Bisexual teen faced psychological prison, told not to tell anyone or else ..............

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

also see:

Homeless MSM and rejection

Insensitive Parents and Displaced MSM Part III

Children’s Advocacy & LGBT Agencies inconsistent approach to Homeless MSM Youth

Kingston’s Homeless MSM challenges scream for proper attention

Outcomes when offering community based shelter for displaced gay/bi brethren

Youth Ministry to develop programmes to address LGBT youth, homeless, destitute and vulnerable children (2014)

Peace and tolerance

H

Malta votes for civil unions, non-discrimination for transgender individuals, mutual recognition

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.

Civil unions

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.

Claudette Abela Baldacchino MEP, 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.”

“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.”
Gender identity and sexual orientation in the Constitution

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.
Recognition of foreign marriages

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.

Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP, 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.”

“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.”

Read more: HERE

N.J. Same-Sex Marriage Now Legal on October 21

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson’s ruling on September 27 would make New Jersey the 14th stateto allow same-sex couples to marry. Judge Jacobson directed that her ruling take effect on October 21 to allow the state enough time to put the ruling into place or to appeal it.

Christie Expected to Appeal Decision

Republican Governor Chris Christie favors civil unions which New Jersey has had in place since 2007. Under the state constitution, civil unions guarantees those same-sex couples the same rights and benefits of opposite- sex married couples.

Governor Christie opposes gay marriage and plans on appealing the head judge of Mercer County’s deccision – all the way to the Supreme Court. Christie wanted to have a referendum on gay marriage on Election Day. He argued that the matter was out of Jersy’s hands since the only pressing questions were over federal, not state benefits.

However, since the Democrat -contolled Legislature refused to allow the people to decide, the state Supreme Court will make the constitutional determination which could take months. In the interim, Jacobson’s order may be frozen while the appeal is pending.

State Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) and U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) are both urging Christie NOT to appeal. The Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey Udi Ofer, stated that a coalition of groups would keep pressing state lawmakers for an override of Cristie’s gay-marriage veto last year.

The Law According to Jacobson

According to Jacobson, who granted an emergency request by six couples, said that gay couples would be denied federal benefits if the state kept allowing only civil unions. Jacobson modeled her decision on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on United States v. Windsor.

This is the first state judicial ruling ordering same-sex marriage since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act last June. The judge wrote in her 53-pageopinion that “same sex couples must be allowed to marry in order to obtain equal protection of the law under the New Jersey constitution. The ineligibility of same-sex couples for federal benefits is currently harming same-sex couples in New Jersey in a wide range of contexts. For example, civil union partners who are federal employees living in New Jersey are ineligible for marital rights with regard to the federal pension system, all civil union partners who are employees working for businesses to which the Family and Medical Leave applies may not rely on its statutory protections for spouses, and civil union couples may not access the federal tax benefits that married couples enjoy.”

New Jersey to Become 14th State Allowing Gay Marriage

If the ruling stands, New Jersey will be the fourteenth state to allow same-sex marriage. If not appealed, “October 2 should be a very exciting day for many loving couples. Justice has already been denied for far too long. Let’s clear the way for equal rights for all families.”

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

Anglican bishops reject same-sex marriage ...... Church of England ask for "gay friendly bishop"

Like two poles miles apart literally in distance and in ideology in the same week, what different takes on the issue reflecting the cultural forwardness or backwardness if you will.

THE leadership of the Anglican Church in the West Indies has issued a firm rejection of same-sex marriage and has urged Caribbean Governments to resist attempts at compromise from outside the region.

In a draft provincial statement on same-sex unions issued yesterday, the House of Bishops and Standing Committee of the Church in the Province of the West Indies said that they were aware that Caribbean political leaders were being subjected to pressures from nations and institutions from outside the region.

"Frequently they are pressured to conform to the changes being undertaken in their redefinition of human sexuality and same-sex unions, under threat of economic sanctions and the loss of humanitarian aid," the bishops said.

"We urge our leaders of government and of civil society, as well as the people of our nations, to resist any attempt to compromise our cultural and religious principles regarding these matters.

