France to pass gay marriage, adoption law ..........

 

France's Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault delivers a speech as he attends a political rally for the upcoming second tour of the legislative elections in Paris June 13, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

(Reuters) - France's new Socialist government is to legalize marriage and adoption for same-sex couples, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday, reflecting a shift in public attitudes in the majority Catholic nation.

President Francois Hollande, who took office last month, had pledged to legalize gay marriage and adoption during his election campaign but had given no time frame.

Since Hollande's Socialists won an absolute majority in parliamentary elections two weeks ago, the conservative UMP party, which had opposed the measure under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, can do little to stop it.

"The government has made it an objective for the next few months to work on implementing its campaign commitments on the fight against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity," Ayrault's office said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, the junior minister for families Dominique Bertinotti told French daily Le Parisien that a law on gay marriage and adoption would be passed within a year.

The statement from prime minister's office did not confirm the time frame, but asserted a law would be implemented.

In addition, the government would hold discussions in the autumn on ways of making life easier for trans gender individuals, whose dealings with French administration are often complicated by their change of name and sex.

A law granting full marriage status to gay couples would bring France, which currently provides only for same-sex civil unions, into line with fellow EU members Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

It would also mark a profound change in French society, where more than two-thirds of people still describe themselves as Roman Catholic, according to a 2010 survey by pollster Ifop.

However, fewer and fewer of them adhere to strict Roman Catholic teachings on sexual issues or back the Vatican's condemnation of homosexuality. Church attendance has collapsed.

As recently as 2006, surveys indicated that most French were opposed to changing the definition of marriage, but now more than 60 percent support the idea, the pollster BVA said. A majority also favor allowing gay couples to adopt children.

Nevertheless, gay rights advocates say homosexuality remains taboo in many areas of public life. Media tend to use euphemisms such as "long-term bachelor" to hint that someone is gay.

"Today, it's still very difficult to put a name on things, as if saying in public that someone was homosexual was to violate a taboo," a group of gay professionals wrote in an opinion piece in the newspaper Le Monde on Friday, the eve of a Gay Pride march in Paris.

A gay marriage law would boost Hollande's credentials as an agent of social change in the tradition of late Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, who appointed France's first female prime minister and scrapped the death penalty.

Hollande fathered four children out of wedlock with his former partner, fellow Socialist Segolene Royal.

A debate on gay rights might also draw some attention away from the economic woes weighing on his popularity.

Still, there is certain to be opposition from conservatives and practicing Catholics.

"We are convinced that young people's development requires the presence of a mother and a father," said Thierry Vidor, head of the Familles de France umbrella group, which represents some 70,000 families, and campaigns for traditional family rights.

"We will take action to try to show that this measure is ultimately dangerous for society."

ENDS

I can imagine the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship folks and the newly formed coalition headed by Reverend Peter Garth squirming to this news, France has been a repeated reference point for their arguments not to mention the Isaachar Foundation who placed that ad on December 1st 2011 (see below) quoting HIV infection rate figures to boost their argument no to repeal or decriminalize buggery locally while overlooking certain other issues unique to French society including open drug use such as public spaces for shooting up which also has a direct impact on risk of infection, it's not only unprotected anal sex that is the cause here for their high rates but one can be selective in pushing ones argument, I thought Christians were supposed to be more ethical in their dealings? 

here is a flashback news clip from the groups as well originally aired on CVM TV May 15, 2012

After all France was one of the first places on earth to legalize homosexuality in 1791 then they equalised ages of consent in 1982, prior to this announcement today however in regards to couples PACS was the order of the day, Civil solidarity pacts (PACS), a form of registered domestic partnership, were enacted in 1999 for both same-sex and unmarried opposite-sex couples by the government of Lionel Jospin. Couples who enter into a PACS contract are afforded most of the legal protections, rights, and responsibilities of marriage. The right to joint adoption and artificial insemination are also denied to PACS partners (and are largely restricted to heterosexual married couples), although there are proposals to extend the rights afforded by PACS and make them more similar to marriage. France's highest constitutional court ruled that stepchild adoption of biological children by same-sex couples is allowed. Unlike married couples, they were originally not allowed to file joint tax returns until after 3 years, though this was repealed in 2005, and joint tax returns can now be filed immediately.

Same-sex civil unions/domestic partnerships conducted under laws in foreign countries are only recognised for a few countries. Registered Civil Partnerships in the United Kingdom are not recognised – the only solution currently available for a couple in a Civil Partnership to gain PACS rights in France is to dissolve their Civil Partnership and then establish a PACS. Same-sex marriages from the Netherlands, by contrast, are already recognized. This does not however allow dual citizenship, which is reserved for opposite-sex couples. For example, a Frenchman who marries a Dutchman in the Netherlands, and therefore assumes Dutch nationality, automatically loses his French citizenship.

On June 14, 2011, the National Assembly of France voted 293–222 against legalizing same-sex marriage.Deputies of the majority party Union for a Popular Movement voted mostly against the measure, while deputies of the Socialist Party mostly voted in favor. Members of the Socialist Party stated that legalization of same-sex marriage would become a priority should they gain a majority in the French legislative election, 2012.During his campaign for French presidential election, 2012, Socialist Party candidate François Hollande declared he supports same-sex marriage and adoption for LGBT couples, and has plans to pursue the issue in early 2013 if he won. Let us see if the aforementioned anti gay groups will continue using France's record now that they have embraced Gay Marriage rights for same sex couples.


here is a short audio response I did recently:

Peace and tolerance

H

Homosexuality Will Destroy The Traditional Family (Gleaner letter) ..... well timed anti gay messages?

It seems the anti gay lobby is at it again this time with a series of well orchestrated messages well timed and placed, just days ago we heard a radio interview with a leading clergyman uttering the same thing, then the comments and emails towards my blogs with the same message then over in the neighbouring Caribbean islands namely St Lucia we saw a newscast saying the same message and the clergyman interviewed on camera there then saying homosexuality is a disorder

A prominent Clergyman believes the growth of the gay rights lobby is a big contributor to the perpetration of acts of buggery.
Catholic Priest Linus Clovis was speaking against the backdrop of the alleged incident in Canaries in which a Policeman and another man are reported to have sexually assaulted a mentally challenged teenaged boy.

