Lesbian unauthorised photo shakedown case ends amicably

A case with origins in Kingston in 2015 involving a woman’s sensitive photos were shared on a pornographic page of her semi nude in a compromising position with other women in the shot has had some resolution brought to bear; the original shots were intended to be a joke with friends and not an all out sexually explicit affair as the women were topless but with nipples covered etc. The impacted woman responded to the Stop Think Connect campaign which was ongoing in media outlets and as part of the STEM, a science, technology initiative which offers tips on safety and raise awareness of the dangers and online profiles etc. 

The matter was brought to the attention of the cyber crimes unit and investigations led to the tracking of the male perpetrator in St Catherine; he was also found in possession of several computers with internet connection and mapping capabilities literally via Google Earth and so on, according to my source even the mapping of persons locations seems to have been ongoing when pitted against intended targets social media status messages and tweets are screen captured for example and saved by the accused.

The photos were supposedly harvested from the impacted lesbian’s Facebook profile which she did not make the shots private and she thought only her friends were the only viewers of the materials or persons would not scroll through thoroughly as her other photos in her mind were or are ‘boring’ hence persons should not be interested to go further to fulfill any curiosity, a common mistake many make and leave themselves open to all kinds of predatory depravity out there. 

I have warned of this so many times in previous outing cases via Facebook and the conjoining family and ‘friends’ on lists where publicly shared activities are seen by all and lends itself to exposure and backlash on simple things such as ‘likes’ and comments on posts/status and even the gender or perceived sexuality of the recipients of such are questioned and become grounds for online abuse or the sullying of character and or impugned motives. We have seen cases of jilted lovers as well in as far as revenge porn as well between same gender loving folks; the last one though unconfirmed was in 2015 as well with another three in 2013 as social media usage increased sharply.

The impacted woman in this matter was floored with a message from a fake profile of a male with a profile photo being a flower showing screen shots of her sensitive photos splattered on a porn themed sight and a threat in the message threatening exposure if she did not pay a hefty fee or $250K for the non-release of the materials, according to my source the woman initially responded by blocking the threatening messenger but he simply opened another account and repeated his threat whilst almost doubling the fee and hints of violence. Of course these things have no end to them as even if the amounts were satisfied another round or rounds of threats of exposure under pain of more money or else. That was where she sought help and the cops got involved. The investigations apparently though slow and timely tracked the perpetrator’s internet protocol IP address and were monitoring him for some time before the sting operation of sorts was carried out. The woman was also advised not to close her profile as yet as the evidence needed to be mounted to which she complied.

The man was subsequently nabbed and other women who were intended targets have been reached and advised appropriately with some persons closing down their old profiles on Facebook and or Instagram as well. The last case that I was aware of as well was one where the impacted woman who regularly makes status messages on her Facebook wall and in one such turn she announced (to the world) she was meeting her friend in Half Way Tree only to be met by two men as she indeed was waiting at the gas station across from the JUTC bus park; the men then accused her of being a ‘sodomite’ and the whole nine yards and also accused her and her type as stealing away good women or words to that effect. She made good her escape via darting through the busy area nearby to Burger King and the coaster buses and her accusers lost track of her even as she could hear their voices identifying her.

The investigators have asked the present case victim to testify in the matter to which she has been reticent but the good thing about it is that it did not escalate to sexual assault and abuse; thanks to my source who responded to previous posts in April where I have been recognizing April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. 

Persons need to scuttle their online personas frankly as the world is a way different place than before and while physical harm may not be eminent, inadvertent disclosure via social media may lead to just that and attracting the wrong time. I had offered some tips in previous posts on sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch, GJW from previous related displacements and stigmatization. Social media usage and online profile identity requires vigilance and careful thinking before one presses that send/publish or OK button. Once whatever is sent out there it cannot come back, even if the item(s) are deleted in real time, cached or screen shot versions are made and archived somewhere.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Peace & tolerance

H

also see related posts from sister blog GJW:

Modern gay love, dating apps & deception wrapped in homophobia

‘Tek yuh bomboclaat out a mi house battyman’ from Facebook fallout

Another young gay man is outed via Facebook 2013

Inviting an unverified third party for a hook-up can be dangerous 2013

Facebook & unintentional outings to family members ... 2012

Warning!: Fake Facebook pics and hookup dangers 2011

Concerns on older gay men & homophobic challenges 2015

Bisexual asylum seeker has deportation flight cancelled .... appeal for June 17

As we continue to track this story from the UK some good news at least for now has come forth regarding Orashia, Jamaican Orashia Edwards is appealing rejected claim for asylum after tribunal alleged he was ‘experimenting’ and had been dishonest about his sexuality, this has been a concern for many years when I handled some cases at my time at JFLAG and other private ones. I wonder though since bisexuality is not as widely discussed as homosexuality why this challenge presents itself in this case?

The business of credibility is so crucial in asylum matters but one hopes Orashia is truthful or at least he seems so for now.

Orashia has a point on the part of the high publicity this matter has received and he maybe marked if after he is sent back here and local media picks up on it.

Going back to Jamaica would have meant death (Gay Times UK)
Orashia was released from Morton Hall detention centre where he was taken over a month ago. Inside detention he allegedly received death threats because of his sexuality.

He was being held there because an asylum tribunal refused to accept that he was bisexual.
Speaking to the Guardian from dentition, Orashia accused the Home Office of handling his case unjustly. The tribunal rejected his claim that he had been in a relationship with a man in Antigua.

“They said I was lying about my sexuality because I couldn’t remember details of the relationship.”

“I couldn’t tell them his date of birth, all I could remember was his star sign. He wrote a letter confirming that we had been in a relationship, but they refused to believe that we had been more than friends.”

Orashia said he is “relieved to be back home with friends and family and hopes his asylum claim will be granted soon”

The believability factor usually raises its head and non effeminate behaviours are sadly used to profile applicants allegedly by the Home Office as an old case comes to mind where a judge literally told a man he was not 'camp' enough to convince him. Added to that are the dishonest folks who make it bad for persons with genuine appeals as they work the system sometimes aided or urged by dubious solicitors to gain stay in the UK.

The UK's Guardian reported:

Immigration authorities have cancelled the deportation flight of a Jamaican asylum seeker who faced removal from the UK after the Home Office refused to accept he was bisexual.

Orashia Edwards, 34, had been held at Morton Hall immigration removal centre in Lincolnshire after being detained during a scheduled meeting with immigration officials. His family were told he could be deported at any time from 5 May, but Edwards was instead detained for nearly a month before being released pending a further appeal against his rejected claim for refugee status – the latest in a series of prolonged periods in detention.

He has been involved in a protracted battle with the Home Office after an asylum tribunal rejected his application, saying that he had been dishonest about his sexuality. But Edwards criticised the decision, claiming he had been the victim of institutional bias because of his sexuality.

“I think they are prejudiced against bisexual people,” Edwards said. “They say I have choices, that I could choose to be with a woman. Maybe if I had lied and said that I was gay things would have been different, but I’m just being honest. For years I was in denial about my sexuality, it took me so long to be honest with myself – I like men and I like women.”

