Pedophilia, Meaning Symptoms etc

Pedophilia
According to the Encyclopedia of Mind Disorders: http://www.minddisorders.com/

Definition
Pedophilia is a paraphilia that involves an abnormal interest in children. A paraphilia is a disorder that is characterized by recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies generally involving: nonhuman objects; the suffering or humiliation of oneself or one's partner (not merely simulated); or animals, children, or other nonconsenting persons. Pedophilia is also a psychosexual disorder in which the fantasy or actual act of engaging in sexual activity with prepubertal children is the preferred or exclusive means of achieving sexual excitement and gratification. It may be directed toward children of the same sex or children of the other sex. Some pedophiles are attracted to both boys and girls. Some are attracted only to children, while others are attracted to adults as well as to children.

Pedophilia is defined by mental health professionals as a mental disorder, but the American legal system defines acting on a pedophilic urge as a criminal act.

Description
The focus of pedophilia is sexual activity with a child. Many courts interpret this reference to age to mean children under the age of 18. Most mental health professionals, however, confine the definition of pedophilia to sexual activity with prepubescent children, who are generally age 13 or younger. The term ephebophilia, derived from the Greek word for "youth," is sometimes used to describe sexual interest in young people in the first stages of puberty.

The sexual behaviors involved in pedophilia cover a range of activities and may or may not involve the use of force. Some pedophiles limit their behaviors to exposing themselves or masturbating in front of the child, or fondling or undressing the child, but without genital contact.

Others, however, compel the child to participate in oral sex or full genital intercourse.
The most common overt aspect of pedophilia is an intense interest in children. There is no typical pedophile. Pedophiles may be young or old, male or female, although the great majority are males. Unfortunately, some pedophiles are professionals who are entrusted with educating or maintaining the health and well-being of young persons, while others are entrusted with children to whom they are related by blood or marriage.

Causes and symptoms

Causes
A variety of different theories exist as to the causes of pedophilia. A few researchers attribute pedophilia along with the other paraphilias to biology. They hold that testosterone, one of the male sex hormones, predisposes men to develop deviant sexual behaviors. As far as genetic factors are concerned, as of 2002 no researchers have claimed to have discovered or mapped a gene for pedophilia.

Most experts regard pedophilia as resulting from psychosocial factors rather than biological characteristics. Some think that pedophilia is the result of having been sexually abused as a child. Still others think that it derives from the person's interactions with parents during their early years of life. Some researchers attribute pedophilia to arrested emotional development; that is, the pedophile is attracted to children because he or she has never matured psychologically. Some regard pedophilia as the result of a distorted need to dominate a sexual partner. Since children are smaller and usually weaker than adults, they may be regarded as nonthreatening potential partners. This drive for domination is sometimes thought to explain why most pedophiles are males.

Symptoms
A pedophile is often very attractive to the children who are potential victims. Potential pedophiles may volunteer their services to athletic teams, Scout troops, or religious or civic organizations that serve youth. In some cases, pedophiles who are attracted to children within their extended family may offer to baby-sit for their relatives. They often have good interpersonal skills with children and can easily gain the children's trust.

Some pedophiles offer rationalizations or excuses that enable them to avoid assuming responsibility for their actions. They may blame the children for being too attractive or sexually provocative. They may also maintain that they are "teaching" the child about "the facts of life" or "love"; this rationalization is frequently offered by pedophiles who have molested children related to them. All these rationalizations may be found in pornography with pedophilic themes.

Demographics
Pedophilia is one of the more common paraphilias; the large worldwide market for child pornography suggests that it is more frequent in the general population than prison statistics would indicate. Together with voyeurism and exhibitionism, pedophilia is one of the three paraphilias most commonly leading to arrest by the police.

The onset of pedophilia usually occurs during adolescence. Occasional pedophiles begin their activities during middle age but this late onset is uncommon. In the United States, about 50% of men arrested for pedophilia are married.

The frequency of behavior associated with pedophilia varies with psychosocial stress. As the pedophile's stress levels increase, the frequency of his or her acting out generally rises also.
Pedophilia is more common among males than among females. In addition, the rate of recidivism for persons with a pedophilic preference for males is approximately twice that of pedophiles who prefer females.

Little is known about the incidence of pedophilia in different racial or ethnic groups.

Diagnosis
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,fourth edition text revised, the following criteria must be met to establish a diagnosis of pedophilia.
Over a period of at least six months, the affected person experiences recurrent, intense and sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges or actual behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children aged 13 or younger.

The fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of daily functioning.
The affected person must be at least age sixteen and be at least five years older than the child or children who are the objects or targets of attention or sexual activity.

A diagnosis of pedophilia cannot be assigned to an individual in late adolescence (age 17 to 19) who is involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with a 12- or 13-year-old person.
In establishing a diagnosis of pedophilia, it is important for a mental health professional to determine if the patient is attracted to males, females or both. It is also important to determine whether incest is a factor in the relationship. Finally, the doctor must determine whether the pedophilia is exclusive or nonexclusive; that is, whether the patient is attracted only to children (exclusive pedophilia) or to adults as well as to children (nonexclusive pedophilia).

One difficulty with the diagnosis of the disorder is that persons with pedophilia rarely seek help voluntarily from mental health professionals. Instead, counseling and treatment is often the result of a court order. An interview that establishes the criteria for diagnosis listed above may be enough to diagnose the condition, or surveillance or Internet records obtained through the criminal investigation may also be used.

An additional complication in diagnosis is that the paraphilias as a group have a high rate of comorbidity with one another and an equally high rate of comorbidity with major depression, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse disorders. A person diagnosed with pedophilia may also meet the criteria for exhibitionism or for a substance abuse or mood disorder.

Treatments
In the earliest stages of behavior modification therapy, pedophiles may be narrowly viewed as being attracted to inappropriate persons. Such aversive stimuli as electric shocks have been administered to persons undergoing therapy for pedophilia. This approach has not been very successful.

In 2002, the most common form of treatment for pedophilia is psychotherapy, often of many years' duration. It does not have a high rate of success in inducing pedophiles to change their behavior.

Pedophilia may also be treated with medications. The three classes of medications most often used to treat pedophilia (and other paraphilias) are: female hormones, particularly medroxyprogesterone acetate, or MPA; luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, which include such drugs as triptorelin (Trelstar), leuprolide acetate, and goserelin acetate; and anti-androgens, which block the uptake and metabolism of testosterone as well as reducing blood levels of this hormone. Most clinical studies of these drugs have been done in

Germany, where the legal system has allowed their use in treating repeat sexual offenders since the 1970s. The anti-androgens in particular have been shown to be effective in reducing the rate of recidivism.

Surgical castration is sometimes offered as a treatment to pedophiles who are repeat offenders or who have pleaded guilty to violent rape.

Increasingly, pedophiles are being prosecuted under criminal statutes and being sentenced to prison terms. Imprisonment removes them from society for a period of time but does not usually remove their pedophilic tendencies. In 2002, many states have begun to publish the names of persons being released from prison after serving time for pedophilia. Legal challenges to this practice are pending in various jurisdictions.

Prognosis
The prognosis of successfully ending pedophilic habits among persons who practice pedophilia is not favorable. Pedophiles have a high rate of recidivism; that is, they tend to repeat their acts often over time.

The rate of prosecution for pedophiles through the criminal justice system has increased in recent years. Pedophiles are at high risk of being beaten or killed by other prison inmates. For this reason, they must often be kept isolated from other members of a prison population. Knowledge of the likelihood of abuse by prison personnel and inmates is not, however, an effective deterrent for most pedophiles.

Prevention
The main method for preventing pedophilia is avoiding situations that may promote pedophilic acts. Children should never be allowed to in one-on-one situations with any adult other than their parents or trustworthy family members. Having another youth or adult as an observer provides some security for all concerned. Conferences and other activities can be conducted so as to provide privacy while still within sight of others.

