Police woman charged for assault & wounding for attacking her lover ......................

(originally posted as awaiting charges March 27, 2012)
A female police officer who is a member of the ISCF, Island Special Constabulary Force has found herself in trouble with the law yesterday March 28, 2012 after she allegedly returned home from work before her regular hours to find her partner in a compromising position with a man who hailed from another area. 


The couple who resides in the Tivoli Gardens area has been known to be having issues for some time in their relationship as reports also suggests there have been public spats before between the two on more than one occasion. It has been rumoured her lover is actually bisexual and has been seeing male companions whilst the policewoman is away at work.


She has also had some issues with other persons in the area due to her status as a police officer reports also suggest. The police woman has been in custody as confirmed since yesterday at the Duhaney Park Precinct and maybe charged soon. It is also alleged that persons from the area and neighbouring apartments have visited the station in an attempt to humiliate her, namely friends of the man who her female partner was allegedly caught in the act with. The police however were said to have warned persons not to come to the station for those purposes and she maybe moved to an undisclosed location according to sources if the practice persists. 

After turning her rage on her cheating lover who created an alarm in the community the policewoman was cornered by her flat that she shared with her hubby and set upon by residents in the area and allegedly beaten before she was handed over to the police who arrived to break up the mobbing in time according to reports. She sustained hits to the face and upper body but was escorted to the car that arrived with persons jeering and condemning her action against her lover. Comments made by some of the persons suggests that people in general cheat and she should not have treated the young lady as if she were her man, dictating what she should do or who she should sleep with. Other persons were overheard to have said they should not be allowed to return to the area and the typical anti gay sentiments were also uttered in the form of no sodomite. no battyman and several others.

This incident comes on the heels of a public brawl recently with two other same gender loving ladies at a business complex recently in the business district after relationship issues came to a head, the incident which is still the subject of discussion in some social circles occurred in February of this year after a series of messages supposedly from an outsider interest in the same gender loving union caused a heated argument at one of the party's place of work where it ended up with the security detail of the office was called to escort the visiting party much to the humour of the shocked co-workers who laughed uncontrollably according to reports at the cursing women.


To have relationship fallouts spill into the public domain can have disastrous effects as the previous case has shown luckily the latter referenced was handled with more care it would seem on the surface based on reports. As at the creation of this post it is not yet clear if the accused policewoman has been charged but given the sensitivity of the issue being homosexuality in general and the major image problems the police has been having with a major human rights group launching a public stand against police abuses and killings she may be used as a poster child I fear. 

Unfortunately we also do not have any serious relationship counseling interventions as well to assist same sex couples in navigating life especially a couple as this residing in an inner city community with all kinds of prying and suspicions lurking that they could have avoided all together. Case in point an attempted suicide in 2010 that was carried by a tabloid newspaper and that was subsequently confirmed by myself and others which shows an urgent need for professional services for persons in long term same sex relationships.

See previous post click HERE

It is most unfortunate that this incident turned out the way it has and one hope she does not suffer too much due to her  error in judgement and that this can pass for both parties involved, the other woman is said to have kept a low profile since then as she is described as a "born and grow" meaning she is originally from the area so she has been circumspect in her moving, she is said to have visited the station but it is not yet known if a report has been filed by her so as to expedite the charges to be laid on the accused. 


UPDATE: She has been charged Yesterday Monday April 2, 2012.


The female police officer who is accused of chopping her female lover with a machete following claims that the complainant was having an affair with a man was remanded in court last Thursday until April 19.

Charged with wounding with intent is Sharnalee Lindsay, who is a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force.

It was also revealed in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court that the medical report is outstanding and the whereabouts of the complainant is unknown.

The Crown is alleging that on March 27, Lindsay and the complainant left home together and went to a location on Marcus Garvey Drive in the Corporate Area where Lindsay lured the complainant into bushes.

It is further being alleged that Lindsay used a machete to chop the complainant all over her body causing wounds that bled.

The Crown also pointed out that in the complainant's statement, she explained that she and the accused were in a very close relationship but she told the defendant that she was now with a male which angered the defendant.

However, Lindsay's attorney, C.J. Mitchell,dismissed the allegations put forward by the Crown and argued that it was Lindsay who was the actual victim.

Mitchell rebutted that his client and the complainant were not in an intimate relationship but were only close friends.

At the same time, he argued that on the day of the incident, it was the complainant who lured his client into bushes where she and a third party, who is now on the run, attacked Lindsay.

