the written report; since then he had reached out to other Facebook friends and so on prior to the forced eviction of sorts, he is able to return home at set times for clothing and so on in the absence of his father as his mother seems more sympathetic although she cannot speak to openly or outwardly. Such tense standoff can only last for a time and now he has found some community shelter assistance with an older influential thankfully and he has access to some finances from his mother who still gives the teen his pocket money not as often as before though when his father contributed to the amount.<br /><br />This case is just one in a series of many that are sometimes hard to confirm but the reports are out there and the numbers of displaced youth climb all over the island, in my home parish of St Catherine there has been a spike in homo-negative cases and the numbers have gone up, just last month I was told of another matter where a male had to literally flee his home after some physical abuse, he is now with a friend for now; thank God for community shelter assistance I am all too aware of that informal avenue as my own shift way back in 1996 was interrupted and aided by such a phenomenon, good friends and caring people are hide to find but kindness matters out there despite the fallouts that can occur when such a helping hand is extended; my own drama in July of last year is picture proof where a young man I was offering assistance erred and I had to take strong action only after three days at my home and a strong sit down session explaining my expectations and house rules.<br /><br />How else can the displaced youth be helped? When none state actors such as JFLAG, JAS do not want to directly addressed this longstanding matter yet they rejoice with a flowery promise by youth minister that homeless youth will be helped without questioning if the ministry will have as part of the response any reparative therapy interventions?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />It has been clear for many years to some of us that corporatist typed NGOs who in public advocacy cry stigma and discrimination yet with all the clout they have simply refuse to do or implement the frontline response to homelessness. The Safe House Pilot 2009 is all the proof we need and the refusal way back in the day when the AIDS hospice became irrelevant given the changes in the cohort of infected persons’ suffering was greatly reduced as anti-retrovirals became more sophisticated hence persons living longer, it was repeatedly suggested by those in the know then that although the hospices were closing as they were also expensive to run; the displacement issues were also real then in the late nineties into 2000s yet all three spaces were subsequently closed; yet another easy way out was chosen instead of addressing the issue with some sort of residency response one of which was situated in the very area where the present homeless MSM/Transgender persons were at the shoemaker gully nearing the middle class Golden Triangle residency. <br /><br />Is there really any interest in solving the homeless issues when everywhere else especially the US as of late under the President’s PEPFAR directive states are addressing their least populations. Something to think about.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2009/09/homeless-msms-and-rejection.html">Homeless MSM and rejection</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/11/insensitive-parents-and-displaced-msms.html">Insensitive Parents and Displaced MSM Part III</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/06/childrens-advocacy-lgbt-agencies.html">Children’s Advocacy & LGBT Agencies inconsistent approach to Homeless MSM Youth</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/07/kingstons-homeless-msm-challenges.html">Kingston’s Homeless MSM challenges scream for proper attention</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2013/11/outcomes-when-offering-community-based.html">Outcomes when offering community based shelter for displaced gay/bi brethren</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/04/youth-ministry-to-develop-programmes-to.html">Youth Ministry to develop programmes to address LGBT youth, homeless, destitute and vulnerable children</a> (2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance<br /><br />H</span><br /> </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-19839540130843510182014-04-16T11:30:00.002-07:002014-04-16T11:30:53.559-07:00Malta votes for civil unions, non-discrimination for transgender individuals, mutual recognition<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><br />On Monday evening, the Parliament of Malta voted to allow same-sex couples to enter civil unions and adopt children; amend the constitution to forbid discrimination against transgender people; and ensure same-sex marriages conducted abroad would be recognised.</span><div>
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<img src="http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Malta-254x254.png" />Civil unions</div>
<br />The Civil Unions Act amended Maltese law, allowing same-sex couples to enter partnerships with rights and duties similar to marriage. Partners will be able to adopt children.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/118860/CLAUDETTE_ABELA+BALDACCHINO_home.html">Claudette Abela Baldacchino MEP</a>, a Maltese member of the LGBT Intergroup, said: “Introducing civil unions was an important step towards fully embracing true European values. This is not merely a question of minority rights, but an issue of what kind of society we want to live in.”<br /><br />“As an MEP, I believe respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms are the basis of any democracy. No country may call itself truly European unless it treats its citizens equally.”<br />Gender identity and sexual orientation in the Constitution<br /><br />MPs also voted to amend the Constitution, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Malta is the first EU Member State to enshrine non-discrimination based on gender identity in its constitution.<br />Recognition of foreign marriages<br /><br />The Civil Unions Act voted on Monday will also ensure that same-sex couples married or in a partnership from another country will see their union recognised in Malta.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28266/SOPHIA_IN+" t="" veld_home.html="">Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP</a>, Vice-President of the LGBT Intergroup, reacted: “I congratulate Malta for this very positive step. It’s particularly important that fellow lawmakers ensured unions conducted abroad would be recognised on Maltese soil.”<br /><br />“The European Commission will perhaps see that this issue is of crucial importance. In these five years, it breached its own promise to work towards the mutual recognition of the effects of civil status documents. Thankfully, some Member States stopped waiting.”<br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.lgbt-ep.eu/press-releases/malta-votes-for-civil-unions-non-discrimination-for-transgender-individuals-mutual-recognition/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+intergrouplgbt+%28The+European+Parliament%27s+Intergroup+on+LGBT+Rights%29">HERE</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-17791498110849150562014-04-11T13:43:00.001-07:002014-04-11T13:43:59.520-07:00Human Rights of Most Marginalised Must Be Protected – Portia Simpson Miller at "Justice for All" conference 2014 <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see: </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2014/04/promised-i-mean-suggested-conscience.html">Promised (I mean suggested) Conscience vote on Buggery law not a priority right now (yet again)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, says special provisions must be made, where necessary, to protect the welfare of persons who are among the most marginalised and disadvantaged.