Anthony Gambrill | Back Story ...............

Well deserved comic relief in the madness around.

Some controversial subjects like Trafigura, the missing Cuba light bulbs, and the prime minister's Beverly Hills fortress just keep floating to the surface for a while and disappearing again - for a while.

This phenomenon occurred again recently when Mark Connolly from the UN country team read out a recommendation to a parliamentary committee that Jamaica's Parliament should approve a redefinition of sexual intercourse to add penetration of the anus in order to fairly protect men and women against sexual violence. To remind readers, only a woman can be raped under Jamaican law. This offence carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment. Buggery, however, attracts a maximum of seven years' incarceration only.

Here's the significance of this to our back story. On December 10, 2011, the president of the People's National Party, Mama P, in a pre-election political debate, promised to review the country's buggery law. This, I would suspect, raised the ire of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society and the Associated Gospel Assemblies. After the JLP was re-elected yet once again, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said that there would be a review that would run for up to six months, "after which a report on the recommendations will be done". The issue apparently sank like a stone in the Blue Hole.

I decided to revive it, fictitiously, with the Jamaica Labour Party, now that they were in power, in order to find out what progress, if any, had been made.

AG: So, how far has Jamaica got to changing its 1864 buggery law?

JLP: I can assure you it's under active investigation. As you can imagine, it raises a lot of questions.

AG: You mean, you need a definition of anal penetration?

JLP: No, no, I think most Jamaicans know where an anus is.

AG: Then, a definition of a penis?

JLP: Perhaps, but not usually described by that physiological term.

AG: Yes, I understand. But how is your Government going to proceed?

JLP: Please understand, all options are on the table.

AG: Such as?

JLP: Naturally, an independent government-led committee will have to be set up to do a review over, say, the next 12 months.

AG: At the taxpayers' expense, no doubt.

JLP: No doubt. And then its recommendations will need to be discussed and analysed by government ministers.

AG: Which ministers? Justice, I presume ... .

JLP: ... Gender, sports, national security, economic growth, etc., covering all cohorts, including the transgender.

JLP: Trans what?

AG: Never mind. You realise that you will be challenging the status quo.

JLP: You've put your finger on it. That's why we will have to hire a consultant, maybe several.

AG: More taxpayer expense.

JLP: You know, a go-to man or woman. A multi-tasker with facilitating skills and sustainable solutions. It will require a paradigm shift in our society's traditional point of view.

AG: You mean from front to back?

JLP: Eh?

AG: I'm joking. What then?

JLP: Well, of course, its standard procedure to have a memorandum of understanding. We don't do anything in Jamaica without a memorandum of understanding.

AG: Between whom?

JLP: That will have to be decided later.

AG: But you realise that most Jamaicans know same-sex couples have been cohabiting in Jamaican hotels for years. I would think some anal penetration has been taking place by mutual consent, but nobody has been arrested yet.

JLP: (laughs nervously) As the English say, it's the exception that proves the rule.

AG:Whatever that means. I only hope that gays take part in the conversation. They are the ones objecting to their loss of rights under present conditions.

JLP: Inevitably.

AG: You aren't just kicking the can down the road?

JLP: Certainly not.

AG: It's not going to be the same-old, same-old?

JLP: We're expecting a win-win outcome.

AG: Not just a string of platitudes? You're not going to just promote celibacy for gays? Maybe they should take orders in the Catholic Church ... although that might not work, come to think of it.

JLP: Certainly not. By the next election we will have a road map. It will be our signature achievement.

AG: Then we will be able to replace this back story with a front story, no doubt.

- Anthony Gambrill is a playwright

Implicit Transphobia or sheer ignorance .......

both perhaps

So Dr Glenville Ashby had a piece he penned published in the Sunday Gleaner dated September 25, 2016 entitled “Transgender: denying reality” where he insidiously went off on Transgenderism and so near effortless displayed sheer ignorance on the subject(s). He was quite prepared to conflate transgender with intersex and committed the ultimate infraction when it comes to the latter that of using a now well accepted stigmatizing term as ‘hermaphrodite’ and the faux pas of transgender(ed) as if to suggest someone can be a past participle of who one is, the ‘ed’ at the end is still a problematic issue in terms of designation prior to or after re-assignment surgery or feels.

‘Hermaphrodite’ has been removed from the LGBTQI toolkit in as far discourse surrounding such physiological issues attends since 2005. The word is seen as a stigmatizing terms as it conjures up mental images of someone with merely two sex organs when the issues attendant to such matters are not ones of sexual orientation and or gender identity in as far as psychological considerations are concerned. While Dr Ashby has used the correct term ‘Intersex’ he has misdirected it to mean something else and ends up concluding some sort of abnormality or as the article is subtitled ‘denying reality’

For example he wrote:

“Transgender should not be confused with transvestite

Then he both Transgenerism and intersex as one, he wrote:

“Transgender is invariably referred to as intersex (a person that has non standard genitalia), or transsexual (a person who expresses a gender identity that is different to his or her gender at birth).”

He could have simply done some basic research on this just as how he was able to site opinions of the likes of neuroscientist Tad Pacholcyzk or Dr Paul McHugh. We have been subjected to a series of very deceptive writings and outward transphobic pronouncements by some persons pointing to Transgenderism as madness of some kind; the leader in the wave of the intellectually driven hatred is Dr Wayne West of Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS fame. He has been given support by sociologist and radio show host of Everywoman on the sometimes progressive Nationwide News Network, NNN Radio one Miss Georgette Crawford.

Here is the Gleaner article in question:

The highly publicised sexual transformation of United States Olympian Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner) has ignited a bruising political and cultural debate on gender dysphoria and 'transgenderism'.

Academicians, scientists, theologians and laypersons have weighed in on a phenomenon that is as old as civilisation.

With a shift in the cultural paradigm, transgender rights are slowly being accommodated. Federal laws prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals, and bathrooms at most public places in the United States are required to accommodate new 'gender realities'.