"The dangling of a carrot of economic assistance to faltering economies should be seen for what it is worth and should be resisted by people and government alike," added the bishops, who are meeting in Barbados.

They said that during their deliberations they had taken note of trends within countries of the developed world and international forums in which these countries exercise a controlling interest in which matters related to human sexuality have been elevated to the level of human rights and are being promulgated as positions which must be accepted globally.

"Frequently, failure to conform by developing nations, like our own, results in the threat of various sanctions, including the withholding of economic aid," the bishops said.

"More specifically, there is a redefinition of gender to accommodate gay, lesbian and transgendered people, and the creation of a plurality of definitions which leaves the issue of gender to self-definition, thereby dismissing traditional definition of male and female," they argued.

"Additionally, there is the passage of legislation among a number of metropolitan nations whereby marriage is defined as a human right in which any two persons may be joined, inclusive of persons of the same sex."

As such, they said, the "marriage" of persons of the same sex is justified as a human right on the basis of marital equality with heterosexual unions.

The bishops said that while they acknowledge that there is a diversity of family patterns within the Caribbean, "these have been understood by our people to be between a man and a woman, whether defined in terms of the natural order of creation or on the basis of religious beliefs which see these grounded in the purpose of God".

They pointed to the Pastoral Statement from the House of Bishops of the Church of England in 2005 which defines marriage as "a creation ordinance, a gift of God in creation and a means of His grace. Marriage, defined as a faithful, committed, permanent and legally sanctioned relationship between a man and a woman, is central to the stability and health of human society. It continues to provide the best context for the raising of children".

The bishops also said that characteristic of our patterns of cohabitation and family life is the notion that such unions are based on a relationship between a man and a woman.

"The idea of such unions being constituted by persons of the same sex is, therefore, totally unacceptable on theological and cultural grounds," they insisted.

The bishops said that while they recognise that the church's mandate is informed by pastoral and doctrinal concerns and in drawing the attention of the faithful to the source and purpose of marriage, and in solemnising such unions, they accept that governments have the responsibility of providing the kind of legal framework for protecting, but not defining, this most basic social institution on which the stability of society and the socialisation of its members rest. They also appreciate that governments must protect the members of such unions against abuse and injustice.

However, they pointed out that the threat and use of economic sanctions are not new experiences to the region's peoples, "neither is the claim to a superior morality convincing for peoples who have known the experience of chattel slavery in our past.

"While claiming to invoke human rights as the basis for such imposition, we submit that the same principle must allow us the right to affirm our cultural and religious convictions regarding our definitions of that most basic of social institutions — marriage."

The Church of England matter however - The Diocese of Manchester has instructed the official panel appointing its new bishop to select someone who can establish “positive relationships” with gay Anglicans and non-worshippers.

The panel, which met on Friday, was told that the successor to the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who retired earlier this year, should build on “significant engagement” with “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities” in Manchester.

The move comes amid growing tensions within the Church over its attitude to gay worshippers and clergy.

Such a public endorsement of working with gay Anglicans by a major diocese will cheer liberals but be seen by traditionalists as a further erosion of their views.

Manchester’s move comes months after the Church dropped its prohibition on clergy in civil partnerships becoming bishops

American Academy of Pediatrics Supports Gay Marriage ..... says it is good for kids

Concludes Same-Sex Marriage As Good For Kids

The American Academy of Pediatrics, representing 60,000 pediatricians and other pediatric specialists, “supports pediatricians advocating for public policies that help all children and their parents, regardless of sexual orientation, build and maintain strong, stable, and healthy families that are able to meet the needs of their children.”

The AAP’s position comes from the perspective of what is best for the children’s well-being: these factors include potentially better access to health insurance, as well as the legal rights for the children and families by marriage, such as parental visitation and custody in case of divorce. There are estimated to be three million lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents in the United States, according to the Family Equality Council.

Present and Past Research

The AAP policy statement, “Promoting the Well-Being of Children Whose Parents Are Gay or Lesbian,” and an accompanying technical report will be published in the April 2013 Pediatrics(published online March 21). The report examines some thirty years of research on the well-being of children raised by gay parents and concludes there is no evidence to suggest children are worse off compared with those with heterosexual parents. 

