Zero Discrimination Day 2017 ...... #zerodiscrimination

Zero Discrimination Day

1 March 2017

On 1 March, people around the world join together to celebrate Zero Discrimination Day.

The UN first celebrated Zero Discrimination Day on March 1, 2014, after UNAIDS, a UN program on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), launched its Zero Discrimination Campaign on World AIDS Day in December 2013.

Discrimination remains widespread—gender, nationality, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion can all unfortunately be the basis for some form of discrimination. In only four out of 10 countries worldwide do equal numbers of girls and boys attend secondary school and 75 countries have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual relations.

“When the most marginalized and vulnerable face discrimination and abuse, all of us are diminished,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The United Nations is strongly committed to upholding human rights and dignity for all.”

Discrimination in health-care settings also continues to be widely reported. Imagine a young woman newly diagnosed with HIV being told by her doctor that she must be sterilized, a sex worker facing violence or abuse from a nurse, a disabled person denied access to proper advice about their sexual health, a gay man frightened of disclosing his sexuality to medical staff, a person who injects drugs dying after being refused treatment or a transgender person attempting suicide after being turned away from a clinic.

Health-care settings should be considered as safe and caring environments, however, such cases are happening too frequently throughout the world. Any obstacles that inhibit access to health-care facilities, including to testing, treatment and care services, must be removed. Access to health must be open to everyone.

also:

PRESS RELEASE

UNAIDS URGES EVERYONE TO MAKE SOME NOISE FOR ZERO DISCRIMINATION

GENEVA, 23 February 2017—Everyone will have experienced discrimination of some kind during their lives; however, non-discrimination is a human right. Equally, states and individuals have a legal obligation not to discriminate. This year, on 1 March, Zero Discrimination Day, UNAIDS is urging people to make some noise around zero discrimination, to speak up and prevent discrimination from standing in the way of achieving ambitions, goals and dreams.

Discrimination has many forms, from racial or religious discrimination to discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or age, and to bullying at school or at work. In only three out of 10 countries worldwide do equal numbers of girls and boys attend upper secondary school, and people living with disabilities are nearly three times more likely to be denied health care than other people.

“Everyone has the right to be treated with respect, to live free from discrimination, coercion and abuse,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Discrimination doesn’t just hurt individuals, it hurts everyone, whereas welcoming and embracing diversity in all its forms brings benefits for all.”

Zero discrimination is an integral part of UNAIDS’ vision and for this year’s Zero Discrimination Day UNAIDS is calling for zero discrimination in health-care settings. The right to health is a fundamental human right that includes access to affordable, timely and quality health-care services for all, yet discrimination remains widespread in health-care settings, creating a serious barrier to access to HIV services.

“Health-care settings should be safe and supportive environments. It is unacceptable that discrimination is inhibiting access to care today,” said Mr Sidibé. “Eliminating discrimination in health-care settings is critical, and we must demand that it become a reality.”

Data from 50 countries from the People Living with HIV Stigma Index show that one in eight people living with HIV report being denied health care. Around 60% of European Union/European Economic Area countries report that stigma and discrimination among health-care professionals remains a barrier to the provision of adequate HIV prevention services for men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs.

This year, UNAIDS is calling on everyone to make some noise for #zerodiscrimination. Zero Discrimination Day is an opportunity to highlight how everyone can be part of the transformation and take a stand for a fair and just society.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

ENDS

Peace & tolerance

H

Amnesty International Report - Jamaica 2016/7

Unlawful killings and extrajudicial executions continued. Violence against women and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people persisted. Children continued to be detained in violation of international standards.

Background

In February, the Jamaica Labour Party won the general election and Andrew Holness became Prime Minister.

Despite committing to the establishment of a national human rights institution, Jamaica had not established the mechanism by the end of the year.

Jamaica continued to have one of the highest homicide rates in the Americas.

Police and security forces

In June, a Commission of Enquiry published its much-anticipated report into the events that took place in Western Kingston during the state of emergency, declared on 23 May 2010, which left at least 69 people dead. Almost 900 pages long, the report identified a number of cases of possible extrajudicial execution and produced a number of important recommendations for police reform.1

In an official response, the Jamaica Constabulary Force accepted a number of recommendations, such as committing to hold administrative reviews into the conduct of officers named in the Commissioners’ report. However, the police continued to refuse to accept any responsibility for human rights violations or extrajudicial executions during the state of emergency. By the end of the year, the government had still not officially indicated how it would implement the recommendations of the Commissioners.

While the number of killings by police have significantly reduced in recent years, 111 people were killed by law enforcement officials in 2016, compared with 101 in 2015. Women whose relatives were killed by police, and their families, experienced pervasive police harassment and intimidation, and faced multiple barriers to accessing justice, truth and reparation.

Violence against women and girls

According to local NGOs, national legislation to address violence against women remained inadequate. For example, the Sexual Offences Act continued to narrowly define rape as non-consensual penile penetration of a woman’s vagina by a man, and to protect against marital rape in certain circumstances only. By December, over 470 women and girls had reported rape during the year, according to the police.

Criminalization of women engaged in sex work continued to place them at risk of discrimination, arbitrary arrest and violence by the police.2

Children’s rights

The NGO Jamaicans for Justice reported that children were still being detained in police lockups for being “uncontrollable”, often for illegal periods and in inhumane conditions.

Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people

There remained no legal protection against discrimination based on real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Young LGBTI people continued to face bullying and harassment in the absence of legal protection. Consensual sex between men remained criminalized.