Not surprisingly, political, academic, and judicial activism has advanced a new confrontational liberal zeitgeist that has made it difficult to have a dissenting opinion for fear of being maliciously labelled. The same held true when conservatism was universally dominant.

There are key questions surrounding this debate. For example, is surgery appropriate in dealing with somatic dysphoria? Also, is being transgender a psychopathology? What is needed is a sober discussion based on measurable arguments and not malleable evidence fashioned by individual and social leanings.

Transgender should not be confused with transvestite (a man having pleasure in dressing like a woman), homosexuality (having sexual feelings for the same sex), bisexuality (having sexual feelings for both sexes), or hermaphrodites (a person having male and female genitalia).

Transgender is invariably referred to as intersex (a person that has non-standard genitalia), or transsexual (a person who expresses a gender identity that is different to his or her gender at birth).

In many of these cases, gender transition is made possible through surgery.

Orthodox religions have long expressed paradoxical views regarding abnormal sexual identity, not unlike its position on homosexuality. The actions of the so-called sinner are vehemently condemned, although love is professed for the perpetrator.

Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the southern Baptist Convention, said: "The transgender question means that conservative Christian congregation must teach what's being handed down to us, that our maleness and femaleness points us to an even deeper reality, to the unity ... of Christ and the Church.

"A rejection of the goodness of those creational realities, then, is a revolt against God's lordship, and against the picture of the gospel that God is embedded in His creation."

In marginal cases, pastors have been accused of fomenting a climate of hatred and violence towards transgender people who are deemed morally bankrupt and evil.

James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, declared: "If you are a dad, I pray that you will protect your little girls from men who walk in unannounced, unzip their pants and urinate in front of them ... . If this happened 100 years ago, someone might have been shot."

WORSHIPPING IN CHURCHES

 

Sensing and experiencing slight from mainstream Christianity, many in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community have begun worshipping in churches and temples where sexual orientation is inconsequential.

Secular society, though, has pushed back forcibly against what they call intolerance and bigotry. Prominent businesses are boycotting states, such as Georgia, Indiana, and North Carolina that uphold the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that is arguably discriminatory and unconstitutional.

While battlelines are drawn, some are critically measured, preferring to understand the sexual dynamics and overall psychological profile of the transgender community.

Among those is priest and neuroscientist Tad Pacholczyk, a Yale and Harvard graduate and education director at the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. His scientific and theological background offered a unique insight into this highly charged subject.

In the article, 'Seeing through the intersex confusion,' he acknowledged that confounding physiological (hormonal) triggers and cultural forces lead to psychological discordance.

Comparing somatic disorders to other developmental disorders that should never "be subjected to bias or mistreatment", he argued that "while a newborn's 'intrinsic maleness' or 'intrinsic femaleness' may be difficult to access in certain more complicated intersex cases, the point remains that there is an 'underlying' sexual constitution that we must do our best to recognise and respect and act in accord with".

Equally important is his far-reaching assertion that "wilfully (denying this reality) is a prescription for disillusionment and dishonesty".

Pacholczyk has oftentimes referred to the work of the eminent Dr Paul McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, who has been in the cross hairs of liberal professionals.

His detailed study of transgenderism and sex-reassignment surgery has produced some explosive assertions.

McHugh observed that after transitioning, individuals are still plagued by psycho-emotional and identity problems; that there is an absence of maternal characteristics and desires in transgendered individuals; and that despite haute couture over compensation there remains definitive, irreversible indicators of their maleness or femaleness.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, McHugh likened the transgendered to "anorexia nervosa patients who believe that a drastic physical change will banish their psychosocial problems".

"At the heart of the problem," he argued, "is confusion over the nature of the transgendered."

McHugh continued: "Sex change is biologically impossible (and) people who undergo sex-reassignment surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminised men or masculinised women."

He concluded that the transgender issue "is not a civil rights matter and encouraging surgical intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder".

VERY REAL PROBLEM

 

McHugh has always emphasised that a diagnosis of mental illness should be met with the most appropriate means to address a very real problem.

Lending support to McHugh is the conservative American Association of Paediatricians.

Featured on its website is the article, 'Gender Ideology Harms Children', in which we read that "gender (an awareness and sense of oneself as male or female) is a sociological and psychological concept (and) not an objective biological one".

It also highlighted the disproportionately high rates of suicides among those who use cross-sex hormones and undergo sex realignment surgery, "even in Sweden which is among the most LGBT- affirming countries".

As both sides of the debate harden their position, the words of Pacholczyk invite reflection: " ... allowing people to 'define their identity' ignores the crucially important truth that numerous aspects of our identity, especially those related to our bodily and sexual identity, are predetermined, objective goods that we are called upon to recognise and respect in the choices we make".

I am sure as we wade through the sea of ignorance and the bliss that accompanies it we are going to see more nonsense such as this article so worded to give support but the true reasons becomes clear.

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:

Jamaican human rights advocate uses the "H" word in submissions on intersex/lgbt issues a ..... 2014

Five Myths that Hurt Intersex People 2010

Intersexuality, Ambiguous Genetalia & Psycho-social issues Discussion on Nationwide Radio 2009

Ian Boyne on Grow Up On Gay Intolerance!

So Ian Boyne erudite commentator has hit the nail on the head again in what I see as a fair commentary; others in the LGBT circles are up in arms over his criticisms of the arrogance and reverse intolerance. It is not the first time though he had sought to point it out as posted here on Gay Jamaica Watch: The Intolerant View Of Tolerance .............

now comes his latest salvo:

flag at the US Embassy on Hope Road

No Jamaican law was violated or disrespected when the United States displayed the rainbow flag of the LGBT community on its own territory in Kingston. And rather than showing disrespect to Jamaica, the act indicated its acknowledgement of the vibrancy of our civil society and of our democratic 'articulate minority'.