<br /><br />She underscored this point in a speech delivered by Justice Minister, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding, during Wednesday’s (April 9) opening ceremony for the three-day Caribbean Consultation on Justice for All and Human Rights Agenda, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston.<br /><br />Mrs. Simpson Miller said Jamaica, like most other Caribbean countries, has signed several international agreements, designed to guarantee the human rights of individuals who “have been treated with disrespect and have to continuously confront discrimination.”<br /><br />These, she pointed out, include: the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the Inter-American Convention of Human Rights.<br /><br />The Prime Minister said the Government of Jamaica will also shortly be introducing the Disabilities Bill to Parliament, which will “protect the rights and interests of persons with disabilities, for the first time, in our law”, as also legislation addressing sexual harassment.<br /><br />Mrs. Simpson Miller contended that integrity and impartiality are “essential features” for sustaining human rights, pointing out that “like all West Indian Constitutions, ours, here in Jamaica, guarantees basic human rights of all citizens.” In this regard, she added, “the state cannot justifiably favour the rights of one part of its citizenry over any other.”<br /><br />The Prime Minister noted that progress and change, though slow, has been made across the region in relation to countries’ efforts to safeguard human rights.<br /><br />She, however, suggested the need to develop and advance a public education agenda for promoting the rights of everyone, and assured that Jamaica is committed to justice and equality.<br /><br />Mrs. Simpson Miller said the consultation is both timely and vital in helping to pave the way for developing a formula that provides the basis for achieving a level of zero discrimination.<br /><br />“The Justice for All process provides opportunities for rich dialogue of various stakeholders. These include: parliamentarians, faith-based leaders, representatives of the private sector, the youth, and civil society organizations. Through this process, we hope to identify meaningful options on which there is sufficient consensus for our governments to take action,” she added.<br /><br />The forum is being staged from April 9 to 11 by PANCAP in collaboration with the Government of Jamaica; the University of the West Indies (UWI); and the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (GFATM), under the theme: ‘Advancing Justice for All and the Human Rights Agenda’.<br /><br />Over 90 participants from Jamaica and overseas are discussing and deliberating issues pertaining to advancing the human rights agenda, in the Caribbean. Key among these are issues deemed restrictive to the successful implementation of the Caribbean’s response to HIV and AIDS.<br /><br />The Justice for All Programme, coordinated by PANCAP, is an advocacy platform aimed at increasing awareness around HIV-related stigma and discrimination and their impact on access to prevention or treatment services.<br /><br />The programme is being coordinated under the patronage of St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, and United Nations Secretary-General Envoy for HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean, Professor Edward Greene.<br /><br />The consultations ultimately aim to develop a PANCAP Roadmap for the reduction of HIV-related stigma, eliminate discrimination, and increase national HIV responses by creating a facilitative environment and removing discriminatory laws and practices.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-11574141865356126172014-04-09T15:08:00.001-07:002014-04-09T15:08:48.309-07:00Gay Men Divided Over Use of HIV Prevention Drug Truvada in the US <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />It's the Truvada conundrum: A drug hailed as a lifesaver for many people infected by HIV is at the heart of a rancorous debate among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over its potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms.<br /><br />Many doctors and activists see immense promise for such preventive use of Truvada, and are campaigning hard to raise awareness of it as a crucial step toward reducing new HIV infections, which now total about 50,000 a year in the U.S. Recent efforts range from think-tank forums and informational websites to a festive event at a New York City bar featuring popular drag queens.<br /><br />Yet others — despite mounting evidence of Truvada's effectiveness — say such efforts are reckless, tempting some condom users to abandon that layer of protection and exposing them to an array of other sexually transmitted infections aside from HIV.<br /><br />"If something comes along that's better than condoms, I'm all for it, but Truvada is not that," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Let's be honest: It's a party drug."<br /><br />Even as gay-rights organizations celebrate collective progress in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage, the less-publicized Truvada debate has fueled bitter divisions within the gay community. Some who use the drug say they've felt shamed by some who don't, and there's now a lively backlash by users and their allies, including promotion of a "Truvada Whore" T-shirt.<br /><br />"The discussion can torch emotions like a flame-thrower on a fuel depot," wrote Steve Ramos of the Dallas Voice as the gay-oriented publication reported on the debate in March.<br /><br />Truvada, produced by California-based Gilead Sciences, has been around for a decade, serving as one of the key drugs used in combination with others as the basic treatment for people who have the AIDS-causing virus HIV. However, the drug took on a more contentious aspect in 2012 when the Food and Drug Administration approved it for pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — in other words, for use to prevent people from getting sexually transmitted HIV in the first place.<br /><br />Since then, critics have warned that many gay men won't heed Truvada's once-a-day regimen and complained of its high cost — roughly $13,000 a year. Truvada's proponents say most insurance plans — including Medicaid programs — now cover prescriptions for it, and they cite studies showing that the blue pill, if taken diligently, can reduce the risk of getting HIV by more than 90 percent.<br /><br />Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, medical director of the ambulatory HIV program at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, served on the FDA panel that recommended approving Truvada for preventive purposes and is among many doctors who hope that doubts about it fade.<br /><br />"For folks who are having a significant amount of unprotected sex, it's a slam dunk — not only giving them protective medicine, but engaging them in testing, a whole package of regular health care," he said.<br /><br />Yet Daskalakis says that out of his large clientele, only about 25 men are taking Truvada for prevention.<br /><br />"There's some interesting social pushback," he said. "I've spoken to some of my patients who'd totally be candidates but are hesitant to do it. They don't want to be labeled as people on the drug because there's a social stigma."<br /><br />Daskalakis is dismayed by groups like the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation — one of the country's leading HIV/AIDS service providers — which suggest that prescribing Truvada for prevention means condoning condomless sex.<br /><br />"I find some of that opposition irresponsible," Daskalakis said. "If some men don't want to use condoms, they won't. You have to deal with it by acknowledging that sometimes unprotected sex happens, and you can still prevent HIV infections."