Between January and June, 23 people reported to the LGBTI rights NGO J-FLAG that they had been physically assaulted or attacked because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

A survey published by J-FLAG found deeply homophobic attitudes. For example, only 36% of Jamaicans surveyed said they would allow their gay child to continue to live at home. Almost 60% of respondents said they would harm an LGBTI person who approached them.

In June, the Attorney General used social media to criticize the US Embassy for flying a Pride flag after the killings of LGBTI people in a nightclub in Orlando, USA.

In August, for the second year in a row, J-FLAG held activities to celebrate Pride Week.

International Justice

Jamaica again failed to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, signed in September 2000, nor had it adhered to the UN Convention against Torture or the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Jamaica: State of Emergency 2010 – ten things the government must learn, and ten things it must do (AMR 38/4337/2016)

"I feel scared all the time": A Jamaican sex worker tells her story (News story 27 May 2016)

International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers 2016

Sex Workers Outreach Project joins sex workers, allies and advocates from around the world in recognizing December 17, the International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers. As we approach this day, we come together to remember those lost this year and renew our commitment to the on-going struggle for empowerment, visibility, and rights for all sex workers.

On December 17th, We also renew our commitment to solidarity. The majority of violence against sex workers is not just violence against sex works—it’s also violence against transwomen, against women of color, against drug users, against immigrants. We cannot end the marginalization and victimization of all sex workers without also fighting trans-phobia, racism, stigma and criminalization of drug use, and xenophobia.

Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers was first recognized in 2003 as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle Washington. Since 2003, Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers has empowered people from cities around the world to come together and organize against discrimination and remember victims of violence.

During the week of December 17th, sex worker communities and social justice organizations stage actions and vigils and work to raise awareness about violence that is commonly committed against sex workers. The assault, battery, rape and murder of sex workers must end. Racism, economic inequality, systems of colonialist and state violence and oppression must end. The  stigma and discrimination and criminalization that makes violence against us acceptable must end. Please join with sex workers around the world and stand against criminalization and violence committed against our communities.

Red umbrella symbol

The red umbrella is an important symbol for sex worker rights and is used for events that are held on December 17. The red umbrella symbol was first used by sex workers in Venice, Italy in 2001. Slovenian artist Tadej Pogacar collaborated with sex workers to create the "Prostitute Pavillion" and CODE: RED art installation for the 49th Venice Biennale of Art. Sex workers also held a street demonstration, the Red Umbrellas March, to protest inhumane work conditions and human rights abuses.

The International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) adopted the red umbrella as a symbol of resistance to discrimination in 2005. A corresponding march was organised as the closing event to the European Conference on Sex Work, Human Rights, Labour and Migration conference, held in Brussels, Belgium, at which almost 200 participants appeared.

Locally the Sex Workers Association of Jamaica, SWAJ seems to be dead in the water as of late, they have been silent, not a word from its President or on their social media pages yet.

Peace & tolerance

H

Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society gets worked up over a phonebook!

sure he's not! a former headline on the group in 2013 in the Gleaner

Yet again we are subjected to total nonsense from the goodly folks at the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society to laughable proportions. The selectivity indeed hypocrisy of this entity and its colleagues at its predecessor Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, Lovemarch, Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches and Montego Bay Ministers’ Fraternal to name a few have all been trying to latch on to issue they can find to legitimise their piety yet often end up in abject failure with a captive audience laughing with popcorn spillages to boot. The age old criticisms thrown at the JCHS et al is that they have only strength for homosexuals and the so called LGBT lobbyists but are silent on virtually everything else, especially after the Gleaner headline “We’re Not Crazy” some time ago which pin pointed the nonsensicality of the group’s advocacy; nothing on the corruption front, nothing on clerical abuse or very persons in the pastoral and priesthood care yet very little as a dribble, nothing on lotto scamming and the involvement of so called pastors directly or indirectly via ‘spiritual protection’ from enemies or police capture, then there is the pastors themselves who are forced into silence with a now infamous bombing of a church just because the pastor spoke out on the illegal activity.

The silence on church abuse by the very pastors themselves of psychologically weak church sisters and indeed brothers as well even while promoting celibacy, fearmongering and intellectual dishonesty on HIV/AIDS rates from especially foreign sources. Now comes the headline, what a waste on the part of the JCHS when more important matters scream for attention. By the way who uses phonebooks these days when smartphones are in and APPS assist in locating persons plus WhatsAPP, SNAPchat and so on that may eventually eliminate the need for a hard copy directory in the long run? When groups such as Women’s Media Watch WMW discusses objectification of women in media as they have done for years where oh where these ‘church groups’ to aid the awareness.

The Gleaner carried this by Jovan Johnson:

the actual cover proposed for 2017 that caused the uproar

the new or alternate cover

Jamaica's church lobby has forced the publishers of the 2017 Yellow Pages to produce an alternative version of the telephone directory because of an "offensive" dancehall depiction it says is spreading "wrong" values.

The Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society led the campaign against the directory, which Global Directories Ltd was hoping would celebrate indigenous Jamaican music.

The depiction at the centre of the controversy shows a reggae scene with scantily clad women dancing with men at what appears to be a typical street session.

"We have challenges with our young people in terms of the values, the conduct that they are being exposed to. We thought that what was displayed there wasn't something that was beneficial," said Dr Wayne West, chairman of the coalition.