Here is the letter however appearing in today's Gleaner:

Homosexuality Will Destroy The Traditional Family

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I am compelled to address the issue of homosexuality in light of recent pictures of two gay marriages by Jamaicans overseas, comments by the United States deputy assistant secretary of state that Jamaica will not be allowed to move at its own pace in its acceptance of homosexuality, and the Archbishop of Accra's thoughts on the matter.

We are seeing the very powerful gay lobby in every facet of life, be it spiritual, social, economic, legal, cultural or political. What bothers me is the fact that those of us who do not subscribe to the lifestyle are vilified, seen as haters, and many have turned a blind eye or are afraid that the mighty USA and England will not continue to be generous to us. Many of us are prepared to sell our souls for 30 pieces of silver!

I went to college in the USA where I lived in girls' dormitories and apartments in Portland, Oregon, and Washington, DC. There were lesbians and men with men everywhere! I found many of them to be well-rounded individuals, having excellent interpersonal skills, but their jealously takes on blood-curdling, deadly and demonic proportions!

All the sexual problems of the heterosexual lifestyle pale in comparison to this lifestyle. I have seen enough, experienced enough of the nastiness and perversion as I interfaced with many of them, cried with them, helped some pick up the pieces of their lives, comforted some, saw deaths, including suicide.

This lifestyle is destructive and feeds on itself. It devours as it goes along.

Love for the lifestyle

Many homosexuals will tell you that they know it is wrong but they love the lifestyle, as it enables them to 'step up inna life'. There is much material gain. Others are so fierce and in your face that it is difficult to like them, much more love them, even if they are family friends or family members. But love them we must.

I have two grandchildren. What do I tell them when they come home and ask me why does little Ann or Sam have two mommies or two daddies?

I will teach my grandchildren not to hate, kill or maim them, but that individuals chose this lifestyle which will ultimately destroy families as we know it, and that for our family, homosexuality will never be okay.

LAVERN WRAY

ENDS

My simple two cents: via some questions for her to ponder, pity she never left an email but if she or someone she knows sees this .............

Frankly Miss Wray aren't the very gay people who you so chastise now born in most cases to supposed heterosexuals be they in married unions or single parent homes?

Isn't the family as you know it already on the way to being destroyed seeing that there are so many boys on our streets that holier than thous like you drive pass and not pat attention to in any really serious fashion or provide any assistance to? And what about mis-matched marriages in church for the sake of impressing other church brethren? persons forced to enter into a relationship and they do not even know each other

What about gay and lesbian couples who raise very heterosexual children in a steady and stable household, did they destroy that child in the process?

Do not confuse consenting same gender loving adults living their lives as they see fit within the legal framework thus far with exploitative same sex relationships, they are different, way different and there are numerous examples of stable same sex unions with either adopted children or children born with an opposite sex partner in a previous union by one of the two persons in the couple and the children turn out 'undamaged" far better tolerant than other kids in a heterosexual union and are heterosexual themselves, I shudder to think what your household maybe like and the type of men and women you would be contributing to society after all didn't Christ say we must love our neighbours as ourselves, what is this fear in the religious community that homosexuals are going to poison the world?

Granting rights and privileges to same gender loving folks won't diminish or take away rights already enjoyed by heterosexuals.

There is nothing to fear but fear itself in your case.

By the way someone sent me this on facebook, thought I'd share it:

Here is an audio I did recently:

Peace and tolerance

H

Diva Diana King comes out ...........

Jamaican diva with the big voice who gaves us smash billboard hits such as "Shy Guy" "L L L Lies" fabulous dance remakes of Aretha's "Say a Little Prayer (for you)" and Chaka Khan's "Aint Nobody" and her last major summer anthem "Summer Breezes' has come out on Facebook around 9am Jamaica time and the reaction from the community has been unwaveringly supportive. I had the pleasure of meeting her in her early years in Kingston when she was on the local scene long before she signed that deal with Sony/Work records and became the international pop/dance diva she is now, she wouldn't remember me of course but I am happy that this has come in the midst of the awful stuff hapening to  sections of our LGBT community including murders of homeless brothers recently (see post below or on Gay Jamaica Watch for more)


Tongues have been wagging on certain media platforms as of late due to her new appearance tattoos and all and then her live set with Celine Dion at the Jazz and Blues festival here in Jamaica which sent speculation higher as stereotypical profiling came to the fore with her new image. Now she has answered un-apologetically.

Diana posted on her facebook page the following note:


My name is DIANA EUGENA KING, known to most as DIANA KING my fans call me KingSinga.

I AM … WOMAN … MOTHER ... AUNT … JAMAICAN … AMERICAN ... INTERNATIONAL ARTIST ... SINGER ... SONGWRITER ... BAND LEADER … FRIEND ... LOVER ... ENTREPRENEUR ... GODDESS! among other things AND YES!!!…

I AM A LESBIAN ... the answer to my most asked INDIRECT question.

I welcome the "WHO CARES" right now LOL.

I answer now, not because it's anyone's business BUT because IT FEELS RIGHT WITH my SOUL and I believe by not answering or hiding it all these years somehow makes it appear as if I AM ASHAMED OF IT or THAT I BELIEVE IT IS WRONG. I FEEL NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS … or I would have grown my hair. But all kidding aside, I AM a private person, but sometimes, one has to step outside of their comfort zone to GROW. This here, that I'm doing, is my road. Not everyone will OR is required to travel this way. Some people will carry this fact about themselves to the grave and that's their prerogative but, a "GOOD" reputation can be a GIGANTIC LOAD in a girls backpack. I KNOW now that it's time I fully practice the meaning of my face tattoo, which is LOVE YOURSELF LIVE YOURSELF. I JUST WANT TO KEEP IT REAL.

