Concerns about labels & abuse towards same gender loving women

Concerns have been raised and are being vigorously debated in the same gender loving female communities and by extension the MSM and bisexual arenas as well, the following poll question was posed in a particular group on Facebook which sparked some serious debate with a thread having some one hundred and fifty plus responses and comments. Some persons were not aware based on those responses in the thread that lesbian and bisexual women were going through the public backlashes we have been seeing as of late, well to be precise this blog has been carrying the marked increases on attacks and lesbophobia towards same gender loving women since its inception in 2008.

The verbal assaults have seen a marked increase especially since 2011 and some leading to unprovoked physical exchanges and beatings. The usual names that were used before as included in the poll captured above were

"Dyke" (a more US used title but burrowed here),

"Man Royal" (a more localized colloquial description of butches set to be derived from the dancehall arena where artists such as Beenieman have captured in song),

"Pot Covers" (another local colloquial derived from the use of pot covers for noise making or neighbourhood watch alarm systems and the analogy that two pot covers when clanged together cannot produce anything but noise and is non productive juxtaposed to procreation),

"Crotch rubber/rug muncher (local colloquial as well from the dancehall/exotic nightclub arena where same sex themes have slowly crept into the mix and are accepted by male attendees in selected spots across the island to include a now defunct nightclub owned by a dancehall performer in New Kingston),

"Sadamite Gal" (local colloquial, patois for Sodomite girl, emphasis on the enunciation of the words when heard to reflect the disgust of the lifestyle),

"Dutty Suck pussy sadamite" (an extension to imply serious hatred of lesbianism, also a to declare a threatening posture close to some violent action when heard with emphasis on the enunciation as well)

"My Yute" (a more friendly description normally used by men in the company of close friends but used here towards a butch sister viewed as "one of the boys" or "one of us" bearing in mind the homosocial trends in Jamaican culture by males that also is supported in dancehall)

These of course are just a few of the many names conjured up within the past years as the opposition always seem to use the new names to continue the hate and stigma, sadly many of the sisters have seen their fair share of abuse, forced evictions (two in May 2011) profiling as seen above in the question posed, the sister who posed it was verbally attacked and almost accosted by a group of domino playing men in a section of Half Way Tree in April, another sister was almost abducted in April as well as has since then lived as a hermit barely venturing out to the streets except for needed occasions.

Another sister was driven down by a taxi driver also near the Half Way Tree area as well who was clearly not pleased with her aesthetic presentation accusing her of "taking away women" from men and the other awful stereotypes of same gender loving women. I encourage everyone to be vigilant out there although sadly some folks have a simple minded view that persons "cause" incidents to reach them simply by how they look so they recommend persons must change their look in order to avoid attacks or abuse, should we change to suit others who are ignorant?

No, I say we must be ourselves no matter what persons may think, frankly speaking some homophobes make it their business to get into others business, an unneeded move on their part.

Peace and tolerance

H

Treatment Is Affected by the T-Cell Coreceptor HIV Uses

The coreceptor used by HIV to infect CD4 cells (referred to as its tropism) affects how well standard HIV treatment works, according to a study published in the July 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. This is the first study to suggest that viral tropism affects the response to treatments other than the drug Selzentry (maraviroc).

Toward the end of the last decade, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) made one of the most important discoveries regarding HIV: that the virus uses receptors other than CD4 to enter and infect T-cells. These coreceptors function somewhat like doorknobs, and HIV must first bind and attach to CD4, and then to one of two other coreceptors, either CCR5 or CXCR4, to enter cells.

After detecting these coreceptors, researchers made several other key discoveries. First, they found that people whose virus prefers to use CXCR4 tended to have lower CD4 counts and faster HIV disease progression than people whose virus prefers CCR5. Second, they found that those born without the ability to make the CCR5 coreceptor were highly resistant to HIV infection. This led to the development and approval of a drug to block CCR5, that drug being Selzentry. For Selzentry to work, however, a person must only carry CCR5-tropic virus and not CXCR4-tropic or mixed-tropic virus.

What hasn’t been studied until now, however, is whether a person’s viral tropism would have an effect on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment responses to drugs other than Selzentry. To explore this, Eduardo Seclén, MD, and his colleagues from the Hospital Carlos III in Madrid, examined blood samples from HIV-positive people enrolled in the ARTEN study, which compared a regimen containing Viramune (nevirapine) to a regimen containing Norvir (ritonavir)–boosted Reyataz (atazanavir).

The participants in both groups were similar in most respects, and overall the study found that the two different regimens had similar efficacy. Seclén’s group, however, was interested not in how those treatments compared with one another, but in how a person’s HIV tropism would affect his or her response to starting either treatment.

Of the 482 participants in the study who were treated for at least 48 weeks, 14 percent had CXCR4-tropic virus at the start of the study. The rest had CCR5-tropic virus. Also, 22 percent had a strain of HIV (called a clade) other than clade B, the most common strain in Western Europe and the United States.