Children should be taught to yell or run if they are faced with an uncomfortable situation. They should also be taught that it is acceptable to scream or call for help in such situations.
Another basis of preventing pedophilia is education. Children must be taught to avoid situations that make them vulnerable to pedophiles. Adults who work with youth must be taught to avoid situations that may be construed as promoting pedophilia.

Many states have adopted legislation that requires periodic background investigations of any adult who works with children. These persons may be paid, such as teachers, or they may be volunteers in a youth-serving organization.

The Boy Scouts of America has tried to address the problem of pedophilia by creating a training program that is required for all adults in the organization. All applications for volunteers are reviewed and approved by several persons. Adults and youth are required to use separate facilities on all activities. Secret meetings and one-on-one interactions between adults and youth are prohibited. This program has received several national awards.

See also Abuse; Aversion therapy
Resources
BOOKS
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.Fourth edition, text revised. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.
Gelder, Michael, Richard Mayou, and Philip Cowen. Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry.4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Wilson, Josephine F. Biological Foundations of Human Behavior.New York: Harcourt, 2002.

PERIODICALS
Berlin, F. S. "Treatments to change sexual orientation." American Journal of Psychiatry157, no. 5 (2000): 838-839.
Cohen, L. J., and others. "Impulsive personality traits in male pedophiles versus healthy controls: Is pedophilia an impulsive-aggressive disorder?" Comprehensive Psychiatry43, no. 2 (2002): 127-134.
Hill, S. A. "The man who claimed to be a paedophile." Journal of Medical Ethics26, no. 2 (2000): 137-138.
O'Donohue, W., L. G. Regev, and A. Hagstrom. "Problems with the DSM-IV diagnosis of pedophilia. " Sexual Abuse12, no. 2 (2000): 95-105.

ORGANIZATIONS
American Academy of Family Physicians. 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway, Leawood, KS 66211-2672. Phone: (913) 906-6000. Web site: .

American Academy of Pediatrics. 141 Northwest Point Boulevard, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098. Telephone: (847) 434-4000. Fax: (847) 434-8000. Web site: .

American Medical Association. 515 N. State Street, Chicago, IL 60610. Telephone: (312) 464-5000. Web site: .

American Psychiatric Association. 1400 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005. Telephone: (888) 357-7924. Fax:(202) 682-6850.

American Psychological Association. 750 First Street NW, Washington, DC, 20002-4242. Phone: (800) 374-2721 or(202) 336-5500. Web site: .

L. Fleming Fallon, Jr., M.D., Dr.P.H.

for more:http://www.minddisorders.com/Ob-Ps/Pedophilia.html

Bright and outa order! by Miss Kitty

Bright and outa order!

http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20080602/cleisure/cleisure1.html

After mi deh pan di beach inna mi sexy bath suit and stay 'prappa' an ting, mi hear a story wah mek mi livid till it send me straight inna di matrix!
A distressed mother of a male student at one of di 'tappanaris' school told me that her son was inappropriately propositioned by a male teacher. She said her traumatised son confided in her about the awkward gestures and behaviour of the male teacher towards him.

Uncomfortable

Her 12-year-old son said that he was uncomfortable with the frequency and nature of the conversation his teacher was having with him. He complained about receiving gifts that nobody else in his class was getting. The little boy said that the teacher encouraged him to share any domestic problem he may have. He also suggested that he should not play with his fellow classmates as he was brilliant and very special.

To add insult to injury, the teacher attempted to influence the child by telling him that the school population thought both of them were gay and as such they should just befriend each other.
An alarm went off in the child's mind when the teacher told him that he loved him. His mother lamented that her son "didn't like how he sounded and believed he had crossed the line". By this time, my blood pressure fertilised so till all mi wig shift and the glue start melt!
I thought teachers were supposed to be surrogate guardians, there to nurture, guide and protect? So the woman send her pickney go expensive school fi teacher target her son? Where have all the real teachers gone?

And mi nah seh you don't have reputable teachers in our school system but one case of alleged homosexual paedophilia must be accounted for. So the mother say she didn't send him back to school the next day and she confiscated his cellphone and found incoming calls from the teacher's house phone.

A bag of 'cloths'

She reported that the guy called to find out why her son wasn't in school, at which time she lined him with enough 'cloths' to put Pings out of business!
Story come to bubble gum when the principal was seemingly shielding the guy and was not treating the situation as a matter of urgency. She said she was barred from speaking to the teacher who sought refuge behind closed doors.

Don't create a scene

The principal, the mother said, asked them not to create a scene because they want to preserve the name of the school. When since the preservation of the image of a school takes precedence over the well-being of a child and over bringing an alleged homosexual paedophile to justice.? A dem ting yah mek people get cross, angry and very miserable!

I implore parents and true teachers to ensure that the voice of our children are heard because many of them suffer in silence and shame. We cannot afford to fail. This matter needs to be thoroughly and publicly investigated and if this teacher is guilty of inappropriately propositioning the child, he should be barred from teaching or interacting with children.

Our system needs to be more stringent in tackling the silent epidemic, so that if a teacher is found guilty of paedophilia at one institution, he/she is removed from the education system entirely.

How can we have a better Jamaica if we don't take a stand against crimes like these? 'Graytone' man who infringe pon di innocent and vulnerable children have no place in my book of forgiveness.

Bruce Didn't Mean That??

Bruce didn't mean that!
Saturday, May 31, 2008 - The Jamaica Observer

Dear Editor,
Am I the only person who saw Prime Minister Golding's remarks about gays in Cabinet as a statement of "Don't ask, don't tell", and not one of "I will make sure there are no gay people in the Cabinet!" He already stated that what people do in private is their business, and I don't think Mr Golding would go about questioning potential Cabinet members about their sexual habits. There is no threat of a witch-hunt.

There are many people in Jamaica who are believed to be gay, but no one troubles them because they don't tell, nor do they try to force anyone to accept their lifestyle. It is usually when people either flaunt their homosexuality or try to make it an issue that the violent reaction against them starts. This does not justify violence against homosexuality, but it does remind everyone to keep their private business private. I don't know what your sex life is like, and I don't want to know.

Geoffrey Marshall
marshallgeoff@gmail.com

Point - Counterpoint: Wake up, Jamaica!

published: Sunday June 1, 2008

Gordon Robinson, Contributor to the Gleaner

When, oh, when, are our so-called leaders of the Church going to take their collective head from where it is currently buried deep in the Old Testament's jawbone of an ass (no pun intended) and tune in to the teachings of Jesus? The short answer to that question is probably "never" because Jesus' message of love to all men (and women) is not sufficiently frightening to suit the purpose of the Christian church which is to wield religious power over its members; fill the elaborate concrete structures on days of worship; and, most importantly, fill the plate when it is passed.

This is really not rocket science. This is not an issue of who the prime minister may or may not appoint to his Cabinet (although that is an issue that might arise subsequently). The issue is one of fundamental human rights (including the right of non-discrimination) and in whom are these rights vested. And, in that, the fundamental question that we are all avoiding is "Are homosexuals human?" If the answer to that question is "no" then by all means continue to deny persons the right to employment; to safe passage through life; to self expression; and the right to engage in private sexual relations, rights which we permit to all other humans. If, however uncomfortable it might be to some, the answer to the question is "yes", then homosexuals must be entitled to every single right that is afforded to all other humans, including the right to private sexual expression that does not assault another's right to refuse sexual contact.Human rights

Human rights are rights to which ALL humans are entitled not just those who think as we do. And there is more to the acknowledgement of an entitlement to human rights than to concede, grudgingly, that persons should not be the subjects of mob violence. And our prime minister, given a glorious opportunity on foreign soil to establish himself as a leader of men, chose instead the role of follower. And he chose the very worst base impulse of his nation's people to follow our proclivity to claim holier-than-thou status over those among us who dare to be different. And he made that sad choice, to what glorious end? So that his party might have a chance to win the next election which might well be upon us sooner than later.If pressed, I have no doubt that our prime minister will say that he is but a representative of the people and has no choice but to represent their views. Any other prime minister might get away with that particular piece of mealy-mouthed double-speak, but not this one.