HONESTLY SPEAKING, I have always been AFRAID to admit it openly, because of the UNKNOWN of what it may cause negatively, to me my career my family and loved ones. But I realized that it is not my job to make others COMFORTABLE, I AM ONLY RESPONSIBLE FOR MY LIFE, the stuff U think about on your deathbed and at this point in my life I DO NOT CARE about the things that FRIGHTEN me anymore. My biggest regret is that I didn't COME OUT earlier because being silent has held me back from being ALL that I was born to be. The DEEP FEAR that I've had, especially that my own JAMAICAN PEOPLE will judge me and not accept me because of their homophobia has been a heavy burden. I fly my country's flag HIGH. Always with respect and honor everywhere I go, there is no doubt where I AM from, especially in my music. And I am nothing but PROUD of myself and my accomplishments, no one can take that away from me, IT IS already written in the History Books. But I often wonder, if JAMROCK would have STILL been proud of me if they knew the truth from the days of SHY GUY. So even though I'm a woman of the world, living out of my massive duffle bags in different countries, week after week month after month , JAMAICA has been in my head with great LOVE and absolute FEAR. The harsh reality that people like ME are persecuted, beaten, jailed, raped and murdered everyday JUST for being who they are or JUST EVEN BEING SUSPECTED OF IT. It's what I saw too many times growing up in SPANISH TOWN and living in KINGSTON and it scared me to death. I COULDN'T WAIT TO GET OUT OF THERE. It is hard to imagine the anguish inside if you are not considered an ABOMINATION I and cannot relate personally. BUT GO AHEAD …….. IMAGINE IT for a minute.

And I can only image what it is like, living there and enduring that reality everyday 24/7 365 days of the year. I WILL NOT carry this baggage ANYMORE. In about 10 years I will B older than both my parents before they died. MY PERSONAL NEED to be 100% authentic and TRUE to myself and to make sure my children learn, especially from me, not to EVER be afraid to be WHO THEY ARE is stronger than any insecurities I may have had over the years. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN WHO I AM from the moment I could think and had even tried to be THE OPPOSITE because of society's pressures. Trying to LIVE A LIE is horrible, whether GAY or STRAIGHT and for me, was the saddest part of it all because it only caused immense pain to everyone involved. I have been myself to the fullest ALL EXCEPT for when I came to my sexuality. And it is particularly tormenting U R a FREE SPIRIT. Only people who were very close knew because I told them. I've never felt comfortable being around or working with people who were UNCOMFORTABLE with that fact … and I thought for a long while that that would be enough. But it wasn't and it is not. NOT FOR ME … it feels like living INCOMPLETE. I have MUCH RESPECT and deep ADMIRATION for all those who have COME OUT before me, Dead or Alive. I have stood on the sidelines COVETING your bravery. YOU and LOVE have given me the COURAGE.

I could have STAYED SAFE AND HIDDEN but for me, IT WOULD MEAN THAT ALL THOSE WHO HAVE DIED for BEING LIKE ME … ALL DIED IN VAIN. JUST LIKE BLACK PEOPLE WHO DIED FOR ME SO THAT I COULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITIES AND RIGHTS I NOW HAVE … WOULD HAVE ALL DIED IN VAIN (and if U think some of them weren't gay and lesbian as well U R sadly mistaken) … BUT IF I DID NOT or DO NOT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FREEDOMS THEY GIVE ME AND CARRY THAT TORCH and KNOWLEDGE with DIGNITY and SHOW MY GRATITUDE and RESPECT and DO MY PART BY LIVING A LIFE THAT WOULD MAKE THEM PROUD, it would B like spitting in they faces. NOT TOO LONG AGO, I would NOT have been able to go to school much less college. Maybe I would have been ALLOWED to sing for them but NOT touch them. The mic I used would B thrown out AND I would probably have to open my legs REAL WIDE before I got paid a SMALL FRACTION of what I deserved if any at all. I would have had to use the NIGGA back door and stay in a THE NIGGA HOTEL. I couldn't fly 1st class, PLEEEEASE try NO-CLASS, a girl like me would have to take a boat and keep out of sight at the very bottom. I COULDN'T B in the presence of white people if I wasn't the maid. And if they felt HAPPY they might just celebrate by RAPING or LYNCHING ME. All because their interpretation of the BIBLE said, WE WERE LESS THAN HUMAN. I haven't forgetten the PAST, the INSANITY but it is HISTORY and not meant to be a disrespect to my caucasian family. MY fans come in every shape, age, color, class and creed and I LOVE and APPRECIATED ALL of them. Weve come a far way and have a ways to go, but we HAVE GORWN. I'm not here to compare to fight or defend myself or to debate wrong or right. BUT KNOW THIS!

WE ARE everywhere and everyone whether U acknowledge US or not. WE R people U love and cannot live without. WE bring U joy and entertain U. Some of U have even gotten married and made love to our songs, repeated our quotes and have our Art hanging in your homes. WE deliver your babies WE save your lives in hospitals and in wars. WE defend U in the courts and stand up for your rights. WE design the clothes and shoes U just have to have and cannot live without. U hand us your money at the banks. WE fly U to the beautiful and exciting places U love to travel to. WE give U knowledge and inspiration everyday with our words, music and dance. U eat at our restaurants and dance in our nighclubs. WE hold your hands and pray for U on your deathbeds. WE baptize U and marry U. WE R ... your NEIGHBORS your FRIENDS and your FAMILY.

I am not seeking anyone's approval. 

The people I love and care about the most, love me no matter what and my true fans love my music and my positive energy on and off-stage. I have never been disrespectful to anyone, and have repeatedly shared my deepest thoughts and feelings with you and have demonstrated my UNWAVERING LOVE and COMPASSION for humanity, time and time again thanks to social media. I have been blessed with eyes that only see a person's HEART, not the labels placed on them, whether obvious or not. And if there is a GOD .. that trait, my best quality, came straight from the ALMIGHTY. That is WHO I AM to MY CORE and I cannot B anything else. I cannot tell where this will lead but I KNOW, I WILL B ALRIGHT and just like ths status I posted a few day ago, I have two options

"I KNOW not just BELIEVE, THAT IF I LEAP OFF THIS LEDGE INTO THE DARKNESS OF WHAT IS UNCERTAIN ... I WILL EITHER LAND ON MY FEET ON SOMETHING STRONG or I WILL GROW WINGS AND FLY.