Seclén and his colleagues found that a person’s tropism significantly affected the response to treatment. Overall, while 92 percent of those with CCR5-tropic virus had an undetectable viral load after 48 weeks of treatment, this was true in only 77 percent of those with CXCR4-tropic virus. When multiple factors were considered, a person’s tropism remained significant until the 24-week point. In people with clade B virus, however, tropism was significant at both 24 and 48 weeks. Contrary to other studies, those with CXCR4-tropic virus had similar increases in CD4 counts as those with CCR5-tropic virus.

“In antiretroviral-naïve patients beginning antiretroviral therapy, baseline…tropism seems to be an independent predictor of virologic response,” conclude the authors, adding that “this observation may have important clinical implications for the monitoring of antiretroviral therapy and interpretation of comparative trials.”

ENDS

More on Tropism and drugs prescriptions HERE

Your doctor needs to know your HIV tropism before prescribing co-receptor antagonists. Your HIV has its own unique identity. Tropism refers to the co-receptor that a particular HIV strain uses to enter the CD4+ cell. The two most common co-receptors are CCR5 (R5) and CXCR4 (X4). Trofile™ is a novel test that pinpoints your tropism status –R5, X4, or a combination of these known as dual/mixed. Trofile reveals if your virus primarily uses the CCR5 co-receptor. This can help your doctor decide to prescribe a CCR5 antagonist. This new class of antiretrovirals targets CCR5-specific HIV entry into the cell.

How does tropism affect my treatment plan?

If your HIV tropism is CCR5, there’s a new kind of medicine that can help stop HIV from getting in.

Peace and tolerance

H

Remembering Brian Williamson (September 4 1945 - June 9, 2004)

a special post outside of the October History month but relevant non the less

the good days with his dog Tessa at home

Brian Williamson (September 4 1945 - June 9, 2004) was a Jamaican Gay rights activist and co-founder of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians and Gays, J-Flag. He was known for personally housing and looking after gay people in Jamaica. A pleasant smile was what one would get upon entering his complex up until his death and he sought to it that homeless persons were assisted in what ever way he could, which may explain my push in this regard as my early exposure to that side of on the ground advocacy and his own struggle to convince others to include that part of crisis interventions into the mix.

He was murdered with a machete, suffering multiple stab wounds to neck and face.Williamson's confessed murderer, Dwight Hayden, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after fifteen years.

Other posts and articles on Brian:

Remembering Brian Williamson

Gleaner on Remembering Brian Williamson June 20, 2004

More related posts that named Brian: HERE

More from Gay Jamaica Watch: HERE

More from GLOBALGAYZ: HERE

Sadly missed

One of the founding members of JFLAG, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals & Gays (worth repeating)

Owner of one of the most successful gay entertainment spots in Jamaica, The Entourage and a dedicated activist. One of the memorable moments in our GLBTQ history is an appearance on Jamaican television then known as (JBC) Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation coming out to the nation and by extension the world and putting a face to the gay community.

The VHS tapes should be available at JFLAG's archives in Kingston, we hope they have been stored properly and not left to go the route of the Gay Freedom Movement archives that subsequently what was left of those were retrieved by it's founder Larry Chang and archived overseas were not in proper condition due to poor handling and storage, sad as Jamaica should have been the repository for such important materials.

A pity as he must be turning in his grave now to see how we are at odds over what is to be done for the movement in totality of the LGBTQI communities instead we are left with a joke of an advocacy with criticisms of dissenting voices described as "bickering" as if the establishment are infallible when the engagement of everyone for or against should be the thrust forward in dealing with not just the repulsion of the buggery law while affixing HIV/AIDS issues which seems to be the main focus while the urgently required social interventions for certain sections of the community to uplift and rebuild their lives. Sadly it seems more about self-aggrandizement coupled with an elitist agenda with a general intolerance for views outside the system. The ordinary LGBTQI body politic seems relegated to just followers with selected individuals given a platform. The loss of a former volunteer and contracted individual earlier this year via a gruesome murder with not so much as some formal recognition for however small his contribution was glaring to say the least.

Read more here from the Wordpress edition of GLBTQJA

All this was not the original plan when The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays was first formed and launched albeit that from the get go if I am to go from memory the signs of the aforementioned opposition to certain types of intervention ideas were knocking at the door but were not as pronounced as today.

Let us however move towards working together for the greater good of those down trodden and or displaced with a sense of hopelessness, rest assured the criticisms will not and cannot be stopped as it is by picking the meat from same and having real forumatic activities that the solutions will come.

Love always

Peace

Community members who have left us

Since 2011 we have lost many friends and members of the community to all kinds of reasons at a most alarming rate. Two of those promoted died under very tragic and strange circumstances according to reports and investigations on the evidence presented. Certainly the belief that when death comes in our community it seems to come in sets of threes a phenomenon that is yet to be explained and understood.

Yesterday June 5 we lost a key transgender entertainment figure due to a domestic dispute that went horribly out of control leading to a stab wound inflicted she reportedly died on the spot, condolences are flying from all angles as this post is prepared.