This one is too bright; too well-informed; too well-versed in the principles of governance (probably the very best we have ever had in Parliament in this regard); too outspoken on the tenets of separation of powers to get away with that. Jamaica's prime minister is not a people's representative. He (or she) is the leader of the country's executive, selected to that post by the people's representatives as being the person most capable of commanding the support of those representatives and appointed to the post by the governor general. We do not (yet) elect prime ministers in this country (ask Mrs Simpson-Miller if you don't believe me). Prime Ministers must lead, not follow like abject little sheep who need to be shown the way home. The representative that this prime minister might be speaking about (were he to try to evade his responsibilities with this spurious argument) would be the member of parliament for West Kingston - not the prime minister. The MP for West Kingston was not interviewed by the BBC, who has no interest whatsoever in that constituency save insofar as it may not contribute to the nation's overall crime rate.And, some of the arrant nonsense that our prime minister forced himself to speak in order to position the JLP to win the election was absolutely amazing. I am certain that the Bruce Golding that Jamaica has come to know is privately cringing when he plays back the tape of that interview.

For example, he actually pleaded the irrelevant defence of Jamaica's sovereign right to set its own values and stoutly re-issued the empty threat not to allow foreign lobby groups to "impose" their "values" on Jamaica. Really? But, in the 1960s and 1970s, when Jamaica led the world in trying to impose our values regarding racism and apartheid on the sovereign government of South Africa, that was OK? And when the South African government eventually crumbled under the weight of the imposition of "foreign values" from so many quarters as well as the excellent internal struggles of the African National Congress, did we not celebrate?financial nature Why? Was that because black people are "humans" entitled to all the same rights of other humans despite the South African government's inability to understand that? And are blacks "human" but homosexuals not "humans"? And I suppose, from Jamaica's perspective, it's fair enough for foreign lobby groups to impose their values on us, if those values are of a financial nature and the groups named the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund? We, in particular our primitive church leaders, need to start treating all of us as God's children and stop seeking ancient barriers to acceptance for some.

The Old Testament treats homosexuals and adulterers alike, except that adulterers were stoned to death. Is adultery still a crime in Jamaica? Does the prime minister have any adulterers in his Cabinet? Does he hope, one day, live in a country where adulterers can have the same human rights as the rest of us and be a part of a Cabinet, even his? If he can accept adulterers, on what basis, scriptural or otherwise, does he scorn homosexuals? Personally, I prefer to take Jesus at his word when he separated the blessed nations from the cursed and said "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." [Matt 25: 31-45, at v 40].I feel sure the prime minister is doing homosexuals a favour by not appointing an openly homosexual minister in Jamaica as it is today. But a prime minister must lead by example. And, in publicly excluding homosexuals from his Cabinet, is he not encouraging us to exclude them from our workplaces as well? And social clubs? And churches?Of itself, backward thinking is not a crime, nor is our prime minister alone in treading that popular road.

The crime is to persist in backwardness even when enlightenment presents itself to you close up and personal; live and direct.South Africa was able to change in those circumstance. So, the real issue must be, when are we going to begin the change? And, if not the prime minister, who will lead the way?

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law.

BOYCOTT MEDUSA'S BAR

BOYCOTT MEDUSA'S BAR

Hey Everybody!

I am writing to encourage you to support to not Medusa's Bar and Restaurant at Sandy Park off Hope Road(behind Cooyah). On Wednesday night four friend (three guys and two girls) were quietly having a dinner and drinks when the owner, Jason Lee along employees viciously attacked them in the parking lot as the proceeded to leave after paying their bill. He accused them of being homosexuals and lesbians after which he started beat them mercilessly, he was further joined be joined by other five of his friends and emloyess.

After a good pounding, leaving one the near unconscious they tried to make their escape and even then the men were still bludgeoning them. After this ordeal they all had to seek medical attention with two seeking further specialised care for broken bones and potential brain damage. This should never happen but the fact is that does, lets stand in solidarity of this act of homophobic violence by not supporting Medusa and sharing this email to all your friends.

Let me also add that many would think that only some of us would be victims of these but these guys were far from your 'typical' profile. We have to take a stand, the fact this could have been any one of us.

A concerned citizen
asaferjamaica@gmail.com
(Originally written May 2, 2008)

More Letters to Consider

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20080530T190000-0500_136211_OBS_BRUCE_DIDN_T_MEAN_THAT__.asp

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20080531T030000-0500_136251_OBS_CREDIBILITY_OF_FIRST_WORLD_SOCIETIES_QUESTIONABLE.asp

Highlight from Calabash: Thomas Glave on Bruce Golding

http://longbench.wordpress.com/2008/

Highlight from Calabash: Thomas Glave on Bruce Golding
May 27, 2008

In response to the latest episode of a Jamaican (you know who…) embarassing himself and the rest of us by confusing nationalist sentiment with informed political discourse, Thomas Glave posted his statement at Calabash on the queer Caribbean listserv:
Dear C-FLAG Listserv community,


Yesterday (May 23, 2008), in Jamaica, at the Calabash Literary Festival in Treasure Beach, where I still am, I read selections from my new, just barely published edited anthology


Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles;

in fact, this reading opened the Calabash weekend. However, given Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s recent antigay remarks on the BBC-TV show “Hard Talk,” about which there has been much discussion in the local Jamaican press, I felt that I could not read from *this* book in particular, *in* Jamaica, without expressing my unhappiness over Mr Golding’s remarks. Because I’m not certain if the J’can press will carry any coverage of what I said, here are my remarks, addressed to the large Calabash audience, that preceded my reading. The response – at least from what I could tell – was overwhelmingly positive, even eliciting applause before I barely finished a few sentences:

“I want to say a special thanks to the Calabash organisers – Colin Channer, Kwame Dawes, and Justine Henzell – for inviting me back to Calabash, this being my second reading at the festival, and for their unceasing generosity to, and support of, writers from around the world. And so, mindful of that generosity and kindness, my conscience will not permit me to begin reading from this book in particular before I say that as a gay man of Jamaican background I am appalled and outraged by the Prime Minister’s having said only three days ago on BBC-TV that homosexuals will not have any place in his Cabinet and, implicitly, by extension, in Jamaica. I guess this means that there will never be any room in Mr Golding’s Cabinet for me and for the many, many other men and women in Jamaica who are homosexual. And so I now feel moved to say directly to Mr Golding that it is exactly this kind of bigotry and narrow-mindedness that Jamaica does not need any more of, and that you, Mr Golding, should be ashamed of yourself for providing such an example of how not to lead Jamaica into the future. And so, Mr Golding, think about how much you are not helping Jamaica the next time you decide to stand up and say that only some Jamaicans – heterosexuals, in this case – have the right to live in their country as full citizens with full human rights, while others – homosexuals – do not. That is not democracy. That is not humane leadership. That is simply the stupidity and cruelty of bigotry.”
I then read excerpts from the work of 4 contributors in the book: Makeda Silvera ( Jamaica ), Reinaldo Arenas ( Cuba ), Helen Klonaris ( Bahamas ), and my own, and finished by saying, “Not just one love, Jamaica . Many loves.”


I felt terrified, to say the least, to make this statement before the reading; never have I felt so vulnerable, so exposed, and, before I walked up onto the stage, alone. But feeling embraced by the warm reception, I left the stage feeling more than ever that the title of Our Caribbean indeed speaks a truth: that this is, and will continue to be, through struggle, our Caribbean.
In solidarity, Thomas Glave.


