Office of the Children's Advocate, OCA's Child Justice Guidelines recognises discrimination/sexual orientation but .................

DOWNLOAD the DOCUMENT: HERE

The Office of the children's advocate released to the public a document that took some time in the making by a special committee to include the People's National Party human rights lawyer Clyde Williams who also hosts Freshstart on Newstalk 93FM. Speaking on Cliff Hughes hosted Impact last evening he pointed out that the document  guidelines is the only one that takes into account sexual orientation discrimination that goes further than the charter of rights does or was supposed to do until the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, LCF took care of business.

Definition of a child and more .

The non discrimination clause comes above but the Family Life section seems to omit the inclusion of said sexual orientation in as far as the adults who maybe raising those children, here the document says:

The family is the preferred environment for the care, upbringing and protection of children and this responsibility rests primarily with the parents; separation of children from parents, and by extension their siblings, should be a last resort. 

also of concern to me is above and the the Admissions, Registration, Movement and Transfer section where it says:

"(1) In every place where children are detained or on a correctional order a complete and secure record of the following information should be kept concerning each child received in such an institution:

(a) Information on the child’s identity;

(b) The fact of and reasons for commitment and the authority therefore;

(c) The date and time of admission into the facility;

(d) The date and time of transfer into or out of the facility, as the case may be

(e) The date and time of release from the facility

(f) Details of the notifications to parents and guardians on every admission, transfer or release of the child

in their care.

(g) Details of known physical and mental health problems, including substance abuse.

(h) All interventions made by a relevant authority in whose care the child has been.The details of these interventions are to be documented along with notes that make the continuity of care as least."

Given the present modus operandi and how state actors treat with children in state care I am not sure how the above plays out and worse yet suspected or profiled children who are gay are either ignored, exposed and or physically abused or set upon by adults involved as previous cases have proven. Whether there will be multi-state actors involved including LGBT ones is not clear and whether the child/victim will have to endure multi interviews in a case as the case file travels though the system, I understand that there will be specially trained police officers hopefully to be distributed over many precincts island-wide but will they have capacity for LGBT matters and recognition of LGBT especially transgender and intersex children and which professional will be tied into the mix such as a clinical sexologist or endocrinologist?

I am formulating an email questionnaire to the OCA to find out more on this as my concerns about displacements, forced evictions and subsequent homelessness of MSM mostly in particular is the background to me preparing this post. As I type there is a youngster sitting in my living room who was thrown out of his house by parents right in the middle of parenting and homelessness awareness month.

Overall the guidelines look perfect on paper but as we know in this country we have a major challenge with implementation as proven in times gone by, nice reports, guidelines and summaries but little action to initiate the stated actions.

Peace and tolerance

H

Caribbean LGBTI Citizens Demand Action from Commonwealth Leaders

Saint Lucia is among fifty-three (53) member nations included in a report calling on Commonwealth leaders take action to stop widespread human rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. “SPEAKING OUT: The rights of LGBTI citizens from across the Commonwealth” is published by the Kaleidoscope Trust in advance of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka this November 2013. It features United and Strong, Saint Lucia’s sole LGBTI representative organization, with a testimony from U&S secretary Jessica St. Rose.

Kaleidoscope Trust notes that this report is compiled by the biggest ever coalition of LGBTI organisations from across the Commonwealth. Speaking Out documents human rights abuses against LGBTI people and demands that Commonwealth leaders take action.

Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, penned the foreword of the publication. He quotes Archbishop Desmond Tutu who said, ‘All over the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are persecuted…We make them doubt that they too are children of God – and this must be nearly the ultimate blasphemy.’

Dr. Ramphal reminds that, “For most of the countries of the Commonwealth, the desecration of our fellow citizens began in the law. The unreformed law of England was transported through criminal codes by imperial masters to far-flung outposts of empire….today 41 of 53 Commonwealth countries have virtually the same legislation enacted almost as a matter of course by colonial administrators – not by the societies they governed. That law is still on our statute books – a relic of empire that has no place in a modern Commonwealth. As with the abolition of slavery, the decriminalisation of homosexuality in our time must be an act of law.”

In the introduction Dr Purna Sen former head of human rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat and Chair of the Kaleidoscope Trust, says to Speaking Out “is a vivid testament to why that organization (Commonwealth), which claims in its Charter to be ‘implacably opposed to all forms of discrimination’, continues to let down millions of its own people... Over half the countries in the world that criminalise homosexuality are in the Commonwealth.”

“But the voices in this report reflect demands that are not going to go away just because Presidents and Prime Ministers try to close their ears to them. The people whose testimonies are contained here refuse to be silenced. Sooner rather than later the Commonwealth is going to have to tackle the justice deficit that leaves some of its citizens without the rights to which all are entitled.”

Speaking Out calls on all Commonwealth governments in countries which continue to criminalise same-sex sexual activity to repeal this legislation in accordance with:

• The Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other international instruments.

• Article II of the Commonwealth Charter.

• Recommendations of the Eminent Persons Group adopted by the Foreign Ministers of all Commonwealth members.