Peace and tolerance


H

US Anti-gay marriage group used aparteid-like race-baiting to fight marriage equality ???

So it seems based on a HRC release yesterday to include evidence of same.

Previously Confidential Documents Shed Light on (NOM) National Organization for Marriage Strategy NOM Exposed is a campaign-style operation that tracks and challenges the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage as it tries to influence elections and legislative campaigns across the US.

According to previously sealed documents obtained by The Human Rights Council HRC a human rights group defending LGBT rights in the United States an apartheid type set of strategies were said to have been planned and were to be executed by the aforementioned organization. 

HRC got a hold of internal NOM documents that shed light on the anti-LGBT movement’s overall strategy. These documents were just unsealed in Maine mid-afternoon on March 27. The docs are part of the ongoing investigation by the State of Maine into the campaign finance activities of NOM in that state. Much more to come but some high (low) lights from PDF page 13 of the “confidential” 2008-09 report to the NOM Board of Directors:

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…”

Another passage:

"The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity - a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation."

On PDF page 12, it talks about “sideswiping Obama,” painting him as a “social radical” and talking about “side issues” like pornography.


It was April 2011 where a top official at NOM had defected to support civil marriage equality and it is not the first time NOM has been accused of suspicious activity.

see the pages below on the latest revelations:

20100716 Doc 128b NOM Depo - Exhibit 2 - NOM Depo Exhibit 12 Nat'l Strategy for Winning 12-15-09

20100716 Doc 128a NOM Depo - Exhibit 1 - NOM Depo Exhibit 3 Nat'l Strategy for Winning 08-11-09

20100716 Doc 128c NOM Depo - Exhibit 3 - NOM Depo Exhibit 25 NOM Board Update 2008-2009

20100716 Doc 128d NOM Depo - Exhibit 4 - NOM Depo Exhibit 28 Marriage $20 Million Strategy

Sad that this is the route based on the evidence before us that opponents of gay marriage have taken to get their point across but then again it was also discovered that right wing Christian groups were financially supporting the anti gay Ugandan campaign including that infamous Bill that attempts are being made to have it pass. 

see:  In The Life Series: Coalition & Allies (anti gay conservatives & Ugandan links) 

In a sense I am not surprised.


here is an interview with Truth Wins Out's Wayne Besen

here is a subsequent interview with the previously absent NOM President in interview 1 (above) with gay Republican Fred Karger

Peace and tolerance

H


UPDATE:

Dr Heather Little-White Ph.D on Lesbianism among schoolgirls in Jamaica .........

The following article below the introduction of this post appeared in the Gleaner 's Outlook Magazine March 25, 2012 and was only available in hard copy and not online on the newspaper's site as is usual for the author's pieces. Given the sensitivities involved and the national uproar recently on the issue (see previous posts here and on GLBTQJA Wordpress) I thought it important to reproduce the article for those who missed it and for us to see the other points of view including those of qualified persons.

Previous blog posts of mine for additional reading include:

Alleged Lesbian Coercers in school – Should Get Proper Help – Expert 

 

Lesbians & Learning – Situtational Homosexuality at a Kgn All Girls School ?

Principals Association to address “Lesbian Issue” 

This is not in anyway intended to infringe on any copyrights held by the author or the publisher of the work but solely for educational and review purposes only. The text was captured by special OCR software and a scanner. Here is the article:

 

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS: 

Lesbianism among schoolgirls?
Heather Little-White, PhD Contributor

RECENT REPORTS of aggressive lesbian students terrorising younger girls in some Corporate Area high schools have shocked parents and school officials. One may ask why parents and school officials should be distraught when the provision of sexuality education is limited in the home and school. Sex education for girls tends to warn mainly against pregnancy and to a lesser extent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and often ignores the wider issues such as same-sex relationships, incest, sexual slavery, child prostitution and gender identity, among others.

THE LESBIAN TERM

The term 'lesbian' dates back to ancient Greece through a tragic story of an early Greek female poet Sappho who supervised a school for girls on the island of Lesbos in 600 BC. Sappho fell in love with one of the girls who did not respond to her romantic advances. Sappho took the rejection badly and drowned herself at sea.Sappho's legacy was a rich collection of love poems written to women as well as men, thus making her an early example of bisexuality. The term lesbian evolved in reference to the island of Lesbos where Sappho was born. It has been suggested that Sappho's relationships did not include any overt sexual relations and that female homosexuality was common on the island of Lesbos.