<br /><br />To date, preventive use of Truvada appears to be limited, due partly to misgivings among some gay men and partly to lack of awareness.<br /><br />According to Gilead, 1,774 people starting using Truvada for prevention between January 2011 and March 2013 — nearly half of them women. The company said more recent figures aren't available, but health officials in several cities said they see no signs of a major surge in usage.<br /><br />"Out of our thousands of patients, we have about 20 on PrEP," said Dr. Robert Winn, medical director at Philadelphia's Mazzoni Center, which serves many gay clients.<br /><br />"Many ask about it, few take it," Winn said. "The number one reason for that gap is the commitment of having to take it every day."<br /><br />Weinstein, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation leader, takes heart from the low usage figures, saying they bear out his reservations about Truvada. He says he's undeterred by criticism of his insistence that condomless sex — even in the Truvada era — should be discouraged among gay men with multiple partners.<br /><br />"There's an element in the gay community that espouses 'anything goes,' that is for sexual freedom and not giving an inch," he said. "But demonizing me or AHF isn't going to shut us up."<br /><br />Another Truvada skeptic is Richard Weinmeyer, a research associate with the American Medical Association's Ethics Group. In an article in February in Bioethics Forum, Weinmeyer — expressing his personal views — argued that preventive use of Truvada could encourage sexual irresponsibility.<br /><br />"Personal responsibility for one's actions has simply been thrown out the window in a community in which we are too often concerned about stigma and moral judgment," he wrote. "We dare not speak against the reckless behavior of others because we wring our hands over the omnipresent worry that we will shame one another."<br /><br />The article drew some harsh online criticism; readers called it "puritanical" and "fear-mongering." But Weinmeyer raised a topic that's a visceral part of the debate — the concept of gay-on-gay "shaming" in which men using Truvada as PrEP are stigmatized.<br /><br />New York psychotherapist Damon Jacobs, an enthusiastic Truvada user since 2011, has encountered the shaming syndrome as he encourages more gay men to learn about the drug's preventive capabilities. Since co-founding an informational web site called PrEP-o-licious.org, Jacobs says he's heard from men distressed by reactions they faced after broaching the possibility of taking Truvada.<br /><br />"They'd email me about the names they were called — the 'Truvada whore' syndrome," Jacobs said. "They'd talk with their friends about responsible condomless sex, and they'd get shamed. They'd get seen as a slut."<br /><br />The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers extensive information about PrEP on its web site.<br /><br />"Strong research evidence indicates that PrEP, when used consistently, is safe and effective for reducing the risk of acquiring HIV sexually," it says.<br /><br />However, Jacobs says other wings of the medical establishment should be more active in disseminating that message, both to gay men and to doctors.<br /><br />"A lot of doctors are still under the belief that if they give their patients PrEP, they'll go out and have condomless sex," Jacobs said. "What they don't understand is that gay men are already doing that."<br /><br />At the Fenway Institute in Boston — which specializes in gay, lesbian and transgender health — many doctors initially had misgivings about PrEP, but have overcome them, according to Dr. Kenneth Mayer, the institute's medical research director.<br /><br />"There definitely were apprehensions at the beginning — would it increase risk-taking behavior, would people take it regularly," Mayer said. "More recently, the questions are not whether it's a good idea, but the optimal way to provide it, and which patients are the best candidates."<br /><br />"I don't have an issue with people voicing concerns about it, but we have proof it works," said Mayer, who hopes high-level federal officials get more involved in the public discussion.<br /><br />Another challenge is raising awareness of PrEP in black communities with high HIV infection rates.<br /><br />"We have young minority men becoming infected at disproportionately alarming rates, and now we have something that could avert this," said Lynnette Ford of GMHC, a New York City AIDS service organization. "But there's not a lot of information out there in communities that need it most."<br /><br />Demetre Daskalakis, the Mount Sinai doctor, said the Truvada debate recalls the way birth control was viewed in some quarters in the 1960s — as an accessory to promiscuity.<br /><br />"Anyone who takes Truvada, someone is looking at them and saying they're licentious," Daskalakis said. "When this becomes more normalized, we'll be fine."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />Online: CDC fact sheet: <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/prevention_PrEP_factsheet.pdf">http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/prevention—PrEP—factsheet.pdf</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-25893879716408432092014-04-07T14:25:00.000-07:002014-04-09T15:12:38.040-07:005 Things It's Important To Consider Regarding Transphobia and 'RuPaul's Drag Race'<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am in full agreement with this post on the recent Rupaul uproar and the she-male comments during the Logo TV popular show featuring Miss Ru, </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">GREGORY ROSEBRUGH of Bent a queer blog wrote an excellent piece on the issue to which I commented </span><br />
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<span style="color: #e06666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>"Excellent post and balance to this matter, other places I have noticed an intolerant view of intolerance or plain misunderstanding as this faux pas has shown, I still luv Ru and mistakes will happen, some of our trans allies have forgotten the etymology of the terms used way before the raised visibility and understanding of transgender issues. We ought to take this one as a major learning curve.<br /><br />Luv from Jamaica"</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have been waiting to see some less emotional responses to this latest faux pas and some balance as well bearing in mind the etymological root of this all and the term "she-male"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/5-things-its-important-to-consider-regarding-transphobia-and-rupauls-drag-race-20140407">The entry</a> read in part:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Recently, Rupaul Charles and the producers of Drag Race released a public statement in response to accusations of transphobia. It is worth noting that while Ru and Co. explain that they intend to tackle issues relating to transgender rights in the future of this show, they did not apologize to the transgender community for their offensive actions in the “Female or She-Male” mini-challenge. <br /><br />Days after the statement from the Drag Race PR team, Carmen Carrera came forward about her stance on the “Female or She-Male” challenge and its implications for the treatment of transgender women in and out of the drag scene: <br /><br />“Some of you guys asked me to make a comment so here it goes... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Although I am certain RuPaul's Drag Race didn't mean to be offensive, let this be a learning experience. I think the show has opened up and educated the minds of many people who were ignorant to the world of drag and has made equality and respect a possibility for those involved, not only as equal beings but as phenomenal artists. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There has always been a huge presence of trans artists in the drag scene. "Shemale" is an incredibly offensive term, and this whole business about if you can tell whether a woman is biological or not is getting kind of old. We live in a new world where understanding and acceptance are on the rise. Drag Race should be a little smarter about the terms they use and comprehend the fight for respect trans people are facing every minute of today. They should use their platform to educate their viewers truthfully on all facets of drag performance art. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/shehasspoken">#SheHasSpoken</a>”<br /><br />In light of these events, and of <a href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/bent/its-never-too-late-to-rupologize-transphobia-and-rupauls-drag-race-recap-3-20140321">the impassioned comments /bent has received</a> from both sides of the issue, I feel it is necessary to provide clarity about my intentions in running my opinion piece about “Female or She-Male” a couple weeks ago. There are a number of things I want to clear the air about. <br /><br />1) Dialogue is important. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I do want to promote a dialogue about this show and its impact on the LGBTQ2I community. If someone does not agree with the opinions of this article, I and the editors of /bent of course encourage them to share their thoughts, as silence around the issue of transgender rights will also not create social change. <br /><br />2) We can love the show while still pointing out its flaws. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I still love this show, and I still love Rupaul. In fact, it is because I am a die-hard fan of Rupaul’s Drag Race that I had extreme difficulty viewing the “Female or She-Male” game. I do not feel comfortable viewing a show that I enjoy even as I know it promotes dangerous cultural practices in the community I belong to. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This ambivalence is a difficult thing to constantly balance, but I know I would rather not pretend the show is politically pure and instead accept that there are dire representational problems in its creation. I do not think the solution is for offended viewers to stop watching the show, as that will not change its representational choices either.<br /><br />3) We can love Rupaul while still pointing out his errors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I agree that Rupaul has done more for the LGBTQ2I community than I ever have. Thank you for that reminder, I totally forgot. For one, I will always remember Rupaul as a champion of AIDS activism in the early nineties, especially as the original face of Mac Viva Glam, a makeup line that donates one hundred percent of its profits to AIDS research. I think Rupaul ought to be acknowledged for the culturally relevant work he has done, especially for the drag community. However, I do not think these achievements should absolve Rupaul of responsibility for offensive actions he has committed. <br /><br />4) Impact and intent are not the same. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What this means is that regardless of whether or not the producers of Drag Race had intended to create an event that was transphobic or cis-centric, and whether or not Rupaul and Co. perceive themselves as transphobic (my guess is that they identify themselves as transgender advocates), the effect of this mini-challenge has been evidently harmful to the transgender community. For this reason alone the producers of Rupaul’s Drag Race should have said in their public statement something like, “We apologize for our actions, as we had not thought ahead about who in our community we were hurting by creating a game like “Female or She-Male”. We appreciate your feedback and intend to create programming that is safer for all our brothers and sisters.” <br /><br />5) It’s not all about the language. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My issue was primarily not as much to do with the word “She-Male” and who it belongs to, as much as the actual activity in the mini-challenge, which encouraged viewers to take apart women’s bodies based on how authentically “woman” they were. This was not just transphobic, but misogynist as well. This said, I do think it is easy to retire the term “She-Male” from drag culture, especially for the sake of our community members who it negatively affects. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see a post from 2013 on sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica on </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-difficult-task-of-separating-drag.html">The difficult task of separating drag culture from transgender identity .......</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-14823874870883749172014-04-02T06:16:00.001-07:002014-04-02T06:16:39.262-07:00‘Who’s the Man?’: Heteronormativity and Queer Relationships<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Originally published on Everyday Feminism and re-published here with their permission</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /><br /><a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/04/whos-the-man/?utm_content=buffer0d2f8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer">Source</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />People in queer relationships are often subjected to a barrage of ignorance from the straight community.<br /><br />Whether it be invasive sexual questions or unwanted criticism, nothing seems to be off limits to the innocently inquisitive straight.<br /><br />Inevitably, one of the more repetitive and annoying debates will be the age-old question “Who is the man and who is the woman?”<br /><br />Ah yes, because as queer-identified people, the first thing we want you to do is shoehorn normative gender roles into our relationship!<br /><br />See, the straight community just can’t fathom a bond that could function outside of heteronormativity.<br />‘Straightening Out’ Queer Relationships with Gender Roles<br /><br />More people are accepting gay relationships (and I say gay relationships because by and large, despite great strides, the mainstream’s knowledge of queerness is rudimentary at best), but at the end of the day, desire is still largely understood as masculine/feminine.<br /><br />While your object choice might be easy enough to grasp, the idea that you could have a viable relationship without the balance of gender roles can be disconcerting.<br /><br />Now, I don’t mean to belittle the validity of anyone’s gender expression.<br /><br />If you’re traditionally masculine or feminine, it doesn’t mean you’re a stereotype or “bad” queer representation.<br /><br />Admittedly, I first came to terms with my own queerness through the lens of gender roles.<br /><br />As a feminine woman, I reassured myself that it was acceptable for me to also like girls – having presumed myself straight beforehand – because my first queer crush happened to be on an androgynous woman.<br /><br />I reasoned that my understanding of my sexuality and my femininity was not threatened because I was still attracted to masculinity.<br /><br />Of course, I soon realized that this line of thought was frivolous. I had internalized the superiority of the masculine/feminine binary as a means of smoothing out the social realities of queerness.<br /><br />I had measured the authenticity of my own sexuality by how legible I thought it would be to the straight community, which brings us back to why straight people feel so compelled and entitled to hold us to that same standard.<br />The Toxicity of ‘Natural’ Gender Role Supremacy<br /><br />Being in the majority leads some people to falsely assume that they have an inherent right not only to interrogate those who are marginalized, but to judge everything by comparing it to their own worldview.