Jamaicans have pointed out that the Americans dared not put up a rainbow flag in a country like Saudi Arabia or other Islamic states with Shari'a law. But that is precisely the point: The Americans know we have a strong democratic tradition and that no violent action would follow, despite the vast majority of Jamaicans' strident and visceral opposition to homosexuality (which, strictly, is not criminalized; only anal sex). They knew the dominant voices in media would push back against any popular dissent and that they could, of course, count on the visa-hungry masses to hold their tongues and violent implements in hope of entering paradise!

the tweet that started it all (not included in the Gleaner excerpt)

They were right. The attorney general has never regretted any action of hers as she has those few words proclaimed on Twitter. She has been clobbered internationally and everywhere in cyberspace. But some brave soldiers of the Gospel have come to her defence, though. I admire their courage but am less impressed with their reasoning. Helene Coley-Nicholson, president of Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF), says the flying of the rainbow flag "sends an overt symbol that the United States Embassy in Jamaica is aligned with those who would break our laws".

First, Helene, embodied in the first principle of diplomacy and international relations - mutual respect - is the notion of tolerance for diversity. States do not only have relations with those whose laws, customs and ideologies are compatible with theirs. Jamaica did not break off relations with the United States when it legalized gay marriage, even though we are not aligned with that at all.

TOLERANCE, RESPECT

America has relations with countries with laws that penalise adultery, alcohol, and pork consumption, homosexuality, and which practise Internet censorship and a host of authoritarian laws. This is what happens every day among states. It is not disrespectful for friends to uphold their beliefs and practices in contradistinction to others. That's what tolerance and respect really mean: That I can freely engage my expression of preferences even when they clash with yours. This is at the heart of the democratic ethos and of respectful relationships.

LCF makes the following statement, which, on the surface, seems benign but which is deeply offensive: Conceding the fact that "the embassy is considered American territory in international law," the Fellowship nevertheless goes on to say in its release that "the LCF asks US Ambassador Luis Moreno to immediately take down the flag and in so doing eliminate potential misunderstanding", and - note this -"barriers to the natural outpouring of sympathy and support for the United States and those who have suffered". This is reprehensible and deplorable. Our people's "natural outpouring of sympathy" would be constrained by the presence of that gay flag? If that is true, we should hang our heads in shame. That is not complimentary and is not something we should broadcast. That is advertising our moral and cultural backwardness.

I submit we have a deeper problem not just in Jamaica but in the world: It is a problem of a deeply illiberal, anti-democratic, anti-pluralistic spirit. It not only afflicts conservative Christians.It afflicts supposed liberals, leftists and gay activists. The issue is not primarily hate. It is an abhorrence of tolerance, a despising of opposing views, a cherishing of bigotry. It is not only among fundamentalists. Some of these gays activists are among the most arrogant, bigoted, and democracy-averse people you can find. I declare a plague on all the houses.

The Christians in Jamaica who rightly recognise that this issue of gay rights is a political one must know how to fight political battles. They must be intellectually and strategically sharper than they have been and not keep playing into the hands of those who are enemies of the Church.

The Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, like its sister organisation which Coley-Nicholson runs, also concedes that "the US Embassy is considered to be on US soil", but goes on to say in its release that "the embassy is still a guest of the Jamaican Government and is expected to conduct its affairs in a respectful manner".


GROW UP, JAMAICA!

No, it is the Jamaican people who must grow up and start respecting people's civil liberties and right to their own way of life. We don't have to force the Americans to agree with us that homosexuality is an abomination worthy of punishment in an eternal hellfire.

They should be free to proclaim their solidarity with fellow citizens who are gay, some of whom lost their lives in the nation's biggest mass-shooting massacre. They chose to grieve by showing haters that they stand in solidarity with a community they see as oppressed and despised. We can disagree and feel those people should repent of their sinful ways. That is our right to believe that. But we can't impose that on our guests, Dr Wayne West. We must show some respect and regard to our guests.

I am a conservative Christian who follows a Bronze Age book written by nomadic tribes who deemed homosexual practice unethical. But I don't believe we have any right to impose the Kingdom of God on anyone in this age. I believe we must maintain this free, pluralistic society, and we have no right to ban non-Christian expressions.

We should strive to penetrate the society with Christian ethics and to convince people that our views are right. Lucien Jones is doing a valiant job in that regard. But we must resist the temptation to theonomy and theocracy. We must learn from the excesses of the fanatical Muslims who are a threat to civilisation everywhere. (Notice I did not say 'Muslims', but 'fanatical Muslims'.)

Pastor Al Miller, in his response, was equally flawed. He pleads in a letter in theObserver on Thursday that "diplomacy requires respect and the art of understanding the customs and beliefs of those with whom one engages. The diplomat makes every effort not to offend".

So a diplomat must show respect and honour to the custom of female circumcision, Indian caste traditions, child brides, Shari'a law? In earlier times, should respect have been shown to foot binding, duelling, etc? Should apartheid have been respected because it was law? Was Mandela immoral to defy it? Al Miller feels that the flying of the rainbow flag "can only be interpreted as a deliberate act of provocation". Provocation to what? You realise what you are saying, Rev? He says it was a "deliberate slap in the face of the Jamaican community". Well, again, we should be ashamed if that is so.

It's no slap in my face if someone wants to affirm his homosexuality or show solidarity with the gay community. As long as I am allowed to have my Stone Age belief that homosexuality is wrong and worship my Invisible Friend in the sky, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, as the New Atheists would say, that's okay. Fly your gay flag anywhere but my premises and I am okay. Problem is that it is not just the Christian fundamentalists who pose a threat to liberal values. Increasingly, so-called liberal societies are free-speech terrorists.

The June 4-10 issue of The Economist has a cover story, 'Free Speech Under Attack', which makes interesting reading. In its editorial, it notes that "the idea has spread that people and groups have a right not to be offended. That may sound innocuous. But if I have a right not to be offended, that means someone must police what you say about me or about things I hold dear such as my ethnic group, my religion." Gays are principal offenders, wanting to insulate themselves against so-called hate speech and offensive language.

Some gays would just as soon shut down all opposition, citing homophobia and hate to mask their own intolerance. An illiberal, intolerant spirit is growing on all sides. It must be firmly resisted. Let a hundred flowers bloom - along with the weeds. Democracy detractors, go home!

- Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist working with the Jamaica Information Service. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and ianboyne1@yahoo.com.

also see:

Gays' Threat To Free Speech ........... veteran journalist Ian Boyne .. 2012

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.

Government Prepares To Tackle Transgender, Other Sexuality Concerns

According to the Gleaner this came forth, sadly talk show hosts such as Joan Williams of POWER 106FM instead of trying to understand the issues sought to confuse the issue locally with that of the bathroom law matter in the United States; she claimed that she will not tolerate a man in women's clothes in a bathroom. Just goes to show the ignorance we have to overcome or deliberate baiting to gain ratings for her show.

Callers tried to also frame the hint shown below that this is pressure from the US to issue gay rights, I am so annoyed at how ignorant we are in an information age, when all one has to do is ask.

But of course Clovis of the Jamaica Observer could not help himself with this toon:

I have stopped applauding announcements these days so Now the article:

The Jamaica Government is preparing itself to adequately address emerging concerns related to gender identification and other issues tied to sexuality.

In fact, legal battles in the United States, where school officials are grappling with confusion and consternation over whether transgender individuals should be allowed to use rest rooms that match their gender identity instead of their birth sex have not missed Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, minister of entertainment, sport, culture, and gender affairs.

"The ministry is aware that there are new issues emerging and we are going to have to address these things," Grange told The Gleaner following the launch of Workers' Week and Labour Day.

"We are going to have to respond when there is a need to respond, and we are going to have to be that voice or that base that will provide an avenue to deal with these matters amicably."

She added: "That is one reason we have actually changed the name of the Bureau of Women's Affairs to the Bureau of Gender Affairs. We know that there are various discussions taking place and we want to be there to address both female and male, particularly our boys. They have been marginalised, especially as it relates to issues regarding their masculinity."

PANEL DISCUSSION

Meanwhile, Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson was hesitant to speak on the matter, but acknowledged that specific issues of sexuality are new areas of concern in the workplace.

It is for this reason that the ministry will be hosting a panel discussion under the theme 'Work for Human Development, New Realities of the World of Work in Jamaica' on May 18.

The event is to coincide with the observance of Workers' Week.

"We recognise that Jamaica is no different from the rest of the world because these things are happening here. I don't want to say too much about what will be happening at the forum, but there are some realities we will have to put on the table to see how best we can arrive at amicable solutions," Robinson said.

She continued: "Human trafficking is also something that we plan to address because it is so subtle and you find that people unwittingly get involved. We want to pay more attention and heighten the awareness on these issues."

SHOWING RESPECT

Grange implored Jamaicans to show respect to every individual they encounter, despite that person's beliefs, opinions, and background.

"I think these are all human rights issues and every individual is entitled to the freedom and rights enshrined in the Constitution. They should not be treated any differently, but be able to live normal lives to the extent they are able to conduct themselves within the norms of society," she insisted.

"We will encourage society to respect every individual and each other's privacy and personal use. Respect has to underscore everything we do."

ENDS

I hope this is not one of those tokenistic gestures to avoid scrutiny and diplomatic pressure as a pre-cursor to the referred to referendum on buggery by the administration.

Previous announcements of aspirations that have not materialized:

Government of Jamaica Committed to the Eradication of Gender Based Violence 

Gov't Makes International Commitment To Reduce Violence Against Women, Gays 2015 

Peace & tolerance

H

Joint tenancy versus tenants in common ..........

On the strength of a radio discussion this morning on religious radio Love 101FM on property transfers with two guests from the Administrator General's office; they discussed the numerous complaints of probates and wills not being dealt with but monies are collected. Host Rev Marvia Laws asked about the captioned subject and interested parties including non relatives which struck me. With so many more Jamaicans seeking a steady monogamous relationship I thought I'd share this as it can be a way to distribute property until such rights and legal changes come.

from the Gleaner:

QUESTION: I've just read an article you wrote in The Sunday Gleaner on May 8, 2011 titled 'Transfer of Property to Living Trust' and I would appreciate your counsel on a similar matter. My mother and aunt are joint tenant property owners for land in Old Harbour, St Catherine. My aunt wishes to transfer her share of the property to me via inter vivos gift, thereby making my mother and me joint tenants.

What are the steps to be taken in order to effect the transfer? What documents would be needed in order to effect the transfer? What are the fees, considering that the transfer is a gift? Thanks in advance for your time. I look forward to your expert advice.

Bryan

FINANCIAL ADVISER:

If two or more persons hold an estate or interest in land, they are required to state whether they hold the estate or interest as joint tenants or tenants-in-common. It is very important to understand the difference between the two as how property is owned has serious implications for the ability to transfer it.

Due care should be taken when two or more persons are coming into ownership of property to understand the difference and thus register their ownership in a way that will not cause undesirable complications in the future.

Let us examine the two types of ownership.

Joint tenants have a right of survivorship. This means that if John and Celia own land as joint tenants and either of them dies, the interest of the deceased joint tenant automatically passes to the survivor. So if John dies, his interest passes to Celia, who then becomes the owner of all of the property. If the property is owned by three persons, the death of one joint owner/tenant would result in his or her share effectively passing to the two survivors.

What is the meaning of this? It means that the joint tenant does not have an interest in the land that he or she can leave in a will unless he or she is the sole surviving joint tenant. In our example, upon the death of John, Celia is able to bequeath or gift the property to whomsoever she wishes. If there is a third joint tenant, only the last surviving joint tenant, two having died, can bequeath or gift the property to another person.

When a joint tenant dies, the death is noted by the filing of an 'Application to Note Death'.

To create a joint tenancy, the following rules must be satisfied:

n All the joint tenants must acquire their interest in the property at the same time and from the same transaction; and

n The interest must be identical in nature and each tenant enjoys an equal right to the whole or any part of the property but not an exclusive right to possess any part.

Unlike joint tenants, tenants-in-common do not have the right of survivorship. When a tenant-in- common dies, his or her interest in the property passes under the terms of his or her will, or if he or she dies leaving no will, the interest is distributed under the Intestate Estates and Property Charges Act. In this case, with John and Celia as tenants-in-common, John's share of the property passes to whomever he wills it to.