As an immediate step towards meeting the obligations set out in these and other commitments to equal rights for all citizens it also calls on all Commonwealth leaders to:

Engage in meaningful dialogue with their own LGBTI communities.

Put in place an immediate moratorium on the enforcement of existing laws criminalising homosexuality.

Commit to open and free debate across the Commonwealth on the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

Support public education initiatives to inform the people of the Commonwealth about the case for LGBTI equality.

Support the right of an LGBTI Association to register with the Commonwealth alongside all civil society organisations and be free to express its views and engage in public debate.

Fully include LGBTI people in development and other programmes on an equal basis with the rest of society.

Commit to include a discussion on equal rights for LGBTI citizens as a substantive agenda item at the next CHOGM.

In Saint Lucia, consensual same-sex sexual activity is illegal under indecency statues, and some same-sex sexual activity between men is also illegal under anal intercourse laws. Indecency statutes carry a maximum penalty of five years, and anal intercourse carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

– ENDS –

More on the report at: http://kaleidoscopetrust.com/speaking-out

US Study finds HIV Test Plus Counseling Doesn't Cut Infection Rates

New research finds that prevention counseling with HIV testing didn't cut sexually transmitted infection rates any more than testing with information only.

By Janet Kim, MPH, Everyday Health Staff Writer
TUESDAY, October 22, 2013 – HIV prevention counseling has long been a standard part of the HIV testing process, but a new study finds that it may not be all that useful in keeping certain groups of people from contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

The results of Project AWARE, a study published today in theJAMA, showed no added benefit from risk-reduction counseling offered in conjunction with a rapid HIV test. "I think that right now, to my knowledge, this is probably the best evidence that can really inform the question if there is still a role for risk-reduction counseling," said Lisa R. Metsch, PhD, lead investigator of Project AWARE and chair of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.
Recommendations to Streamline HIV Screening

When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last revised their recommendations for HIV testing, in 2006, one major change was not requiring prevention counseling as part of HIV screening. The idea was that if there were no counseling requirement, more people would get HIV screening, and it would become a routine part of medical practice.

At the time, the American Medical Association supported this change and expected physicians to support the updated recommendations. News of this change in guidance, however, was a cause for concern among HIV/AIDS advocacy groups. They feared that without prevention counseling, people would not be adequately or accurately informed about how to protect themselves and others from HIV.

 

"If we do away with prevention counseling, if we do away with additional intervention based on prevention, we're not going to have an AIDS-free generation," cautioned Lynnette Ford, MSW, managing director of program services and evaluation at the New York City nonprofit GMHC, who strongly believes in the value of prevention counseling.
HIV-Positive, But Unaware

Not knowing one's HIV status remains a significant concern in the United States, where about 20 percent of people with HIV are unaware that they're positive. Because they unknowingly put others at risk for the disease, they are responsible for many new HIV infections. And the later an HIV-positive person is diagnosed, the more advanced their disease and the more challenging it is to improve their health outcomes. One of the main goals of the federal government's National HIV/AIDS Strategy is to reduce the pool of undiagnosed HIV infections.

Earlier this year, in April, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended HIV screening for everyone ages 15 to 65 regardless of their HIV risk status. The task force reasoned that HIV screening efforts on such a widespread scale would help to better control the HIV epidemic by identifying more people who are at risk or are already HIV positive. In contrast with the CDC recommendations, USPSTF recommends prevention counseling for all sexually active adolescents and for adults at increased risk for infection.

Even with the CDC and USPSTF HIV screening recommendations in place, prevention counseling continues to be a mainstay of HIV testing efforts. There's some speculation that the long-held perception of prevention counseling's effectiveness likely overshadows research about it. Probably because existing data are not clear, said Dr. Metsch. "The studies done to date did not clearly speak to the issue of whether to provide counseling at the time of HIV testing," she noted.

But, added Metsch, "There was one particular study called Project RESPECT that was published in 1998, and this was the solid scientific base supporting risk-reduction counseling at the time of testing. But it was done before antiretroviral therapy, before the era of rapid testing, when HIV was basically a fatal disease."

As Metsch and her colleagues stated in the JAMA report on the new study, Project AWARE was designed to fill this gap.
No Added Benefit From Risk-Reduction Counseling

The Project AWARE randomized clinical trial ran from April 2010 to December 2010, to evaluate the effectiveness of a rapid HIV test with either risk-reduction counseling or information only in reducing the rates of sexually transmitted infections. Counseling involved a single brief discussion with individuals about their sexual risk behaviors and how to reduce their risks for HIV and other STIs. The information-only session was limited to the basics about HIV and the test itself.

The investigators enrolled 5,012 men and women who sought services at nine STI clinics in the United States. Study participants were categorized in three groups:
Men who have sex with men (MSM), which included men who have sex with men and women
Men who have sex with women (MSW)
Women who have sex with men and/or women

All participants had a rapid HIV test and received either counseling or information only at the time of the test. They were screened for various STIs at both the start of the study and six months later. Medical records were reviewed to assess any diagnoses of STIs between these points in time. All of the participants were tested for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, herpes simplex virus 2, and HIV; women were tested for trichomoniasis as well. Participants were also asked about their sexual risk behaviors -- including total number of sex acts, number of unprotected sex acts, total number of sexual partners, and number of unprotected sexual partners -- in the six months before the study and the six months after the start of the study.