As usual, MUCH LUV AND GOOD VIBES TO U ALL. AND IF U DECIDE NOW THAT U DO NOT "LOVE" ME ANYMORE … KNOW THIS!!! NOTHING WILL EVER MAKE ME STOP LOVING U.

ENDS

Since then this cartoon has come as one of the responses:

SGL community members attacked in Kingston ..........

Three men who are accused of being homosexuals were attacked and beaten in Craig Town, Kingston earlier yesterday by an angry crowd. According to CVM TV News, a crowd descended upon a house where three men and two women were caught in compromising positions. 

The men were attacked and beaten however the women were not touched. Two of the men managed to escape and the Police who arrived on the scene rescued the injured man from the clutches of the angry mob. One resident blasted the Police for rescuing the men stating if this is what tax payers were paying for the rescue of homosexuals.

Read more HERE

Coincidentally three of the persons involved in this episode were previously members of the dubiously closed Safe House Pilot project that was closed and the residents then displaced yet no help was really extended to them via the agencies that represent LGBT persons in Jamaica. Lest we forget these same agencies had an issue with the so called issue of the behaviour of the men at the time so all the residents were basically made to suffer the consequences without any agitations from the agencies opposing the closure of the all important and needed shelter services at the time.
Interesting the comments though from what seems to be members of the LGBT community, sadly this comes just as the same gender loving community is healing from the recent murders of 4 homeless msms in total and a popular community socialite whose throat was cut on June 13 plus other unconfirmed problems to do with homeless and displaced persons as well as other homophobic and lesbophobic incident reports, I guess it's the silly season early this year.

the comments from the Jones Town story read as follows:

"compromising positions'? the conducter them wah have the likkle school gyal dem a feel up pon the bus and a battery dem inna bus back.....that nuh compromising? Tax dollars? you worried bout tax dollars? u and ur ignorant self wah probably not working to get ur salary taxed, who have man a buy u things, wah tax nah come outta ur pocket a complain how tax dollars a spend? The ppl dem inna dem yard, wah unu a fass inna d ppl dem business for...u hear seh pickney or animal involve? nuh 5 adult of sound mind a do whatever...mine unu own business and leff di ppl dem.

This is outrageous...this is an epidemic especially in the west Indian community...if more of these men concentrated on building a more wholesome image of Caribbean culture,.and take care of their families and children,.we would be further ahead. Instead they maintain violence against homosexuals and women in some cases,.as well as uplifting a culture all about sex...like..isn't there anything more to talk about. If u hate gays, keep.it to yourself...that's someone's child they were beating..smh. Thank you Garnett for standing up and saying this is wrong, as well as being a good example to your son.

How much stupid our society will get? if your str8, gay or whatever in the world you want to be, every person in this country is paying tax and deserved the same rights, freedom and justice. People think with your head! those gays/bi/lesbians could have been your blood brother or sisters/extended family.

For all the gay HATERS, just for one minute think.....if those persons that were beaten and attacked by mobs or citizens from the community, how would you truly feel about it knowing that this person you have grown up with and loved, is been killed for who they are? 

Its time we stop hurting each other. 

You know what is so interesting our str8 society? little did you know that Gays/BI/Lesbians are all over this country working for you, in the Hospitals, Lawyer, Doctors, Restaurants, Banks, Schools, Bus Drivers, Taxi Drivers, Gun man, Police, Government Ministers, Pastors, Church members....and the list goes on and on........Don't be quick to judge, yes the bible speaks about it.....its not your right to take judgement or anyone persons life. Let God judge each man for his actions.

So you're saying Jamaica doesn't have curry prion and all the negative aspect if the US? This isn't about politics it's about human rights. I'm not telling a man how to live. I know that if that crime was done here in the US someone would be arrested. You can't hate or hurt someone based on their sexual preference. And to show you how blind Jamaicans are: every song is about guns, "homosexuality" and murder. The only three artist that never did are Bob Marley, Berris Hammond and Garnet Silk. So if you want a homo free country why is ever artist talking about it. Don't you see they are forcing it upon you? No one have to accept anything but death and as human being we are entitled to live how we want. How different from Hitler are we if we kill segregate and hurt people because of their lifestyle? Time people start thinking for themselves.

Hating people for being Gay doesn't make me Jamaican....What people do in their damn bedroom is their own business and no one else's. Stop falling into this trap of associating hatred with being Jamaican. We are a people known for our loving nature and loving hearts..leave people alone....god alone can judge!

Why not get rid of the Don's and the GUN MEN that are going out at nites murdering people and taking home the blood money and goods for your nites belly and leaving one family in hurt and continuously pain......why not tell/call the police about that? NO you will never do that! Why? because your minds are corrupt and evil at humanity.

So the question is, Who did the Gays/BI sexuals/Lesbians troubled or killed? YOUR answer is "NOBODY".....

ENDS

Sadly this comes so soon after the awful aforementioned murders but something strikes me about this episode, Jones Town is a relatively small inner city community and almost everyone knows everyone else, the persons are relatively long time residents according to reports yet this now has come? knowing how prying eyes in communities such as this make it their business to know what going on, I get the feeling something else triggered this attack. There is also an element of remnants of homeless issues cross cutting here as some of the persons involved have been identified as recently displaced persons who were given some space at the house where the attack took place.

Above is the actual newscast and bearing in mind the cynicism of the residents that LGBT people are being protected more so than local residents are that may just add another layer to the already troublesome homo-negativity that pervades Jamaican society. Meanwhile the seemingly hypocritical expression by some activists via a Gleaner letter who now reside overseas that Gays Being Attacked Left, Right And Centre when these same activist's negligence towards displaced and homeless MSMs has caused this particular incident, the two main persons involved here were displaced msms who have been moving from friend to friend just to have a roof over their heads yet these groups and organizations use incidents like this to push themselves as concerned when they do no give a hoot about the really marginalized populations. As a former board member of one of the NGOs that closed a homeless shelter in 2010 why hasn't there been any serious moves to rectify the out of control MSM homelessness problems?

also see: 

The recent murders in the New Kingston area has once again brought the matter or homelessness squarely.