EQUAL RIGHT

The tenant-in-common has an undivided share and interest in the property. He or she has an equal right to the possession of the whole of the property but not a right to possess any part exclusively. A tenant-in-common may deal with his or her share of the property as he or she sees fit, such as giving it as a gift.

Tenants-in-common may also hold unequal shares in the property. If no share is stated, the presumption is equal shares, that is, 50/50 if there are two tenants-in-common or 25% each in the case of four tenants-in-common.

Although your aunt is not now able to transfer her interest in the property to you, you can become its owner, in its entirety, if you outlive the current owners and if it is the desire of the survivor to pass it to you. As soon as either your mother or aunt dies, it would make sense for the survivor to make a will stating very clearly who the beneficiary should be you alone or you and others.

Alternatively, given the uncertainties we all face, it would be prudent, if their current wills do not have a residuary clause, for them to make new wills with such a clause to facilitate the disposition of assets not mentioned in their wills. They may also amend existing wills but certain procedures must be followed.

You could still get your inter vivos gift if you outlive one of the current owners. The survivor could choose to gift the property to you - in part or whole - upon becoming its sole owner.

Oran A. Hall, the principal author of 'The Handbook of Personal Financial Planning', offers personal financial planning advice and counsel. finviser.jm@gmail.com

also check out my favourite host for Land Solutions:

Call For Order - Negril Stakeholders Want Commercial Sex Work Regularised

Thought I'd post this Gleaner article on commercial sex work given recent developments in Western Jamaica and a raid previously posted Weekend raid of CSWs in Mobay had homeless LGBT in dragnet. The Sex Worker Association of Jamaica, SWAJ based in western Jamaica as well has expressed some interest in the developments and have said they make respond in time.

I do wish though that the Gleaner and media houses in general desist from using the word 'Prostitution' as it is now being seen as a stigmatizing term as the original headline read.

Elaine Allen-Bradley: We should have a health system in place in Negril where we have all the facilities for locals and tourists alike.

Western Bureau:

While stopping short of calling for the establishment of a red-light district in the resort town, some business stakeholders in Negril, Westmoreland, want to see prostitution decriminalised and regulated in order to create safer conditions for sex workers and their clients.

Participating in a recent Gleaner forum on job creation, investment and growth in Negril, the stakeholders admitted that despite being illegal, male and female prostitution has always been part of the fabric of the town, albeit a big contributor to social disorder.

"Prostitutes and rent-a-dreads are quite numerous here in Negril," said Christine Cohen, owner of the Spa Retreat Boutique Hotel.

"Rent-a-dreads have a big underground business. There are already websites where you can rent a dread. You can already have everything set up before you even hit the airport. Within 60 minutes, your arrangement is made."

It is for that reason why Cohen and other stakeholders, including Lee Issa, the president of the Negril Chamber of Commerce (NCC), believed it would best serve the town by having the industry legalised, so it could be regulated to address safety concerns.

"I think you can have some sort of coexistence, but it would have to be confined, controlled and managed, because we are not going to get rid of it," said Issa, who is chairman of Couples Resorts. "If regularised, it would in some way allow for the girls to be checked health-wise."

However, as things are from a health perspective, Negril is far from ready to offer the type of health care that a regulated sex trade would require.


HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE

The town's health infrastructure, which is a woefully inadequate health centre, is struggling to address even day-to-day health issues.

According to Elaine Allen-Bradley, a director of the NCC, the health centre is unbecoming of a town that is considered a premier tourist destination.

"If you should go to the health centre, it's a disgrace. We should have a health system in place in Negril where we have all the facilities for locals and tourists alike," she said.

However, while some stakeholders want to see a decriminalised sex industry in Negril, until that becomes a reality, the police will continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to prostitution.

According to Deputy Superintendent Adrian Hamilton, the officer in charge at the Negril Police Station, the police will continue to enforce the law against prostitution, but will partner with the Ministry of Health so that whenever these alleged sex workers are taken into custody, some amount of counselling is provided.

"We recently went to their main area in Negril, their habitat, and we demolished three makeshift structures that were being used as brothels ... . We took some persons into custody," Hamilton said.

okoye.henry@gleanerjm.com 

ENDS

Indeed the rent-a-dread business is real and is not only targeted at females only as there are bisexuals and gay operatives as well in the business who often get very good patronage.

I am in some agreement with the call or concerns expressed and only if there are some forward thinking folks to out in the needed systems and monitoring to make it work.

Peace & tolerance

H

Homosexuality Crippling Female Football!

I had to re-read this one in the Gleaner after my birthday of all times but I nearly died with laughter when I saw it. Where is the evidence of this especially owing to the fact that a same gender loving football team was in the works back in my more active years.

It was more indiscipline that was the issue and in fighting and jealousy as well that marred the growth than just sexual orientation.

The Gleaner reported:

Director of football at the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) Vinimore 'Vin' Blaine admitted that homosexual behaviour among females in the sport has turned off others from serious involvement.

Blaine, who is one of the island's most successful female football coaches, said that local players who openly display homosexual behaviour particularly at games and in camp have contributed significantly to the lack of growth and support for local female football.

"It is indeed a fact that has been there for the longest time. The difference is that our girls in Jamaica show it up by their behaviour," Blaine told The Gleaner in a recent interview.

He said that while one cannot dictate the lifestyle of female football players, they must behave professionally, particularly when they are around other players and spectators.

"We can't mandate (how anybody lives their life), but when they come to camp, it should just be about football," said Blaine, who is a former national and club female football coach.

Homosexual Culture

He shared that many parents are preventing their daughters from getting involved in the sport because of the homosexual culture and that many talented females have also stayed away from the sport for the same reason.

"Historically, and more so recently, a lot of parents don't want to allow their children to get involved even in the schoolgirl competition," he disclosed.

Blaine insisted that when he was directly involved in coaching female footballers, he did not condone homosexual behaviour on his teams, whether at the club or national levels.