Edwards’s asylum tribunal also alleged that while he had been sexually active with men, he had been “experimenting” with his orientation and was in fact heterosexual – an argument dismissed by bisexual activists as a common discriminatory trope.

“I’ve been in relationships with men and women since 2003,” Edwards said. “If I had been experimenting then maybe I would have slept with a man once and never gone back, but I’m bisexual, it’s who I am.”

He added that he believed his life would be at risk if he returned to Jamaica, where violence against gay, lesbian and bisexual people is widespread and sexual activity between men remains illegal under the country’s anti-sodomy laws.
Advertisement

“I won’t survive if I go back,” Edwards said. “The media coverage of my case means that my picture and my story are all over the Jamaican media. Once you are perceived as homosexual or bisexual you are branded for the rest of your life.

“Even while I was in detention, the other Jamaicans there were saying that they could go back, but I couldn’t. It just wouldn’t be possible for me. I think that the Home Office staff are trained to reject anything they’re told. I’ve given them all the proof I can of my sexuality and they still refuse to believe me. I don’t know what more I could do.”

Edwards had submitted intimate pictures of himself with another man to support his case for refugee status, a practice that campaign groups have criticised as an example of endemic mistreatment of LGBT people in the asylum system.

Edwards’s partner, Michael Mardel, echoed his allegation of prejudice on the part of the Home Office and insisted he had not been dishonest about his sexuality. He said: “I’ve known Orashia for over two years, and to put it bluntly there is absolutely a sexual element to our relationship.

“Orashia has stayed the night at my house. He is absolutely not lying about his attraction to men. Our families have also become close, we have a genuine relationship. I think that the Home Office doesn’t understand the concept of bisexuality. They seem to think that you have to be one thing or the other, they don’t seem to accept that you can be attracted to both genders and that it’s not an either/or thing for everybody.”

Edwards’s mother, Vienna Brown, said she was overjoyed at her son’s release, but added that she remained nervous about the eventual outcome of his case. “I got an email from Orashia’s solicitor saying that he was going to be released, but it wasn’t until I heard the knock at the door and opened it and saw him there that I really believed it,” she said.

“I just fell to the ground and thanked God, because I’ve prayed so hard to have my son back with me. I’ve hardly slept since he was detained. I just hope that this will lead to more good news and that he’ll be allowed to stay in this country with his family and his friends.”

Edwards will bring an appeal against the rejection of his asylum claim, on 17 June. The Home Office has previously stated that it does not normally comment on individual asylum cases.

ENDS

1. Sign his petition

2. Watch & share the campaign film

3.  visit Defend Orashia Facebook

LGBT Envoy Wants To Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends

J. Lester Feder

Newly appointed U.S. LGBT rights envoy Randy Berry doesn’t see his primary job as weighing in in countries where LGBT rights are most embattled. Instead, he says he’s targeting “the vast set of countries in the middle” on the question of embracing LGBT rights as a human rights concern.

“If we can do our part to move the center of the universe towards progress on this, that’s something I would like to be able to point to a few years from now,” Berry said in an interview with BuzzFeed News on Friday just before beginning a 15 country swing through Latin America and Europe set to coincide with LGBT Pride Month.

The pace of the trip “kind of makes my stomach hurt,” Berry said. “I’m home long enough to basically take my shirts to the dry cleaner and tuck the kids in.”

Though Berry is working on plans to head to Uganda in July, he is first visiting countries that have made rapid progress on LGBT rights over the past few years to get ideas on what strategies have been most effective. His South American stops include Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, all of which have established marriage equality over the past five years. He’ll also visit Chile, which enacted its first civil partnership law earlier this year, and is also a funder of the Global Equality Fund, a multinational, public-private partnership set up by the United States to support LGBT rights groups around the world.

“A great deal of leadership is coming out of several places in Latin America,” Berry said, adding that he hoped the trip would generate ideas on how to diffuse the attack often made by LGBT rights opponents that the United States is forcing acceptance of homosexuality on the rest of the world.

“We’re not working on a [North] American issue. We’re working on a global issue,” Berry said.

Berry said his last stop in Latin America will be in the Dominican Republic, where the appointment of the out gay Wally Brewster as U.S. ambassador in 2013 was met with a backlash from conservatives and the leaders of the Catholic Church.

Berry next heads to Eastern Europe, including a stop at the continent-wide pride event being held right on Russia’s doorstep in the capital of Latvia, Riga. He will also visiting neighboring Lithuania — which has a law similar to Russia’s ban on “gay propaganda” on the books — Poland, and Finland, which is also a contributor to the Global Equality Fund.

Before returning to the United States, Berry will stop in Amsterdam and London with the goal of recruiting support from business interests to promote LGBT rights, which he described as “one of the pillars” of what he hopes to achieve in the envoy post.

Berry is kicking off his tenure by emphasizing his role as an international emissary, but he has also been charged by Secretary of State John Kerry with coordinating the U.S.’s response to anti-LGBT crackdowns when they occur. Following the passage of sweeping anti-LGBT laws in Nigeria and Uganda in early 2014, Kerry said in an interview with BuzzFeed News that he had called for a comprehensive review of our relations with all countries that have anti-LGBT laws on the books.

That review has been completed, Berry said, including a “process of engaging with embassies and consulates” about the situation on the ground.

When asked about the fact that the U.S. response to LGBT crackdowns has been uneven — introducing some sanctions on Uganda and the Gambia following passage of their anti-LGBT laws, for example, while remaining mostly publicly silent on Nigeria’s anti-LGBT law and Egypt’s growing arrests of people accused of homosexuality — Berry said it would be a mistake to establish a set of measures automatically triggered when governments turn against LGBT people.

“I’m not convinced that you can put a matrix of action together that when you consider them to be violating human rights … because it robs you of the flexibility to engage,” said Berry. “Sometimes you need to take out the sticks,” he said, “but I’m firmly a believer in engagement.”

But he said that it was sometimes a challenge to get the United States to respond swiftly to threats to human rights because foreign policy requires coordinating across a sprawling set of divisions in the State Department and several other federal agencies.

“Any time you’re moving a bureaucracy as big as this one — especially with interagency [cooperation] — it takes some time,” Berry said.

also see:

'We came to listen and talk, not to judge'

RANDY Berry and Todd Larson wanted Jamaicans to have a clear understanding of the reason for their visit to the island last week.

So, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer lasting just under 30 minutes, the US Government officials stated more than once that they were here to listen, to engage America's partners in dialogue on human rights, and that meant the State giving equal treatment to everyone, regardless of their race, class, sexual orientation or beliefs.

"We're not advancing special rights, but talking about the universality... of human rights of everyone," said Larson, the United States Agency for International Development's senior LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex) co-ordinator.

That point was reinforced by Berry, who was just a few weeks ago appointed special envoy for the human rights of the LGBTI community by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Both Berry and Larson sat with the Observer on Friday afternoon, a day after their arrival which sparked protest by some church groups who argued that they were here to force Jamaica to embrace homosexual lifestyle as normal.

"I think it's unfortunately uninformed of what we are here doing," Berry said when asked to respond to the protest.