Thomas Glave
Associate Professor, Dept. of EnglishState
University of New York
P.O. Box 6000Binghamton,
New York 13902-6000
U.S.A.
Tel. 607 777 2894 Fax 6077772408
http://english.binghamton.edu/cwpro/Faculty/Glave.htm


New Glave books for 2008:Our Caribbean: A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles (editor; Duke University Press; spring)The Torturer's Wife (fiction; City Lights; fall)
http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3?isbn=978-0-8223-4226-7

Some Laws of Jamaica Links

The Administrator's General Act
http://www.sc.gov.jm/LOJ/AGD_Act/AGD_Index.htm

The Supreme Court
http://www.sc.gov.jm/LOJ/index.htm

The Noise Abatement Act
http://www.sc.gov.jm/LOJ/NoiseAb/Noise%20abatement%20Act.pdf

Registration & Births Act
http://www.sc.gov.jm/LOJ/Registration_Act/RegAct_Index.htm

Search for Laws by name
http://www.moj.gov.jm/law

Search results for Jamaican Law
http://www.washlaw.edu/forint/america/jamaica.html

Offences Against the Persons Act
http://www.moj.gov.jm/laws/statutes/Offences%20Against%20the%20Person%20Act.pdf

Other Laws of Interest
http://www.moj.gov.jm/law/search?lawSearch=offences+against+the+person

Laws of Jamaica Breifs
http://www.lawsofjamaica.com/

The Charter of Rights Bill (1999)

The Bill in its original form, click HERE to view and download the PDF edition

The Senate re-appointed the Committee on July 14, 2000 with the omission of Senator Harding whose name was added to the membership on January 26, 2001. When the Committee was re-appointed on April 20, 2001, Senator Lightbourne was not named to its membership. The Bill, the subject matter of the deliberations of your Committee, had been tabled in Parliament on March 31, 1999. It was meant to achieve the underlying intent and objectives of recommendations made by a Constitutional Commission in its February 1994 Final Report and approved by a Joint Select Committee on Constitutional and Electoral Reform in its Report of May 1995. Your Committee held a total of twenty-four meetings, four during the 1999/2000 session of Parliament, four during the 2000/2001 session and sixteen during the current session of Parliament. The first meeting took place on November 11, 1999. At its fourth meeting, on December 8, 1999, your Committee, after presentations by Dr. The Honourable Lloyd Barnett, O.J. (who had been the chairman of the Constitutional Commission) and Dr. The Honourable Kenneth Rattray, O.J., Q.C., invited both of them to deliberate upon certain matters that were germane to our discussions:
• Derogations from the fundamental rights and freedoms;
• The reasons for and the philosophical bases of the recommendations that had been made by the Constitutional Commission;
• Issues concerning the burden of proof of alleged contraventions of the rights and freedoms;
• The fundamental question as to whether the traditional approach should be adopted, in the Bill, in which the Constitutional rights and freedoms were binding only on the State, or whether such rights and freedoms should be binding also on private individuals.
They were joined, in their deliberations by Mr. Dennis Daly, Q.C., and three attorneys-at-law from the public sector and they are referred to in this Report as the Advisory Group. The Advisory Group presented their recommendations and suggestions to the Committee on January 17, 2001, when its meetings were resumed. The length of time that the deliberations of the Advisory Group occupied, was, in the Committee’s view, clearly overshadowed by the incisiveness of the quality suggestions made by them. Your Committee also received written submissions from the following persons and organizations. Mrs. Linnette Vassel, Coalition for Community Participation in Governance –
Appendix 3 Professor H. Devonish, University of the West Indies – Appendix 4 Jamaica Forum and Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays (J. Flag) – Appendix 5
Senator Floyd Morris – Appendix 6 Westmoreland Parish Council –Appendix 7 Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress Church of Salvation – Appendix 8 Jamaicans for Justice – Appendix 9 Oral presentations were made by Professor Devonish, Jamaicans for Justice, J. Flag, Senator Floyd Morris and representatives of the Jamaica Teachers Association and the Ministry of Education. The challenge to your Committee on the following issues required extensive research and deep consideration of the approaches adopted in other Constitutions:
• the formulation of the preambles to the Bill and to the Charter;
• broad, fundamental issues as to the format of the Charter and who should be bound by the rights and freedoms;
• the formulation of the protection against discrimination and the question whether that protection should be extended to discrimination on additional grounds;
• the formulation of various other rights and freedoms, including the rights of the child, the right to legal aid, the protection of property rights and the protection of the environment;
• issues concerning exceptions to the right to life and to the protection against inhuman or degrading punishment in relation to the death penalty;
• the question whether a right to trial by jury should be included in the Constitution;
• the substitution of a reference to periods of public emergency or of public disaster for the existing reference to periods of public emergency and the specification of the rights and freedoms which legislation can override in periods of public emergency or periods of public disaster;
• the Commission’s proposal concerning international human rights instruments to which Jamaica is a party.
These matters were subject to vigorous discussions and careful consideration by the members of your Committee and it is expected that the analyses and the recommendations made in the Committee’s Report will assist the members of both Houses of Parliament in their deliberations on the Bill and in its smooth passage both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

Change course, Bruce

Another Observer Article on the BBC Hardtalk interview

Politicians will always do politics, but it irks me greatly when they regurgitate volumes of sleazy political nonsense with the hope of convincing voters to imbibe that which they spew, however unpalatable.

What is even more sordid about this practice is the uncanny manner in which some go about cavorting and shouting the virtues of the Beatitudes and condemn the vice in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (before they died) without conceding the ugly contempt inherent in their own utterances and actions toward the very people they claim to love or seek to represent.
Prime Minister Bruce Golding repeated a position he first espoused in 2006, during an interview on the BBC's HARDtalk with Stephen Sackur, that homosexuals will find no place in his Cabinet. The prime minister correctly acknowledged Jamaica's homophobic culture, but also highlighted the emerging "tolerance" towards gay and bisexual men and lesbians. While I share a convergence of views with the prime minister that outside lobby groups and international organisations should not attempt to dictate our cultural mores or impose their social values on us, I find the prime minister's insistent stance on barring people who exercise different sexual preferences from serving in the Cabinet backward and disingenuous.

This is the same prime minister, who, on more than one occasion, sanctimoniously preached the gospel of inclusiveness without ever once invoking exceptions based on the George Orwell "Animal Farm" model.
The prime minister knows that we "can't have our cake and eat it". He knows too that we cannot talk seriously about equality under the law, the charter of civil rights, or justiciability, while simultaneously and piously promoting discrimination under the law, based on sexual orientation. We cannot do these things, yet stress gender, religious, racial or political equity. One does not have to be a proponent of homosexuality, bisexuality or lesbianism to know that what the prime minister is articulating is a furtherance of intolerance and homophobic vitriol toward people with different sexual interests and inclinations.

Did the prime minister, in appointing his Cabinet, ask members about their sexual preferences, whether dormant or active? If the prime minister subjected his Cabinet members to his brand of the sexual "fit and proper" litmus test, did it not run counter to Mr Golding's own views and defence of an individual's right to privacy? How certain is the prime minister that he has not breached his own standards, or does he have a Peeping Tom in the Cabinet, whose sole responsibility it is to report on people's sexual activities?

Ironically, the same prime minister, who does not want homosexuals in his Cabinet, is deafeningly silent about accepting, seeking out, or working with, people who happen to be homosexuals and populate every sector of the Jamaican society. These men and women are public servants, academicians, lawyers, public policymakers, and owners of capital, and are in every industry of the private sector. Mr Golding, as you already know, leadership coined out of the principle of convenience is superficial. However, that which promotes a new direction and embarks upon a journey towards meaningful change and peaceful coexistence is truly profound.
Chicken backAs wishy-washy as the prime minister's renewed homophobic stance was, he was not alone in demonstrating a lack of visionary and progressive leadership. Like heavy thunder, Opposition leader Mrs Simpson Miller roared on at a meeting in St Elizabeth and drew parallels between the price of chicken back during her tenure as prime minister, and the current price under the present Jamaica Labour Party government. Mrs Simpson Miller was "in her ackee" and was ably assisted, on this self-defeating mission by the former general secretary, who spared no efforts in reminding voters why they should not fail to vote for the PNP.