At the six-month follow-up, overall STI rates did not differ significantly between the counseling (12.3 percent) and the information-only (11.1 percent) groups. The rates of STIs by gender (for the MSW and women-only groups), age group, and race/ethnicity also did not differ significantly between the counseling and information-only groups.

Results were different in the MSM group: 18.7 percent of those who had prevention counseling were found to have had STIs compared to 12.5 percent in the information-only group.

Interestingly, investigators found the overall number of risky sexual behaviors was somewhat lower in the counseling group than in the information-only group. One possible explanation, they surmised, is that "the magnitude or nature of the behavior change was insufficient to reduce STI incidence."
Should the Role of Prevention Counseling Be Reconsidered?

Results of the Project AWARE trial will be welcome or discouraging news, depending on which side you favor in the ongoing debate over the role of prevention counseling at the time of HIV testing.

On one side, as the study authors concluded, "[W]ithout evidence of effectiveness, [risk-reduction] counseling cannot be considered an efficient use of resources."

Nicholas Hellmann, MD, executive vice president of medical and scientific affairs with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in Washington, D.C., agrees. "HIV prevention counseling is viewed by many health facilities to be too costly and labor intensive, and by tested individuals to be inconvenient," said Dr. Hellmann, who was not involved with the new research.

"This study shows little or no health benefit from routine HIV prevention counseling for individuals before testing," added Hellman, noting that it "provides a rationale for removal of this key barrier to more routine and widespread HIV testing."

"Prevention counseling is a mainstay in GMHC's toolbox to combat HIV and AIDS," said GMHC's Ford, who was also not involved with the research. "I think the role of prevention counseling should not be reconsidered…there is a need for prevention counseling. Not having prevention counseling, we really miss an opportunity to potentially use teachable moments with clients."

"Prevention counseling is most often successful when utilizing other approaches, such as motivational interviewing or longer-term interventions," Ford said, "Because let's face it, behavior change does not occur overnight."

In lieu of risk-reduction counseling, the authors of the new study proposed "a more focused approach to providing information at the time of testing [that] may allow clinics to use resources more efficiently to conduct universal testing, potentially detecting more HIV cases earlier and linking and engaging HIV-infected people in care."

"I feel that there are lots of other new and exciting developments in the HIV prevention arena that we could be doing," Metsch noted. "I also think…there still could be a place for other types of counseling."

Living At Risk In St James (Gleaner) MSM included

(Dwayne Jones showing his injuries prior to his death

Scores of young men are fodder for human traffickers and predators

Adrian Frater, News Editor Gleaner

Western Bureau:The St James Parish Development Committee (PDC) is calling for a structured social mechanism to address issues such as homelessness, human trafficking, child labour, behavioural problems, health and deportation - all of which is said to be negatively impacting at-risk youth.

Following its regular meeting last Wednesday, the organisation released a document stating that the inability of at-risk youth to successfully integrate into the formal sector relegates them to being ideal candidates for child labour, human trafficking, drug abuse, HIV/STI, and gang activities.

"These unaccounted for street children have created a resource pool where criminal elements and gangs can recruit youth for illicit activities such as child prostitution, robbery, drug trafficking, and keep and care of guns," said the PDC.

"These children are the primary source from which human traffickers identify their victims as there is no monitoring mechanism in place within the region."

That is a position shared by social activist and head of the Community Organisation for Management and Sustainable Development, O'Dave Allen.

He argued that the state needs to move quickly to address the situation as it needs a permanent fix.

"We now have street children sleeping in the People's Arcade, in the markets and at the Dump-up Beach; also at the back of Bay West Plaza," noted Allen.

"This is clearly a case of state agencies not addressing these issues. So due to the urgency of the situation, there is now a need for the establishment of an institution to address these needs and issues," added Allen.

SEVERAL NOT FROM PARISH

Speaking against the background of an incident last Wednesday in which a group of homosexual men, who had captured and occupied a house in the Porto Bello community, were firebombed and chased out of the community, St James Public Health Department official Everald Morgan, said many of those attacked were not from the parish.

"The situation facing some young MSMs (men having sex with men) include HIV/AIDS issues, moving from one parish to another due to their lifestyle, and the capturing of houses in areas such as Rose Mount, Westgate Hills, Brandon Hill, Ironshore, and Barrett Hall," said Morgan.

"They relocate to the Montego Bay area for the opportunity of earning a living by prostitution, street vending, child labour and other illicit acts. Some are also deportees."

Rebecca Gayle, a Citizen Security and Justice Programme officer, suggested that a public-education programme about at-risk youth and their impact on society be established.

"The first step in intervention is to do a public-education programme to educate the public on the issues and how it is affecting our youth and society, and the roles and responsibilities of each citizen," said Gayle.

In supporting Gayle's position, Allen said the literacy challenges facing young males should be quickly addressed as it was causing a serious setback in regards to their ability to access services and participate in intervention activities.