 Fanatical group Lovemarch protest outside the Pegasus where Berry was in a meeting during his recent visit to Jamaica

"We have been very, very careful -- as the president (Barack Obama) was during his visit and others -- to ensure we are engaging in a spirit of equality within a human rights framework. That is what we are interested in. We are not at all interested in making judgements, in using any other manner than to seek just an honest dialogue."

Berry said that while he was aware of that view regarding his and Larson's visit, he was confident that there wouldn't have been that much controversy if there was an understanding that both men were here "engaging in a human rights framework".

Portia Reneges On Gay Promise says Gordon Robinson

This headline was changed from 'Portia a coward, hypocrite' to reflect a more accurate description of the author's piece via the Gleaner

Finally, the rumour that National Heroine Nanny never existed is laid to rest.

Current political heroine, Portia Simpson Miller, settled the issue when, in response to heckling from an unruly set of gays in New York, asserted that the blood of Nanny ran through her veins. Hip, hip ... .

But the hecklers didn’t address Nanny’s lineage. They attacked Jamaica’s prime minister for making what’s now exposed as an expedient pre-election promise to take a small step towards Jamaican gay liberation, only to renege on that promise post election victory. In that regard, there’s no difference between those hecklers and others who acted similarly when Government tried, in 2011, to increase GCT on electricity.

Pete DeLisser’s excellent letter (Gleaner, April 7, ‘Go further than talk on gay rights, Madam PM’) put the issue in proper perspective. But there’s more. Let’s take the example of two gay men, Adam and Steve. Rumours and whispers aside, nobody KNOWS they’re gay. One day, they go behind closed doors and express their love for each other sexually, including (horror of horrors especially to Christians who’d NEVER practise anything similar) anal sex.

I think almost everyone, including the most avid Bible-thumpers (forced by modern political correctness) will agree this is nobody’s business and the law oughtn’t to be kicking down bedroom doors to arrest them. Once neither Adam nor Steve practises his orientation publicly, tries converting others, or corrupting minors’ morals, despite the Bible frowning on their sinful ways, they can do as they like privately. Right?

Let’s take another couple, Adam and Eve, both single and unattached. Rumours and whispers aside, nobody KNOWS they’re involved in a torrid affair (aka fornication). One day, they go behind closed doors and express their love for each other sexually (anal penetration not included). EVERYONE, including the most avid Bible-thumpers (forced by modern political correctness) will agree this is nobody’s business and the law oughtn’t to be kicking down the bedroom door to arrest them. Once neither Adam nor Eve fornicates publicly, encourages others to fornicate, or corrupts minors’ morals, despite the Bible frowning on their sinful ways, they can do as they like privately. Right?

If they want, Adam and Eve can, under Jamaican law, ‘legitimise’ their relationship by marriage, but Adam and Steve cannot. This is called discrimination. It’s the worst kind of discrimination because it’s based on religious bigotry in a nation that’s not, at least officially, a theocracy. Even if Adam and Eve were committing adultery (married to other people), the law allows them to ‘regularise’ their situation by divorce (also anathema to the Bible AND to Jesus) and remarriage without legal sanction.

Homophobes use the law to justify the discrimination, deliberately misunderstanding what’s law and law’s purpose. Law is a tool used to create order by devising a system of rules people agree to obey. Law is intended to serve society, NOT the other way around. Laws that don’t serve society are obsolete or unjust and must be abolished.

This is why the legislative process is structured to be conducted by elected people’s representatives and why the concept of an appointed Senate (no matter how ‘independent’) reviewing legislation is so backward, colonial and anti-democratic. The process is further corrupted by participation to the point of dominance by the executive.

Although, in theory, a ‘law’ represents agreement to obey, ‘laws’ have been passed in unrepresentative ways for purposes other than good order. For example, laws have been passed by a majority to oppress and suppress a minority (e.g., Jim Crow laws). Imperial laws have been passed by foreign legislators to keep nations as satellites subservient to foreign imperatives (e.g., colonial laws). Laws have even been passed by a minority to oppress and suppress the majority (e.g., South Africa’s apartheid laws). These laws, although passed with the majority’s ‘consent’ (or, as was the case in South Africa, the majority of those permitted to vote), are unjust and must be disobeyed.

One such law is what Jamaican homophobes casually call the buggery law, which provides:

“Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal, shall be liable to be imprisoned ... .”

This originated in a 1533 UK statute (attracted the death penalty); was imposed on Jamaica as colonial law; but capital punishment removed in 1861. It’s the same act used to disgrace and sentence World War II hero Alan Turing (acknowledged as the father of artificial intelligence, aka ‘computers’) to chemical castration, which drove him to suicide.

It’s named The Offences Against the Person Act. I wonder against whose ‘person’ this crime is committed? The relevant section is subtitled ‘Unnatural Offences’.

Apparently, the identical act between man and woman isn’t ‘unnatural’ or an ‘offence’ against any person. So, what makes the actions of two specified consenting adults illegal? It’s the good ol’ discrimination/bigotry combo. Want fries with that?

Its arbitrary and discriminatory nature is exposed by the logical contortions attempted by defenders to keep it alive. Persons whose opinions I admire and for whose right to express these opinions I’m prepared to die, if necessary, will tell you male homosexuality results in a higher risk of HIV/AIDS. For those of you living under a church on a rock, AIDS is a chronic, incurable modern disease spread by a virus, HIV (transmitted in bodily fluids including blood).

The virus is treatable, can be carried for life without developing into AIDS, but carriers can infect others. HIV has been passed in pregnancy to children, but modern care has practically eliminated this. Today, with proper care and treatment, people with HIV can have improved quality of life and reasonable health much of the time.
Religious propaganda labels AIDS a gay disease. Genital herpes, transmitted similarly, is not so labelled, nor is syphilis or gonorrhoea. But we don’t criminalise fornication or adultery. Perhaps we should.

Sickle-cell anaemia is a chronic, incurable but treatable lifelong disease. It’s hereditary. People who inherit a sickle gene from one parent and a normal gene from the other have a condition called sickle-cell trait. People with sickle-cell trait don't have sickle-cell anaemia and won’t ever develop it, BUT, if they reproduce with another sickle-cell carrier, sickle-cell anaemia can be passed to their children. With proper care and treatment, many people who have the disease can have improved quality of life and reasonable health much of the time.

Perhaps we need a law criminalising sex (and marriage) between sickle-cell trait victims?

Type Two diabetes, a lifestyle disease, the predilection to which runs in families, has far more devastating medical consequences than HIV. Regardless of treatment, vascular sequelae begin after about 10 years and disastrous consequences almost irrevocably follow (e.g., blindness, stroke, cardiac disease, kidney problems, limb loss or impotence).

This chronic, incurable disease, even with treatment, can result in the shutting down of every organ in the body.
Perhaps we need a law criminalising fast food and sugar. But, let not thy heart be troubled, Jamaica’s public health is in the safe hands of the buggery law.
Then there’s the defence of religious homophobes that they hate the sin but love the sinner. They don’t preach hatred/violence against gays. No?
“Leviticus 20:13

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death ... .”
Need I say anything more? C’mon, man!