"We didn't think that scene, which was sort of a dancehall scene, was ideal. It wasn't the best thing that could have been done for the Yellow Pages - something which is so widely distributed and which is supposed to be the product of a company that should be seeking to elevate rather than to encourage behaviour that is not necessarily ideal."

Yesterday, Ian Neita, chief executive officer of Global Directories, said while the company would not apologise for using the scene, it understood the Christian group's concerns.

"In our response to their letter, we apologised for offending them because it was not the intention to offend them. We're not accepting that the depiction was offensive because that is a matter of interpretation," Neita told The Gleaner.

"We have provided an alternative cover for institutions such as churches and schools. Anybody who is offended by that depiction, they'll have a choice in having a replacement," he said, adding that the controversial depiction done by Raymond Jackson would remain in circulation.

Three directories are printed for Jamaica yearly: one for Kingston and St Andrew, an islandwide publication, and one residential. The controversial picture is on the cover of the directory for Kingston and St Andrew.

Ska is on the residential directory, while the scene depicting reggae is displayed on the islandwide copy.

In the reggae scene, scantily clad women are shown dancing with men at what appears to be a typical street dance.

Neita said that the company admitted that there's a "commercial and principled" aspect to the decision to print an alternative version.

"A church may be listed in the book [and] once they advertise in the book. In a kind of way, they become a co-sponsor. If it were a private magazine that we were putting forward in the public space, I think it would be a little bit different. I don't think we're resiling from a principled position by saying, 'Hey, I'll give you an alternative'."

Questioned on whether the company was setting a bad precedent by appeasing the church group, Neita said the "power" of the local religious lobby could not be ignored.

"In our society, the Church is a powerful lobby. We are a society that is fundamentally based on Christian principles. I don't think it's something that we can disregard. I'd like to think we kind of took the high road rather," he said.

"We still ended up having both (genres of music)."

Meanwhile, dancehall expert Dr Donna Hope said she did not see anything wrong with the scene.

"Dancehall culture is a very important part of Jamaican youth culture, and a dancehall scene on the front of the Yellow Pages, I and others thought it was an appropriate kind of image in a country where dancehall continues to provide response to and information about who we are as a people."

She said West has questions to answer.

"I would question Dr West on what children are exposed to in Jamaica and also wonder if Dr West is aware of the longevity of dancehall in Jamaica and the similarity in terms of his comment with that of many others."

The University of the West Indies senior lecturer added: "I would also want to find out if it is that Dr West, as a clergyman who is aware of the various challenges that we face in Jamaica, with multiple aspects of the socialisation planks, has also taken to task other critical aspects of our society that have been impacting our young people."

Neita declined to give the cost of the reprinting.

ENDS

Dr Wayne West and company seems to forget this is a free country where there is separation of church of state, this is not a theocracy; fearmongering on a simple artwork that is also representing older concepts of dancehall, yes I agree that appropriateness overall in other spaces where children maybe exposed is important but the photo(s) are tame compared to what children are exposed to on social media via smartphones that are not monitored and present dancehall aesthetics. Because the photos reflect the bowels of the people elitists such as Dr West would want to suppress expressions, the photo is not racy as now and is not relevant to the current context of dancehall. The age difference or generation gap is clear here as the values of older persons who mostly populate these anti gay and fanatical groups is way different and ever changing than todays ‘millennials’ generations as they are called they do not even use phonebooks some may not even know what such an item is; it is near obsolete and relevant to an older demographic as laptops (slowly going out of style as well) smartphones, tablets, fablets and possibly wireless personal communications in the touted forms of a cyborg type are coming as talk of such are here. Even church people are using Bible APP instead of a hard copy of the Bible and one has to ask where does this man and his foolish followers live? They are used more so for propping short people on a bench per say or just to decorate the coffee table at home or so.

Do we hear teens or kids ask for a phonebook!

This whole ugly mess is sheer nonsense and somebody needs to tell Dr West where he and his cronies should go jump off. In the words of Dennis Brook this morning on his ‘What’s on my mind’ segment on Nationwide, “Shut your pie-hole” JCHS just makes honest peaceful church folks look bad as the ‘church’ gets labelled overall as silly or behind the times. Sad the rest of the church community who seem not to want to ruffle the feathers of some stay silent when crap like this occur.

‘Nuff said.

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:
Leighton Levy on Gays are not our problem .... JCHS told to check the mirror

Ronnie Thwaites’ rubbish on flying rainbow flags grooms children into “particular lifestyle”


Christians say ... Don't force gay agenda on them ........ lol  

Hypocrisy from the religious bigots .. 

Silent on murders, vocal about gays 

Is this a joke .... Church group denies gay bias 

Healthy coalition nonsense! indeed

Objectives of Parents Month indeed with LGBTQI children invisibility ..........

November is Parents Month, which has been observed annually since 2000. As per usual the omission of LGBT families and or children was evident yet again this year. In addition, the Ministry of Education, in 1991, designated March 10-15 as Parents' Week, using the theme: You can make a difference to your child's education.

An series of extended radio discussions by mostly the parent teachers associations, religious leaders and others only sought to reinforce the exclusion in their ideas of a perfect world, namely Reverend Clinton Chisholm and others; they want to supposedly 'purify' the stream as is in their eyes LGBTQI children are an anathema. 