<br /><br />When straight people ask queer people to “straighten out” their relationship via assigning normative gender roles, they’re essentially prompting you to prove the validity of yourconnection by making it recognizable to them.<br /><br />The implication is that you and your partner(s) should be striving to emulate straight dyads.<br /><br />This supposedly innocuous logic quickly snowballs.<br /><br />If queer relationships are an oddball subset of gendered social normativity, suddenly we’re all reproducing the gender binary and (in the minds of straights) subconscious straight supremacy.<br /><br />After all, queer relationships are just an off kilter parody of heterosexuality, right?<br /><br />Female/female couples seem to bear the brunt of such ignorance. Our cissexist, phallocentric society remains aghast at the idea that two women could possibly have a fulfilling relationship in the absence of a penis.<br /><br />As a result, there is a particular urgency and fascination around discovering who really wears the pants.<br /><br />Aside from being intrusive, these quests carry unfortunate subtext about gender expression and correlating personality traits, with masculinity being associated with dominance and femininity being associated with passivity.<br /><br />The impulse to gender queer relationships has become so pervasive that many young queer people internalize the false masculine superiority complex as a means of making their queer identity visible.<br /><br />In my experience, I’ve noticed that masculine-identified women have a tendency to be misogynistic and objectifying in their interactions with feminine women.<br /><br />Why is it that you have to degrade femininity to assert your confidence in your own masculinity?<br /><br />I don’t intend to generalize. Obviously gender expression varies person to person and I don’t mean to imply that masculine tendencies inherently make you misogynistic.<br /><br />However, you can express your gender without replicating all the problematic baggage that came along with it in its traditional form.<br />Don’t Let Gender Roles Dictate Your Identity<br /><br />Here’s the awesome thing about being queer: We don’t have to imitate straightness because by definition, we exist to oppose and critique it.<br /><br />It’s the salad bar of gender and sexual expression. Mix it up with whatever you want! Or don’t.<br /><br />The point is that you shouldn’t have to worry about checking boxes to please a group that isn’t even part of your own community.<br /><br />And to the straights who ask who’s the man and who’s the woman: Believe it or not, it’s none of your business! Maybe they’re both men. Maybe they’re both women. Maybe they’re neither. If it’s not your relationship, it’s not your problem.<br /><br />The heteronormative appropriation of queer culture needs to stop. No, we’re not modeling our identities and our relationships after yours. Stop trying to flatter yourselves by trying to convince us that we are.<br /><br />Again, casting queer relationships in a heteronormative light is an assault to their authenticity. You don’t need rigidly enforced gender roles to build a real connection.<br /><br />Not to mention that this ideology marginalizes vast subsets of identity. What if you’re a femme who likes femmes? A butch who likes butches? What about agender/genderfluid individuals? Where do they fit in?<br /><br />Internalizing the expectation for a gender dichotomy within your partnerships might also be subconsciously limiting your own sexual expression.<br /><br />When I was first coming to terms with my identity, I only “allowed” myself to like girls if they were masculine.<br /><br />I refused to consider more feminine girls, despite the fact that I was occasionally attracted to them, because they symbolized the point at which I would no longer be able to understand my sexuality within the constraints of the heteronormative belief system that I had grown up with.<br /><br />Who knows what kind of relationships I missed out on because of that fear of illegitimacy?<br />Embrace and Respect Queer Agency<br /><br />Don’t hold yourself to mainstream expectations. No queer identity is wrong. Queerness can always be in flux.<br /><br />No one else but you can sculpt your identity and your relationships. They’re yours.<br /><br />Additionally, straight people often use their fascination with queer gender roles to deflect from their obsession with queer sex.<br /><br />Our society is so saturated with heterosexuality to the extent that people can’t imagine how sexual pleasure could possibly exist outside of the traditional penis/vagina geometry.<br /><br />This perspective is obviously problematic for a number of reasons. First, asexuals are completely excluded from consideration in the assumption that people in relationships have to be having sex. Romantic orientation isn’t always indicative of sexual orientation.<br /><br />Second, using someone’s adherence to gender roles or lack thereof to try and determine what they do between the sheets is laughable. Since when does gender expression translate automatically to specific sexual preferences?<br /><br />The implication is that masculinity is dominant while femininity is submissive, but that isn’t always the case. Would you assume every heterosexual couple acts the exact same way in bed together based solely on their gender?<br /><br />Also, not all heterosexual couples are going to have a penis and vagina, so their sex lives might be different from the sex lives of those who do.<br /><br />Above all, asking about anyone’s sex life without their permission is just rude and creepy. We’re not here for your titillation, so please don’t contribute to already rampant queer fetishization.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<br />Rather than investigating gender roles to arbitrarily rationalize someone else’s relationship, respect their rights as fellow human beings.<br /><br />Instead of asking who’s the man and who’s the woman, ask yourself why that question matters to you in the first place.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Erin Tatum is a Contributing Writer at Everyday Feminism. She’s a feminist, queer theory lover, and television enthusiast living in Pennsylvania. She is particularly interested in examining the representation of marginalized identities in media. In addition to Everyday Feminism, she’s also a weekly contributor to <a href="http://www.btchflcks.com/search/label/Erin%20Tatum">Bitch Flicks</a>. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/erintatum91">@ErinTatum91</a> and <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/author/erint/">read her articles here.</a></span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-75805877637860918042014-03-10T10:05:00.001-07:002014-03-20T09:34:20.581-07:00Youth Ministry official accused of homo-paedophile acts takes Minister, OCA & Public Services Commission to court<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Sydney Bartley" src="http://s2.stabroeknews.com/images/2014/03/20140310sydneybartley.jpg" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One Sydney Bartley the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Culture has filed an action in the Supreme Court claiming that accusations made against him sexually molesting a boy (age not given at this time) are not true and baseless and that the attempts to separate him from his post are improper, rumours have been swirling for months since late last year of late night in office romps with young males but no definitive proof has been brought to bear with even the Minister of Youth Lisa Hanna said to be resolute in not returning to the office until he had vacated same via taking early retirement leave, the Prime Minister is said to have been also briefed on the matter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />First respondent – Minister Lisa Hanna<br /><br />Second respondent – Diane Gordon Harrison (Office of the Children’s Advocate)<br /><br />Third respondent – <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/lois-parkes/37/366/887">Lois Parkes</a> (Services Commission) <br /><br />Questions were posed in parliament by Miss Hanna’s opposition counterpart Miss Olivia Babsy Grange a short time ago which seemed to be related to the impasse as she wanted to know the employment status of the PM, the Office of the Children’s Advocate alongside the police had raided the youth ministry on February 24, 2014 where several staff members were questioned as to the allegations, the OCA front woman Dianne Gordon Harrison at the time had said she was under a gag order and by law cannot speak to ongoing investigations. It has also come to light that the OCA has written to the Minstry(er) of Youth & Culture based on reports they were in hand of alleged inappropriate action by the persons named now known as the PS.