So, we have a prime ministerial candidate who promises one small step for the LGBT community. As prime minister, she reneges on that promise and closets herself from media. When she’s finally heard in public (overseas, of course), she’s rudely heckled by gays. Oh, dear.

The “blood of Nanny”, indeed! If she’d been heckled by a group of environmentalists about the Riverton fire and dared to respond in such a holier-than-thou way, local media would’ve nailed her to a cross for Easter. But, because it’s only gays ... .

Britain, which imposed the buggery law on us, matured and repealed that human-rights disgrace in 1967. In 2009, British PM Gordon Brown officially apologised to Alan Turing for “the appalling way he was treated”. And, in 2013, Queen Elizabeth granted him a posthumous pardon.

You see, it’s simple. Either you’re for or against human rights. If you’re for human rights, you’ll condemn the PM for reneging on a pre-election promise to improve Jamaica’s human-rights record and avoiding public discussion on her default.

If you’re against human rights or for human rights only for some humans, she’s your heroine and the “blood of Nanny” indeed runs through her veins.

Peace and love.

- Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

ENDS

I have not much new to add as  my opinion still stands that it was not a promise made by Mrs Simpson so we can hold on nothing in the final analysis and demanding conscience votes may be counter productive in the final analysis.

see:

PROMISED (I mean suggested) CONSCIENCE VOTE ON BUGGERY LAW NOT A PRIORITY RIGHT NOW (YET AGAIN) SAYS PM from my post on Gay Jamaica Watch

Mrs Simpson Miller sided with the then JLP govt on to an invented distraction of gay marriage in the Charter of rights debate on October 2009 so I was not expecting much from her sweet words:

Cabinet delays buggery review, says it's not a priority & more ...........................(November 2012) prior to the announcement of the review in parliament in June 2013 More sounds HERE for podcast

Promised Conscience Vote on Buggery in Jamaica was a fluke, Sexual Offences Bill to be updated 2014 says justice minister

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

Mark Wignall on Buggery law review promise was a political sham

On Buggery and gays in cabinets with politics ............ some responses ............

The Line in the Sand for the JLP Part 14 ...... but vote ☐ PNP ☐ JLP ☑ Legalize Buggery/Anal Sex in private ........

this old Jamaica observer cartoon reflects my point (made for over ten years) that is has always been about winning elections so her nice words in 2011 deemed as a promise was just for that.

JFLAG Position Statement on Upcoming Conscience Vote on Jamaica’s Buggery Law earlier released before the change of direction by the PNP.

THE JAMAICAN GOVERNMENT SCHIZOPHRENIC ON HUMAN RIGHTS ?

Justice Minister reiterates his personal position on the Buggery Law, Anal Intercourse, Consent & Privacy

Peace and tolerance

H

Woman assumed to be a lesbian chopped viciously allegedly by neighbour

* sorry for the late post on this but thought it relevant to share it here, originally a Jamaica Observer story on January 4, 2015. As this story shows the ease at which persons can be attacked (in their homes) just by an allegation.

also the case update HERE

A young woman was allegedly chopped by her neighbour just over a month ago, and has, since then, been spending most of her time away from her apartment with friends and relatives, because she no longer feels safe at home.

She told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview that it is apparent something is wrong, she just does not know what.

"Apparently she has an issue with me, I don't know what it is really. She is making all kinds of assumptions," the victim disclosed. "Because I live in a two-bedroom house with another female, she is automatically assuming that I am a lesbian."

Questioned as to whether there was any truth to the assumptions, she responded: "But me being a lesbian or not being a lesbian has nothing to do with me being chopped and that's what this is about. My sexuality has nothing to do with it, whether or not I am straight or gay, people can assume; I have nothing to say, no comment on that."

The victim told the Sunday Observer that the matter should now be before the courts, but she is questioning whether it is a situation where her case is being stalled, because when she turned up for the initial December 12 court date, she found out that there was no case file.

The situation came to a head on November 21, according to the victim, when she was involved in a tussle with her neighbour, after which she received chop wounds.

She related that everything started on November 16. She said she got into a scuffle with her housemate, who is also her business partner, after which she turned the music in her apartment on. The victim told the Sunday Observer that she heard banging on her door and when she opened it, her neighbour from the apartment in front of hers was standing there.

She said her neighbour complained that her music was too loud, so she turned it off. She said about 15 minutes later, the security guard for the compound knocked on her door and told her that a complaint was made about her music. She said that she then left the apartment and went for a walk, only to return sometime later and was told that the police had also visited her apartment.

"Nothing happened on Monday. Tuesday evening, usually after work I have school. I wasn't feeling well, so I decided that I was going to wait at work a little bit, until my business partner was finished working; we also work for the same company, that's how we got into business together," she explained.

She told the Sunday Observer that when she eventually got to her apartment, which is on the third floor of the compound's fifth block, she was greeted by a high-smelling substance.

"So I reach for the light and I am slipping at the top of the staircase in front of my door, almost burst my face. I turned the light on and there is gasolene or kerosene oil in front of my door and all over the door, not sure what (substance it was), but some high-smelling substance," the victim stated. "At first, I was thinking 'what the hell', until

I noticed the matchsticks and newspaper pushed underneath the door. So, the paper burnt all the way up under the door and there were probably about six or seven matchsticks at the door."

She said by then she was furious, and contacted the landlord and property manager, as well as informed the security guard. The police were also called to the location. She told the Sunday Observer that people living on her block were also upset because their homes would also have been affected if there had been a fire.

"They were saying we need to have a meeting about what was going on," she said. "I understand that there have been some scuffles that probably the neighbours have overheard from my apartment, and my music."

She said she found the situation stressful and decided to take the remainder of the week off from work.

"So I am doing some business, working on my loan company at home, and a client comes over on Friday. As I was about to go downstairs to let him inside (the building), that's when I noticed some white, powdery substance; apparently somebody was trying to get rid of the scent of the kerosene oil or gasolene, so they had poured some powder-like substance on the handle of the door, on the door, in front of the door.

"So I am trying to push the key into the door and there is now a barrier. I can't lock my door to go anywhere now, so if I have to leave my apartment I have to leave my door open. Now, I am a businesswoman, I have my files all up in my house, not to mention my furniture, my electronics, I can't leave my house open. I am worse upset more than ever," said the victim.

She said that up to that point, no one had heard her 'go off' and things just kept on happening. She said that she went downstairs and spoke to the security guard as well as contacted the property manager who told her the matter would be looked into.

She said she was so upset she contacted one of her friends, who is a police officer, who advised her to contact the police.

"I was on my way upstairs and I was so upset I got to my door and I hit my door three times and was like, 'what the hell is all of this? Mi tyad a this, anybody messing with me need to stop it'," she explained, adding that she might have said an expletive in the process.

According to the victim, it was while she was inside her apartment with her client that she heard talking outside her door. She said she opened her door and saw her neighbour speaking to the security guard.

"My door is ajar at this time. My client is in my house. I head towards my kitchen to get some water," she stated. "About two minutes or so, drinking some water doing whatever I am doing... And I hear talking inside my living room.