Here is an audio commentary on the incidents of recent:

(June 25th Update fixed)

Peace and tolerance

H

The impact of Living out Loud as a Gay Jamaican

By Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn

Courtesy of Kweisi Abbensetts Photos


It has been a week since the first story broke about my marriage to my beautiful wife, Emma Benn, at Silver Sands Villa in Duncans Trelawney, a parish in Jamaica.  In one week, our lives have changed.  It started with an article in the Jamaica Gleaner, “Lesbian Nuptials at Silver Sands.”  When and how this information was leaked, we are still uncertain.  But this article immediately garnered attention, enough to overwhelm the comments section of the online article:  “Could it be true?  Did two women really get married on the island known to refute same-sex unions?  What an ungodly occurrence! They should be charged! The Villa should be fined!”  The questions and admonishments stirred like a typhoon in the middle of the ocean.  What was meant to be a private, intimate ceremony with family and friends, as a re-enactment of our legal marriage a month before in New York where same-sex marriage was recently legalized, became an overnight sensation in Jamaica.  We made history.


“It is illegal … in Jamaica,” a pastor was quoted saying.  “Marriage is not a union between any two people; it must be between a man and a woman.  This kind of thing is not the norm and is not something you would expect to see in a Christian country.”


But in the midst of the reactions following the breaking news, there was something bigger; something my wife and I happened to be caught in the middle of by chance.  It wasn’t our wedding, it was the timing.  For in recent months Jamaica had been engaged in dialogue about homosexuality when Portia Simpson-Miller, Jamaica’s current Prime Minister, shocked the nation by saying she will hire a competent person to serve in her cabinet regardless of their sexual orientation.  For a Jamaican Prime Minister to make such a statement in a public debate is an anomaly in a culture so rigid about same-sex unions.  After this statement, Simpson-Miller won the election by a landslide.  This was followed by President Obama on May 9, 2012, when he publicly expressed that he supports same sex marriage.  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a very prominent civil rights organization in the US, followed suit when they too expressed their support of same-sex marriage.


By the comments I’ve received in response to the Jamaica Gleaner article and the article in Ebony Magazine, I realize that our wedding has encouraged positive discourse about homosexuality and same sex marriages throughout the African Diaspora.   I’ve gotten messages from people all over the world—people living in West Africa, South Africa, Singapore, Quebec, Jamaica, and the United States.   What my wife and I did was spark the flame.   The gasoline was already there.  And so was the match.    All we did was express our love before family and friends in a place I still call home.   A place known for its homophobia, yet still embracing us.  If we did not have the support of the venue, many of its staff and villa owners, and the local community, our wedding would have been impossible.  We may not have been the first to do this, but the attention resonated from the social movement that was already in effect.   A social movement that was already orchestrated by the higher-ups that eventually trickled down to two women having their wedding in Jamaica—one Jamaican and the other one African American.   Two women.   Two women of the African Diaspora.   From two countries in active dialogue about the issue of same-sex unions.  Two women.   One love.   And an act of courage.


Jamaica was ready.  America was ready.  The world was already poised, watching, waiting.


But what touched me most were the messages of support from gay and lesbian individuals living in Jamaica.   Many have expressed how inspired they were by our courage to do such a thing.  A nineteen year old girl wrote that she was on the verge of giving up on life after a long internal battle with her sexuality.  But after reading the article about us in the Jamaica Gleaner, she was able to see for the first time that there is a bright side at the end of the tunnel.   After reflecting on comments like these, Emma and I realized that we were now held in high regard by those who saw us as revolutionaries.  We realize that our story is bigger than us.


I recalled how alone I felt during my coming out process in high school and how important it was for me to see other lesbians as role models or even to see representations of us.  Like that nineteen year old girl, I used to be under the dark and desolate impression that I was the only lesbian in Jamaica; that I was the only person walking around with supposedly “unnatural” feelings for other women.  But during my freshman year of college I met another Jamaican woman, a Jamaican-born poet by the name of Staceyann Chin who captivated me by her fearlessness as an out lesbian.


Now, Emma and I are proud that our courage could give a voice to so many who truly love their culture and homeland, but who, marginalized, ostracized, and often living in fear, never feel that love reciprocated. Our story is not a lesbian story or a Jamaican story, but a story of love between two people that is so amazing, we just could not keep it hidden from the world. We know that we have not started this movement, but we are determined to give it the extra push it so desperately needs.


________________________________


Meanwhile Today's Star News carried this story:

The activities of two female teachers at a high school in St Catherine have become a source of concern for other tutors, students and the general community.

"The two educators went to the U.S, and got married. Now they are back at school and it is a burden to many of us who are affiliated with the institution," a disgruntled teacher told THE STAR.

Information reaching THE STAR is that the women's story came to the fore after one of the newly weds started to boast to a man how her marriage status has changed. The Star was informed that both parties have posted the information about their marriage on social networking website Facebook.

"After that was revealed the school got full knowledge of it. They are lesbians and should keep it to themselves. It is not fair to the rest of us," a concerned staffer at the school said.

Efforts to speak with a school official on the matter proved futile yesterday.

Meanwhile, The Star was informed that some female students are being targeted by these misguided lesbian teachers.

While those who are concerned said they are trying to tolerate the sexual preference of everyone, they say the latest episode has placed them under undue pressure. "There are other isolated cases, how ever, this one is really affecting us to the extent that a teacher fainted upon hearing it," another staffer said.

When contacted, the police revealed that same sex marriage is illegal in Jamaica, however, since the alleged marriage occurred overseas, nothing can be done.

UN rights body hits out against violence based on sexual orientation

The United Nations Human Rights Council on June 17th 2011expressed grave concern at the violence and discrimination experienced by people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and called for a global study to document the suffering they face.

In a resolution adopted narrowly in Geneva, the Council asked the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to carry out a study by December that details “discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world.”