</span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The questions from Miss Grange include:<br /><br />1) To ascertain whether the permanent secretary is still in the Ministry’s employ?<br /><br />2) If that PS had disciplinary action taken against him, if so what conduct or breach would have triggered such action?<br /><br />3) Are the rumours circulating bearing any truth in them? (bearing in mind Miss Hanna had allegedly said the PS was on leave and all was well<br /><br />4) Will the minister say if the PS was suspended due to matters in the remit of an agency of the MYC?<br /><br />5) Will the minister say if he was suspended when did this take effect and for what period?<br /><br />6) Given rise to the suspension or other means of separation when did this come to the Minister’s attention?<br /><br />I understand the sensitive nature of that position as any hint or allegations of such nature can bring the entire thrust of the entity can be brought into disrepute, Miss Grange’s questions however though plausible seem more to confirm what is out there on the grapevine more so than unearth the truth but be that as it may this one has not gone away quietly as previous. When more powerful folks get into hot water like this we often do not see such cases going so far but it dies a quick death in as far as public scrutiny is concerned although very few media outlets are tracking it. Miss Hanna has not answered Miss Grange’s parliament floor inquiry.<br /><br />Lisa Hanna has since responded to Mr Bartley’s concerns via an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court earlier this month, it includes the aforementioned letter sent to Miss Hanna by Miss Gordon Harrison on January 17 this year which considered Mr Sydney Bartley; Miss Harrison told the Minister “I wish to advise you as a matter of courtesy that the Office of the Children’s Advocate has received and recorded a complaint against the Permanent Secretary in your Ministry alleging sexual abuse of a male child” she continued that the OCA had arrived at no find whatsoever but found it appropriate that the investigations be brought to her attention, Minister Hanna responded the same day she told Miss Harrison that she found the contents of the letter disturbing on many levels and that she would move to have Bartley immediately dismissed, Miss Hanna in her affidavit also said the Prime Minister was briefed and that the PM directed Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Saunders to act in Mr Bartley’s place which became effective January 27th this year. A stamped affidavit was also filed at the Supreme Court as well by Chief Personnel Officer of the Services Commission Miss Lois Parkes where she indicated that she met Mr Bartley in the company of Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Saunders during that meeting Mr Saunders suggested that Mr Bartley be sent on immediate early retirement; that recommendation was made subsequently by the public services commission the Governor General Sir Patrick Allen. Miss Parkes told the court “The Governor General considered the recommendation and did not approve” in the meantime in his affidavit Mr Bartley says he is in the dark about allegations he abused a male child he said he was summoned by Lisa Hanna in October last year regarding what she described as strong rumours as several persons had communicated to her that he was having meetings late at night in his office and that she would not return to the New Kingston offices if he was present.<br /><br />He went on to say that she has not given details as to illegal, immoral or improper conduct on his part he said Miss Hanna had earlier recommended that he take vacation leave while she carried out checks, he also claimed to have fallen ill, shortly after he was contacted by a news team about his going on leave and why. On October 31 another news team contacted Minister Hanna and asked her about the allegations and leave she terminated the call by saying “The Permanent Secretary is fine” as the Simpson Miller administration tries to separate themselves from him Mr Bartley also adds that he was aboard an American Airlines flight to Long Island when he was taken off the flight by immigration officers as a stop order would prevent him from travelling, he said he was scared and his mouth became dry immediately.<br /><br />He said that he did not take any vacation since 2011 so he agreed to take leave providing he dealt with some matters still on his desk including the parliamentary issues to do with the appropriations committee to which he must do. He claimed in December that his two secretaries a Miss Peters and Miss White to which he was instructed to reassign the latter Miss White to the PS office which he found strange afterwards as she had a good track record while he thought the investigations were clear. Two hand delivered letters normally done by bearer was also red flags in his minds. Emails and other communications also had him concerned as the OCA were named and that the “report” discussion he should offer to go on early retirement (typed in bold underlined font) the fact that the minister wished him all the nest suggested that it was a done deal and that he should go this without getting a chance to seek legal advice etc.<br /><br />The cabinet secretary proposed one of two things which he posited as “ideas” for a solution<br /><br />1 Go on early retirement (taking vacation leave first then in the midst enable that application)<br /><br />2 interdicted pending investigations <br /><br />All this no definitive dates, times of the immoral or illegal acts of which he is accused.<br /><br />What also came strange was on Tuesday January 21, 2014 the services commission rep Miss Parkes called and told Mr Bartley that he had to take vacation leave even while he indicated he would take such leave (via communiqué to senior staff) on January 27th. He took two days departmental leaves which commenced January 22, 2014 and one day sick leave January 24 which were approved. <br /><br />In Miss Hanna’s affidavit she continued that the applicant/accused shared personal information with her in a meeting but given the trust reposed in the ministry he should take early leave to which he was entitled.<br /><br />Let us bear in mind when it comes to allegations of improper touching or related accusations that there are two levels of investigations<br /><br />1 The Office of the Children’s Advocate would be activated from which criminal charges can be brought if proof is found then disclosure is made to the accused afterwards they can prepare their defense. <br /><br />Let us keep a close eye on this one folks as cases such as this only serve to reinforce sometimes the homo-paedophile justification for resisting gay rights or the decriminalization of buggery by the religious right movement and other non religious anti gay actors, one such religious anti gay voice recently posted her own questions via Facebook:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The tone of her stance is clear eh.