"This woman is on her phone and she is screaming at me in my kitchen, and she is in my living room," she shared. "So I am like, 'what the hell, what are you doing in my house, get out my house'. The security (guard) was outside my door, just standing there. So, I went over to my door, still with the bottle in my hand because I was shocked.

"I was walking over to her and the woman grabbed me in my chest, inside my living room, tore my shirt down the middle," she continued. "My first response was to throw the bottle, it caught the security on the shoulder, he was standing behind her.

"A fight started and I kicked her out my house... mi never inna nuh fighting mood, is a bigger woman for me, so I am not going to fight her like that, or the way she wanted me to fight her; granted I did hit her back when she hit me," the victim related.

She said she eventually got control of the situation and told the security guard to hold onto her neighbour. By this time, she said her client, who was inside her house, came outside to see what was happening.

"So the security is holding her and pulling her, but she is pulling me, so it's two people pulling me," she explained, adding that she asked her client to hold onto her. She said her client managed to pull her inside her apartment but the neighbour ran up to the door and they had to brace it in order to lock it.

According to the victim, she later heard banging on her door but by this time she had already contacted her landlord and the police.

"I had spoken to the police before, so at this point the fight was done. I had not got injured or anything; we fought, I had a few scratches, she tore off my shirt, but it was done," she insisted.

"I called the police because I wanted them to come and see what was going on at my door, I was tired of it. She put her hands on me, came into my house and started a fight," she continued.

She said when her landlord, who was coming from Harbour View, got to the compound, some time later, this was when she decided to unlock her door and exit her apartment.

"My client comes out ahead of me, I change my clothes and she is standing over there talking to the security guard, cool and calm as ever," the victim recounted. "And as I exit my door, she reaches for something on her little side table, obviously it was there before, and I just saw her coming and before I could think, my first instinct was to run.

"My client started to run and I started to run and as I entered probably about the first two staircases, I heard the security yell out and I turned around to see her coming down with a cleaver, a chopper... she chop me and it was straight underneath my boob, about a four-/five-inch chop on the left side, and I moved my arm and she chopped me in the back of my neck," she continued to relate. "And she was still swinging and I just ran down the stairs.

"All I know is that I am downstairs and I am feeling warm," she recounted.

She said that the police took some time to get to the location but that when they got there, her neighbour allegedly related another story of the incident.

"So that's how I got chopped. An incident that started on Sunday and ended on Friday, and I did not provoke this woman or trouble this woman any at all," the victim insisted.

She said that when she went to court on December 12, she learnt that there was no case file.

"She was not served a summons to come to court, I was informed after going over to the police station to try to get the file, that there has to be a summons issued. But I am wondering, how does she know of the court date and 10:00 am for the time, how do I know about it, if there was no summons?" She questioned initially. "If proper protocol was not followed, how are we aware of all of these things and what happened to the file?"

The case file has since been found and, according to the victim, attempts are now being made to serve her neighbour with a summons.

"I don't understand what I did to this woman for her to feel like she had the right to come into my house... My mindset is out of place, I wake up at 1:00 or 2:00 am in pain," she disclosed. "I look over my shoulder every sound I hear, she doesn't understand what she has done to me."

She is adamant that she will not stop until she gets some justice.

Stop Denying Homophobia! (Gleaner Letter)

The letter writer refers to an article from JFLAG's Programs persons and Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition CVCC (yes the group who funded the JFJ Sex Ed course that has only landed the struggle in more problems than solving any) board member Jaevion Nelson, you decide on this one readers, sometimes I have to wonder where some folks live? 

The referred article is in orange:

THE EDITOR, Sir:

This letter is in response to Jaevion Nelson's article 'Jamaica not as homophobic as portrayed' (Gleaner, July 3, 2014).

Two senior journalists - Gary Spaulding of The Gleaner and Karyl Walker of the Jamaica Observer - made some salient points at the press conference which was held last month by the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition about the portrayal of Jamaica as a rabidly homophobic place.

We supposedly come from and live in "the most homophobic place on earth". However, while there are scales to measure the people's negative attitudes towards non-heterosexuals, there is no real or accepted way - as far as I know - to determine if or how homophobic a country is.

What makes a country the most homophobic? Is it the murder of LGBT people (in one of the most murderous countries worldwide)? The impunity perpetrators enjoy (which is not uncommon to any one incident)? Is it the number of LGBT people who have had to seek refuge abroad? Is it the stories they tell (this is really what Karyl was getting at)? Is it the existence of an antiquated legislation that peers into the bedroom of consenting adults or the strident activism of an anti-gay movement that seeks to limit the rights and dignity of LGBT Jamaicans?

Unfortunately, what many people know about Jamaica is violence and that is often limited to homophobia. In 2012, I met a young man in York, England, who was terminally ill and had not been out of his house much in the last few years. He felt empowered to apprise me of how, in Jamaica, there is nothing but machete-wielding mobs lynching gay men. I tried desperately to convince him that there is another reality - not for everyone - but I was seemingly inept at doing so. Apparently, I didn't know what I was talking about. I've met so many others like this young man man who believe being LGBT in Jamaica is a death sentence.

DIFFERENT REALITY

I am not denying that many Jamaicans who are or perceived as LGBT are not subject to hostility on a daily basis. I'm not denying that many have had to seek refuge abroad or that a great many living in Jamaica aren't dying for an opportunity to escape. Many LGBT Jamaicans I know are imprisoned with fear and extremely anxious about being a victim of anti-gay hostility or violence. However, there are many who do not identify with the horrific stories that are told every day. I wish foreigners could hear this reality, too.

It doesn't help that we have been inundated with news reports and documentaries of people who have been harassed, beaten, displaced, made homeless, and murdered, among other things, over the last 10 years or so. There is a large community of LGBT people living in the gully in New Kingston. Almost a year ago, a homeless young man, Dwayne Jones, was murdered for not dressing as a biological male. This year, Tiana Miller, who is transgender, was denied entry into a soca party because the security said, "No cross-dressers are allowed".

However, in the middle of the hoopla, there is growing resistance - a fascinating resilience that shows Jamaicans are committed to working towards engendering the kind of society we want to live in and enjoy as human beings with dignity and with rights.

Many people have been enlisting themselves in a protest; are actively engaged in a movement that sees everyone as equal - that says sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression does not determine how we treat each other.

There is progress and we must acknowledge it. We must promote this as a sort of passive resistance to the stereotype about Jamaica. There is value in ensuring that LGBT people, especially those who are young, are not victims of our insatiable appetite for the most horrific of gay experiences. And I am not saying there is no value in sharing these stories, but they can be inimical to our efforts, in that they can further imprison people and keep them in the shadows. I am not suggesting homo-negativity is a thing of the past in Jamaica, but proffering that there is a complexity; a multifaceted process that requires our appreciation to move forward with dignity and right.

Nelson is right that the every member of the LGBT community does not have a homogeneous, death-unto-you experience marked by violence. And true, there is no one way to measure homophobia.

However, here is the problem with his article. There is an implicit denial of the shared experience of fear members of the LGBT community undergo.