"I always ask of the players to conform to the rules and regulations laid out," he said. "The lifestyle is more highlighted in the Caribbean than in the United States of America or Canada," he added.

Blaine called on the fans of these players to desist from showing up their homosexual behaviour in public.

"The fans of the players create problems as they behave like men," he said.

He also pointed out that the coaches must be firm when dealing with female football players.

"The coaches at the school and club levels have a responsibility to ensure that the girls are educated about their behaviour in order to ensure that their fans don't behave in a certain way."

Elaine Walker-Brown, JFF's chairman for women's football declined to comment.

ENDS

Sadly this is the fear and foolishness that continues to permeate our country's development and such then there is JFLAG lack of interest in this kind of community development over the years as well.

Well some comic relief is good I guess.

Peace & tolerance

H

Ian Boyne: Gay-Friendly Counsellors For Students? ............

In a way I am some agreement with Ian Boyne on this and it reminds me of the unlikely support in the lead up to the decriminalization of sodomy in the UK and the intervention of the Arch Bishop of Cantebury then Michael Ramsey in the 1960s.

Trouble who will listen really?

Have some of us learnt from previous happenings with schools, students and guidance counsellors, firstly here is Mr Boyne's piece:

The National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) has reacted with alarm to the offer of help by Jamaica's gay lobby group to ease the plight of gay students in schools who are allegedly being shunned by guidance counsellors.

"The NPTAJ rejects totally the offer made by J-FLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays) to conduct counselling in schools," its president, Everton Hannam, said in a release last week. "If J-FLAG is serious about counselling, they can offer those services privately," Hannam counselled. (Of course, Hannam misinterpreted that J-FLAG was itself offering to counsel students; it didn't.) But not in our schools. "Let the guidance counsellors do their job."

But what exactly is their job? What exactly is expected of them vis-·-vis gay students or students struggling with their sexual identity? This has not been clear in all the discussion taking place on the issue. There has been much obfuscation and talking around the issues.

Fellow Gleaner columnist Jaevion Nelson laments, in his column last Thursday, that what is required of guidance counsellors is "simply for them to do their jobs - provide an open, safe space for students to seek support when they need it". But exactly what kind of support? Support to accept their gay identity? For failure to do so can, indeed, cause deep psychological trauma. Is it just "support" to deal with the prejudice and discrimination that gay people in Jamaica face?

WHAT KIND OF GUIDANCE?

Michael Abrahams says in his Monday column that "in counselling gay students, one is not obliged to say that homosexuality is good, right, natural or moral. But these students need help and guidance". But what kind of guidance, if one is to avoid touching what is "good, right, normal natural or moral"?

Abrahams goes on to muddy the water further by saying of these students: "Many suffer from guilt, shame and loneliness ... ." Now, how can the conservative or fundamentalist Christian help that student to overcome his "guilt, shame and loneliness" without that counsellor's abandoning his world view? That guidance counsellor can be professional, "objective", detached, value-neutral and all those fine things, but how does he help that child escape "guilt and shame" when that counsellor's religion sees homosexuality as morally unacceptable? Be realistic.

People have not thought through this issue very carefully. Junior, an online respondent to my column last week, says, "Yes, I expect Christians to leave their beliefs and Christian positions at home or church when they choose to serve in certain positions."

Junior goes on to say the point is not whether homosexuality is illegal or immoral: "It should be the psychological welfare of the child." But I put it to you that what constitutes "the psychological welfare of the child", according to "enlightened, scientific" folk, is precisely what no conservative Christian can fulfil. In the cultured despisers' view, the psychological welfare of the child is synonymous with that child's accepting his homosexuality and abandoning the futile struggle to suppress it. He must "come to terms" with his sexuality, rather than be blinded by a Bronze Age book with thousands of years of knowledge deficit.

Christian guidance counsellors remain Christian. They can't check their beliefs or values at the door of their offices. Their ideology maintains that homosexuality is disordered, unnatural, immoral and psychologically unhealthy. But I still say that there are some things which even conservative, fundamentalist Christian guidance counsellors can and must do in the discharge of their professional duties.

The minimum is that they must never, never ever shun any gay student. If they do so, they must be fired. It's dereliction of duty and gross irresponsibility. Second, they must maintain strict confidentiality. They must not disclose what these students are struggling with or even what they accept and practise. That's fundamental in counselling. A breach in that area should also result in dismissal.

The Christian guidance counsellor must work passionately to inculcate a culture of tolerance for gay people. He must let prejudiced, bigoted heterosexual students know there is no place for bigotry, let alone violence. We must make bigotry shameful and reprehensible. Bullying, teasing and mocking must be absolutely scorned in the school environment. Christian guidance counsellors must regard it as a part of their Christian duty to stand against any discrimination against gay students. Bigots must not feel that they have any allies in Christians - least of all guidance counsellors.

Guidance counsellors must be held to very high standards. They must be models of tolerance, openness, cosmopolitanism and anti-prejudice. If a guidance counsellor hears that a gay student is being persecuted at home; if parents are threatening to put him out of the house, ill-treating him, scandalising him, etc., that counsellor must immediately meet those parents and show - even from the Bible - how utterly wrong those approaches are. That guidance counsellor must use sources these so-called Christian parents believe in to show them the folly of their ways.

The Christian guidance counsellor must do everything to ensure that the gay student is not harassed, victimised, publicly shamed or discriminated against. He must ensure that family members treat that gay student no less than other members of the family. The guidance counsellor must help students, teachers, administrative staff at the school and members of these gay students' communities and families to eschew violence, discrimination and harassment. He must help them to embrace these gay students as full, equal human beings worthy of all love.

CHRISTIAN LOVE

The curious thing about this is that it is precisely in this area of love, tolerance and forgiveness that Christianity is most rich and resourceful. The Christian guidance counsellor should be the most compassionate and loving of all counsellors. Christian theology is based on love, mercy, forgiveness. At the heart of Christian theology is teaching on brokenness, our proclivity to mess up - and the enormous power of the Gospel to save people from all kinds of sinful conditions. Now it is here that my gay readers will scream condescension.