The resolution calls on the study to also consider “how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”


Twenty-three countries voted in favour of the resolution, 19 countries voted against, and three others abstained.


A month ago UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that hate crimes against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people were on the rise around the world.


Ms. Pillay stressed that homophobia and transphobia were no different to sexism, racism or xenophobia.


“But whereas these last forms of prejudice are universally condemned by governments, homophobia and transphobia are too often overlooked,” she said.


Today’s resolution notes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone is equal and entitled to the same rights and freedoms, regardless of their race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.


The text said the Council will convene a future panel discussion based on the facts contained in the study and have “constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.”



bly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, in which the Assembly stated that the Human Rights Council should be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in fair and equal manner,


Expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity


1. Requests the High Commissioner to commission a study to be finalized by December 2011, to document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity;


2. Decides to convene a panel discussion during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, informed by the facts contained in the study commissioned by the High Commissioner and to have constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity;


3. Decides also that the panel will also discuss the appropriate follow-up to the recommendations of the study commissioned by the High Commissioner;


4. Decides to remain seized of this priority issue.

PrEP: time to rethink prevention, effectiveness and ethics?

By Marsha Rosengarten


PrEP: time to rethink prevention, effectiveness and ethics?


One of the more controversial interventions proposed for HIV prevention in those who test HIV antibody negative and perceived to be at risk is pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) – a daily pill comprising one or two antiretroviral drugs manufactured by Gilead Inc.  Besides the mixed results from multi-site randomised controlled trials (RCTs) seeking to establish the efficacy of PrEP (see iPrEX versus Fem-PrEP), concerns have been raised about PrEP’s potential to undermine condom use, its cost implications in locales where treatment provision is still lacking and elsewhere, its potential to cause unwanted drug side-effects as well as possible drug resistance in those it fails to protect.


Nevertheless, continuing new infections and evidence that high adherence produces a strong protective effect are mobilising many public health authorities to devise feasible implementation models.


Most remarkable about the growing interest in PrEP is the exclusion of the social sciences from major forums where this work is taking place.  One such example is a two-day forum held in the UK by IAPAC on the dual topics of treatment as prevention (TasP) and PrEP.  The only non-biomedical speakers listed on the programme were a psychologist (speaking on adherence), a bioethicist, activists and public health officials linked to various national epidemics.


Indeed it won’t come as a surprise to many to know that despite the millions of dollars to support RCTs for PrEP, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have so far declined to support a substantial programme of social research on PrEP.  In fact if we consider the bioethical requirements imposed on the conduct of RCTs for PrEP and other biomedical interventions, there is no ethical requirement for research on the social dimensions of the intervention during or post RCTs. This applies even when RCTs demonstrate candidate efficacy.


The multiple ways in which PrEP will unfold across the epidemic and the absence of social scientific approaches to grapple with this multiplicity is worrying. Without doubt it underscores the need for this particular blog and other forums designed to enliven the social science contribution and increase its visibility. But the absence of social science also raises the question of what sort of social research should be called upon in response to the biomedicalisation of the epidemic.


Although not wanting to diminish what has already been achieved to date by the social and biomedical sciences, it is worth pointing out that much of this work has relied on the presupposition of an ‘HIV prevention user’ who exists prior to and remains largely distinct from the means of prevention or RCT technology.  Always already conceived as independent of the means of prevention, ‘she’ or ‘he’ is assessed according to whether ‘she’ or ‘he’ does or does not utilize prevention. If not, it is because:


i)      She/he is deficient in knowledge or understanding necessary for adopting safe practices.


ii)    She/he is deficient due to asymmetries in power and situated in such a way to be without services that help mitigate against unsafe practices, for example: housing, food, education, safe forms of employment without discrimination.


iii)  She/he is deficient in responsibility causing her or him to be unable to act safely.


Leaving aside any preferences we may have for one or even two of these accounts of ‘the user’, all can be said to assume and, indeed, enact HIV risk as if consisting of ‘stand-alone entities.’ These entities— for example, users, bodies, knowledge, rights, HIV, condoms, drugs, routes of transmission and so on—are imagined as present in a stable form prior to the risk event and ontologically distinct. 


This thinking is especially prevalent in RCT design, sometimes even the explanation for failure. The MIRA trial (Methods for Improving Reproductive Health in Africa) found that women in the candidate arm who were asked to use a diaphragm with a condom in sexual intercourse were less likely to sustain condom use than women in the placebo arm who were recommended to use only condoms.  In other words, the combining of presumed distinct prevention technologies gave rise to women in the candidate arm being more at risk of HIV infection than those in the placebo arm. 


Here the ‘additional’ object (the diaphragm) did not enhance but, instead, diminished the capacity of the more protective object (the condom).[1] In sum, a logic of ‘stand-alone’ entities undermined prevention in the candidate arm, rendered ineffectual the statistical calculations necessary to a worthwhile trial and, it can be argued, raises the question of whether the logic of ‘stand-alone’ entities leads to a practice devoid of satisfactory ethics.


Importantly, the women in the MIRA trial, like many others negotiating the demands of HIV in the midst of complex and sometimes competing social relations, remind us that ‘objects’ such as condoms, diaphragms, pills etc. are not stable and distinct but emerge with heterogeneous effects in their relations with other phenomena.


Ironically, biomedicine also offers a reminder of the dynamic co-affective nature of the epidemic, even if those practicing it fail to fully comprehend their objects in this way: the virus is of consequence when it is with the human body or in a laboratory study, not when it is independent of other phenomena. Similarly antiretroviral drugs are made effective in their use; or through the monitoring of adherence; or through their capacity to induce ‘side effects’ and so on.  They, too, acquire their effect only in relation to other phenomena and, moreover, it is their effect that we are concerned with.