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">UPDATE March 11, 2014 - more of the affidavit and connected matters courtesy of Nationwide Radio.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">UPDATE March 12 Clovis cartoon in a kind of late follow up but the point is made:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">UPDATE March 18.03.14 courtesy of RJR News:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />There's a development concerning Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Culture, Sydney Bartley.<br />RJR News has received word that Bartley has been reassigned to a senior post in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. <br />It's understood that he will be based at the head office of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). <br />Efforts to contact Cabinet Secretary, Ambassador Douglas Saunders, on Bartley's reassignment was unsuccessful.<br /> <br />News of his reassignment comes ahead of Youth and Culture Minister Lisa Hanna's response to questions in the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon.<br /> <br />Last month, the Opposition Spokesperson on Youth and Culture, Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, tabled questions in the House regarding whether Bartley is still acting in the post or disciplinary action has been taken against him.<br /><br />Bartley, who was appointed in January last year to act as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, has taken legal action to prevent the authorities from sending him on early retirement. <br /><br />UPDATE March 18 television news coverage:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">TVJ:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni (pictured) signed a bill last week that includes toughened penalties for gay people, as well as life imprisonment for ‘aggravated homosexuality’.<br /><br />The new legislation criminalises the promotion of homosexuality and comprises a potential life sentence for performing gay sex, including oral sex. <br /><br />Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda.<br /><br />The Ugandan leader said he was persuaded to sign the bill, which was passed by its parliament last year, after he consulted, among others, scientists and medical experts who said homosexuality was behavioural, not genetic ‘and could be unlearnt’.<br /><br /><br /><br />‘Bad science’<br /><br />At the signing of the bill, he maintained: ‘Since nurture is the main cause of homosexuality, then society can do something about it to discourage the trends.’<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">BMA director of professional activities Vivienne Nathanson (pictured right) has written to him in protest. <br /><br />She writes: '[I] request that you give every consideration to the withdrawal of this piece of legislation at the earliest opportunity.' <br /><br />She has also questioned the science and alleged medical expertise used to support the legislation.<br /><br />She said: ‘It is deeply disturbing that any country should pass legislation enacting discrimination against any group — in this case homosexuals.<br /><br />‘It is equally disturbing that the legislature was aided by so-called medical experts who reinforced bad science and prejudice.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />International outcry<br /><br />The new anti-homosexuality laws have been widely criticised across the world. <br /><br />The World Bank last week suspended a £54m loan to the Ugandan health sector owing to the anti-gay laws.<br /><br />Norway has said that, as a result, it is redirecting millions in aid for Uganda towards human rights and democracy organisations. <br /><br />Dutch aid has also been suspended and Denmark has said it is ‘restructuring aid away from the government’.<br /><br />The World Medical Association, whose president is Ugandan psychiatrist Margaret Mungherera, has also sent a letter to Mr Museveni on the issue.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">also see</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/02/uganda-president-ratifies-anti.html">Uganda President ratifies Anti-Homosexuality Bill; MEPs: ‘Suspend political agreement with Uganda!</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/02/denmark-netherlands-cut-aid-to-uganda.html">Denmark, Netherlands cut aid to Uganda over anti-gay bill .............. others pending</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1201391108683016377.post-53078605902263028342014-02-22T17:46:00.000-08:002014-03-10T10:14:49.793-07:00Jamaican Gay Hookers Popular Online says the Star News<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<br />So the <a href="http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20140222/news/news1.html">Star News tabloid</a> has finally picked up on this one when it is long gone out there, well the reporting is not all that bad this time as usually their style is very condescending and stigmatizing as well. I had posted the clip on three of my blogs from the day it was released and have paid close attention to some of the comments made and lack thereof by more privileged members of the gay community ...........<br /><br />The Star carried:<br /><br />Documentary highlights their life in New Kingston<br /><br />Diandra Grandison, Staff Reporter<br /><br />Dressed in wigs, female apparel and heavy make-up, a group of homosexual sex workers were the highlight of a documentary which went viral on the Internet recently.<br /><br />The film titled, Documentary on Gay Prostitutes Living in Jamaica was first aired on video sharing site YouTube more than a week ago and has stirred responses of pity and disgust for the gay prostitutes.<br /><br />The almost hour long documentary, which was produced by CBTV, was filmed on a sidewalk at Trafalgar Road, St Andrew, a popular hotspot for homosexuals.<br /><br />Ten gay prostitutes were interviewed, all of whom spoke of their experiences as a sex workers as well as used the opportunity to express their grouses.<br /><br />During the documentary, a 22-year-old 'man' with the moniker 'Stagerine', spoke of earning a living as a sex worker since he was 14. "I come from rural St Catherine, saw a gay sex tape and heard about New Kingston and decided to come hustle, I've been a sex worker for seven years," he shared.<br /><br />But unlike many of his colleagues, Stagerine revealed, he still has a good relationship with his family, despite his occupation and lifestyle.<br /><br />The homosexual sex workers, also spoke of being attacked by passers-by and being made homeless due to their sexual orientation. This proved to be true as during the interview a bottle was thrown at the group.<br /><br />Sasha-Berry, 21, explained how he was hospitalised late last year: "I was stabbed multiple times in December, after I was set up by 'two real girls' to mek dem friend try kill me."<br /><br />Another worker said he is forced to sleep in a gully. " From yuh gay, dem don't waa rent we dem place and what we make is hand to mouth, we can't afford it," Trina-Doll explained.<br /><br />The group also emphasised their need for help and aspirations to live overseas in a 'gay-friendly' country.<br /><br />"Mi feel like me waa leave Jamaica and live my life free, waa live like inna Amsterdam weh it legal!" one said.<br /><br />Throughout the film, the men expressed their disappointment in Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, who they claimed used them to get elected. They claimed that the prime minister made promises during the December 2011 leadership debate that if admitted in office she would review the Buggery Act.<br /><br />Another added, "she needs to look out for us. She visits other countries and sees how their heads of state look out for homosexuals ... How do you sleep Miss Portia, knowing that your brothers and sisters are sleeping in the gully?"