The objectives of Parents Month for this year include:

To celebrate and recognize the achievements of our parents and guardians

To create opportunities for parents to further develop their parenting skills

Support the strengthening of the home-school relationship

To encourage our men to be more involved in the role of parenting

To remind our youth that parenting is a serious responsibility that should be undertaken only by prepared and mature adults

To encourage parents to join the PTA so that they too can have a voice in the transformation of the education system and the running of schools

To develop an awareness in parents that they are their child's first teacher so they should be good examples and mentors to ALL children

To encourage communities and ALL adults to protect our children, support parents in their role and be partners in the raising of children

To promote family life and health education in schools, as preparation of tomorrow's parents begins with the education of children

Create networks among parents for their own support and that of their children and the schools the children

Inform parents of the material and human resources that are available to help them to become effective parents

Nowhere in the mix is anything was any reference to LGBTQI kids save and except for the reparative therapy ambit. Children can be broken as it were once they display any non conforming behaviour and then we expect unity!

Buoyed by the Trump win some of these religious fanatics are more emboldened to support anti LGBT sentiments while ignoring the open misogyny by the said presumptive President then they also ignore the disgraceful nude parading of his THIRD wife; they claim God is using Trump to change the status quo and gay marriage in the USA will be defeated despite a Supreme Court judgement.

The general tenets of the objectives are noble but we are now in a different day and age and they MUST be way more inclusive than before.

Think on these things

Peace & tolerance

H

UN Human Rights Council votes for independent expert on LGBT discrimination

In a 23 against 18 vote (6 abstentions)*, the United Nations Human Rights council voted in favour of a resolution condemning violence discrimination against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The resolution establishes the new position of an independent expert, whose role it will be to assess the implementation of existing international human rights instruments regarding LGBT people.

The expert will furthermore identify best practices and gaps in terms of protection. The expert will engage in dialogue with states and other institutions on how to improve the situation and is mandated to report annually on the situation around the world.

The resolution builds upon two previous resolutions, adopted by the Council in 2011and 2014.

Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Co-President of the LGBTI Intergroup, reacted: “This is a truly historic resolution. The Human Rights Council has taken a fundamental step forward by reaffirming one of the United Nations’ key principles—that everyone is equal in dignity and rights.”

“At the same time it acknowledges that LGBT people across the world continue suffer from (state-sponsored) discrimination and violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. I believe that the independent expert can play a key role in addressing this.”

Fabio Massimo Castaldo MEP, Vice-President of the LGBTI Intergroup, added: “I strongly welcome this resolution and I am glad to see it was supported by all EU Member States and accession states that are currently residing in the Human Rights Council, in line with the recommendation of the European Parliament.”

“However, unfortunately there were still 18 states that voted against the resolution. I call on these states and all other states to cooperate with the independent expert so that it can fulfil its full potential in fighting for the human rights of LGBT people.”

Read more
Read the HRC resolution on the Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Read previous posts on the United Nations

* Voting results

Voting in favor of the resolution

Albania, Belgium, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Macedonia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, UK, Venezuela, Viet Nam

Voting against the resolution

Algeria, Bangladesh, Burundi, China, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Togo, United Arab Emirates

Abstaining on the resolution

Botswana, Ghana, India, Namibia, Philippines, South Africa

3 LGBT Suicides (2 attempts) in 6 months .......... concerns

DJ Footie in good times

So as news spreads of the surprise suicide of DJ Footie on June 11 a female DJ who specialized in soca dancehall style mostly many are now wondering what is going on out there as news of a brother(not LGBT) named Delus of a popular DJ Konshens and how he has ended his life has triggered a national discussion as the shock is palpable. He reportedly conducted his successful attempt with a gun and the event was supposedly caught on camera as he filmed his last moments; the reason unconfirmed by the police is he got bad news of a herpes diagnosis and decided he could not go on as family life issues and such was too much for him, based on another video he made describing same. I also imagine the pressure and expectations of dancehall in terms of multiple partnering ties in with misogynistic themes and bravado sealed off with badmanism. Maybe he could not go on but only days before he made another clip on Fathers’ day thanking his fans for their support and birthday wishes then days later the end.

As a DJ myself for over 20 years I am not aware of us really choosing suicide as an option when trouble hits, again it depends on each ones constitution but one would use the very music on the ones and twos to sedate ourselves in case of challenges, it is long known that music is therapeutic but maybe Footie did not see it so. I am really sorry to hear of this one. For this one to come in the middle of Pride month internationally is even more egregious as this is a time for more positive imaging and LGBTQ discourse; rainbow flag controversy aside.

DJ Footie’s case the reports are that she essentially had no signs of challenges and so it is a major shock to persons which is usually the case in previous successful attempts. The loss of one of my long time allies as hinted to in a previous post he just ended it all even after posting his usual articles on Facebook only to be floored by the news on his profile. The two other reported attempts in separate matters both occurred in January and February respectively. The former tried some sort of poison or pills and was only discovered by a visiting friend who spontaneously stopped by her house. She had been stressed with some family challenges and expenses she was saddled with before but all seemed well until the discovery of the attempted ending of her life.

The March matter was a cutting or slicing attempt as the male attempter hoped to slowly bleed to death and was also discovered by a friend after several phone calls, social media linking and no apparent response. He has since been referred to a community influential and a psychologist for proper interventions. We have also been speaking occasionally on the phone where at opportunities encourage him to keep up with her appointments and so on. I am disturbed by the issues and the fear or reluctance of persons to reach out though; I am not a psychologist and may never understand the complexities fully but it is a bit disconcerting that persons are on Facebook, Instagram and so on and continue to present a bettered or false representations of themselves even as they struggle and despite increasing pages offering avenues of escape if you will or counselling. I have expressed this challenge of falsified or alter ego online personas versus self imposed pressure to keep up appearances before which I think are part and parcel to some of this. The incessant need to get likes and some recognition given (narcisstic mirroring) how rejected psychologically some feel so I guess the urge to use social media and so on for alternatives is somewhat understandable.