 The policy statement and accompanying technical report adds recommendations in support of civil marriage for same-gender couples, adoption by single parents, co-parents or second parents regardless of sexual orientation and foster care placement regardless of sexual orientation. In a previous 2002 policy statement and reaffirmed in 2012, the AAP supported second-parent adoption by partners of the same sex as a way to protect children’s right to maintain relationships with both parents, financial security, and eligibility for health benefits.

What the Co-Authors of the Policy Statement Say:

According to Ellen Perrin, M.D., a pediatric professor at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and co-author of the policy statement, there may also be emotional benefits for kids from the stability that comes from marriage. “children with gay parents tend to realize their family is different than others and express relief when their parents are able to get married. If a child has two loving and capable parents who choose to create a permanent bond, it’s in the best interest of their children that legal institutions allow them to do so.”

Benjamin Siegel, MD, chair of the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, and co-author of the statement, remarked that “children thrive in families that provide permanent security, and the way we do that is through marriage. The AAP believes there should be equal opportunity for every couple to access the economic stability and federal supports provided to married couples to raise children.”

What is Not Healthy for the Children

The Policy statement says that many factors confer risk to children’s healthy development and adult outcomes, such as poverty, parental depression, parental substance abuse, divorce, and domestic violence. But the sexual orientation of their parents is not among them.” Many studies point to the normal development of children of same-gender couples when the child is wanted, the parents have a commitment to shared parenting, and the parents have strong social and economic support.

additional reading:

Promoting the Well-Being of Children Whose Parents Are Gay or Lesbian

1. COMMITTEE ON PSYCHOSOCIAL ASPECTS OF CHILD AND FAMILY HEALTH

ABSTRACT

To promote optimal health and well-being of all children, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports access for all children to (1) civil marriage rights for their parents and (2) willing and capable foster and adoptive parents, regardless of the parents’ sexual orientation. The AAP has always been an advocate for, and has developed policies to support, the optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being of all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In so doing, the AAP has supported families in all their diversity, because the family has always been the basic social unit in which children develop the supporting and nurturing relationships with adults that they need to thrive. Children may be born to, adopted by, or cared for temporarily by married couples, nonmarried couples, single parents, grandparents, or legal guardians, and any of these may be heterosexual, gay or lesbian, or of another orientation. Children need secure and enduring relationships with committed and nurturing adults to enhance their life experiences for optimal social-emotional and cognitive development. Scientific evidence affirms that children have similar developmental and emotional needs and receive similar parenting whether they are raised by parents of the same or different genders. If a child has 2 living and capable parents who choose to create a permanent bond by way of civil marriage, it is in the best interests of their child(ren) that legal and social institutions allow and support them to do so, irrespective of their sexual orientation. If 2 parents are not available to the child, adoption or foster parenting remain acceptable options to provide a loving home for a child and should be available without regard to the sexual orientation of the parent(s).

Pope/Catholic Church backlash after his anti gay comments continue

So the backlash is on in earnest as it has since the news first came earlier this year that the Catholic Church will be opposing countries such as the United States and Europe who have opened the gates for gay marriage rights and indeed LGBT rights on a whole. 

Pink News UK and indeed several other platforms have been reporting in rapid succession the actions taken by LGBT activists and Catholics alike who are opposed to the moves by the Vatican on this vexed issue for many who just want to live their lives in the open with a family structure and why not, maybe to alleviate some of the world's problems we could get on with the business of granting such rights and state benefits as those are what the real issues are about.

Dutch Catholics seek to "deregister" from the Church

According to the founder of a Dutch website which aims to offer information to those looking to leave the Catholic church, thousands of Catholics have been researching how to do so.

Tom Roes, who operates a website containing the documents required for members of the Catholic church to “deregister” themselves, said the number of visitors to the site went from around 10 a day to over 10,000, reported the Irish Times.

“Of course it’s not possible to be ‘de-baptised’ because a baptism is an event, but this way people can unsubscribe or deregister themselves as Catholics,” Mr Roes said.

He went on to say that he had no way of knowing how many people actually went on to leave the church after visiting his site,ontdopen.nl.