In regards to the issue of at-risk children falling prey to human trafficking, the PDC statement noted that human trafficking was just one of a myriad of antisocial activities.

"These children are the primary source from which human traffickers identify their victims as there are no monitoring mechanisms in place within the region. The presence of this pool of adolescence youth has increased the risk of tourism harassment, the contraction and transmission of HIV/STI, and anti-social behaviour," the release stated.

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com

ENDS

Sadly we had to wait until a firebombing incident of the friends of the murdered Dwayne Jones before an article finally deals with homelessness in this way. Any sensible crisis intervention department handling such a case file would have taken necessary steps or extra ordinary measures to remove the men from the obvious clear and present danger seeing the house was stoned prior to the fire bombing and persons in St James and by extension the world via Youtube and otherwise we saw the house in question. 

While in Kingston:

photo used to shoe the area but the items may not be those of homeless MSM but the substance users instead who also use the area and who police also crack down on

also see: More MSM Homelessness Issues while agencies shift responsibilities and now comes more news of a police action on October 15th where their items were destroyed in yet another crack down on the men sadly while no real redress is being formulated or done, yet others only use the men for data collection and international public relations with pretentious concern. Recently a blog post by Maurice Tomlinson proved just that where he lamented that after JFLAG (who in essence failed the men) gave him a list of names and numbers of some of the homeless men in New Kingston he thought himself too big to call the men directly and engage them.

 

You decide readers

Peace and tolerance

H

Today one of the Gleaner's headline rang like a bell here is the story firstly then my comment below that I placed on the Gleaner site which I hope they publish as the debate intensifies especially given last night's discussion on All Angles.

'We Have The Numbers' - Anti-Homosexuality Church Leaders Confident Enough Religious Jamaicans In Island To Prevent Change To Buggery Law

Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer wrote:

With some 2,050,771 Jamaicans claiming affiliation to a religion, it would appear the church community, which has been standing firm against gay-rights activists in recent days, might be able to put up a formidable defence against those seeking to have the Government repeal the country's buggery law.

Just recently, one prominent clergyman shouted from his pulpit that he was prepared to die to ensure that Jamaica does not succumb to pressure from gay rights activists.

The statement from the executive director of the Church of God in Jamaica, Reverend Lenworth Anglin, followed that of another pastor, Reverend Al Miller, who declared last week that "a group of concerned pastors and leaders" have stated their willingness to mobilise and resist any attempts to tamper with the country's Constitution as it relates to the buggery law.

"We certainly have the numbers," Anglin told The Gleaner yesterday.

Data from the latest Population and Housing Census appear to support Anglin's claim. They indicate that some 129,554 Jamaicans are affiliated with a Church of God denomination.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church alone accounts for some 322,228, making it the denomination with the highest affiliation in numbers in Jamaica.

The Rastafarian religion, which is well known for its intolerance of homosexuality, has an affiliation number of 29,026.

But as the gay community and the Church continue on what appears to be a collision course, yesterday one social commentator who refrained from saying the level of impact the who refrained from saying the level of impact the Church is likely to have in helping to prevent any repeal of the buggery law, stopped just short of saying that recent comments from some clergymen might help to fuel even greater hostility in the minds of Jamaicans towards the gay community.

"Language like 'persons willing to die for' and so on, in my view, is unnecessary language at this point," said Carol Narcisse, who stressed that her views didn't necessarily represent those of the Jamaica Civil Society Coalition (JCSC) of which she is the chairperson.

"This is a discussion that the country needs to have, and it is hoped that the Church will provide an honest, sober position in the public domain, recognising that there is already a tendency towards making this issue being the subject of violence and the subject of harm to Jamaicans who are homosexual."

Added Narcisse: "We live in a democracy where all views will contend; the Church is one group in the society and it has a legitimate voice in the national conversation. However, the Church is not a monolithic group, there are other views within the Church as well."

"We would hope that persons of faith, leaders in the Church community who hold other views and a different approach; an approach that's more promoting of tolerance, an approach that is more promoting of a national discussion about inclusion and the rights of consenting adults, that those voices will come forward and join in the discussion."

She said any discussion going forward must be "sensitive to the fact that we are talking about the lives of human beings."

"We can only hope that we can come through this discussion in a way that does not see greater violence, harm, intolerance and exclusion," Narcisse charged.

Head of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society Dr Wayne West agreed that "the Church has numbers" and could successfully argue against any repeal of the buggery law, so long as it pitches its argument correctly.

"When a country makes its laws, laws are framed within some sort of philosophy and I think that the Christian theistic world view is the best performing law. I think the Church can certainly argue that the Judeo-Christian world view is better than the secular world view," West said.

"I suppose the Church could certainly argue that a large number of people in Jamaica certainly hold that view."