Another concern is the false sense of security that seems to be push by JFLAG and others as they seem more interested in image rightsizing than the actual realities, it is understandable to have a positive side but we must also GET REAL, coupled with the strange continued reports of social media fallouts due to sometimes new users both in age and commencement are having teething problems using Apps and adding public pages while not scuttling friends’ lists while mixing family members some of whom end up monitoring activities; to include the look of folks, their gender and even how many males or females dependent on the profile’s owner likes ones pages or posts. There are hardly good sustained any avenues for coming out by one’s recognisance and while social media platforms offer instant communication and a not so perfect avenue for being out many persons especially older ones are running into some challenges as they adjust to using new technologies and engaging other persons. While JFLAG operatives and such can afford to be out and it seems to push others to want to do the same others do not have that luxury and may also feel inferior or left out which possibly can. They all have visas and can depart in a moment’s notice whilst the ordinary ‘likkle sport’ is not so blessed, a point repeatedly made sometimes by some.

Ostensibly it would be difficult to convince persons to come forward with challenges and although we have had help lines established nationally but which need far more awareness support persons choose what in their minds the easier way out. Some of the same outlets though seem not equipped to handle LGBT matters which may further complicate the recovery process and some outlets are run by faith based organizations or churches. We just never know the pain persons are enduring. One former participant of the Aphrodite’s PRIDE Jamaica’s Enterprise Training said something profound yesterday, she said words to the effect that persons who are struggling need to reach out and do not put on a show as if everything is OK when they are not. I have been trying in a small way to encourage persons to actually be themselves via their social profiles but I know that is going to be difficult to sustain such a suggestion given how the world works today.

According to Chooselife the figures for suicide are not so hot as in 2014 59 persons were successful, 2015 some 51 persons did so and to date 32 have been successful for varying reasons including revenge, hurt, family issues and so on.

What is also interesting with these cases is that the individuals were from relatively stable homes or lifestyles, they seem on the face of it not to be struggling with finances or existence save and except for the latter case where she had some alleged financial issues but all in all they were not poor or displaced or homeless for that matter. These ties in with my concerns as to presenting or living a double life when the painful truths are hidden only to be a farce, in fear of being seen as less than what was and is presented. One hardly hears of suicide attempts in the lower socio economic circles in quite a while and the age cohort of suicides just by a cursory review without the benefit of strong statistics seem to be between the early twenties to early forties. Older folks tend not to consider suicide as an option although my aforementioned ally Mark who ended his life in NY was in his mid fifties.

My last direct contact with someone who was considering suicide was in late 2014 and which lasted just over a year with intermittent talk therapy or versions of it but he was referred to a professional who aided greatly. What also concerns me as well is that successful suicides made public and given the feeling of no attention then seeing the news getting so much of it can be a catalyst for contemplators to make such attempts as the experts tell us. For every successful suicide made known the contemplator wishes or wants to also achieve the same results and may work actively normally quietly towards ending their own life. Even how I prepared this post I had to choose my words carefully as I was advised some years ago during suicide prevention day observance as sensational appearing coverage can be a catalyst for such contemplation as they may feel attention is finally paid to them after the relief is attained in their eyes.

I hope you my readers if you know of any such persons contemplating such a final course to reach out to some outfit or requisite expert and informally some talk and words of encouragement can help; that is of course if outwards signs of trouble are there as in many cases no evidence is shown of signs of trouble.

Peace & tolerance

H

Ronnie Thwaites’ rubbish on flying rainbow flags grooms children into “particular lifestyle”

Ronnie Thwaites rubbish on Rainbow Flags... 

I guess some politicians want their piece of fame from this rainbow flag fiasco and they can’t resist the urge to join in but one wonders if their motives are genuine especially those from the parliamentary opposition; owing to the fact that when they were in power they duped us all on a now farcical conscience vote on buggery. The Former education minister from the prior HFLE fiasco turned opposition spokesperson Reverend Ronnie Thwaites has displayed his poor thinking yet again. This is the same man who as Education minister was directly responsible for the removal of progressive materials in the Home & Family Life Education, HFLE manual despite his guest speaker duties at JFLAG’s International Day against Homophobia & Transphobia, IDAHOT in 2012 and the resulting increased fear-mongering and moral panic and the recently ended guidance counselors and gay students controversy. I was expecting some more enlightened narrative on just basic tolerance from the goodly Reverend but I am yet again disappointed as remarks made by Thwaites on the controversial tweet-faux pas by Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte had further muddied the water in some circles.

the tweet that started the ball a rollin'

Gleaner poll results on the issue

What is ironic is that many persons may have passed the flag at the US Embassy at Hope Road prior to Mrs Forte’s tweet-faux pas I bet did not know what the flag meant until this controversy, so the good that can come out of this it is a teaching moment for us LGBT voices included who know the flag is for LGBT but do not know the history of it.