Out of the population of the Netherlands, around 28% is Catholic, while roughly 44% is not religious. Reports suggest that 18% of the population is Protestant.

In his ‘World Day of Peace’ remarks last week, the Pope said: “There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union.
“Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilise marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society”, the Pope told worshippers.

Pope Benedict XVI was also pictured giving a blessing to Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, who has promised to pass the country’s notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a “Christmas gift”.

On 26 December, a petition started to push Barack Obama to label to the Roman Catholic Church a “hate group”, following a similar petition to label the Westboro Baptist Church the same.

The petition cites comments made by the Pope at Christmas where he said that gay people are manipulating their sexual orientation to alter god-given nature, and that they ”deny their nature”, which is “given to them by their bodily identity.”

The Netherlands was the first country to legalise equal marriage, back in 2001, and official statistics report that, by the end of 2010, 14,813 gay couples were married in the country,

Back in October, the country’s government began looking into changing the law to take into account its 25,000 LGBT families, and issues faced by step-parents or sperm donors

As for the petition 

With more than 77 million registered members, the Catholic Church is the largest single denomination in the United States of America and it is highly unlikely that the president would wish to alienate such a large number of people. Released less than 24 hours ago, it has failed to gain any signatures and is currently not visible on the main White House petitions website.

In is ‘World Day of Peace’ remarks last week, the Pope said: “There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union.
“Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilise marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society”, the Pope told worshipers.

Pope Benedict XVI was also pictured giving a blessing to Rebecca Kadaga, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, who has promised to pass the country’s notorious Anti-Homosexuality Bill as a “Christmas gift”.

The petition can be found here.

On December 17 I posted on Gay Jamaica Watch the protest at the Vatican by LGBT representatives who vehemently opposed the Pope gay marriage slight as it was described then, 

A group of demonstrators protesting against the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexual marriage tried to enter St Peter's Square in the Vatican on Sunday as Pope Benedict was giving his weekly address to pilgrims.

The protesters - who were kept out of the square by police - were upset over a speech by the pontiff on Friday in which he appeared to include efforts to legalize gay marriage among the threats to peace in the world.

"We find intolerable the assertion that gay unions are dangerous to the world. Weapons are much more dangerous," Gianfranco Mascia, 52, an activist who organized the protest told Reuters. "No to arms, yes to rights for everyone,"

The group of about 15 people held up signs reading "Gay unions don't harm peace, weapons do" in various languages.

In another previous post on GLBTQJAMAICA in response to a Gleaner letter entitled: Same-Sex Marriage A Misnomer, Fraud (Gleaner Letter) I lamented that at no point did anyone in the struggle locally, JFLAG or otherwise have asked for gay marriage rights or rights similar to those heterosexual couples get after tying the knot or related state recognition when we can't even get passed privacy and consensual sex matters. 

check out the latest figures from the Statistical Institute 

Local groups such as the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (founder imaged below) and Reverend Al Miller all repeatedly suggest marriage will be poison to humanity.

Certainly we are nowhere near the end of this debate and it seems homosexuality is to become the dividing issue between believers and non believers alike where as far as I see it the existence of God is not my problem but how the word has been reinterpreted for varying agendas.

Peace and tolerance

H

(Guyana) The debate on decriminalising homosexuality – conscience vote, not party affiliation

Decriminalising homosexuality is a heated debate today all around the world. Recently, two distinguished Guyanese: Sir Shridath Ramphal(photo below), a former minister of foreign affairs and former secretary general of the Commonwealth and Ralph Ramkarran, former Speaker of the National Assembly, argued that Guyana and the Caribbean should decriminalise homosexuality.

Guyana’s National Assembly by motion also established a special select committee to address this question. This was a bold move by the National Assembly, since this is a provocative and emotional issue that is deeply polarising in all of the Caricom countries.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has mandated Guyana to adjust its laws in relation to corporal punishment in schools, the death penalty for crimes, and laws against homosexuality and to bring them in compliance with the human rights guidelines. The move to allow a special select committee to address these issues in our Parliament is as a result of the guidance from the UNHRC.