For I bet you that after I have outlined the most compassionate and tolerant approach to gay students, pro-gay readers will still not be pleased. Nothing less than full acceptance of their "enlightened, scientific, non-Stone Age view" will do. Talk about imposition! But, of course, their view is simply scientific truth - or, better yet, common sense. (I am grateful to Marx for helping me to understand the hubris of what he called 'false consciousness'.")

Gay fundamentalists will accept nothing less than the full acceptance of homosexuality as normal, moral and acceptable. There is no room for disagreement. Saying otherwise is like saying the Earth is flat. There should be no more tolerance for the view that homosexuality is immoral or abnormal than the view that the Earth is flat, gay fundamentalists believe. But conservative Christians will never accept that homosexuality is morally acceptable.

Quite frankly, gays should be happy that some fundamentalist guidance counsellors are shunning students. For what some would tell them if they did not shun them would cause those students far more damage and hurt than shunning them. I am a Popperian and an ardent believer in pluralism and the Open Society. Perhaps J-FLAG needs to organise its own counselling services where its own gay-friendly counsellors can offer a counterview to what is being offered in our schools, many of them Church-based.

Publicise your counselling services. Make use of social media heavily so that gay students have an alternative. For you can't depend on Christian guidance counsellors to go beyond tolerance and compassionate engagement to full acceptance of homosexuality. In a pluralistic society, we have to live together. Some Christians will be annoyed that I would countenance gay counselling services in the society. But this is not a theocracy. It is a democracy.

Some fundamentalist Christians and fundamentalist gays will not be pleased with this column, but as Karl Popper would say, they are enemies of the Open Society.

- Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist working with the Jamaica Information Service. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and ianboyne1@yahoo.com.

ENDS

How comes JFLAG with their foot in mouth again with their statement withou checking their own archives

and here is an excerpt of the goodly GAJ President:

but she has changed her tone since.

But what about those previous instances that I hinted to?

Such as:

LESBIANS & LEARNING – SITUTATIONAL HOMOSEXUALITY AT A KGN ALL GIRLS SCHOOL ? 2012 (GLBTQ Wordpress blog)

The Star News also carried a VERY similar story in October 2011 posted HERE on GLBTQ Jamaica a press release from the J 11.03.12 entitled: J-FLAG CONDEMNS SEXUAL COERCION AND CALLS ON SCHOOLS ADMINISTRATORS TO DIALOGUE, this response to me shows the the lack of forward thinking and understanding of initiation, situational homosexuality and experimentation issues. Then again SGL women’s issues were never something they have dealt with effectively. 

Check out this old post as well which includes the late Dr Heather Little Whyte's intervention which aided the incremental strengthening of the GAJ, Ministry of Education and referrals which was being abused by counsellors who are refusing to or uncomfortable in engaging LGBT students:

also see:

URGENT NEED TO DISCUSS SEX & SEXUALITY NATIONALLY PART 2

ALLEGED LESBIAN COERCERS IN SCHOOL – SHOULD GET PROPER HELP – EXPERT ………

Weekend raid of CSWs in Mobay had homeless LGBT in dragnet

Gleaner photo

Seventy six persons, 43 females and 33 males to include homeless MSM/transgender, who the police say were operating as illicit sex workers, were rounded up and detained yesterday morning in a massive police operation which covered several sections of downtown Montego Bay.

"Then is so much prostitute deh a Montego Bay ... all man prostitute to, but a wha dis father," remarked a passer-by as he watched lawmen loading the accused persons into several police vehicles.

The operation, which involved the Mobile Reserve as well as a team probing human trafficking, targeted several key locations across the Second City, to include the Hip Strip (Gloucester Avenue), Harbour Street, Church Street, Market Street, and the Charles Gordon Market.

Sadly our displaced and homeless MSM are still left out to dry by uncaring family members, the public and sadly or egregiously NGOs who turn their backs on them from years ago not because there was no money but internal politics.

UNDERAGE GIRLS HELD

Among those held were three underage girls, whose unexplained presence on the streets is a major concern to Senior Superintendent of Police Steve McGregor, the commanding officer for the St James Police division.

"Their (the underage girls) cases will be treated differently because this could be a case of human trafficking, which would be most unfortunate," said McGregor, who intimated that the girls' parents could find themselves in trouble with the law if they are found to be complicit in any way.

In addition to the alleged prostitutes, the operators of three of the city's unlicenced clubs, where sex acts were reportedly being carried out, were also taken into custody.

"What is quite glaring is that 90 per cent of these people are not from St James," said McGregor, who held a press conference in the aftermath of the operation. "These ladies are from parishes such as St Ann, Portland and Kingston, as well as neighbouring Westmoreland and Hanover."

SCANTILY DRESSED FEMALES ROAMING THE STREETS

Commenting on the operation, McGregor said that the police had been informed that scantily dressed females were roaming the streets of the city offering sexual favoursat a cost.

"We realise that (we had) females walking on the street scantily dressed, can't properly account for their whereabouts, where they are from or what they are doing, and are posing a danger to themselves and the parish," said McGregor, who also pointed to a recent incident in which an alleged prostitute was killed in downtown Montego Bay - the first murder in St James for 2016. "Police intelligence showed that the woman (who was killed) was a known prostitute who was close to the age of 50 years old," said McGregor.

It is understood that of the men who were detained, some were pimps while others were in the process of engaging the alleged female prostitutes in sexual favours. According to the police, however, at least three of the men were actually "putting themselves out for sale".

At press time, several of the detainees were interviewed, processed and released. Among those kept back were the three teens, whose parents will be brought in for questioning.

see this Jan 9 clearing exercise that made news on TVJ:

Police Raid Jan 09 2016 Homeless MSMTrans... by glbtqjamaica

here is an older eviction by police:


Homeless MSM Eviction 2013 by glbtqjamaica

also see: "DVD Reveller" still displaced? part 2

It was only late last year we saw a series of reports on clashes with men who targeted homeless gays also using the strip to turn a buck while pacing the pavement. As Kingston's challenges persons when they make some case are forced to relocate to other areas to try and keep up; they also track their clients as well to get repeat business.