LESBIANISM DEFINED

What is lesbianism? It is a homosexual act in which two females are sexually and romantically attracted to each other. Further, it may be defined as a sexual and emotional appeal between females. Lesbianism and other same-sex relationships. have long been practised by teenagers who, influenced by raging hormones, become curious about their bodies and that of their peers. Such liaisons have been reported in primary and secondary schools and all-girls and all-boys boarding schools have had several incidents of same-sex intimacy being uncovered throughout the life of the institutions.

LADYLIKE BEHAVIOUR

School-aged girls in all-girls schools are afraid to be labelled 'lesbian' by their peers and they become overly girly in their dress and behaviour. Even school administrators will go to great lengths to produce ladylike graduates with acceptable standards of appearance and conduct. Despite that attempt to be ladylike, some parents report that their daughters are bullied and stalked by lesbians to join their lesbian groups. The coercive action commonly takes place in school bathrooms where older girls will hold younger ones in a corner, fondle their breasts and stroke their genitals and buttocks. Consequently, some girls refuse to drink fluids throughout the day to avoid going to the bathroom or they go in groups armed with sharp instruments to defend themselves or they may wait until they go home to void their bladder.

UNIVERSAL PRACTICE

Lesbianism in schools is universal. In Kenya, for example, six students in Moi Kadzodzo Girls Secondary School in Kilifi County allegedly admitted to have engaged in lesbianism at the school. The principal of the school pursued the investigation after reports from the general students' body that these girls identified were violating school rules as they were seen lavishly touching and kissing each other, activities that are not normal for people of the same gender and in a culture that is intolerable of lesbianism and transgender practices. (newsupdate.co.ke/)

Counselling was arranged for the students involved as well as for their parents to prevent psychological damage to both parties. Children who have been coerced into the practice of lesbianism could end up harming themselves like cutting their wrists or becoming withdrawn from family and friends.

DISEASE TO BE CURED?

As parents grapple with lesbian tendencies in their daughters, there is the question of the hormone link to lesbianism and whether lesbianism is a disease in need of a cure. Martin Hutchinson, in a BBC online article, posits that lesbians are more than twice as likely to suffer from a hormone-related condition, fuelling theories that hormones play a role in developing their sexuality. However, little is known about the origins of polycystic ovarian syndrome found in one in 10 women and which is linked to an excess of male sex hormones in the bloodstream. Symptoms include excess hair, acne, and obesity, as well as a heightened risk of more serious health problems such as diabetes and infertility. Research is still ongoing in the fields of human reproduction and embryology as to the staggering number of lesbian women who, on investigation, were found to be suffering either from polycystic ovary syndrome, or a less serious but related condition in which their ovaries showed many of the same features, but without the external symptoms.

NATURE VS NURTURE

There is the nature/nurture debate where it is believed that certain traits are innate in humans, a genetic factor that shapes human sexuality. By nature, sex drive affects the development of personal identity influenced by interactions with the physical and social environment. Sigmund Freud's theory is that nature influences the instinctive nature of the sex drive and placed sexuality as the central source of human personality. Another early theorist, John Locke, believed in the nurture perspective based on his theory of the mind it being seen as a blank state to receive the impression of one's environment which evehtually defines one's sexuality.

RELIGION

Religion influences parents' intolerance of lesbianism in their children to the extent that they may resort to violence, beating the 'hell' out of the child. Proponents of lesbianism question what exactly the Bible says about lesbianism The Bible in Leviticus 18:22 says, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as withwomankind: it is abomination." The proponents argue that the biblical passage makes no distinction between men and women. It might be interpreted to mean that sexual relations are to be between a man and a woman, and not same-sex unions. The perspectives on lesbianism are diverse and the issue should not be closeted but aired in any discourse on human sexuality through the life cycle. 

• Send questions/comments to: heatherl®cwjamaica.com.

Article ENDS

A note ................

Way back in 2006 allegations were that adult lesbians were visiting schools and at that time the JFLAG representative was reported to have said that no disciplinary action should be taken against the gay girls. “They should counsel them if this is what they are, but advise them that certain things are prohibited.”

However, the JFLAG repre-sentative condemned the actions of lesbians who are allegedly visiting the campuses and openly displaying their orientation.

“No one should do that. You can’t stay on the premises and do that. I don’t agree with older women going onto the campus to entice girls to do whatever with them.”

However, she said that if that is being allowed to happen on campus, school security is not performing up to par.