No matter how much you resist it, no matter how strong you try to be, if you are gay or bisexual in Jamaica, at some point, you are afraid. You are afraid of what your parents, or friends, will do. You are afraid of what the public will do. You police yourself to ensure you conform with the sex-role stereotypes. And, importantly, most LGBT persons cannot openly claim their sexual orientation without some reprisal.

Our society defends and supports such reprisals and this culture of fear. That is the indication of homophobia. It is foolish to look for violence.

We know there are laws that deny rights to this community. We know there are persons who actively support this system of discrimination and we know the community is marginalised. It is culturally accepted and defended. To say we are not as homophobic because there is nothing to measure it is just blind. It is foolish.

I do not think saying "all gay men and women don't have the same experience with violence" is the same as saying we are not a homophobic country.

What it does say is that the homophobia takes many forms, that it varies according to class and education. Ian Boxill has a study that proves this. Homo-negativity is alive and well and publicly showing itself. So for those gay men and women who do not experience it, good for you, but it does not alter the reality I have described and Jamaica's cultural position on sexual difference.

GLENROY MURRAY
jacques_lebeau@hotmail.com
Kingston

ENDS

It seems the younger ones who come into these organizations somehow get "infected" by the very mindset of the older heads. Where one would expect a change of new approaches we see a continuation of old ideologies pushed through new faces. 

Peace and tolerance

H

Same gender loving sister clashes with bus crew in Half Way Tree

It’s been a while since I got out and about on a weekend since I have some free time from the conclusion of the Seismic Project with Aphrodite’s PRIDE Jamaica so some of my brethren had a drink out of which I attended last evening. We were returning from the shing-dig to travel separately home when we ran into a shouting match just by the outside of the Half Way Tree transportation centre that was closed at the time since it was around 11pm westwards along Eastwood Park Road and where robot taxis and coaster buses (often having challenges with both crews and loaders and suspected gay/lesbian folks) would operate JUTC main trunk routes until the wee hours of the morning by the Shell gas station at the stop lights alongside Molynes Road. 

The shouting match from our vantage point at first looked like some men arguing but as we got nearer with some of my colleagues taking another route in some trepidation we soon realised it was a stud identified woman and one of the conducters/sideman on the bus where he chastised the girl as a “dutty lesbian gal” other passengers who were disembarking the bus were also boisterous but not in defence of the crude conductor but in defence of the waiting time apparently they had to endure from Spanish Town where the bus route originated which was what the SGL sister was initially upset about, buses such as these are prone to expose passengers to lengthy delays (while charging more than the formal buses with sometimes deadly reckless driving to make up for time) the woman as we settled at the spot to decide which bus to enter into as loaders while laughing intermittently try to convince us to take our seats however one of my lesbian counterparts who was going in my direction suggested we wait and see how this go down.

I also wondered why was there some many challenges with these buses as of late owing to the recent draconian changes by the Transport Authority and their granting of licences to these operators whose numbers have been significantly reduced.

The newly arrived bus continued emptying its passengers and the argument ensued getting loader as decibels and harsh language became pronounced. The lesbophobic/homo-negative comments continued by the conductor who now was joined by the driver who while seated shouted supporting anti gay arguments. An older female passenger sided with the obviously angry same gender sister as it was at this time myself and my female companion realised she was a community member as she hailed one of my young gay friends also in my company but who had stopped at a vendor to buy snacks before. They greeted each other as he joined us and as she explained why she was upset to all three of us by this we all were now the target of the verbal assault, my female friend was about to move to one of the men where I grabbed her hand and reminded her how to defuse situations like this with ignoring the rage at first and if to fight then fight to end it not to win. 

Other passengers who had disembarked stopped to watch the standoff, taxis parked under the gas station loading for various destinations also saw their already seated clients alighting to watch as well with comments for and against coming from them, even persons who did not know the genesis of the matter sided with the lesbophobic conductor/sideman/driver, typical in cases like this I have seen over the years in stereotypically profiling LGBT persons.
Words to the effect such as “dutty lesbian gal”(dirty lesbian girl) “suck pussy 'oman” (suggesting her sexual activity is limited to oral sex a perception held in the mind’s of many Jamaicans of lesbians) and derogatory suggested sex change remarks were used to challenge the woman’s semi masculine demeanour by this time my two counterparts joined in the dispute with my male friend who is known to her tried to pull her away and to leave the scene as he hugged her in an effort to convince her while my female friend proceeded to respond to the never ending lesbophobic and other awful remarks with and ever rising decibel level, a typical style of public embarrassment by arguing parties. 

The other crews/loaders still while laughing were remarkably still trying to entreat us to take our seats in the waiting bus as other persons joined the curious onlookers or passed by, that was when I broke my silence and suggested to the aggrieved woman go on her destination as this was going nowhere besides we are now the target of the assault seeing we were guilty by association. The driver took me on suggesting that the young lady was rude and must “gwey from yasso” (leave here or a place in disgrace by cutting ones loses) I in turn responded that the crew was not making it any better and besides they know that passengers want to go about their business and are forced to wait at their pleasure (not in such nice words), the rude crewman then used the “B” word to describe me, so in dealing with the real issue I am now battyboi, so what.

That’s when the aggrieved sister went haywire and said that I was defending the right thing while my other female friend joined in the exchange with all sorts of expletives and curse words in Jamaican parlance flew however I stayed as cool as I possibly could with an unfinished beer in hand that I sipped every now and again as it got less cold but clearly showing we were not afraid of them and their rant besides he was telling me something I already know. Their refusal to take the blame for the passengers’ upset due to delay continued and the older woman who had sided with the aggrieved woman was still on the scene with other passengers who remained, some others left, it was then when a comment that seemingly challenged the manhood of the rude man from the profiled lesbian caused a physical response from the crewman as he lunged forward towards the woman hand raised as if he wanted to hit or punch her, she in turn stood her ground while partially pulling what looked like a knife or weapon from the left side of her waist, in response shouts of “a what dat” “noooo no bada wid dat” and so on came from the now transfixed audience and persons driving by slowed to see what was going on, the older woman who had defended the girl asked her not to go there and to leave it alone while the other crewmen and taxi drivers seemed livid that the woman had defended herself (how dare a woman who is about to be attacked by a man stand up) the driver in the meantime was livid and he tried to raise his plump self from his seat supposedly in a bid to “defend it” while spewing a slew of expletives (mouth full of food, rice flying) encouraging the sideman to “rass de oman, she [expletive] bright.”. (hit her she is out of order and deserves it etc.)

To think my last session in the Seismic project was safety and defusing an aggressive scene now here I am in one, coincidental eh? fortunately the police station was nearby on Maxfield Avenue southwards from us just in case things got ugly I thought, I also went over piercing through the growing crowd who had encircled the two, the angry woman was fuming and also the crewman who felt he was dissed (Jamaican men do not like that especially when it comes from a woman) myself and my friends tried to calm her down while acting as a buffer between her and the other men, homo-negative comments continued from various voices seeing we were supporting the aggrieved woman, the particular crewman also had other crewmen/loaders holding him and trying to also calm him down, the driver still seated and shouting from inside the bus instructed the men to leave him alone to take action as he saw fit, how could he let a woman do him like that? Or words to that effect came from him. 