Times Notebook recently came out in support of the banning of corporal punishment in our schools. Times Notebook is also against the death penalty. We believe that the debate on the decriminalisation of homosexuality will be highly emotive. We believe that the position of Sir Shridath and Ralph Ramkarr an to decriminalise homosexuality is brave and reasonable and is consistent with the 2009 United Nations Resolution to decriminalise homosexuality. The USA and 66 other countries supported the UN Resolution.

“Unbiblical”

Recently, a South African pastor warned Jamaicans not to go down the road to decriminalise homosexuality. In Uganda, lawmakers want to subject homosexuals to the death penalty. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe vilifies gays, lesbians, and transgender as “unbiblical” and “worse than dogs”. His characterisation of homosexuality is shared by many African leaders.

The debate relating to decriminalisation of homosexuality is not new. The Old Testament and Islam forbid sex between men. Plato who lived up to 327 years before Christ rejected homosexuality. But Aristotle who died in 322BC defended homosexuality. The Netherlands, France, and other countries with legal systems based on France’s Napoleonic code, however, removed “homosexual offences” from criminal sanctions centuries ago. Other countries in Europe also were early in decriminalising homosexuality. These include Poland (1932), Denmark (1933), and Sweden (1944).

But England, Wales and Canada decriminalised homosexuality only in 1967. Scotland did not decriminalise homosexuality until 1980. It took a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2003 before all State Statutes decriminalised homosexuality in the USA. Nicaragua abolished the crime of “sodomy” in November 2007.

Progressive developments

There have also been progressive developments enshrining provisions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the constitutions of Ecuador, Fiji, Portugal and South Africa. The Supreme Court of Nepal in December 2007 issued directive orders to the government of Nepal to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Also in December 2007, the Bolivian Constituent Assembly approved a clause that would make Bolivia the first country in the world to prohibit in its constitution discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The Supreme Court in India ruled in 2009 that the law against homosexuality is unconstitutional.

Still, there are 76 countries in the world where homosexuality is still a crime. Guyana and all the Caricom countries fall in this category. There are also five countries in the world where homosexuality is a crime punishable by death.
Laws criminalising homosexuality exist on all continents, albeit in different forms. In some countries, consensual sex between adults of the same sex is criminalised as “sodomy”, “the abominable crime of buggery”, “crimes against nature”, “deviant sexual intercourse”, “corruption on earth”, “outrages on decency”, “unnatural acts”, or other such terms. In others, vague provisions such as “immoral acts” or “public scandal” are used to criminalise sexual behaviour of lesbians, gay men and same-sex practising, bisexual or transgender people.

Many acts of discrimination and violence are committed against people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, same-sex practising and transgender people because they are perceived as immoral. In many parts of the world, homosexuality is considered a sin and same-sex relations are dubbed “unChristian” or “unIslamic”. Many of the criminalisation laws dating back to the Victorian period of the British Empire derive from Christian religious law. Sumit Baudh notes that “the case law from India makes frequent references to bestiality, buggery and Biblical notions of the sin of Gomorrah and the sin of Sodom”.

Capital offences

In Kuwait on January 22, 2000, two women writers and their male publisher were fined and sentenced to two months in prison for writings that were said to cause harm to religion and to morality because they mentioned lesbian relationships. In March 2000, the Misdemeanours Appeal Court handed down fines to the two women. The Iranian penal code makes particular types of same-sex sexual relations capital offences under the category of hodoud crimes – crimes against divine will, for which the penalty is prescribed by Islamic law.

In December 2011, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Australia, the Harper Government of Canada announced they will work with Commonwealth countries where homosexuality remains a crime to decriminalise homosexuality. The same announcement has been made by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who threatened to withhold development assistance from countries unless they decriminalise homosexuality.
Times Notebook is eagerly awaiting the debate in Guyana’s National Assembly. It will be an opportunity for those who take a “rights-approach” to fundamental human rights and those who take a strict moral approach, arguing that morality takes precedence even in consensual behaviour in private. Times Notebook urges all civil groups, not just the churches, to become engage in determining the way forward for Guyana. This is an issue that must not be decided only by the politicians, but by all Guyanese.

We believe that the debate and the decision should not be based on political affiliation or ideological approaches. Times Notebook believes that this subject should be one in which our MPs debate and decide based on their own views, guided by their conscience, and not merely following party dictate.