In a television interview on CVM TV on June 14, 2016 when asked after a public where the Prime Minister Andrew Holness expressed support to the families impacted by the Orlando Pulse gay club shooting Thwaites said that the flying of a rainbow flag at the US Embassy is effectively grooming children into “a particular lifestyle that is different from the Judaeo Christian norm which is in fact the foundation of our constitutional order and I believe of our personal and national health...... ”

In other words polite speak for HIV is a gay disease resulting from anal sex; a ploy that is often used by antigay religious bigots such as Dr Wayne West, Betty Ann Blaine and Shirley Richards. I am not stupid as the goodly Reverend thinks some of us are and continue to pray on the public’s ignorance. So the hardened positions continue, will there ever be movement towards true tolerance anytime soon with the kind of continued paranoia and fear of openness of LGBT people and that a flag is so frightening in this round of it. Mr Thwaites of seems to forget that the very laws in Jamaica were inherited by us by default after independence in 1962 from Britain protected under a ‘savings law clause’ which preserved them until we must make the amendments and deletions when needed and this buggery law in particular needs to go. Also the UK has moved from a theocracy essentially to more civil legislative environment, as an attorney Mr Thwaites ought to be more balanced and indeed honest when making such remarks. He ought to also know that the buggery law when first promulgated was more about the smear campaign in the UK under Henry VIII to give effect to the English church reformation while extirpating the Catholic church and replacing it with the church of England which is the dominant denomination today in the UK; with subsequent re-enactments and amendments to 1967 when the forward thinking parliament decided the law should go and they were on good ground.

Then there are others in support are ascribing motive of imposing homosexuality and whether such flags are flown in US Embassy in Saudi Arabia for example and or ‘double standards’ as opposed to Jamaica and that the US would not do it; while ignoring the fact that that it is a different jurisdiction and that the death penalty under Sharia law as homosexuality is illegal but homosexuality is NOT illegal in Jamaica but buggery is despite the gender of the receptive partner(s) involved. Double standards are indeed needed in such delicate diplomatic relations especially with states like the Saudis; there are implications on world affairs that are too delicate to infuriate the fickle relationship. Some people just don’t think these days. Lest we forget who were murdered sadly in Orlando and the Attorney General in my view is saying indirectly LGBT Jamaicans dare not put up a flag to celebrate what we are about.

Why is the term ‘alternate lifestyle’ still being used in modern times to describe sexual orientation or homosexuality? Thwaites cannot bring himself to speak directly to the issues openly it seems. Let us put to rest the silliness about “homosexual lifestyle” or “alternate lifestyle” once and for all; as a phrase it is pure propaganda, a gossipy generalization and completely unworthy of a Christian who, following the counsel in Proverbs seeks understanding and insight into life and people. As Christians some will have to decide if we are going to partake of divisive “party spirit” that racked the church at Corinth or follow Christ as discerning attentive principles – to that still small voice and sharpen concerns for the ostracized instead of creating more strife.

Bear in mind that there is a reference in Luke 17:34 where Jesus in a teaching on the rapture makes what appears to be a neutral non-discriminatory reference where it read (King James Version):

Grooming when last I checked is not about an external influence as remote as a flag that can just influence someone so simply; as if to say children are going to get up and have sex as a rainbow flag denotes homosexuality and they will try it out. This grooming argument is not new and I had done an entry on the subject to try to decipher the phenomenon as untrained as I am but just sheer common sense is enough. Grooming involves a more personal one on one contact with the intended victim over time usually in an unbalanced power differential situation as the groomer seeks to psychologically imprison their target. A rainbow flag could not have any serious impact to those who do not have any understanding of what it signifies; what it denotes to the US and by extension the global struggle for LGBT rights and recognition. 

See:  The Deliberate Misuse of the “Sexual Grooming” Term by Antigay Fanatics to Promote Their Hysteria
Also let me remind us all that we have had rainbow flags in public spaces before and no one has died or simply become gay on sight due to the bright colours or some hypnotic powers emanating from the symbol. The fear is palpable. 

kites such as these have been sold by men at stop lights all over the island I imagine to students as well, are we to assume by Thwaites position that such rainbow kites will also groom children in a 'particular lifestyle?"

I have to agree with Mutabaruka in a sense, in his opening shot on his Stepping Razor show on the matter where he sided with Mrs Forte in principle but is alarmed at how Christian voices are saying either the shooting was retribution by God or that it was justified; he also questioned how a God who is represented in the Bible as a kind God is being presented to uphold barbaric principles? He then in patois of course mentioned the other abominations that are contained in Leviticus and highlighted the selectivity hypocrisy and the death penalty in Sharia law alongside the suppression of women’s freedoms.

“..... If you remove the Bible what would they (antigay Christian voices) do?”

he mentioned that he was contacted by one of the antigay groups who wanted him to sign a petition to remove the flag to which he seems to have ignored; he also reiterated a point I have also said that no government is going to be bold enough at this time given the push back will chance amending the buggery law by their own recognizance. He mentioned that fact that if one left the Muslim faith one may be punished by death.

“...the Bible supposed to be the book weh a show you a way to peace and justice and love and generosity and dem ting deh; and it mek people so hard inna dem heart?” he said in part.

“Mi nuh hear nobody a seh mek wi demonstrate ‘gainst adultery, wah happen to the church, cause most a de parson dem a adulterer ...... parson a look sista Dinah .... sista Dinah I’ve been watching you for a while ......... how de church nah preach ‘gainst adulterer?” he continued “the whole a wi would a dead.”

He concluded:

“Tell me, who is without sin mek dem cast the first stone”

Peace & tolerance is really needed in these times.