As a guide to how we might extend the social science of prevention, I want to propose a rethinking of prevention as that which is effective because it is ethical.  By hinging effectiveness to ethics, the relational aspects of intervention come into view.  Put simply, if prevention is to take place—in this instance through the uptake of PrEP—it must perform an aligning with the varying interests of those it is intended for and, at the same time, affecting. More specifically, it must weigh in on some affects—most likely those of pleasure although this is complex territory in itself —well over others—such as coercion and homophobia —and do so by appealing in such a way that the effective user is able to emerge as such.[2]


By anticipating ethics as immanent in the affective work of practice it also becomes possible to become sensitized to dynamics that work against prevention. Particularly pertinent here is the manner in which PrEP has emerged. Its controversial nature cannot be disentangled from the technology of the ‘efficacy’ testing RCT and the legitimation of this process by bioethics. The legitimizing of RCTs in their current form where only a delimited set of effects are of concern—those that may incur more risks than benefits within the parameters of the RCT—excludes precisely that which the more everyday use of the candidate may generate.  Here I am thinking in particular of concerns that PrEP may give rise to what is termed ‘risk compensation’ or may alter gender relations in such a way that women take responsibility for prevention as has happened with the contraceptive pill.[3] Crudely put, how has it come to be ethically legitimate to spend millions of dollars on the efficacy testing of a biomedical agent[4] without providing research into how it will affect the epidemic? Or, to turn the gaze on those who would otherwise neglect us and, at the same time, open for consideration the achievement of biomedical prevention more generally:  has bioethics usurped the role of social science as such by granting biomedicine greater license for its activities but less viability for its products?  


These questions and a host of others could become part of a different approach to prevention, effectiveness and ethics. To reiterate, by conceiving of effectiveness as an achievement of ethical design it may be possible to shift the logic of the stand alone as evident in the deficit individual and as exemplified in the MIRA trial   and begin to work with PrEP as a highly relational entity. Working with PrEP means attending to how it emerges, including how it does so through the design of RCTs and, possibly, as part of the everyday relations involved in its uptake.




[1] Rosengarten M, Michael M, Mykhalovskiy E & Imrie J (2008)‘The Challenges of Technological Innovation in HIV’ Lancet Aug 2;372 (9636):357-8.


[2] See for example: Race, K (2009) Pleasure Consuming Medicine: The Queer Politics of Drugs, Duke University Press, Durham & London; Gomart, E. (2004) ‘Surprised by Methadone: In Praise of Drug Substitution Treatment in a French Clinic’, Body & Society, 10 (2–3): 85–110.


[3] Rosengarten, M. & Michael, M. (2009) ‘The performative function of expectations in translating treatment to prevention: the case of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP’ Social Science & Medicine, Volume 69, Issue 7, October: 1049-1055.


[4] Peters A JTP, Micevska-Scharf M, Van Driel FTM, Jansen WHM (2010) ‘Where does public funding for HIV prevention go to? The case of condoms versus microbicides and vaccines’ Globalization and Health 6, 23:1-10

Caribbean States called upon to adopt OAS Resolution

The Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTTTI) Latin American and Caribbean organizations (The Coalition) is calling on all Caribbean states to implement the Organisation of American States (OAS) Resolutions on human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity.
During the 42nd General Assembly of the OAS which took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia from 3 - 5 June, 2012 a fifth resolution “Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” was adopted. 

A result of long term advocacy of the Coalition, the resolution includes all the issues contained in the previous resolutions which call on Member States to introduce measures against discrimination and human rights violations and to implement public policies.

Additionally, the resolution requests that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) “prepare a study on legislation and provisions in force in the OAS Members States restricting the human rights of individuals by reason of their sexual orientation or gender identity and to prepare based on that study, guidelines aimed at promoting the decriminalization of homosexuality.” 

According to the Coalition “indifference, omission and complicity by many states in cases of discrimination and violence against the LGBTTTI community make those more severe and limit the enjoyment of the basic needs of our communities.” 

The Coalition noted that this situation is even more serious in the case of legislation in 11 Anglophone countries. 

It contends that in the Caribbean:

• 11 countries still criminalise consenting adult same-gender intimacy;

• two countries ban entry of homosexuals;

• one country imposes life sentences for consenting adult same-gender intimacy;

• homophobia contributes to the region having the second highest HIV and AIDS prevalence and incidence rates;

• there are no protections for domestic violence committed against LGBTTTI persons by their intimate partners or their families; and,

• Lesbian and bisexual women and invisible from any government data produced in the Caribbean.

With this in mind the Coalition states that Caribbean countries must adopt the fifth resolution of the 42nd General Assembly of the OAS and condemn all forms of hum rights violations against the LGBTTTI community, as well as take immediate steps to end all forms of discrimination against this vulnerable group.

USAID to launch LGBT Global Development Partnership Initiative

The event seems to have been rescheduled for the fall according to sources.

Few details are publicly available but this is something big.

On Monday, the United States Agency for International Development(USAID) was to hold a gathering at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, to celebrate LGBT pride month and to launch their Global LGBT Equality Partnership.

USAID was launched by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to handle civilian foreign aid. It operates based on guidelines from the U.S. President, the U.S. Secretary of State and the National Security Council and its goal is to provide "economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States."

The Partnership would make it current USAID policy to make federal foreign aid available to agencies working to strengthen LGBT rights throughout the world although I assume it would limit it to a number of nations that meet certain diplomatic standards and to organizations that have the infrastructure to handle federal grants from the United States.

From the event press announcement:

Eighty-five countries and territories criminalize LGBT behavior, seven countries have a death penalty for same-sex sexual activity, and fewer than 50 countries punish anti-gay discrimination in full or in part. The partnership will enhance LGBT equality through providing a greater voice in civil society and political processes, increased access to services including police and justice systems and improved economic security.


The Partnership will cast a worldwide net but, speaking specifically about Latin America, a lot of the limited funding that LGBT-rights organizations get comes from local and European sources. One of the few exceptions when it comes to U.S. foundations has been the work of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice which has long recognized the benefit of supporting international LGBT work.

I know from sources that USAID has been laying the groundwork and already granted some awards. Details will have to wait another day.

The initiative follows a presidential directive last year to use U.S. foreign aid money to secure and protect LGBT rights throughout the world and the exemplary work done by the State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on these same issues.

On a related matter, today the U.S. Department of State released the following pride month message from Hillary in which she addresses several of the Department of State's international achievements.