Gay-rights activist Maurice Tomlinson is currently awaiting a ruling after going to the Constitutional Court to seek a declaration that Television Jamaica, CVM Television and the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica had breached his constitutional right to freedom of expression when they refused to air a paid advertisement promoting tolerance for homosexuals in Jamaica.

nedburn.thaffe@gleanerjm.com
CONTINUE HERE

My response:

Interesting the fear mongering premised on sheer ignorance the fundamental question is in the very numbers of bodies, how many men with same sex desire be they gay or innately bisexual are hiding within the church? a recent radio discussion involving some prominent theologians and church representatives on "straight spouses" with unsuspecting partners suggest that inside the very church LOCALLY from whose pulpits where these pastors shout from many men (including the some clergy) hide themselves to regularize their lives. And as for sexual abuse of female members and male too and power differentials that another matter altogether for another time.

Will they come out when the time is right and declare who they really are? but given ones inability to live ones truth with convenient homophobic rhetoric we are in for some interesting times ahead. It will boil down to who will stand out and up eventually and stop the deceptions on all sides for that matter and let good sense prevail. UNDERSTANDING is what is needed here.

Besides there are Christian and Rastafarian folks who are tolerant, maybe it is their time to also start speaking up to bring some sense into the mix. The change of the law or reading down of buggery as it now stands is NOT going to suddenly create some avalanche of "Buggerers" that will simply hit every biological born male wearing a pair of pants. What are these people afraid or?

As for Rev Al Miller he has no moral authority to speak on anything for that matter these days, lest we forget his ongoing trial in aiding and abetting a known fugitive to escape the law of the land!? Albeit to a foreign power a that and using a male same gender loving and transgender form of aesthetic expression (cross-dressing) as a form of disguise in carrying out the deception at that yet he comes out swinging against homosexuality, really?!

If this were elsewhere he would be considered a traitor or even charged for treason at that.

Religious intolerance needs to STOP it makes no sense, confusing same gender sex with abuse is one of the main drivers of this as the fear is some infestation or increase in abuse of prepubescent persons when laws already exist to protect them and besides decriminalizing buggery which is what is now postured by the LGBT lobby and not necessarily a full repeal will not take away rights and protections that already exist it will only allow same sex intimacy in a private setting to occur via the all important CONSENT. Paedophilia or any attraction to a prepubescent person or child is a diagnosable deviant sexual disorder, HOMOSEXUALITY however is NOT the same and is innate.

The gender or supposed orientation of the abuser is not important when it comes to sexual abuse, ABUSE IS ABUSE and the law and psycho social responses should go into effect, just yesterday on Newstalk 93FM's Freshstart with host Sharon Hay Webster a rep from the CDA highlighted the need also for forensic psychiatrists in the system to also probe the look of perpetrators as well to avoid repeat offending.

Maybe we can follow the route of the Irish and learn from the path they took where they not only repealed buggery, removed the two ages of consent for homosexual(21) and heterosexual anal sex(18) made it 18 across the board, made privacy a cornerstone for same sex persons but they also added a child defilement clause as an amendment so as to appease the fearmongerers there as well, chaos did not break out there, instead Ireland is stable as she can be.

Some of us are lesbian/gay/bi/transgender/bisexual and everything else in between, it takes all kinds to make the world go round. Yet what is even more disturbing to me is the missing zeal in the anti homosexual campaign we see when it comes to murdered children/adults, spiraling crime and the elderly (recent cases comes to mind), the kids in state lockups with adults not to mention the umpteen missing as well yet plus the homeless on the street yet millions are spent for full paged ads and other perks for pastors for huge salaries but the moral fiber for the real issues on the ground is if not missing is very low.

One wonders if the tactic employed now to rile up a crowd (burrowed in someway from the political directorate) is not to fill collection plates too in a time when the economy is slow as well, popularity seekers at the expense of a minority group, after all it seems to be the only issue that makes a church service hot these days as most of these leaders are empty vessels, when the same congregation are themselves seemingly numb to the other societal ills.

Peace and tolerance

H

Additional materials: Miss Narcisse who was quoted above also had spoken on the issue on a radio show excerpted here ..............

Gay activists on Minority rights

Western Jamaica Clergy want buggery law to remain

Also see a letter in the Gleaner today as well: Church Biased and my post on sister blog GLBTQJA Wordpress on: Church Stands Resolute Against Buggery Backers says Al Miller ………… Love March Movement Lacks Moral Compass says LGBT voice

The problem with the LGBT lobby I have however is that just when it should matter most we are divided and are lacking several pieces of the parts to make the campaigns and messages resonate including credibility on certain fronts. Mixing a secularist agenda into the scheme of the agitation has only sought to anger the religious movement even further something I warned about some time ago and now we have added layers to the debate that have sought only to cloud the issue and extend the debate unnecessarily so.

Hear my short commentary I made on that:

The theologian community have gone as far as to call the homosexual community "dutty" in the recently launched translated King James version to patois of the new testament: The use of Jamaican dialect to further stigmatise homosexuals in the new patois Bible

As I ended my 2012 year in review and given recent happenings with JFLAG shooting itself in the foot - Truth is the ultimate weapon in the war. The LGBT leadership is a reflection of the follower-ship and vice versa if we are to grow the missing vigilance and objective approaches need to be improved. Deception seems to be on all sides take this for example:Dr Wayne West’s continued intellectual dishonesty on fisting felching & chariot racing by homosexuals in Jamaica

Also see: Espeut, West says “Homophobia” was invented to abuse Christians as hate speech as they use the victim ploy here. We have a long way to go it seems barring a miracle and some good sense prevailing.