Now, of all the problems and struggles that beset this country, the best Mrs Simpson Miller had to offer was to dwell on, and politicise the price elasticity of chicken back. Mrs Simpson Miller knows how much I admire her strength and tremendous social conscience, but I am not one for malarkey, or political puppetry. Someone had better tell her to change course, because cheaper chicken chassis and jumping-jack tactics will not cut it. And, as stubborn as she appears, one hopes Mrs Simpson Miller takes heed. Whatever the motivation to pluck the cost of chicken back and leave the feathers on the multitude of other problems that confront us, the bone truth is: this will not curry-favour votes, given consumer awareness and global realities.
Understandably, leadership requires some amount of "symphonic actions", as in understanding people's concerns and connecting with their plight, but it also relies on practical intelligence - the kind Norman Manley spoke of - and a greater degree of awareness than is now being exhibited by Mrs Simpson Miller. We need "servant leadership" in this country. Lest we forget, Robert K Greenleaf first spoke of the servant-leader - where service takes pre-eminence. "It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve - and to serve first, then makes a conscious choice to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is 'leader first'; perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive."
Finally, we owe it to ourselves to reject, outrightly, this conniving bit of political expediency and hypocrisy, and to discard leaders who continue to speak out of both sides of their mouths like "Spanish machetes", while riding the horse differently with each passing day. It is one thing to extol the intrinsic worth of one's own political efforts and perceived accomplishments, but it is rather embarrassing and condescending to impose those merits on people whose past experiences and circumstances starkly contradict the self-acclaimed achievements being bandied about, particularly when the analogies are painfully dissimilar. Skilful leaders do not engage in silly semantics, they are driven by meaningful convictions sufficient to allow them to say, "This way, follow me."

burnscg@aol.com

Homosexual lobby pushing us, violent crime sinking us

So the age old disbelief of homophobic matters as credible raises its ugly head again but for the rest of the article sent to me recently it is readable and some points on crime are worth considering.

Submitted by Observe Mark

With all of the wars, long-term religious and ethnic skirmishes, famine and disease, the untamed forces of nature, and prices of basic foods galloping outside of the economic reach of the world's poorest, this globe is in serious turmoil.

People like Opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller may not be aware that Americans, the richest constituency of people on this earth, are gearing up to pay in excess of US$7.00 ($500) per gallon for petrol when summer rolls out its merciless heat in a few months.

Mrs Simpson Miller is of course a politician, and as we all know, politicians tell the truth only when there is a political advantage to be gained. Recently, she has been chanting on the plight of the poor, a very real plight, but of course she has couched it for the ignorant, her most ardent following. She has even gone as far as to suggest that people are now buying bread "by the slice", as if this is a phenomenon which has suddenly appeared on the Jamaican socio-economic landscape.

Sad to say, in my time, people have been buying "piece a bread" from the 1950s when I was a child until the present. But as I said before, she is a politician led less by a real concern for the poor and more by the votes from them to provide her with power.

If the ignorant, the poorly educated and the diehard PNP have grown more hungry since the September 2007 general elections, then it is a fact which Prime Minister Golding needs to deal with. Chomping at the bit as she expects a snap election, the Opposition leader has been attracting sizeable crowds in the various communities she has toured. The ruling JLP administration cannot feel any ease at that fact.

As much as Opposition leader Simpson Miller is blooded in the distributionist policies of the 1970s, the present world scenario of exorbitant prices for grain crops may force upon the world stage a whole host of countries making crash programme-like policies and subsidies not just as emergency stop-gap measures but as a part of regular government policy for at least the next five years. In this regard, Portia's backward socialist policy may just be what is needed in these times of global socio-economic turmoil.

Let me now turn to the prime minister and his "Not in my Cabinet" response to a sharp if somewhat socially myopic question from the BBC's HARDtalk host Stephen Sackur. First, most of these First-World journalists assume that we in the Caribbean are basically savages, especially where it relates to homosexuality. Sackur saw it as nothing dramatic for a male homosexual to be a part of any Cabinet in any democracy in any part of the world. And he may well have been right.

Instead of Golding answering, "Not in my Cabinet", I would have preferred him to say, "Not openly in my Cabinet", or "No homosexual activists in my Cabinet".

Knowing that his real constituency was not in London, England, but at home in Jamaica, Golding was forced to play to his Jamaican audience, most of whom find male homosexuality nasty, sick and repugnant.

Recently, Dr Orville Taylor, appearing on TVJ's All Angles, echoed the exact sentiments in an article I sent to the Observer's evening paper Chat! where I write a regular Friday column. Essentially, I said that powerful countries like the US and other European economic giants know whom to push and prod. The US is forced to do business with, say, China, while ignoring its abysmal human rights record, including homosexual issues.

Jamaica has distinguished itself over the years by walking the world with a begging bowl. By virtue of that, we are fair game for First-World countries, which seem all too eager to ram their homosexual agenda down our throats.

That said, we need to change the archaic buggery laws if even to placate these powerful international associations and countries. If two men choose to retire to the confines of a closed room and even take along two ducks and a rabbit, what business of mine should it be what they do to each other? Of course, the animal rights activists might have something to say about the poor, defenceless rabbit and duck.

Seriously though, Golding cannot say with certainty that there are no homosexuals in his Cabinet.

It is rumoured that the last PNP government had at very least two men who were homosexuals. Golding may have been hurling barbs at the PNP from across the seas with his "Not in my Cabinet". Because I still have friends in the JLP Cabinet, I can say with certainty that too many of the key men there are burdened with an excess of testosterone. Now, if only they could channel that hormone, that energy into good, hard work not of the nocturnal type...

MacMillan's baptism of fire

Is Colonel Trevor MacMillan the right man for the job of minister of national security? And is anyone the right one? I am certain that he never thought that violent crime would pause and stare at him as he took the oath of office. Not only has it not sought a recess, but with two policemen recently cut down in the heart of one of the most violent communities in Jamaica - Trench Town - which encompasses Arnett Gardens and Rema, it seems to be saying to him, "MacMillan bwoy, a wi run dis."

In the heat of the April 1999 riots, I was out on the streets linking with the lumpen elements who were bent on destruction. A number of things struck me then. The riot began in JLP pockets and as it spread, the JLP attempted to claim authorship by providing the mob with food, drinks and other support. The riot was about gas price increases, but most of those burning, looting and blocking roads were idlers and the plainly criminal.

To these people, the riot was one big party and a three-day festival of sorts. The point I am making is that we Jamaicans have never become sufficiently angry about any national matter to take to the streets in droves. The worst has happened in that we have become inured to the excessively high murder rate and the ferocity of the crimes. As the rate increases, we lock down our ability and will to respond beyond wide-eyed talk on steel-grilled verandahs.

Ten MacMillans and a few dozen more imports from England will not solve our runaway crime problem. Our people will have to become mad as hell to respond in a great uprising. That I am not expecting anytime soon because too many Jamaicans are "surface thinkers", that is, we are really a nation of pretty dull-witted people. We endorse poor leadership, and in September 2007 we came pretty close to rejecting good leadership. We have no idea what we are about.

observemark@gmail.com

Examples of Incidences of Anti-Gay verbal and physical abuse

1).Male abused after neighbours accused him of being homosexual and HIV+, beaten by members of the community.

2).30 year old male accused of being a cross-dresser and too effeminate. Set upon by family members and citizens in St. Mary, relocated to Montego Bay without basic necessities

3).Lesbian roommates (not intimately involved) picketed at their home in St Catherine by neighbours and threatened, forced to leave by tenants of the address.