She disclosed that her organisation approached several schools “to give information and seminars, but they wouldn’t have it.” She believes that if permission were granted to stage the seminars, the girls would be better able to deal with the uncomfortable situation.

see: Lesbians in schools – Growing number of homosexuals in Corporate Area all girls’ high schools

and also see High school girls gone gay!

also see a previous post on Homosexuality in schools in St Lucia where a similar set or circumstances presented themselves with lesbian activity in a high school and how mature the response was: Homosexuality in schools in St. Lucia

Peace and tolerance

H

Mariela Castro: “U.S government is concerned about LGBT movement in Cuba”

Aday del Sol Reyes

Mariela Castro Espin, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), grants an exclusive interview to CubaSi where she explains the educational work carried out by this institution.

Bachelor of Psychology-Pedagogy and Master of Sexuality, Mariela Castro is known internationally as a champion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) rights in Cuba.

joined social networks and created an account on twitter, @CastroEspinM and the blog http://elblogdemarielacastro.blogspot.com in order to dismantle the prejudices that have been historically established and banish homophobia.

- You said “the Revolution has changed not only the lives of Cubans but also their sexuality” in a meeting with U.S. students last November. Why?

The Cuban Revolution meant not only the achievement of the long-awaited national sovereignty, but also a complex process of creating and implementing the project of justice, social equity and solidarity that has been built and defended during these 53 years.


This scenario led to the confrontation and dialogue between generations, cultural patterns, classes and social strata. Old paradigms of power based on domination and exploitation, inherited from Spanish colonial system and the U.S. neocolonialism, were questioned.

Undoubtedly, this process has generated radical and deep changes in our culture, our prejudices about sexuality, in the relation of domination of men over women, in the reconfiguration of courting, in sexual politics that privilege heterosexual relationships and exclude other forms of erotic and love relationships between human beings, which deny certain rights to those who do not meet these parameters.

Cuban cinematography and other artistic expressions have portrayed from a very creative point of view the vicissitudes of men and women for the development of these changes. For example, the overrated criteria of virginity and its contributing factor to marriage have been transformed. The same has happened with the imposition of a couple for the rest of our life, the sole responsibility of men as head of family, the loyalty standard of women and infidelity in men, the rejection of race relations, the myths of menstruation, the disqualification for single mothers and single women, women's rights, a disapproval to transgender people, gay and bisexual, among others.

- What is the status of the analysis of the bill calling for the legalization of gay marriage? Would the new Family Code recognize their property and personal rights besides allowing transsexuals’ change of identity?

At present, the draft bill proposal to amend the Family Code is being subjected to the criterion of specialists from the Ministry of Justice and professionals affiliated with the National Union of Jurists of Cuba. According to the Minister of Justice, its discussion in our Parliament is included in the legislative plan of 2012. I believe that the Party Conference may help to define a policy explicitly prohibiting discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity and, in turn, help to dismantle the prejudices that hinder its adoption. The purpose of these proposals corresponds to the need to recognize and protect the rights of our population.

With regard to facilitating the legal identity change for transgender people without surgical intervention (as it happens now), we presented, through the Federation of Cuban Women, in 2008, a draft decree-law of Gender Identity to the President of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the People's National Assembly. There is no information on the development of this legislative initiative yet.

The proposal has an inclusive character for all transgender persons, identified by a specialized Commission of the Ministry of Public Health, since not all can be performed a surgery because of their health or personal decisions.

On occasion of your visit to Holland, you wrote on your twitter account @CastroEspinM “There exists in Cuba an explicit policy of care not only over prostitution but also over transactional sex, which is individualized”. Could you explain this?

Regarding prostitution topic, I start from the conviction that the autonomy over the body of all persons should be respected as a right. However, sex market has not disappeared thanks to the prevalence of forms of social organization based on patriarchal and class exploitation systems among human beings.

Some of its expressions are hard to make visible because the efforts of governments are focused on the most traditional and explicit interpretations, such as prostitution and human trafficking. These cases include transactional sex that refers to women and men who get some benefit from sex practice, which is not necessarily money. It has always existed, but it is only now that we talk about this phenomenon and in Latin America it is closely related to sex tourism, which has an own logic.

In Cuba, since 1959, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) led the attention to the problems generated by prostitution as a form of exploitation, mainly toward women, who were also underprivileged not only for their gender status, but for race and social class reasons as well.

It is known that there were more than 100,000 prostitutes in very precarious and humiliating conditions, who have expressed in public testimonies, how the Revolution changed their life, by benefiting them and favoring their prominence within a great liberating process which contributed to dignify them.