Non Discrimination

Foreign assistance agencies will work toward a goal of ensuring that USG implementing partners mirror USG non-discrimination practices for both employees and beneficiaries in the implementation of their programs. We issued a hortatory policy on October 11 for non-discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, marital status, parental status, political affiliation. USAID’s policy supports the human rights of all individuals. USAID’s inclusive policy simultaneously ensuring that faith-based implementing partners retain an exemption from the Federal prohibition on employment discrimination on the basis of religion when the organization receives financial assistance from USAID.

Protection

USAID/OFDA promotes non-discrimination among disaster-affected populations as a core component of protection by recognizing LGBT individuals for their distinct needs among vulnerable groups within an affected population. USAID/OFDA has issued an Annual Program Statement (APS) for sexual and gender based violence, in humanitarian assistance settings, that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, in the areas for which organizations may submit proposals.

USAID has included LGBT concerns in our discussions regarding our programs in the following regions:
LAC (Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica)
AFR (Uganda, Mali, Malawi)
Asia (Pakistan through the film “Bol”)
E&E (Macedonia)


Through email conversations, meetings with civil society activists, and reading cable traffic, we are aware of LGBT concerns in the following USAID-presence countries:
Africa (Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Namibia, Malawi)
Asia (India, Nepal)
E&E (Russia)
LAC (Haiti, Jamaica, Honduras, Colombia, Nicaragua, regionally through a conference in St. Lucia through ARC International)

Give Gays Minimum Human Rights Now, Urges US

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Baer.

Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer

WASHINGTON:

A NEWLY established United States foreign policy is demanding that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals in countries such as Jamaica be afforded a certain minimum standard of human rights.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Baer, who has responsibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) rights, told The Gleaner that the policy is intended to ensure people are not discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.

Baer said the US Department of State will not leave it up to the Jamaican society to decide at its own pace if and when it will acknowledge the basic human rights of homosexuals.

"No! They shouldn't," the deputy assistant secretary of state responded when asked whether individual nations should be left to decide for themselves on LGBT rights.

NEED TO ACT NOW

"They shouldn't be left to decide on their own, the same way they shouldn't be left to decide on their own whether women should be beaten up or imprisoned for being women or whether somebody of a particular religious group ought to be beaten up or imprisoned for being part of that religious group."

The US is, in effect, advocating a global minimum standard. Baer expects that the nitty-gritty issues "will be determined ideally through democratic governance and through citizenship participation".

"There are certain minimum standards that all societies are meant to protect for each person and people shouldn't be thrown in jail or killed for who they are," he added.

At the same time, the deputy assistant secretary of state says LGBT rights are no longer a bottom draw, back door issue for the Department of State.

"There was some engagement before Secretary Clinton, but certainly Secretary Clinton has made it institutionally front and centre," said Baer.

MISUNDERSTOOD COMMENTS

Two years ago, Clinton sent a cable to all US ambassadors across the world saying, in Baer's words, "I want you to engage on these issues the same way you do on the rights of people with disabilities, or women, or religious or ethnic minorities - this is part of our human-rights policy."

Baer took pains to note that Clinton's speech on the subject seven months ago was misunderstood. On International Human Rights Day, Clinton argued that the human rights of LGBT people are no different from the human rights of any other individual.

"There has been a misunderstanding ... that in that speech she also articulated that there was some sort of new conditionally possibility with US assistance based on this," Baer said.

He continued: "What she said was that we would use our assistance policies to help further these human-rights objectives ... . What she was getting at was an affirmative ticking ... . That means paying attention when you are designing a programme and making sure you are being fully inclusive, that populations that are at risk, that are marginalised in societies are included and are at the table. That's an affirmative policy goal that is part of our assistance."

Exodus Official Resigns over Antigay Junket in Jamaica

Exodus International board member Dennis Jernigan has resigned after Truth Wins Out reported Wednesday night that he had breached the organization’s commitment against efforts to criminalize gay people.

Here’s the Exodus announcement. We’ll comment further shortly.

Orlando, Fla. — Exodus International, the oldest and largest Christian ministry dealing with homosexuality, released a new policy statement on the criminalization of homosexuality. While the ministry has long held this perspective, they felt compelled to release a written statement in light of Exodus Board Vice Chairman, Dennis Jernigan’s, comments to the media in Kingston, Jamaica. Exodus board member, Don Schmierer, experienced a similar collision with the media on a trip to Uganda in 2009.

“Dennis Jernigan recently traveled to Jamaica to share his testimony and lead worship at a number of venues,” said Alan Chambers, President of Exodus. “While there he was thrust into a media firestorm and asked to comment on President Obama’s threat to issue sanctions against Jamaica for their laws concerning the criminalization of homosexuality.

“Dennis shared his belief that President Obama is deceived about homosexual behavior and the biblical morality of it. Dennis assured me he is not for the criminalization of homosexuality, and he will release his own statement on this matter. However, Jernigan offered this immediate response ”:

“I believe my heart and intent were misconstrued and therefore, may have harmed Exodus’ mission of ministering to those struggling with same-sex attraction (SSA). To that end, as of this moment, I step down as Vice Chairman of Exodus.”

Here is an excerpt of the Exodus policy statement, also supported by its Board of Directors.

We will not support any legislation that deprives others of life and dignity based on their sexual orientation or the expression of such within the confines of a consensual adult relationship. Finally, we stand with the LGBT community both in spirit, and when necessary, legally and physically, when violence rears it’s head in Uganda, Jamaica or anywhere else in the world.

Chambers is working with the Exodus International Board and staff to craft strong statements, policies and procedures that will ensure their position on life-impacting issues such as this one.

“It is our resolution that unfortunate incidents like this do not happen again in the future,” said Chambers. “As president of Exodus International I take full responsibility for any board member, staff member or ministry affiliate’s ignorance of global issues, especially as they travel. I will make it a priority to keep all who are professionally affiliated with Exodus apprised of the nations where legislative initiatives or laws clearly violate our policy opposing criminalization of homosexuality. We will also craft a policy for our ministry that prohibits our involvement with groups and nations that violate our policies.”