H

also see:

Urgent need to discuss sex & sexuality part 1 and part 2 and 

Rainbow Flag Controversy @ US Embassy Jamaica... 

The Sick Religious Threesome indeed ..........

I am agreement with most of this from Patria in her piece that appeared in the Gleaner

She wrote:

Not just Christianity, but, seemingly, all religions, have taken particular interest in policing what goes on in people's bedrooms. I find it morbidly perverse. In my eyes, it's a pseudo threesome of the people poking and their spiritual leaders.

Why should you care what kind of sex I have and who I have it with? Why aren't you equally as concerned about the other sins in my life?

The Anglican Church has a practice I abhor. If an unwed couple has sex, and the woman gets pregnant - no matter the age of the persons involved, or for how long they have been committed to each other - the 'guilty parties' have to kneel before the congregation and publicly confess their sin of fornication. An open act of expressing contrition and regret about the act that brought their new life into the world.

I saw the confession done once when I was a teenager, and even then I thought it unnecessary. I am a child of unwed parents, and it angered me to think that my church would have wanted my mother to apologise for the way I came into this world.

Eighty per cent of Jamaicans come into this world as a result of fornication, and no amount of public shaming and Bible-beating is going to cause that to change.

I read The Sunday Gleaner's cover story about allegations that unwed mothers employed to Andrews Memorial Hospital were being required to enter the hospital through the back door. The thought of that sickened me, and I immediately likened it to blacks having to ride at the back of the bus. True or not, worse happens. There are many schools in Jamaica today that force unwed teachers to resign. I'm appalled by that and surprised that more administrators aren't taken to court for it.

This country recognises common-law marriage. A woman doesn't need a ring and a man's last name to be considered his wife. And even if she isn't his partner, even if it were one night of the hottest sex ever that resulted in her getting pregnant, who are you to administer punishment to her? That's blatant discrimination (and perhaps a bit of bad mind)!

KEEP UP APPEARANCES

If these institutions were serious about their moral high horses and wanted to truly set examples, unwed fathers-to-be would be dismissed as well. Or is the sacking only because the woman is VISIBLY pregnant, and you want to keep up appearances?

Sin should be sin. There are Ten Commandments in the Bible under which many shelter as their moral compass. Almost half of those commandments surround praising God exclusively. The other five focus on 'red eye', killing, telling lies and honouring your parents and only one around adultery. However, the Church has a seemingly disproportionate obsession with sexual sins.

I'll be overly critical of the Christian faith because this is what I have known all my life, but as I watched the horror that played out in Orlando last weekend, and heard that the killer may have been motivated by gay bigotry, I was reminded that people, in general, are obsessed with other people's sex lives.

For a man or woman to lose their life because of who they choose to sleep with is a downright shame. Especially when the judgment is cast by an unrelated, unaffected third party. How do you kill a man for having sex - and he never had sex with you?

It befuddles me. This preoccupation with who people sleep with is just plain 'faas'. Far more immoral than the sex act is those who feel the need to prescribe and execute judgment.

Stay out of people's bedrooms. As my friend, Kalilah Reynolds, said, "Why should a person's sexuality be more important than their humanity." Every other sin is between you and your God, so why are sins of the flesh between you and everyone else?

- Patria-Kaye Aarons is a television presenter and confectioner. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and findpatria@yahoo.com, or tweet @findpatria.

Hey gays! Women matter too!

I had to laugh then feel some pity for some when I saw an article (as re-captioned) from the Gleaner’s In Focus April 24, 2016 and my subsequent entry on his previous piece the Sunday before. The implacable opponents to change continue to respond as expected, Dr Orville Higgins stroke again and he enjoys the thrill as it gets callers to the RJR hotline show he hosts; he insisted on calling those who don’t agree with him as ‘gay bigots’ but I am not surprised as he has been one of those voices who live on the perception of Jamaica being (mis)labelled as the most homophobic thanks to a Time Magazine article; albeit the title of the article was a question and not a statement of fact. 

It is not surprising his ankhs on anything to do with homosexuality. He also chose again as he did last week to use his voice via radio on his show on RJR’s hotline to push the ridiculous position he has taken on women being left out or made invisible towards LGBT rights. There has been a wave of fear-mongering and praying on the public’s ignorance in recent weeks since the JLP has come to office as all kinds of antigay voices crawl out of the woodwork and Dr Higgins is no exception. Then again on our side the mishandling of matters on several fronts in advocacy has left all kinds of negative perceptions of dishonesty which feeds into such opinions formed by Taylor et al.

here is the article in question:

Two bona fide friends read the string of comments after my column, as well as the 'Gay for a day' article by gay-rights advocate Maurice Tomlinson. Of course, the learned attorney, without reading my column, was accusing me of saying being gay was a choice and other unfounded criticisms. Indeed, some of the he-mails bordered on his-teria.

Still, whatever great pains they took to sit on the hard facts, the gay bigots seemed to have forgotten that I was looking on the study that was commissioned by their advocate organisation, J-FLAG.

Nonetheless, I tried long and hard to understand what was 'homophobic' about anyone saying that they were repugned by two men having intimate contact or two women doing same. Not to mention the petty grade-schoolgirl name-calling which cluttered my mailbox afterwards.

Yet, eliciting a second opinion from my aforementioned friends, I canvassed their views, along with others. Much to my surprise, they were even more strident than I am about how repugnant male-male intimacy was. In fact, in a study I am currently undertaking, it was quite a revelation. And herein lies the surprise. My two friends, who use words like 'disgust', 'repulsive' and 'sickening', are female and gay.