4).Lesbian couple threatened and stoned in St. Catherine, daughter of one of the clients abused at school, suffered emotional trauma. Alleged “don” from outside the area set to be leading the charge against the victims.

5).22 year old male accused of being gay chased from rented premises, St Ann. The Police were contacted with no response, it was said that they the police knew that “Batty boys were living there,” the landlord was uncooperative.

6).Male in St. Mary chased out of his Family home, told not to return

7).Male allegedly caught in bushes with other male, lost his job as boss heard the story, beaten and abused by mob who attacked them

8).Police Officer suffering discrimination on the job and threats to his life, face to face and by phone from other officers in the force

9).Male tricked by another male pretending to be gay, upon being discovered threats to his life from community residents and other males in the area

10).3 males attacked in their home in Manchester, 2 escaped one still missing, presumed dead, had to relocate, severe injuries to arms, back and face, chops to several parts of the body of one member

11).Male couple’s home in St. Ann gasoline poured in preparation for house to be lit, threatened by landlord and residents in the area, given ultimatum to leave

12).Male chased on streets and attacked by a group of males known for terrorizing alleged gay men, chopped on the left buttocks, police refuse to take report, tried to find refuge in a hotel complex but was thrown onto the streets to a mob, he escaped

14).Male couple in Manchester forced to move as male residents invade their property demanding of female partners, asking why they don’t have any girls around. Ultimatum served on them to leave the area

15).Male forced to remove from family home as he is believed to be gay, even though he has been living there all his life, the residents were tolerant at first but since the public debate has been raging they have become tense.

16) Female couple held at gunpoint and their car taken and raped by four men who took turns on the femme of the couple, the butch partner escaped as she told her would be rapists she was infected with an STD

17) Another female couple attacked at home by 2 gunmen and raped.

Amnesty International report "discrimination against women and gay men"

Amnesty International Report on police killings Wednesday, 28 May 2008 The Annual global human rights report from Amnesty International has cited Jamaica's high murder rate and an increase in police killings being among major blots on the country's human rights record.

The report has recorded high incidents of police brutality, violence against women and a failing justice system.

Of Jamaica, Amnesty writes that murder rates and police killings in socially excluded inner city communities remain at a high level with another record high for murders during 2007 of more than 1,500 people.

There are also reports of increased police brutality with reports of 203 people killed by the police between January and September.

The report also says violence and discrimination against women and gay men was widespread.

Amnesty also spoke of police excesses and reports that several persons were killed by the police.

It also reported on Trinidad's witness protection programme saying the programme was constantly being criticised.

Bahamas was bashed in the report for cases of violence against women.

to view more go to:

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/regions/americas/jamaica

Amnesty condemns homophobic violence:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR38/004/2007/en to download PDF or HTML

More:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR38/002/2007

Human Rights Treaties:

http://thereport.amnesty.org/eng/human-rights-treaties click to download PDF file

Letters of The Day - The Gleaner

Check out some of the letters to the Gleaner and The Observer on the Golding and LGBT matters, it seems some Jamaicans are evaluating the issues in a more balanced way.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080528/letters/

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080528/letters/letters6.html

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20080527T200000-0500_136083_OBS_KUDOS_FOR_OBSERVER_AND_BRUCE.asp

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/letters/html/20080524T190000-0500_135996_OBS_ACCEPT_AND_RESPECT_ALL__EVEN_HOMOSEXUALS_.asp

this one is particularly interesting, the debate is raging now

What are your thoughts???

Hmph ah wah dis

JFLAG Open Letter To The Prime Minister (Text)

May 26, 2008

Hon O. Bruce Golding
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
1 Devon Road
Kingston 10

Dear Mr. Golding:

Recently a number of international human rights organisations have called for a boycott of Jamaica over concerns about how gays and lesbians and those perceived to be so are treated in the country. For our part, we at J-FLAG, while disagreeing with the strategy of a tourist boycott, have stated our concern about violence against persons because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. We note your intervention in the matter in both the local and international media, where you have suggested that the right to privacy is guaranteed and ought not to be violated by the state. Yet, you have confirmed, in a very public way and in a global arena, the view that Jamaica is a repressively homophobic society. Your interview on the BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’, for instance, presented the country as one where open discrimination against gays and lesbians is not only commonplace but sanctioned by a long-standing cultural history, ostensibly enshrined in law, and now condoned by the country’s political leadership.

We believe that the atmosphere of violence against homosexuals is sustained in part through the
perception that homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica, based on the provision in the Offences Against the Person Act criminalising buggery. While the law relates to all persons engaged in anal sex, it is to be underscored that the offence, driven by a religio-cultural sense of what is biblically appropriate behaviour, is used symbolically and disproportionately against men engaging in consensual sex. This kind of legislating on the basis of religion is problematic because it lacks consistent application; it is not used against heterosexual persons. Further, no other contravention of biblical sexual values—for example, adultery or fornication—is criminalised in Jamaica. We contend that the continued existence of this law is a violation of our right to privacy and makes many consenting adults into unapprehended criminals simply for having sex.

You also seem to have misunderstood our concerns. We wish to state that one of J-FLAG’s primary concerns is the lack of redress for culturally-sanctioned violence against sexual minorities. In your public pronouncements, you have depicted this as constituting a quest ultimately to sanction same sex marriages. We wish to make it unambiguously clear that same sex marriage is not on J-FLAG’s agenda.

We perceive the dragging of this issue into the discussion as a smokescreen that distracts from the real challenges of how as a society we grapple with the violence and hostility that have come to define our engagements around controversial but important socio-cultural issues.

Your statement to the BBC that the country would not be pressured by outsiders into changing its values around homosexuality begs the question of whether you have instead been willing to listen to the many local voices raised about the same concerns. We know that this has not been the case and note that the shutting down of such a dialogue by retreating into a discourse on the cultural right to prejudicial behaviour makes it difficult if not impossible to achieve substantive progress on difficult questions in the society.

Sincerely,

Jason McFarlane,
Programmes Manager,
Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays

Reflections of Incidents past - JAMAICA, ISLAND OF HATE -- Its Leading Gay Activist Speaks:

JAMAICA, ISLAND OF HATE -- Its Leading Gay Activist Speaks:

“Jamaica is not a safe environment for gay people to survive in, either physically, emotionally, or psychologically,” says Gareth Williams, the 29-year-old former leader of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG), the country’s LGBT group. “The climate here is very, very hostile to gay people. We have been hunted and beaten and killed because of who we are,” Williams added. “Families turn against their own members because of sexual orientation.”

Williams spoke to Gay City News from Montreal, where he had gone last week to receive the International Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights given jointly every year by Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Rebecca Schleifer of Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS program said that Williams was given the award because, “Against enormous odds and at great risk to his own physical safety, Williams has been a courageous campaigner against human rights violations targeting lesbians, gay men, and HIV-positive Jamaicans.”

“Williams” is the gay activist’s organizational pseudonym, necessitated by the fact that his predecessor as J-FLAG’s leader, Brian Williamson (above), was brutally murdered in his home at the age of 59 in June, 2004 by anti-gay thugs, who mutilated his body with multiple stab wounds.

A Human Rights Watch researcher witnessed a joyous crowd that gathered outside Williamson‘s house to celebrate the murder. A smiling man called out, “Battyman he get killed!” (“Battyman” and “batty-bwoy” are Jamaican patois for “faggot”.) Many others celebrated Williamson’s murder, laughing and calling out, “let’s get them one at a time,” “that’s what you get for sin,” “let’s kill all of them.” Some sang “Boom bye bye,” a line from a popular Jamaican song about killing and burning gay men that was made a hit by reggae singer Buju Banton. The lyrics from Banton’s song (in patois) are:

"Boom bye bye / Inna batty bwoy head / Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man /Dem haffi dead / Send fi di matic an / Di Uzi instead / Shoot dem no come if we shot dem / Guy come near we / Then his skin must peel / Burn him up bad like an old tire wheel."