Others found it comical with intermittent laughter and urgings as if to look for a fight for some sort of sick entertainment (including the same loaders who wanted us to take our seat in the waiting bus in the front of the line in the first place) Things started to calm down as both parties were pulled aside by their various support or onlookers as the hour passed and less persons travel apparently our patronage was also of import for the loaders/buscrew of the waiting bus (not the same as the bus with the seated screaming fat driver) so the loaders started to insist we take our seats while we consoled the sister but she took a while to calm down as she threatened that she intends to have her “friends” deal with this bus crew. I intervened and suggested that made no sense and was better to move on. A time after the onlookers numbers started to shrink, the taxi drivers took their places by their cars discussing the issue (typical post excitement in their eyes discussion) as business seem to return to normal and the loaders started calling out to oncoming members of the public to see if they were going in the buses direction.

Well we know that we are marked at that bus stop and by the crews but who cares? I have witnessed crap at that area before and some of the guys truth be told are known. The woman calmed after about ten minutes or so while the discussion continued, we could still hear the still seated driver making muffled remarks but he was ignored, the woman introduced herself to me and she continued talking to my gay friend who knew her, meanwhile the loaders insisted we enter the waiting bus as it was soon ready to depart. My brethren joined myself and my lesbian sister on the bus as we settled and the woman eventually left for her travels obviously still not pleased. We discussed the matter in the bus prior to its departure and the conductor for our bus made a remark as he entered the unit that almost started a second square off where he suggested that no woman could dis him like that, obviously it was a comment to also take a swipe at us but we looked at each other and continued our convo almost all the way over to Spanish Town, other passengers were talking of it but from a standpoint of disrespectful crews and indiscipline. We have since kept in touch via Facebook and so on and the woman is ok now as at the preparation of this post.

Such are the travails out there but it is not the first time that Spanish Town and indeed other coaster routes have seen similar scenes in Half Way Tree as bus crews themselves have come in for harsh exchanges between themselves and with passengers and members of the public about suspected gay crew/loaders/drivers, some years ago a transwoman was stabbed as well caused by another woman who pointed her out, clashes with homeless MSM/trans persons or cruisers alongside those who met in the city centre back in the day prior to it getting a bad rap for being gay town. The controversial shooting incident as well of a cash for gold selling lesbian sister only last year is a reminder of how fickle the town centre can be for same gender loving folks be it anti gay reasons or gay on gay violence. Things changed over time following that gathering of persons with machete’s after an announcement that gay groups were intending to march in the square. Then we can also add to that the clashes at Bargain Mall by Clock Tower Plaza and so called K12 threats, even recently in 2014 there was a standoff with men and some youngsters. Just look out there if you are reading this and happen to traverse the area or know of anyone who does.

Other coaster bus related matters:

Gay joke goes wrong ... bus personnel escapes thrashing

Brawl on Coaster Bus from Portmore ... man accused of riding another's ass while in transit

Pickpocket victim labelled gay, crowd advances then retreats

Alleged Gay advance upsets 'loader man' in Half Way Tree

Bus conductress defends herself

Lawyers' Christian Fellowship's Shirley Richards says lesbian sex should be criminalized as buggery ...

Peace and tolerance

H

LGBT Asylum Support Task Force (US)

Imagine yourself having just arrived from another country to the U.S. – you are an immigrant with no status. You left your country on a visiting or student visa stating that you intended to return. Yet, you knew that you couldn’t because your life was being threatened. You are seeking asylum from persecuting forces in your country. Now, imagine that the group you are fleeing from is every single other citizen of your home country, so you cannot seek support from fellow compatriots who are living here already. That is because the status of your very existence is “illegal” in your place of birth. The reason? You’re lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, LGBT.

Such is the situation for countless LGBT asylum seekers in the U.S. due to persecution. Without assistance from those in their country, they need to find alternative support. As we know, even in our own stories as people of immigration, when coming to a new country, Irish stayed with other Irish families, Jewish with other Jewish, etc. The LGBT immigrant must squash their dream of freedom again as they temporarily stay with acquaintances in fear that their countrypersons will throw them out, abuse them, not feed them and let relatives back home know……if they discover that their visitor is LGBT. In Uganda if you do not report your own son or daughter if they are gay, you could be imprisoned for 14 years.

The LGBT Asylum Support Task Force was formed because LGBT persons are fleeing countries where it is illegal for them to be gay. Their families back in their country of origin may have disowned them, they could have been fired when their sexual orientation became public or was assumed. They might have become homeless or recipients of torture, imprisonment, or horror and they could have even watched friends and lovers die.

Pastor Judy Hanlon helps LGBT asylum seekers to get meals and a place to live, and provides spiritual food through her place of worship, Hadwen Park Church in Worcester, in central Massachusetts.

The Task Force started in 2008 when a Jamaica gay man told his lawyer, through his tears, that he was hungry, had no resources, and didn’t know where he would sleep that night. The lawyer fortunately knew a minister who had both compassion and connections. Pastor Judy Hanlon helped this young man to get a meal and an apartment and provided spiritual food through her place of worship, Hadwen Park Church in Worcester, in central Massachusetts.

In over 80 countries around the world, there are laws against homosexuality. These laws instill fear into the hearts of those who worry fervently that their secret will be spilled, lest they be persecuted. In over 70 countries, the punishment is imprisonment. In seven, the ruling is the death penalty. And, in most countries, punitive “corrective” action is taken against those considered to be “offenders.” This is usually rape and sometimes it is done by government officials.

Sadly, for lesbian asylum seekers, this is a matter of course. Moreover, most women are forced to leave their precious children back home just to survive! Often these laws are enacted without a fair trial. If the persecuted person lives, they must flee the country, if they can. Even if they had well-paying positions in their countries, their home country freezes their bank accounts and they find themselves destitute when they arrive on these shores.

Once gay or lesbian asylum seekers arrive in a country where laws protect LGBT persons, they must first find legal help as the process to file an LGBT political asylum case is daunting and difficult. The final coup de grâce, is that they must prove that they are gay to a stranger in an immigration office!

Since they have not been able to march in parades, take pictures of themselves and their partners, are too frightened to even say the word gay out loud, this is not easy. Often they come without knowing that in the USA, asylum seekers are not allowed to work! They come not realizing that they have only one year from the date they arrived to file with an attorney.

Without knowledge, they experience more cultural abuse and disorientation, including America’s own racism which is different than the hatred they experienced because it is insidious and unspoken. PTSD is common and they can fall deeply into depression as they relive horrific memories of traumatic treatment they underwent.

Being perpetually hungry, feeling unsafe, and being financially vulnerable is no way to rebuild a life. Moreover, there is tremendous sense of grief, as well as pain, for the losses they face: country, language, culture, family – everything familiar – is gone. The Task Force has provided physical, emotional, and spiritual support to nearly 80 people from over 15 countries since its inception in 2008.