Yes, a very large number of gay females just cannot bear the thought of sex involving men. Expressed succinctly by a dear friend of mine, who rolls in the grass at the cheap androcentric attempts to label dislike as hate and homophobia, she declared, "If I cannot stand the idea of a penis involved in sex, how in hell am I going to enjoy or like seeing two?"

Tomlinson, by his own admission, stated that he never liked the idea of heterosexual sex. Therefore, during his brief excursion into male-female wedlock, in order to successfully make love to his wife, he "had to fantasise about men". Is he, therefore, a heterophobe? Does he want to carry out acts of violence against straight couples and want them to disappear off the earth? Does it imply that he wants the legislature to outlaw sex between men and women? I think not. Dislike and hatred are not the same, and that is the main point of my last week's article; and he should have read it.

As regards the fight against HIV/AIDS, I wonder just how committed the 'penilecentric' and 'anuphile' gay advocates are to the protection of the majority of their community. Yes, another inconvenient fact: there are more females than men in this society and the USA, and bet your bottom dollar that there are more gay females than men who have sex with men (MSM) in Jamaica.

Never mind Diana King's shameless attempt to exaggerate and blatantly lie that this society vilifies rapists and abusers of children less than homosexuals. While her revelation about her sexuality did not create the impact and widespread attention that she might have hoped, this utterance barely had an impact on anyone but a Shy Guy. Just check what happens to rapists and paedophiles in prison, and ask the gay prisoners who run large parts of the correctional institutions if I am wrong.

RIDICULOUS

Why is it that female-female sexuality is so unimportant to the male gay voices? In the national database on HIV/AIDS, the data are not collected or presented to reflect transmission among lesbians. This is true for the statistics in the USA and even UNAIDS. It is only now that a small subgroup within Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) is attempting to gather information, more than 30 years since the virus was first detected in Jamaica.

And as ridiculous as this might sound to the 'gay-from-birth theorists/activists', there are indeed some women who thought that they were gay while in boarding school and college. Some are bisexual and some have, in a manner of speaking, turned their backs on their gay past.

Another subgroup of women (and some men too) engage in transactional sex. Called female sex workers by UNAIDS but judgementally labelled 'prostitutes' by the USA and 'promiscuophobic' Jamaicans, these vulnerable women are a high-risk group.

First of all, being women, they are more prone to being victims of violence. Second, because of the lower status of women, they are less able to negotiate the terms of their sexual engagement, inside and outside of their consensual sexual unions.

Third, their vulnerability adds the risk of human trafficking - a big problem in the USA and a noticeable one in Jamaica.

Finally, perhaps men, who might never have experienced the dynamics of sex with women and natural lubrication, are ignorant, or don't care, that copious amounts of potentially virulent body fluids get produced by aroused females. As a matter of fact, female sex workers also complain of harassment and extortion by a small group of corrupt cops, and other human-rights abuses.

Yet, with sheer hypocrisy and selfishness, male gay advocates argue that the illegality of anal sex (with men and women, too, by the way), or buggery, prevents them from telling their constituents, 'don't bend for a friend without rubber on the end'.

However, hardly anyone, in seeking to protect 'at-risk' groups, seems to think that decriminalising prostitution, which includes women going to other women on 'Back Road', in massage parlours and strip clubs, is as big a deal. I might have only passed through the law school a few times, but the infinitesimal big of law I know tells me that if telling MSMs to 'rubber up' is aiding and abetting the commission of a crime, condom-ing a prostitute is also condoning her crime.

By the way, is anyone following the war in the USA regarding the right of transgender people to use bathrooms of whichever sex/gender they identify with? As horrific as it might be that a man with a functional penis, but dressed as a woman, is using the bathroom with your 10-year-old daughter, can you imagine a female transitioning to male but with an intact vagina surrounded by a bathroom full of 'rusty-back', horny men at a stage show?

I end with the gay for a day challenge, which I graciously decline, because once you go back, you can't turn back.

- Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI, a radio talk-show host, and author of 'Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets'. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.

While I agree in part that LGBT/HIV advocacy on a whole has certainly left out same gender sex practicing females out of the data collection, programs development and so on Dr Higgins a Sociologist I might add seems to forget that the epidemic hit men first and more dangerously than females but in the same breath more women seem to be testing positive based on the figures we have seen. And that women who have sex with women, WSW are at lesser risk than males who engage in unprotected anal sex. Then to try to use the abhorrence by same gender loving women towards anal sex between men to justify the rift in his eyes is downright dishonest and shows us the measure of the man we are dealing with. I am on record on this blog and elsewhere as to overlooking of same gender women in HIV prevention but not for superfluous reasons as Dr Higgins seems to be doing.

Want more dishonesty the old argument of gay advocates in HIV work claiming they cannot tell gays to use condoms is so dead it shows how behind Dr Higgins is or purports to be in order to give credence to his argument. Then why would there be an adjustment to the push from a full repeal to an amendment while stressing consent? Oh boi. Then he tries to put Diana King’s coming out as public relations tool to gain popularity while overlooking the hypocrisy she was trying to highlight recently with her twitter blast on paedophiles and child abusers.

Yet this is the man who is lecturing to University students who are to become future leaders, intellectual ghetto-ing indeed, Wilmot Perkins was right years ago when he warned us about some of these people with titles but cannot think to save their own skins.

Peace & tolerance

H