Translated into standard English, those lyrics read:

"Boom bye bye / In a queer's head / Rude boys don't promote no queer men / They have to die / Send for the automatic and / The Uzi instead / Shoot them, don't come if we shot them / If a man comes near me / Then his skin must peel / Burn him up badly, like you would burn an old tire wheel."

(Banju Banton [left] is currently on a U.S. tour. A mass demonstration to protest Banton’s appearance at San Diego, California’s House of Blues was called for Wednesday, October 4, by a coalition of San Diego gay groups. Banton appearances at clubs in Hollywood and San Francisco to promote his new album were cancelled after protests by gay organizations. In an interview with Billboard magazine last week, Banton responded to gay protests with two words: "Fuck them!")

Another Jamaican gay leader and prominent AIDS activist, Steve Harvey - “Brian was the only out gay person in Jamaica who had the courage to put his face on television -- I was very close to him,” Williams says with sorrow audible in his baritone voice. “His murder was really a traumatic loss for our community. After his death I was motivated even more, and so when J-FLAG asked me to serve as its lead advocate I didn’t hesitate, and took on the challenge. I just won’t allow society to trample over us.”

Another Jamaican gay leader and prominent AIDS activist, Steve Harvey

(at left in photo, right), (white Shirt)

was murdered on the eve of World AIDS Day last November 30. For a decade, Harvey had directed the outreach program of Jamaica AIDS Support targeting gays and lesbians and sex workers. A gang of at least four armed assailants invaded Harvey’s home, and demanded of Harvey and his two housemates if they were gay -- Harvey said yes, the others denied it. The thugs then bound and gagged Harvey and bundled him into a car. Steve Harvey was later found a few miles from his home, dead from bullet wounds to his back and head.

“Steve’s murder was a personal blow for me,” says Williams. ‘We were very close--we grew up together, and we even used to share an apartment. He has left a huge void in my life. We always feel hurt when a gay person is killed, but when it’s your buddy, your friend whom you talked to every day…” Williams’ voice trails off, before he resumes:

“There have been many other murders of gay men and lesbians whose lives have been taken because of their sexual orientation. Just two weeks after Brian’s killing, a young gay man named Victor Jarrett was killed in Montego Bay in a murder instigated by three police officers. I was there. The police had arrested Jarrett and were beating him in the street. A large crowd gathered, and yelled, “Hand the battyman over to us and we’ll finish him off!”

“I was standing only 80 meters away watching this, and I felt so helpless. The police handed the young man over to the crowd, and stood around laughing as the crowd beat him to death. If I’d opened my mouth, I would have been killed too, so I did and said nothing. When I got home, I called the police three times to report the murder -- they simply hung up on me each time. I’m still living with the horrible memory of that day,” Williams says softly.

Williams relates other homophobic killings, one that happened “just three weeks after Steve Harvey was murdered last year. A young man named Nokia Cowan was chased by an angry mob who said he was gay -- the chased him into the harbor, where he drowned. And just this summer, in June, two lesbians, Candice Williams and Phoebe Myrie, were knifed to death, and their bodies were found dumped in a shallow septic pit behind a home they shared in Bull Bay.” A Jamaican newspaper said a “lesbian DVD” had been found near the bodies.

The police, says Williams, “never qualify the anti-gay violence and murders as hate crimes, they always find a way to say it was not gay-related. But there is no question that these crimes are motivated by homophobia. Often, as in the case of the two lesbians, even when the police have a suspect and know who did the killings, they don’t really push the investigations.”

“If a gay man is set upon and chased down the middle of a town, the people in the town are laughing and joining in, including everybody -- young, old, both male and female, once a gay man is being beaten they bond together to do this. And if the person being assaulted goes to the police, they slam the door in their face, and the gay person is forced to look elsewhere for refuge.”

Incidents of anti-gay violence like this, Williams reports, “happen on a daily basis, but the police turn a blind eye to it. I’ve had police officers turning up at my house, calling me ‘battyman’ and saying that I’ll be murdered like Brian and Steve. In February, after a gay man was killed, there was a gang of police outside my house saying the same thing would happen to me.”

Williams and J-FLAG provide material care and support for victims of homophobic violence, help document their cases and take them through the hostile justice system. J-FLAG also organizes parties to help break the social isolation of gay people, but has to take extraordinary precautions to prevent these social gatherings from being attacked. “We usually have a once a week party,” Williams says, “but always in remote areas, and not under overtly gay auspices -- they’re not publicized except by word of mouth. Some people are willing to take the risk of coming, because they are so desperate for social interaction. We have over 2,500 people with whom we have constant contact -- and, we have a strong female community.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica, and the so-called sodomy laws carry a penalty of 10-15 years in prison. But, says Williams, “even though it’s hard to convict under these laws, just being hauled into court and humiliated is enough to destroy people’s lives. For example, earlier this year 2 young men were arrested and charged with ‘buggery.’ The judge set their bail at $100,000 each. The somewhat older man of the couple managed eventually to make bail, but he lost his job, had to move, and later died of a brain tumor that may have been brought on or aggravated by the beatings he received in prison. The younger of the two, an 18-year-old boy, spent three months in jail and was beaten every single day! [DUNCAN PLEASE ITAL every single day] Although we eventually got the case thrown out of court, the younger boy has been rejected by his family, has nowhere to live, and survives by going from place to place where he can get refuge for a night or two. The destruction from being dragged into court, even if there is no conviction, is as great as prison would be.”

J-FLAG, says Williams, “is in desperate need of funds. As it is, most of what we want to do to benefit the community we can’t do because we don’t have the money. Our needs are great.” Another urgent need is for expert help in modernizing, updating, and expanding the group’s website, “and gay-friendly computer experts are pretty scarce in Jamaica,” he adds with a laugh.

If you want to help J-FLAG, e-mail the organization at jflagoffice@gmail.com or admin@jflag.org. Financial contributions may be mailed to:

J-FLAG, P.O. Box 1152, Kingston 8, Jamaica, West Indies.

Bruce Golding Blasted for Homophobic Remarks

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding is being blasted at home and in London for remarks he made about gays and lesbians during an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Golding condemned Britain and other Commonwealth countries for criticizing the treatment of gays in the Caribbean nation.
''Jamaica is not going to allow values to be imposed on it from outside,'' he said during the interview. Golding is in London on an official visit to the UK.

Asked if he would ever appoint an openly gay person to his cabinet the Prime Minister bristled, saying "never". Golding told the BBC that he has the right to make that decision and to form a Cabinet that represents the Jamaican people.
Golding has been a staunch supporter of maintaining Jamaica's sodomy law.
Gay sex is illegal in Jamaica, punishable by ten years in jail, with the possibility of hard labor.
Jason McFarlane, a spokesman for Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), said Golding's remarks were likely to incite more violence against gays in the country.
The situation for gays in the Caribbean nation has been of concern to other Commonwealth countries and international human rights groups for several years following a number of violent attacks.
Jamaica has been described as having the worst record of any country in the New World in its treatment of gays and lesbians.
One of the most recent attacks occurred on January 29 when a group of men approached a house where four males lived in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville, and demanded that they leave the community because they were gay, according to Jamaican human rights activists who spoke with the victims.
Later that evening, a mob returned and surrounded the house. The four men inside called the police when they saw the crowd gathering. The mob started to attack the house, shouting and throwing bottles.

Those in the house called police again and were told that the police were on the way. Approximately half an hour later, 15-20 men broke down the door and began beating and slashing the inhabitants.
Human Rights Watch, quoting local activists said that police did not arrive until a half hour after the mob had broken into the house – 90 minutes after the men first called for help.
One of the victims managed to flee with the mob pursuing. A Jamaican newspaper reported that blood was found at the mouth of a nearby pit, suggesting he had fallen inside or may have been killed nearby.
The police escorted the three other victims away from the scene; two of them were taken to the hospital. One of the men had his left ear severed, his arm broken in two places, and his spine reportedly damaged.
There have been no arrests.
The attack echoes another incident in the same town on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007 when approximately 100 men gathered outside a church where 150 people were attending the funeral of a gay man.