We also lost former Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays Management Committee Head and founder of Caribbean Vulnerable Community Coalition CVC Dr. Robert Carr who died in his sleep in Canada where he was residing, he passed in his sleep and was discovered some time after. His body was cremated and a service was held in memory of him on Saturday June 4th.

Garfield aka Biggy also passed just days after Dr. Carr's departure in his sleep as well here in Jamaica, he was recovering from a prolonged hospital stay due to kidney and other related health problems, this is the one that hits me the most as he was close to me by virtue of being involved in a crisis intervention exercise of which he was a subject of homophobic abuse some twelve years ago, ever since then we have kept in close contact and he often attends parties where I act as DJ dancing up a storm when he could before diabetes and kidney problems took over.

(taken from sister blog on wordpress, three tragic deaths in April 2011):
As the doleful expressions continue to pour out from the community following Wednesday April 6th’s stunning revelation on social networking sites and subsequent confirmatory phone calls and an impeccable police source that a former lgbt advocate who was associated with JFLAG at one point was found in his upper St. Andrew apartment after being dead for several days (it is surmised from as early as the Friday April the 1st). The man (name will be withheld for now) in his early twenties was found with several stab wounds. An on the spot post-mortem had to be carried out and my combined sources suggest that the body was ordered for immediate burial due to the state of decomposition.

Actual cause of death is not known clearly but reports suggest it may be related to his rocky relations he was having with another friend, the body was found by his partner who returned home after not seeing or hearing from the deceased for a short time as he was out of town on business he went to the home and was greeted by the offensive odour only to make the gruesome discovery, it is also surmised that more than one attackers may have been present to over power the deceased as his physical built would not permit one person to successfully over power him. As the investigations continue the police are tight lipped but it is strongly suspected that the deceased was lured to his home by his attackers when he met his untimely demise.

Personal effects including cellphones, a laptop and his car were missing there were no signs of a break in but some sections of the apartment were ransacked suggesting the intruder(s) had conducted a search before making good their exit. The body was said to have over 12 stab wounds and his penis was severed according to reports. The father of the deceased showed no mercy for his son as he openly blasted his homosexual lifestyle and at one point was restrained as he attempted to remove items from the home which was still a crime scene as investigations continued.

Even in death homophobic cruelty is so glaring the advocate who was known to many as a quiet dude with strong opinions some of which clashed with mine in the occasional debate over drinks or at socials also had his share of problems with his outing and subsequent temporary displacement and run ins with his father coupled with ostracism from the church flock of which he was a part, what is even more disturbing is the way in which the deceased father insisted on not taking the body after the pathologist ordered an immediate burial following the on the spot post mortem, the morgue attendants and funeral home representatives offered to do what they could to reshape the body for a proper closed casket service and burial despite the circumstances that prevailed but his father flatly refused and said he wanted no part in the burial while using the derogative anti gay remarks to castigate his son while his body laid mutilated at the scene, so upset were persons present that they could not help but vent their frustrations at his behaviour and the position taken. The police however who were on hand helped to calm the nerves of the parties so as to avoid any physical confrontation and contamination of the crime scene, The body was later removed and reportedly placed in a sufferer’s box as it is known in some circles and taken to the May Pen Cemetery where it was laid without any proper rights accorded much to the hurt and sorrow of many of his friends and associates.

He was with the advocacy group Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays (JFLAG) for a short time involved in Administration and some Crisis Interventions as well, he also hosted lymes and small parties at his home from time to time and also sat on the GLABCOM (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Community) Steering Committee associated with the Targeted Interventions of Jamaica AIDS for Life just over a year. He assisted many young turks who were coming out at the time in their late teens through his work with the performing arts for a short period of time as well. Sad that JFLAG was silent on the matter despite his short tenure there, they could have assisted in his burial.

RIP dear J

Man found dead in St. Ann

Reports also are coming in from another section of North Central Jamaica where a popular party figure was found with one stab wound and throat cut as well last Tuesday April 12th, again details were hazy as there are several theories and conflicting reports he was however said to have left home to meet with someone who was to have sold them some items but was missing for some time and was found in the state as described above. Confirmation soon came and a western based newspaper carried the story describing the speculation surrounding his death as strange circumstances, he was laid to rest at the end of April.

Known for his dancing style at parties he was given a particular nick name and frequented events mostly in central Jamaica but would make the occasional trek to Kingston to shake a leg. He too has been laid to rest as a close relative handled the issue quietly to avoid any backlash.

RIP Kelly K K

There are three other unconfirmed deaths said to have taken place in Kingston with one at the very spot where a previous murder of one of our family members took place December 2, 2010 by the National Works Agency building as more is available there will be adjustments to this post.

Sadly every year we go through this blood-letting exercise where we loose many of our brothers to sometimes unexplainable and horrific acts of murder and sadly they always seem to come in sets of threes, superstitious or not one wonders who will be next and if these awful occurrences are being done by homophobes or are there deeper issues we are not really taking a look at.

Please be safe out there friends, watch out for your neighbour look out for yourselves.

Peace and tolerance

H