Beyond food and shelter, the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force – which is staffed completely by volunteers – helps these individuals until they have filed their cases and have been granted asylum or given a work permit, which is denoted by a social security number. This basic necessity, a social security number, allows asylum seekers to work so that they can begin to become self-sufficient, and thereby take an important step towards restoring their dignity.

With no status, as an asylum seeker, they cannot receive food stamps and do not get any support from the federal government. Once asylum seekers get a work permit, the Task Force helps them secure job interviews as well as writing letters of reference after individuals have applied for positions.

Funds for LGBT asylum seekers run in the thousands per month – approximately $5000 for eight or nine people (at a time) – to keep them housed, clothed, fed, and transported. In the homes provided, persons can be open about their sexual orientation and gender identity. That is an important step toward healing. Support for the Task Force comes from donations because public assistance is not available for this group, since they are undocumented until they win their cases. The Task Force also provides events that lift the spirits of these individuals, and provides them with community that can sustain them as they establish their lives in their new home countries.

By Fern Remedi-Brown

Sources:
LGBT Asylum Support Task Force
Personal communication with Pastor Judy Hanlon, LGBT Asylum Support Task Force
Guardian Liberty Voice
Guardian Liberty Voice
Human Rights Campaign, Issue: Immigration

Love on the Wire – A Jamaican Gay Love Story Book

By O’Brien Dennis

“Love on the Wire – A Jamaican Gay Love Story” is a love story set in Jamaica to challenge the class structure and the stereotype of a gay man. It suggests that a person who discovers that he is same-gender loving can dream, can aspire to love another of the same sex without fear of rejection and reprisals.

While this is a work of fiction, the aim is to change the view of homosexuals and homosexuality in a society with its cultural and religious norms, against the patina established by colonial masters, and to have readers enter into conversations about moving from tolerance, if it exists, to acceptance without reservation.

The book encourages the reader to examine him or herself and in the process, have an honest conversation about homosexuality, bi-sexuality, religion, politics, male sexual abuse and the prevailing stigma surrounding an HIV infection. It is my hope that readers, if they are heterosexual, or even if homosexual, would take the time to reexamine what it means to be homosexual and to realize that everyone has a right to be who he or she is, and to live the best life possible without fear of persecution and prosecution.

Beres Hammond's song “Love On The Wire” was my inspiration and am reminded of the many times my body was cut while going through barbed wires, physical and emotional, for love of another of the same sex. To get a personalized signed copy click on the following link https://squareup.com/market/obrien-dennis/love-on-the-wire-1

Other posts from the author on sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch:

go here: The Cries of Men

About the Author

O'Brien Dennis was born and raised in Jamaica, where he was a victim of male sexual abuse. As the executive director of the O'Brien Dennis Foundation, he researches sexual abuse and provides a safe haven for survivors and their families. He lives in Westchester County in New York State and is also the author of The Cries of Men: Voices of Jamaican Men Who Have Been Raped and Sexually Abused.

go here: Understanding Male Sexual Abuse: Why Men Remain Silent additional suggested reading the current case of a leading civil servant accused of homo-paedophilia in essence here in Jamaica and the shifting circumstances.

see: 

Youth Ministry official accused of homo-paedophile acts takes Minister, OCA & Public Services Commission to court

Legal battle brewing - Lawsuit over Trinidad & Tobago anti-gay laws

Legal battle brewing
Lawsuit over TT anti-gay laws
Rachael Espinet, Newsday, October 25, 2013, Page 15

SIR GEORGE Alleyne, former UN Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS and editor of the book Legal and Policy Perspectives on HIV and Human Rights in the Caribbean, says the book is a serious commentary on HIV and human rights and the legal policy implications of HIV in the Caribbean.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Sports and Physical Education Centre (SPEC) in St Augustine, after its annual graduation ceremony where he is the Chancellor of the university, he said: “What it does is it looks at policy issues; legal issues that have to be addressed and we address that certain approaches need to be taken to address these issues.”

When the book was launched on Tuesday, gay rights activists condemned the United Nations AIDS [sic] (UNAIDS), for having the event in Trinidad. UNAIDS and Pan Caribbean [sic]sponsored the book; however the objection comes from Trinidad having an immigration law that prohibits homosexuals from entering the country.

In Section 8 of the Immigration Act, “prostitutes, homosexuals persons living on the earnings of prostitutes or homosexuals, or persons reasonably suspected as coming to Trinidad and Tobago for these or any other immoral purposes are prohibited from entering the country.”

Thus legally, non-national homosexual persons who were invited to the book launch would not be able to attend or they would be breaking the law. Maurice Tomlinson, a Jamaica lawyer and legal adviser for AIDS Free World, was one such person who would have been legally barred from attending.

Though legally members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community are barred from entering the country, the law is not enforced. In 2007, Members of the public were rallying to stop openly gay performer Elton John from entering the country. However, the government gave a waiver for John to sing in the Tobago Jazz Festival.

Currently, through AIDS Free World, Tomlinson is suing Trinidad and Tobago to remove homosexuality from the prohibited list. On November 12 Tomlinson will challenge Section 8 of the Immigration Act at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Alleyne stated, “Much of what is written has been written by people who have not read the book, and really don’t appreciate what the substance of the discussion is all about.” He added that he and UWI have an “intolerance to all forms of intolerance” and in his graduation address on the Cave Hill campus, “I addressed this issue of intolerance and discrimination pointing out that there is intolerance of intolerance in all forms as part of our university’s policy.”

Colin Robinson, director of the Coalition Advocating for Inclusion of Sexual Orientation (CAISO), said, “The controversy around the event has brought attention to the outrageousness to the immigration law.”

However, Robinson said while CAISO supports the legal actions against the country’s law suit [sic], “The question of wether [sic] there should be a boycott of Trinidad and Tobago for events that would advance the position of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community is a matter that AIDS Free World has not discussed with us.”

A release from AIDS Free World stated “It goes without saying that demonstrating indifference to hateful laws as though they were of no consequence is hugely damaging in the iight against HIV and AIDS.

“There is no question that the book will address the issue of high-risk groups, men who have sex with men (MSM) in particular. And with that in mind, many gay men from around the Caribbean would wish to attend, and indeed, some of them have undoubtedly received invitations (Tomlinson included). Neither Maurice nor any of his gay colleagues from outside Trinidad can attend. Why?

Because the immigration law of Trinidad and Tobago explicitly prohibits the entry of homosexuals.” The release continues to say, “Holding the book launch in a country that bars entry to homosexuals is a direct contradiction of the recommendations of the Global Commission on HIV and the Law (that UNAIDS co-sponsored), and an equally direct contradiction of the Executive Director of UNAIDS, who has said time and again that UNAIDS has zero tolerance for discriminatory laws.

Justices on the leave hearing panel were back row, left Jacob Wit (Netherlands Antilles) and Winston Anderson (Jamaica) and front row: Rolston Nelson (Trinidad & Tobago), CJ Sir Dennis Byron (St. Kitts & Nevis) and Winston Saunders (St. Vincent & the Grenadines)

UPDATE: the CCJ reserved judgement - 

Caribbean Court of Justice reserves judgement on Maurice Tomlinson case on barred entry due to sexual orientation