The Sex Workers' Association of Jamaica has been trying their hand but lack the requisite resources to really make a serious impact while more powerful, older and organised entities are more interested in other issues that creates soundbites sadly than raising to the level of importance.

The detained persons were released the next day and were back on the block working the strip again but with light patrols passing and warning them.

Peace and tolerance

H

also see:
Man accused of extortion tried for coning lecturer of $1.2 
million........ (GJW)

Clash of cruisers & homeless again (GJW)

Golding, Buggery And The CCJ

Source: Gleaner

It is a well-known truth that minority groups are often used as scapegoats when politicians need to leverage the support of the majority. After all, what better way to coerce action than to convince the privileged that a "vile, immoral and downright sinful" minority are a threat to their privilege?

That incessant need to suppress otherness is a central rallying cry; nothing binds us together like our shared prejudices. With all that known to me, I perhaps shouldn't, then, be surprised by Senator Mark Golding's vulgar political ploy regarding the CCJ, the Privy Council and buggery. And yet I am. For in seeking to play to irrational fears, the minister may have done harm to his own cause and, in the process, called into question a central plank of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Speaking at a forum on the regional court, the justice minister made comments warning those expressing a preference for the UK-based Privy Council to tread carefully. According to the minister, and I'm paraphrasing, there will come a time when the country's colonial-era buggery laws will be challenged in the Constitutional Court.

As Mr Golding sees it, the matter could end up before our final court, currently the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Golding goes on to forecast that such an eventuality would all but spell doom for the laws, because, according to him, the UK-based judges are more likely to apply contemporary British perspectives on same-sex relations, rather than any judicial rigour, in interpreting the validity or the laws. Granted. He may well be right.

But the argument becomes curious when the minister goes on to say that he would much rather a regional court that understands our regional realities, culture, history, etc. passing final judgment on the laws rather than an alien tribunal.

What are we to make of this argument? Is the minister suggesting that the Caribbean Court of Justice, far from being an independent arbiter of law, would apply "regional realities, culture and history" to judicial interpretation? For if he is, he is on very shaky ground, indeed.

It is my understanding that judges should interpret what is plainly before them, rather than seeking to create public policy, or satisfy the wishes of the majority. They should, as far as possible, resist the urge to make law. Those judges who breach their role by applying personal preferences should be seen as oddities.

What Mark Golding has done is dangerous. In his indecent haste to win over a majority of the Jamaican people, he has called into question the independence of the regional court. What's more, the minister may have even created unreasonable expectations in the minds of Jamaicans as to the functioning of the court.

It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the naked prejudice that informs attitudes to the buggery law may convince many Jamaicans to get firmly behind the CCJ - no pun intended.

Such an arrangement would force the court into a corner, and quite possibly cripple its hand as it relates to ruling on the law. The minister comes dangerously close to confirming a long-standing argument against the regional court, which is that it would not be immune to political pressure from Caribbean leaders.

Golding is guilty of indirectly applying pressure on the court. To be sure, we cannot know with any certainty how the CCJ would ultimately vote on the issue, but it is enough to be concerned about the effect of Golding's posture, and the reaction of our people to it.

Does this new posture from the minister suggest the CCJ may yet see the ballot? And if it does, what would happen if the people buy into Mr Golding's fearmongering, and the court decides to nullify the laws? Who would soothe the resentment and anger that would rip through this country? It would be something akin to betrayal of the Jamaican people.

Still, Golding is no fool. There is a strategy at play, vulgar though it is. He knows well the prevailing misconception that suggests there is an orchestrated plot by external forces to overthrow our cultural preferences on buggery.

What could be a greater threat than foreign judges, with gay sympathies, overruling our most cherished laws? For many Jamaicans, that idea invokes a strong phobia. The minister may be interpreted to be banking on that fear to bolster the position of his Government.

Finally, politicians must be careful that their actions may be seen as seeking to exploit bigotry and prejudice to achieve a political end. History is replete with tragedies that arose because of that very exploitation.

At the heart of the fearmongering are real people, who are hoping for a fair hearing on the extent of their liberties and freedoms. They deserve no less. If Jamaicans accept the Caribbean Court of Justice, let it be on the merits of that court, and there are many, and not out of fear and lies.

Those of us who accept the legitimacy of the CCJ believe the truth of its worth is enough to win the day. The minister should accept that, too.

Mark, let us not turn this debate into a naked conversation about buggery. The CCJ is worth more, and Jamaicans deserve better.

- Ricardo Brooks is chairman of the Jamaican Association for Debating and Empowerment.

also see a previous post: Justice Minister exploits homophobia to gain CCJ support on Gay Jamaica Watch and ....

JFLAG Tries to Clarify its Agenda 2014

J-Flag Says It Wants More Done For LGBT People

Health Minister Says Boldness Needed to Change Buggery Laws for HIV Prevention Work to be Effective

Foreign Affairs Minister says Govt should be cautious on gay rights issues in Jamaica

Holiness, hypocrisy and homosexuality …Pastors and the buggery law debate


CVM TV @ Sunrise on the Buggery review & JFLAG's 100 days hope for meeting with PM

Health Minister Ferguson on WAD '13 & FBOs fear of a Buggery repeal with future parachuted gay marriage

Promised Conscience Vote on Buggery in Jamaica was a fluke

PNP’s Bobby Pickersgill differs on Conscience Vote route to decide on Buggery Law 2013

Church defends Buggery Law ... 2013

Buggery Law challenges & overlooked judicial solutions 2013

PNP's Damion Crawford says it's highly unlikely buggery review will happen .....

PNP Wins ................Hope for LGBT People ??? 2011

"Outdated" Bail Laws to be changed but Buggery Laws remain ... how convenient Mr.Golding? 2010

an earlier podcast on the history of the law from 1533:

That Buggery Law (UK 1533), Grief & The Ill-informed (2nd Take) 21.10.15