The work done by the Revolution to eradicate prostitution is a matter of national pride. The crisis that began in 1990 favored its reappearance as a social problem with new characteristics, especially linked to the development of international tourism and a consistent presence of customers who pay for sexual services and generate this market. Therefore, she praised the Swedish experience of penalising the customer, which has proved effective in the reduction of sexual exploitation.

-How many sex change operations have been performed in Cuba so far and in response to what requirements is the selection made?

There have been 15 sex reassignment surgeries. The first was carried out by Cuban specialists in 1988. But it was not until 2007 that this procedure was retaken by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP).

There exists a National Commission for Comprehensive Care of Transsexual People that has received 175 requests from trans population since 1979 and they are assisted according to internationally agreed parameters. As long as we divulge these services in the media, there will come more people who experience the conflict and do not know they can receive help.

Until now, trans people should go through a two-year follow-up period in which they are accompanied by specialists, along with a personalized hormone treatment, during the transition to the gender with which they identify themselves. At the end of this process, the Commission endorses the people who are eligible and are apt for the sex reassignment surgery (popularly known as “sex change”) and for the legal change of identify.

This surgery is not an aesthetic whim, but a procedure scientifically agreed on worldwide, which shows a considerable benefit for the welfare of trans people. The surgical procedure contributes to ease the permanent anguish that these people have lived since their early childhood, as a result of the prejudices that lead to incomprehension and discrimination.

- What’s your opinion on the confirmation by WikiLeaks on the financing ($300. 000) the U.S government has established for the subversion of the LGBT project in Cuba?

In the first place, this explicit reaction on behalf of the U.S. government demonstrates that the work carried out in Cuba for the rights of the lesbians, gays, bisexual, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTI) worries and occupies them, in time and resources. Why? Because it shows the Cuban government's political will to face homophobia and transphobia as forms of discrimination, which are not consistent with the emancipating project defended by the Cuban revolution.

What we are doing tears apart the worn-out media campaigns to discredit the spirituality of the revolutionary project and makes evident the resources of North American taxpayers dedicated to lie, slander, demonize, and collapse this changing experience and its leaders.

They have set their efforts in giving privilege to a few unauthentic voices, repeating them in traditional media, blogs and social networks that follow a spiteful misleading program with a pre-established script.

Strong evidences have been presented on the orders received by these mercenaries, on behalf of the U.S. Interest Section in Havana. Some of these evidences were published by WikiLeaks.

Many people who have been eye witness of the facts and later read the news which have been broadly spread can appreciate the gross way of manipulating the international public opinion in largely influential press media like the Spanish CNN, El País, Der Spiegel, Radio Nederland, among others.

- Several steps have been taken in Cuba to promote the respect to the free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity, however, these are not enough yet. In your opinion which is the path to follow to get to the hearts of all Cubans and banish, once and for all, the homophobia in our country.

The first steps were taken by the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), with the creation of the National Group of Work on Sexual Education in year 1972, forerunner of CENESEX.

The FMC also propitiated a public debate on these topics. A landmark moment was the publication of the book "Man and Woman in Intimacy" (Sigfred Schnabel, 1979), in which a scientific voice argued, for the first time in Cuba, why homosexuality is not considered a disease.

Many homosexual people have told me the benefits these messages meant to them, against stigmatizing burden society imposes on them.

Exactly after assessing the actions we have carried out are not enough, in year 2007 we joined the initiative of the French activist Georges Tin of celebrating the International Day against Homophobia on May 17, because in that date of 1990 the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminated homosexuality from its manual of classification of mental illnesses.

From this experience in 2008 we begin to work with an educational strategy, with the support of the media, for the respect to the free and responsible sexual orientation and gender identity.

These activities have been supported by several state institutions and organizations of the civil society, with the support of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and they have contributed to create a LGBTIH movement, with the peculiarity of including heterosexual people who actively participate in this cause.

Why do we choose an educational and communicative strategy? 

Because it’s about a deep process of cultural transformation, of contributing with analysis elements to dismantle the prejudices that have been established historically to dominate people, their sexualities and their bodies. The change in the social awareness is really complex and takes a lot of time, but there must be a political will to enable the change, otherwise we would be repeating the ways of thinking of the exploitative societies before us.

- How much of Vilma is there in Mariela?

The permanent opposition to all expressions of social injustice. The commitment with the revolutionary process that has been generated since the first emancipating reactions of our people which became mature in the struggle for the definitive independence of the Cuban nation. The sincerity, the dissent, the humility, and the persistency.

Cubasi Translation Staff