The unease with the advocates

Well for some yes it was an uneasy time as last night's April 20th Open Mic Open Soul free expression session that occurred at the Oasis with several persons turning up earlier than normal as the guest for the evening was AIDSFREEWORLD Consultant and letter writing advocate Maurice Tomlinson. The session was to discuss the recently passed Charter of Rights and the missing elements relating to sexual orientation among other things plus some upcoming activities from his end and the usual poetry and expressive activities, also present was the Executive Director of Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays, JFLAG, the brown teddy bear Mr. Dane Lewis. Well apart from their lateness and the fact we had to wait a while for the proceedings to begin a few persons were asking why was there this aloofness by the gentlemen from the rest of the audience?

Things go off to a start non the less and we were all expecting to get far better particulars of the recently passed Charter of Rights instead what we got was a shortened version of sexuality rights in Jamaica with the Charter and a direction to google the Charter and read it for ourselves and then a list of what JFLAG has done and intends to do which bored the audience with persons walking around while some remain seated at one point, in essence a PR stunt to sedate the criticisms coming from the community, this had many after the guest's part of the session ended wondering what was that all about? One upset female voiced her concerns and said she wanted to understand the Charter better as she had seen Mr. Tomlinson on television some nights before on the issue and didn't quite understand some of the nuances, she continued that as a teacher she wanted to go back to her students to have a better exchange with them on the matter, she questioned what was going to be done towards those on the streets? ironically a cry that has been championed on this and my sister blogs. It was refreshing to hear another same gender attracted female voice openly concerns for sections of the MSM community, it shows persons are thinking and want more than just the run of the mill.

There were several pronouncements which also waxed cold with some members of the audience and left many to wonder if this is the kind of forumatic activity we should expect in the near future as according to Maurice they want to engage the community further, this of course came after the prodding of the hostess the capable Stacy who voiced her opinion that all parties in their own right need to be brought together to attack the issues at hand, she also said her space is available for meetings and other activities deemed beneficial to the community. The pomp of the gentlemen not using pseudonyms in their advocacy work as if to suggest those who do are somehow of a lesser breed was not well received, I ignored it but I realized afterwards when there was a suggestion to have them return for follow up sessions, two persons in particular were vociferous in their resolve and vowed they wouldn't attend any of those sessions because of the perceived contemptuous tone.

This is the first appearance by Mr. Tomlinson at the Oasis let's hope persons who were in attendance last night do not have that negative impression of him forever as they say first impression last.

AIDSFREEWORLD and the J seemed more interested however in the Buggery Law and its decriminalization more so than any inter community issues which many felt are also to be dealt with hand in hand as we try to move forward along with the poor communication issues. Again another excuse was given that there are demands locally and internationally on JFLAG's time (this while the ED of JFLAG himself is sitting quietly which was the clue that persons used to arrive at the PR stunt position) as Mr. Tomlinson explained away, the JFLAG ED then broke his silence and commented that the Pink Report (local bloggers) were seconded to do that part but they haven't been doing so, that explanation was not accepted by some in the audience as evidenced in the unease. So it seems that there is a image repair campaign going on but it's not going down well, another clear evidence of the unfavourable feelings that persons have of the group was evidenced in the expression section of the night's activity, the poems, recitals and opinion pieces that followed the departure of the two gentlemen immediately after their presentation were deeply questioning where are we as lgbt people and the feeling of ineffectiveness, one individual in particular lamented that he was tired of the foolishness, for my part in the exchange that followed I suggested that ordinary people are going to have to make up their minds to do their part however small to move us forward and leave or ignore the establishment, it's up to us now.

Many agreed with the conclusion made by a male participant when he answered his own question of why the J doesn't have the community support? he said because they are not prepared to properly engage the community and see people as people not numbers or victims.

"They must embrace the community or forget it, mi nuh have nuh time fi waste"

More and more persons though not exposed to advocacy either as volunteers, recipients of services and interventions or through other means are seeing the glaring disconnect and elitism. Another female from the audience likened the tone and presentation of the guests as local politicians who feel they are the be all and end all and we are to just follow.

I observed as best as I could the proceedings to try and get a glimpse of how persons are feeling and also not to obstruct the other voices that are starting to come through especially at this space, there are no other spaces at this time that offer this kind of cathartic activity coupled with the recognition of community development on a regular basis.

There were some good points however those on the history of the Buggery Law and some reasons for its removal, the need to used allies, the need to do proper research and documentation and reporting matters to the police were well received.

for some ........... If we are to move forward:

1) this feeling that there is a race to see who is doing it better has to go

2) this feeling that they (the advocates) are our betters and we must be relegated as subjects must go

3) we must agree to disagree

4) remove the grandstanding and self promotion and get the work done

5) allow other points of view to flow and develop

6) remove the insulation and secrecy

7) see people as people, human rights are for humans not for intellectual masturbation on paper or legal gymnastics

Those were just some of the ideas, pointers and suggestions put forward afterwards but this is not the first time we have had sections of the community voice their concerns, problem is they are not often voiced loudly enough or sent directly to the targets of the criticisms or placed as opinion pieces as I do here on this medium.

It was only some weeks ago on April 7th when the same attitude was exhibited by the Programs Manager of the J who was guest speaker at the same Open Mic event where he also tried to present JFLAG's view of how they think they are to be speaking on our behalf of course this is without any form of serious consultations or feedback from the body politic. Sadly the international community has been duped for a long time into believing that all is rosy on the representation front by the advocates in Jamaica on LGBT issues when more than 3/4 of us (my terms) are not even recognized but that is slowly being ebbed away by the coming out of more independent voices. There are young folks out there who have never heard of advocacy or JFLAG for that matter, we better recognize that.

See from the Wordpress Edition:

The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same ….. JFLAG’s Prescriptive Culture Still Exists

and from Gay Jamaica Watch

Real Advocacy or not?

I do hope that they the presenters also picked up on the mood of the audience at this session and realize that a major change in attitude, image and culture is required urgently, I go even further to suggest a total paradigm shift. I am looking for an organization with an open door policy, just as how it asks for tolerance directly or through its emissaries of the mainstream it should be tolerant of the very ever diversifying community it says it serves. We also on the outside cannot sit and wait for their transformation, we have to take matters into our own hands as well.

A special thanks to the Couture Elements team despite the ostracism and difficulties of the past in another dispensation found it needed to accommodate the J, this shows a high level of maturity and the recognition of the greater need of the community as a whole

Peace and tolerance

H