Community based crisis sheltering is still an option for the displaced

Jamaicans have a funny way of being resilient in many respects and as the hardships hit us generally speaking via tax rises, murky job market, a trimmed budget, fiscal cliffs and wage freezes we find ways to survive despite politically messy systems, corrupt leaders, bankrupt politicians on all sides who are more interested in feathering their own nests and holding on to power than doing what is just and right by and for the people, inadvertently microcosms of the society seem to have imported the bankruptcy of ideas named the LGBT group, the thirst for power, manipulation of systems for personal gains more than to serve the representative groups who are to be serviced and defended when required for the overall improvement of the quality of life of said individuals and indeed groups.

The LGBT community (if there is a cohesive one) is no exception and in a follow up to a most interesting thread on two Facebook pages I am apart of on in essence corporate social responsibility from LGBTQ party promoters who are accused of being greedy and more interested in profits, aloof to the issues that abound on the ground with the least amongst us and poor entertainment offerings. As scrutiny of the systems, social spheres and advocacy seems to be rising as it does every now and again questions are being asked and resolves are being arrived at as a benchmark for support of some party promoters’ events is whether they are interested in donating genuinely or supporting some sort of advocacy/welfare related matter that have become far more visible in recent times. Homelessness again takes center stage and as the news of the eviction of the two main agencies namely JFLAG and JASL make the rounds with some persons just catching up to the reality persons are asking what do these agencies represent for them to have reached this stage? Pity it had to take such a long time and an embarrassing situation as the very homelessness of the agencies themselves to raise concerns when the scrutiny should have always been there to cause proper leadership with results.

Tongues have been wagging but while that is happening many more young gay and bisexual men are finding themselves teetering on homelessness for varying reasons, several unconfirmed reports suggest more and more persons are finding themselves exposed on the frontline with no support systems apart from the few that benefit from the very limited feeding program offered devoid of the properly structured psycho social interventions to compliment the street based interventions since the shelter residency is not a reality. Despite the deep mistrust in assisted living at the community level with some well publicised incidents of pilferage, high visibility of the problematic New Kingston homeless men via the press, the perception that the men are irredeemable of the anti-social behaviours they are accused of, tabloid press stories of issues and noted embarrassing scenarios on the social scenes there are some who still have faith and the belief in assisting those who need it and can be trusted to benefit from such assistance. I can understand clearly the need for the hesitation in opening ones home to sometimes a stranger despite their plight at the time, the costs also that one has to absorb is a major concern these days with the two hundred percent rise in property taxes, electricity fuel charge climb and other new taxes imposed on us that spending dollar is shrinking and affording shelter to another who is not working especially is a serious decision and when that help can only be for a short time to avoid the consequences that can follow. I have stopped assisting persons for now as it is too expensive to do so seeing I am on a limited income but would love to help. The advocacy systems do not over financed community assisted living programs as well which shows the lack of forward thinking in creating programs that respond to the immediate service needs of a growing homeless MSM cohort. To add insult to injury I suggested such a concept at a recent town hall meeting that JFLAG hosted prior to their eviction in November 2012 and they seemed repulsed by the idea even on the face of a promised shelter that never came to fruition.


I received a message on Facebook from an individual not on the friend’s list who wanted to know what to do in assisting someone who is displaced in their homes, this is not an unusual request but in this case what was different was the variables that were involved, what was to have a been a commercial sexual transaction ended up in a deep conversation between the “client” and the “buyer” a solution was being contemplated if only for a short period. In furtherance the gentleman wanted to continue some sort of remote assistance but being not used to engaging this section of the population and hearing of the other persons who extended such assistance getting burnt he is treading most carefully and rightfully so. I am hopeful once again that all is not lost and the classism that so pervades our society and even seems more so pronounced in the LGBT population though real has some exceptions. I do not suspect ulterior motives hidden in the gentleman’s intentions as that too are also an issue via this kind of community based crisis intervention method; I had warned of this in a podcast/audio post on a question on would listeners assist someone who was displaced?

I had hoped that by now we would have had an improved residency program following the launch of the only full residency concept idea for transitional rehabilitation for LGBT persons who are displaced or homeless but was summarily closed by the JASL board in 2009, funny they are now on the hunt for office space while the populations are nomads. The lack of forward thinking frankly visionless leadership is what has landed us in this mess over the years and to think MSM displacement and homelessness pre-dates any agitation for LGBT rights or homosexual tolerance over the past thirty plus years. With a population of displaced persons growing and it seems the only time they get help is when they become material for the homophobic public relations narratives after the fact when they are beaten or chopped up.