Source

Education Minister says he has been harrassed post the HFLE Manual withdrawal

It is difficult to confirm this one clearly but since the Minister of Education's dithering on the Home and Family Life, HFLE curriculum matter that had contained therein some questions that were deemed objectionable and maybe inappropriate for the age cohort intended, grades 7 - 9, so we can surmise 12 to 14 year olds depending on what age they successfully attained GSAT results etc. Erica Virtue of the Gleaner says the paper has confirmed from the horses mouth that he has been fact been receiving inappropriate emails and other correspondences on the matter.

The Minister on his feet in parliament justifying the withdrawal of the manual in October 2012.

In two previous posts (see linked below) while I have been disappointed and very critical of the minister's decision to seemingly capitulate to the religious right as he himself is a man of the cloth due to the questions that explore homosexuality, anal sex, HIV testing and disclosure and a problematic guided imagery exercise that asks the students in a controlled setting I might add (as I understand it) to imagine themselves gay and everyone else straight or hetersexual and the associated stigmas the student may feel in the reverse roles. 

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally part 1

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally part 2

In the absence of an 2012 online copy of the manual here are some of the questions as carried on TVJ when the story broke in November, the hard copies have been pulled from the trained teachers' hands. (no copyright infringement intended) Here is the 2009 version in case:

DOWNLOAD HERE

Here is the article by Miss Virtue:

Lifestyle Text Withdrawal Backlash - Calls And Letters, Attack Ministry, Minister

Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer

Jamaica's Education Ministry is taking a beating from local and international rights groups who are upset that it pulled the controversial health and family life education (HFLE) text issued to grades 7-9 students.

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites last week confirmed the attacks, but opted not to disclose the names of the groups and individuals leading them.

"We have been inundated by calls and letters because of the position the ministry took. Up to today (Wednesday), I received a broadside from a group of gay, lesbian and transsexual people in New Jersey in the United States, who wanted to know why I was in favour of hate crimes," Thwaites told The Sunday Gleaner.

According to Thwaites, the New Jersey group wanted to know when he could report to it the full information on non-discriminatory material available to all students in Jamaica.

"It has been surprising to me, because our position is that, in principle we support the instruction of children towards healthy, faithful heterosexual relations, with tolerance and with understanding and non-discrimination towards others who adopt a different and alternative lifestyle," the minister said.

According to Thwaites, the position taken by the ministry was consistent with the position taken by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

"But, apparently, there are many of those who want something much more than that and who feel that we must instruct children in all aspects of sexuality; homosexuality, heterosexuality at the earliest stages, without any caution or restraint, and we reject that," he said.

In September, the education ministry pulled the text after a parent pointed out the controversial content. Angry parents at the time demanded to know who approved the text even after it was withdrawn.

Approval questioned

The firestorm was ignited when it was discovered that the text, among other things, required grades seven to nine students to give responses to questions on their involvement in homosexual and heterosexual activity. Some stakeholders including parents and teachers questioned the process by which the Ministry of Education approved its teaching guides.

Thwaites accepted that officials at the ministry did not offer the rigid scrutiny the text should have undergone before it was signed off.

"We blinked," he admitted.

Faced with questions in Parliament from the opposition spokesperson on education, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, Thwaites argued that, "no minister of education of whatever political stripe would have knowingly allowed material as obnoxious as that contained in the HFLE curriculum to have been published, and it does appear that there were previous instances, and there were warnings, and it was a clear intention of some who have very clear predispositions regarding sexual conduct ... who got away on this one."

- erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com

ENDS

While I am strongly in support of some sort of sex and sexuality intervention at the high school level as I like others feel that the very reason we have so much homo-negativity and homophobia and patriarchal related challenges in society is because we have been taught reproductive health more so than S & S with a tolerant infused message. If this report by Miss Virtue is to be believed I cautiously used "harassment" in the eyes of the Minister is NOT my idea of engaging the official and to be fair to him he has met with JFLAG and other stakeholders prior to this uproar about the manual, he was present at the IDAHO conference in May where the J and other civil society groups were in attendance.