According to mourners, the crowd broke the windows with bottles and shouted, "We want no battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville."
Several mourners inside the church called the police to request protection. After half an hour, three police officers arrived.
Human Rights Watch said that instead of protecting the mourners, police socialized with the mob, laughing along at the situation.
A highway patrol car subsequently arrived, and one of the highway patrol officers reportedly told the churchgoers, "It’s full time this needs to happen. Enough of you guys."
The highway patrol officers then drove off. The remaining officers at the scene refused to intervene when the mob threatened the mourners with sticks, stones, and batons as they tried to leave the service. Only when several gay men among the mourners took knives from their cars for self-defense did police reportedly take action by firing their guns into the air. Officers stopped gay men from leaving and searched their vehicles, but did not restrain or detain members of the mob, Human Rights Watch said.
More than 30 gay men are believed to have been murdered since 1997 J-FLAG says. In most of the cases the killers have never been brought to trial.
Arrests, however have been made in several cases which received international attention.
In 2004 Brian Williamson, Jamaica's leading LGBT civil rights advocate was brutally murdered. He had been stabbed at least 70 times in the neck. A 25 year old man is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

In December 2005 Lenford "Steve" Harvey who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life was killed.
Harvey was shot to death on the eve of World AIDS Day. (story) His organization provided support to gay men and sex workers. Four men were arrested almost a year later.
In 2006 the bodies of two women believed to have been in a lesbian relationship were found dumped in a septic pit behind a home they shared. The killers of Candice Williams and Phoebe Myrie have not been caught.
Students at University of the West Indies in Kingston rioted last year as police attempted to protect a gay student and escort him from the campus. The incident began when the student was chased across the campus by another student who claimed the gay man had attempted to proposition him in a washroom.
The same year a young man plunged to his death off a pier in Kingston after reportedly being chased through the streets by a mob yelling homophobic epithets.
In February, 2007 three men in "tight jeans" and wearing what some witnesses described as makeup were cornered by a mob of 2000 in a drugstore. There were yells of "kill them" along with gay slurs and demands the three be sent out "to face justice". Police had to fire teargas into the crowd to rescue the three.
Reggae, or Jamaican dancehall music, is blamed for fueling homophobia. Reggae star BujuBanton's hit song Boom Boom Bye Bye which threatens gay men with a "gunshot in ah head".


For Other stories go to: http://www.365gay.com/

Boycott Suspended

The tourist boycott of Jamaica has been called off despite an official response from the island's government that barely mentions homosexuality.

Stop Murder Music Canada (SMMC), the group organizing the boycott, cancelled the action after receiving an official response from Anne-Marie Bonner, the Jamaican consul general.

The response refuses to specifically recognize gays and lesbians as a protected group in Jamaica's constitution and doesn't even mention repealing laws against homosexuality.

But Akim Larcher, the founder of SMMC, says the response was enough to call off the boycott. The response was dated May 15, three days after the deadline set by SMMC.

"The letter may not suffice in every respect but it is definitely a step forward that they see a responsibility to protect their citizens," says Larcher. "There are quite a number of positive things, especially around police and law enforcement."

SMMC — a coalition of groups including Egale Canada and the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto — had demanded that the Jamaican government immediately denounce homophobic violence in the country and begin work on repealing laws criminalizing homosexuality, including sexual orientation in the Charter of Rights and developing education campaigns for the country and for the police.

Bonner's response doesn't specifically address any of those demands, although it does address questions of police accountability and structural reform. She writes that she wants to "draw attention to some of the relevant actions being taken by the government of Jamaica:

"A bill for consideration by Parliament at this session to establish an independent authority to have statutory responsibility for investigating instances of abuse by members of the security forces;

"A bill to establish a special coroner to conduct speedy inquests in cases where a citizen dies at the hands of agents of the state...

"Budget provided for continuation of the Citizens Security and Justice Program (CSJP), which had a positive impact on community strengthening and crime reduction."

The Jamaican Ministry of National Security describes CSJP as a "national crime and violence prevention strategy."

Bonner writes that "The government is focused on the need to dramatically reduce the incidence of crime in the country, regardless of cause.... You would be aware of the public statement issued by the government on Apr 14, 2008 reiterating its strong condemnation of 'mob attacks and violence against any individuals or groups for any reason whatsoever,' whilst underscoring the obligations of the state, in particular the police in such cases.

"In the context of your specific concerns it is to be noted that the constitution and laws of Jamaica provide protection for the rights of all. There is not an intention to write into the constitution specific reference to any particular group, as all groups and individuals have equality under the law."

Larcher says he is not disappointed by the letter's failure to mention homosexuality.

"That was totally pretty much expected," he says.

Larcher admits that the defiant response of Jamaican prime minister Bruce Golding also made SMMC think twice about a boycott, as has the possibility Golding may soon call a snap election.

On Apr 23 Golding told reporters asking him about a possible boycott that he had "seen nothing yet to convince" him to repeal Jamaica's antisodomy laws, saying, "There is a road down which I'm not going to allow this country to go under my leadership."

But Larcher says the boycott call has had positive effects.

"It has not left us where we were," he says. "It's forced the Jamaican government to face the issue head-on. It's put them on alert. In terms of the international support it has raised the level of support."

Larcher says SMMC will try to force the Canadian government to use its trade relationship with Jamaica to effect change.

"We will continue to raise the education level here in Canada," he says. "We will continue putting pressure on the government here to raise human rights and sexuality in the current situation in Jamaica."

Bonner's letter also makes reference to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, Allsexuals and Gays (JFLAG) — the country's queer lobby group. It is, in fact, the only time the letter uses any words to do with homosexuality.

"You would, I am sure, be aware, that the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, Allsexuals and Gays does not support your strategy for a boycott of Jamaica's tourism and trade...." she writes. "It is to be assumed that, naturally, the views of the persons whose interests are ostensibly being promoted will be respected."

"We are continuing to have an ongoing dialogue with JFLAG," Larcher says. "We are going to try to provide more strategic support for them."

The program coordinator of JFLAG says the boycott proposal has led to additional homophobic violence.

"We've had about four cases [of attacks attributed to the boycott] which have come to us," says Jason MacFarlane. "Our perspective is still the same. A boycott is not helpful, especially since the prime minister has made a statement that he won't be going down that road."

Travel agents say that a tourist boycott was not likely to have a major impact anyway.

"I'm not sure if they're getting a lot of queer dollars so I'm not sure how much impact a boycott will have," says Deb Parent of Toronto's Conxity travel agency.

Parent also says a boycott might have hurt gay Jamaicans more than it helped them.

"There are many poor countries around the world where poor queers are part of that tourist economy," she says. "It might be better to actually make a point of going and hanging out with queers who are on the front line in a way that I, as a Canadian, am not."

John Tanzella, the president of the Florida-based International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, agrees a boycott would accomplish little.

"Zero," he says. "If anything it's going to hurt the gays and lesbians in Jamaica who are trying to survive on visits from gay and lesbian visitors. It wouldn't be proper for us to go against the wishes of the local gay organization. It would be kind of arrogant."

Example of a Homophobic Incident

this young male was chased from his neighbourhood of his birth and then later to be attacked on the streets of New Kingston (Jamaica's Premiere Business district) by a group of bike riding thugs.

The police were not helpful when he tried to make a report at the station.

Bruce Golding on BBC's Hardtalk

Click the title above to link to the page^^^

You Be The Judge

Jamaica's attitude towards homosexuality is supposed to be moving towards providing equality before the law. So would Bruce Golding ever appoint a homosexual to his Cabinet?

He needs to get real I feel there are gays everywhere.