Even with multiple solutions sitting on the paper they were recorded on for this group of MSM and the other HIV prevention related matters (yet we have a 34% infection rate) many of the homeless men are also HIV positive and with limited service delivery now since JASL’s temporary closure the health of some of the men lie in the balance, also what is even more disturbing is the code of silence on their closure that not even in the press has no mention of their closure (JASL & JFLAG) made known. Instead foreign matters take centre stage, namely the UNIBAM trial in Belize, who could care less about our own down trodden?

The gentleman in question has expressed some concern for the numbers of men on the streets and why are they not getting the correct tailored response to the prevailing issue which I agree is a powder cake, concerns are also being raised by some frontline persons that the men are now relocating to other parts of town nearing other residencies that may cause a backlash unlike what occurred in New Kingston where the residents and business district populations were up in arms were very passive and did not resort to a more violent resistance. There are other community influentials who have been trying despite the difficulties and challenges with both finances and the behaviour of the men themselves but a more formal solution is long overdue with so many MSM who have fallen through the cracks over the life of the agencies. Temporary housing is one thing but the requisite counselling for both the client and the shelter provider is critical to navigate their co-existence over the period but as was said above the forward thinking is just not there despite more funding available to the agencies and an increase in the staff compliment with separation of roles and responsibilities. Those of us older in years and experience who in part or in full were apart of the various branches of the systems were and are expecting far more in both results and in leadership but what have we to show for it? Hardly any serious movement on anything if one were to just take a cursory look, not building on what has worked, poor judgement on programs or the lack thereof to respond to the ever widening challenges.

While we hail the interest by this gentleman some tuff decisions have been made by others who have opened their doors as well to discontinue the arrangement due to the mostly behavioural issues of the temporary resident. If not a managed street based initiative, controlled and monitored community based assisted living response or a full on transitional living and or transitional independent living housing all will happen it was has obtained over the past five or more decades with MSM forced evictions. God knows the umpteen incidents with the men too numerous to mention in this post as all kinds of crap happen.

I thought prevention was better than cure in just avoiding fallouts or even allowing self-made mistakes to overtake or impede activities but apparently not as the decision makers dither on the proper responses to MSM homelessness and displacement, now here we are wondering. For those who feel so moved we should continue to help where we can it is in the true caring spirit we should act.

Think on these things

Peace and tolerance

H

JFLAG's ED visits DC ...............

What do you make of this? I hope they were able to raise funds to deal with the homeless shelter that is yet to materialize following the November 2012 town hall meeting announcement while the men still languish on the street and the reported eviction notice from their present location along with their parent NGO Jamaica AIDS Support for Life in part due to the behaviour of the homeless MSM in New Kingston but also the sale of the property. 

Things have gotten serious so much so that the men now gather at the rear of the JFLAG office much to the annoyance of the neighbours and others as the police and local authorities crack down on the men's movements given the repeated public spectacle over the past 4+ years since the dubious closure of the Safe House Project that the group never protested when the ultimatum was given for the then populations to leave.

This kind of travelling in a bid to raise funds and awareness should have been done long time ago not now when the agency's back is against the wall. Why do we always have to wait until funding runs out or near so before we act? What about the programs department of the agency why aren't the change over periods for funding always leaving the agencies in a financial gap?

The Washington Blade reported:

Dane Lewis, executive director of Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, was visiting a gay friend in Kingston, the country’s capital, on a Sunday night in the late 1990s when a group of men slashed three of his car’s tires.

A mob had already formed when he told his friends who were inside the house that they needed to leave. The men eventually stole Lewis’ car — and a friend who was sitting in the backseat still has shards of glass in his arm after they broke a window.

“We took a girlfriend with us, which we thought would have been a good cover, but that clearly didn’t work,” Lewis told the Washington Blade on Sunday before he attended a D.C. Center-organized mixer at Larry’s Lounge in Dupont Circle. “The community already had an issue with the guy that we went to see and obviously reacted because he had friends that the others thought were gay coming to visit.”

Lewis, who has been with J-FLAG since 2007, spoke with the Blade roughly two months after he appeared in a public awareness campaign designed to promote greater acceptance of LGBT Jamaicans.

He said reaction to the “We Are Jamaicans” campaign have been “thankfully very positive,” but he has received some negative feedback. This includes a threatening note left on his car outside his Kingston home that read “Batty man for dead” or “Gay man should be murdered” in Jamaican slang.

“We are claiming space in a way that they think we really should keep our lives private and behind closed doors,” Lewis said. “That sadly has been just the way that LGBT people are expected to play to survive in a culture like ours. They would obviously find it offensive that people are being so comfortable with their orientation and the need to speak openly about their realities.”

J-FLAG has faced a number of challenges since its 1998 founding.

A man stabbed Brian Williamson, the organization’s co-founder, to death inside his Kingston home in 2004. Former J-FLAG executive director Gareth Henry sought asylum in Canada in 2008 after he received death threats.

A J-FLAG report said the organization knows of at least 30 gay men who have been murdered in Jamaica between 1997 and 2004. Authorities found British diplomat John Terry strangled to death inside his home near Montego Bay in 2009 — they found a note left next to his body that referred to him as “batty boy.”