<br /><br />While some of the more than 50,000 YouTube viewers sympathised with the gay sex workers, others responded with disdain.<br /><br />"Oh my God, my heart bleeds for these poor uneducated guys, this is a very sad state," a viewer commented.<br /><br />Another commented, "this is disgusting! I'm for live and let live, but sex on the street and them kinda levity, spread all kinda disease and dysfunction."<br /><br />"Mi feel like me waa leave Jamaica and live my life free, waa live like inna Amsterdam weh it legal!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pity that it has taken all these years, deaths, beatings, impervious bigoted pretentious agencies run by gay men at that and so much suffering to finally get them some attention and despite grand announcements and shows to pretend as if some concern is being shown via the much touted Dwayne's House project they are still on the streets as their numbers increase.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now we are being told of another pretentious bunch coming on to do some sort of outreach as 1pm! in the afternoon when the men are out at late hours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Question is where were all these persons when the situation warranted so much attention and additionally why wasn't support given to other groups and individuals who wanted to jump in and assist?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Politics in Jamaican LGBT advocacy continues to play out and how strange that the Chairman of JASL resigned in a huff some time ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Peace and tolerance</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Keith Vaz" data-pin-description="Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, said he was 'shocked' that Home Office officials were still questioning asylum seekers in such a manner. Photograph: Martin Godwin" height="276" itemprop="contentUrl representativeOfPage" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/2/8/1391886109418/Keith-Vaz-011.jpg" style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; line-height: 18.98714256286621px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="460" /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, said he was 'shocked' that Home Office officials were still questioning asylum seekers in such a manner. Photograph: Martin Godwin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />Leaked document reveals lurid questions asked by Home Office officials in contravention of guidelines</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Home Office officials are under fire for using "shockingly degrading" lines of questioning when interviewing gay and lesbian asylum seekers, despite clear guidance that such an approach is unacceptable.<br /><br />A confidential Home Office document leaked to the Observer reveals how one bisexual asylum seeker was asked a series of lurid questions by a Home Office official, including: "Did you put your penis into x's backside?" and "When x was penetrating you, did you have an erection? Did x ejaculate inside you. Why did you use a condom?"<br /><br />The document reveals that during five hours of questioning in a UK detention centre, the male asylum seeker was also asked: "What is it about men's backsides that attracts you?" and "What is it about the way men walk that turns you on?"<br /><br />The questions, typed up by a Home Office employee, and dated last October, have been branded an "interrogation".<br /><br />The Home Office on Saturday admitted that staff were "not permitted to ask inappropriate or intrusive questions", but added that attempts to determine an individual's sexual orientation were conducted "as sensitively as possible".<br /><br />S Chelvan, a barrister and expert in asylum claims based on <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/sexuality">sexuality</a>, said the interview, which was conducted with no lawyer present, was "shockingly degrading".<br /><br />He added: "I'm horrified by the nature of the questions that have been highlighted. It's more like an interrogation than an interview. It is exceptionally troubling that there were questions like whether an individual ejaculated or whether they used a condom. This is an unacceptable investigation of a gay asylum claim. Clearly, something is going terribly wrong here."<br /><br />Immigration barrister Colin Yeo also voiced concern: "This is the worst I have seen, but these sorts of intrusive, abusive questions are features of Home Office interview practice, particularly in cases involving sexuality. The underlying problem is that officials believe everyone is a liar. It leads to a fundamental lack of respect for the people they are dealing with."<br /><br />Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, said he was "shocked" that Home Office officials were still questioning asylum seekers in such a manner, and called for the practice to be stopped.<br /><br />Campaigners said it exposed the culture of disbelief of vulnerable asylum seekers. In 2010, a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/02/border-staff-asylum-seekers-whistleblower">whistle-blower who had worked at a centre</a> for processing asylum seekers' claims revealed how colleagues expressed vehemently anti-immigration views and took pride in refusing applications.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/gay-rights">Gay rights</a> group Stonewall, whose studies found almost "systemic homophobia" in the UK's asylum system, said the approach could be "deeply distressing" to asylum seekers.<br /><br />Richard Lane, spokesman for Stonewall, said: "Valuable time and resources is spent attempting to 'prove' a claimant is gay rather than establishing whether they have a legitimate fear of persecution."<br /><br />A Home Office spokesperson said: "The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need it and we do not deport anyone at risk of persecution because of their sexuality.<br /><br />"All applicants are required to establish they face persecution, inhumane or degrading treatment in their home country to qualify for our protection."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also see:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2010/04/uk-breaching-un-rules-on-returning-gay.html">UK 'breaching UN rules' on returning gay Iraqi asylum seekers</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2009/01/punishing-masculinity-in-gay-asylum.html">Punishing masculinity in gay asylum claims?</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2008/08/jamaican-objects-to-worlds-impression.html">Objection to world impression of Jamaica on homosexuality</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/asylum-request-legit-or-not.html">Asylum request real or not</a> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/02/eu-court-to-rule-on-gay-asylum.html">EU court to rule on gay asylum 'discretion test'</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2010/07/cameroon-iraqi-gay-asylum-seekers-win.html">Cameroon & Iranian Gay asylum seekers win challenge in UK's Supreme court, implications for others</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://gayjamaicawatch.blogspot.com/2011/04/european-parliament-calls-for-special.html">European Parliament calls for special protection of LGBT asylum-seekers</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/01/bisexual-man-facing-deportation-to.html">Bisexual man facing deportation to Jamaica has flight cancelled</a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://glbtqjamaica.blogspot.com/2011/07/asylum-and-credible-fear-issues-in-us.html">Asylum and “Credible Fear” Issues in U.S. Immigration Policy Report</a></span><div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17155799011043584557noreply@blogger.com0