Yes we also appreciate the interventions (if you will) supporters overseas but they must be guided by the advocates on the ground, lest we forget in 2009 the Red Stripe Boycott in San Francisco and the attempted tourism boycott in Canada by what seemed to be over-exuberant friends without proper consultations and strategies, these high handed moves only serve to make the struggle extended or problematic as persons already resist the notion that Jamaica is one of the most homophobic places on earth (truth or not) thus the backlash at times towards homosexuality is actually the affront persons feel being supposedly castigated as homophobes. 

Just a word to the wise.

Peace and tolerance

H

Mexico's supreme court removes Oaxaca Civil Code Article 143 ..... marriage is now "between two people"

The Mexican Supreme Court today made a unanimous ruling which could signal the beginning of equal marriage rights across the entire country.

The ruling by the court has not been officially announced yet, however the advocates of equal marriage who started the case, have said that this decision “opens the door to equal marriage in the whole country”, reports After Marriage Blog.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of three couples wishing to marry in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

The court ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage is discriminatory, and that it is unconstitutional. The decision was partly based on a ruling from February, in which the Inter-American Court of Human Rights decided that governments couldn’t discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation.

The court already ruled in 2010, that same-sex marriages performed in Mexico City, where equal marriage is already legal, would be recognised throughout the country.

Today’s ruling could set a precent which would see the removal of any remaining equal marriage bans, in other states.

This decison by the Supreme Court does not mean an immediate end to some limitations of the definiton of marriage as one man and one woman, as the court does not have the power to do so, however Alex Alí Méndez Díaz, the lawyer who brought the case, said it represented the beginning of the end for equal marriage bans.

Today’s ruling could also have international repercussions, as courts in other Latin American countries which recognise the Inter-American Accord on Human Rights could follow this precedent. Not only that, but the Inter-American Court could be more likely to recognise universal marriage rights.

Three couples in Chile have already begun a case to remove the ban on equal marriage there.

Almost 400 same-sex couples married in Mexico within the first six months of the law permitting same-sex marriage coming into effect. The law also allowed gay couples to adopt.

The The SCJN removed Oaxaca Civil Code Article 143 which stated that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( SCJN) eliminated Oaxaca Civil Code Article 143 which stated that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Beginning today, is replaced with the Court ruling, involving marriages "between two people", so it does not matter if they are of different sexes or the same.

So that there is case law needed five resolutions in the same direction, so the three injunctions granted this afternoon, missing only two cases that are approved without interruption.

By now the three theses cases are isolated, but feel the precedent for any partner country for protection in order to be recognized as a marriage.

The case could be a support for cases that couples are granted, but does not imply that it should based on approved, but up to the judge to analyze each case.

The SCJN attracted three shelters on marriage between same sex in Oaxaca. The three couples went to the registry office in Oaxaca to get married, but the refusal of the authorities, took refuge.

In amparos 457/2012, 567/2012 and 581/2012 , alleging the unconstitutionality of discrimination of Article 143 of the Civil Code of Oaxaca and the failure to protect homo families.

The injunction was resolved in favor unanimously by the Court was the 581/2012, led by Minister Arturo Zaldivar.

In 2011, a federal judge granted an injunction Oaxacan capital to a couple of women who tried to legalize their union before the civil registrar of the city.

Since August 2011, the concerned submitted their application to the first Administrative Office of Vital Records downtown Oaxaca, but were rejected on the grounds that e l Article 143 defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Lizeth and Montserrat promoted an injunction against the decision of the court Oaxaca, arguing that Article 143 of the Civil Code of Oaxaca violates their fundamental rights to equality and non-discrimination.

The project aimed Minister Arturo Zaldivar sort, for the first time a state government to recognize and register the marriage between two people of the same sex.

The project was approved by three of the five members of the First Chamber. Was approved unanimously.

All civil codes allow only heterosexual marriage registration, unless the City, because in August 2010 the Supreme Court declared constitutional marriage between same sex in this capital.

However, with today's resolution of the Court opens the door to ensure that marriage is equal throughout Mexico.

also see: 

The US Supreme Court's Four Most Likely Moves On Gay/Lesbian Couples' Marriage Rights .............