The State Department, Human Rights Watch and other groups have criticized the Jamaican government for not doing enough to curb anti-LGBT violence on the island. J-FLAG is among the organizations that have blasted Buju Banton, Elephant Man, Sizzla and other reggae and dancehall for lyrics they contend insight anti-gay violence.

In spite of these challenges, Lewis notes the country’s LGBT rights movement has seen some advances in recent years.

Jamaican singer Diana King came out as a lesbian last summer in a post to her Facebook page. Beenie Man in the same year apologized for his anti-gay song lyrics.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson said shortly before her Dec. 2011 election her government would review the country’s anti-sodomy law. It has yet to do so, but the Jamaica Supreme Court in June will hear a case that challenges the colonial-era statute on grounds it violates a constitutionally-guaranteed right to privacy.

“It will be a very interesting case to watch,” Lewis said. “It will give a better sense of where the courts are at in terms of protecting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.”

Lewis spoke with the Blade a day before Queen Elizabeth II signed a Commonwealth charter with an anti-discrimination statement that reportedly includes an implicit reference to gay men and lesbians. He said President Obama’s statements in support of LGBT rights and same-sex marriage have had a positive effect in Jamaica.

“What it has done has opened up a debate for us around the issue of rights and whether same-sex marriage needs to be on the table,” Lewis said.

Lewis remains optimistic this progress will continue in the years to come.

Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson in December said lawmakers should repeal the country’s anti-sodomy law. A January sexuality symposium included LGBT-specific information, but a recent J-FLAG report found only 17 percent of Jamaicans tolerate gay men and lesbians.

A video showing a mob at a Jamaican university attacking a student whom they reportedly caught in a “compromising position” with another man in a bathroom went viral last November. The clip captures two security officers beating the man while the crowd calls him “batty boy.”

J-FLAG statistics note one third of Jamaicans feel the government has not done enough to protect their LGBT countrymen. Lewis said the Nov. 2012 incident and others like it help “generate the conversation” about gay and lesbian rights in the country.

“We need to capitalize on that energy and begin to have some public discourse,” he said.

Lesbian lovers quarrel in Spanish Town ........

An obviously problematic same gender loving female relationship matter that spilled over into the public domain made news in the Star this week as its headline. Certainly the other comments made were not reported here as a bystander who is a community member also lamented the fact that one half of the accused women was verbally abused by men playing cards and gambling nearby. 

I was not out and about that night in question so I missed this.

They claimed to want to know why a woman would have another woman as her mate and then have a male lover at the same time, as if to suggest if one is gay then one should stick to that side and not dable in both worlds.

A possible clue to bi-invisibility? seeing that gay matters take up so much space in public discourse as a front for LGBT umbrella matters. We have seen the outcomes that switch hitting, the colloquial term used can cause but some say disclose while others say don't, many bisexual activists reject the call to disclose one's bisexual preference while some agree providing they see that it won't erode the relationship at the stage the revelation was made.

Have a read of the article:

Woman beats lover for cheating

A fight between two women who claimed to be lovers attracted a lively crowd in Spanish Town on Sunday night.

The Star learnt that the fight started after one of the females observed her partner boarding a taxi to leave from the town centre with a male.

She displayed her disapproval by going into the Toyota Corolla station wagon and attacked the female by raining blows on her.

"Mi nuh tell yuh from before yuh left Portmore and now yu a dis mi, cum out di car," the attacker said in a fit of anger.

The woman started throwing blows inside the car while a curious crowd gathered.

"How can you do this to me after all we've being through," she said, as she delivered several blows.

While the incident was occurring, several bystanders questioned how such a slimly built woman could have launched such a serious attack.

"People free to live how they want. But they must seek God. A living nasty and sinful act this, they need Jesus. This is sin," a female bystander said.

Checks at the Spanish Town station reveal that the police have knowledge of the incident but no report was made.

ENDS

See more from sister blogs:

Butch women interviewed on national television ...... lesbophobia, enlightenment or both?

Lady Switch Hitters & the Boyfriends who complain ...

Bi-sexual men & the women involved

BISEXUAL CLAIM NOT TRUE' - J'cans bash recent survey

Same gender loving women troubles

There was a murder of a lesbian in East Kingston only months ago (see link immediately above this) where she was allegedly threatened by a male companion of her then female romantic interest as his friends pressured him into not competing with a woman for another woman imperative as that would have been considered as serious breach of the highly valued machismo or masculinity in Jamaica.

Here is a video on an older discussion on the matter of disclosure last year from CVM TV's CVM @ Sunrise show.

here is an older case where two same gender loving females were murdered in eastern Jamaica some years ago due to the same resistance to competing with another woman from a male's point of view imperative:

Here is the article from the Star News: "They Were Lesbians" or HERE.

Luckily this reported fight in Spanish Town did not result in a more violent lesbophobic outcome but then again SGL women have always had far less negativity towards them than gay men especially effeminate brothers. Even the adult entertainment industry has over the years sought to capitalize on this tolerance.

Peace and tolerance

H

additional reading:
Also see: Jamaica : Lesbian Shotta Killed Man in quarrel over women

The UTECH gay student matter is no 9 day wonder ..........

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.