Gender Expert Glenda Simms on effeminate boys & bullying ........

Glenda Simms wrote: 

Duppy Know Who Fi Frighten!

In the July 1, 2012 edition of The Sunday Gleaner, reporter Nadisha Hunter brought to the public's attention the fact that many boys in our schools are being bullied because they are seen as sissies or gays.

This type of behaviour is described as homophobic bullying, and sometimes results in suicidal depression and distress. According to Hunter, one psychologist recommends that there should be sensitisation programmes to help bullies to be more accepting of human diversity.

Other commentators suggest that people need to be taught to be more tolerant. However, I am of the opinion that schools need to take responsibility for the behaviours of students. They need to make bullies know that their behaviours will neither be accepted nor accommodated.

We need to be strong on these issues because significant sectors of our population might justify bullying behaviours against those who are different from the so-called mainstream.

A perusal of the literature on bullying reveals that this behaviour must not be taken lightly. In fact, some social historians link bullying to the atrocities carried out in fascist Italy under Mussolini, and in Nazi Germany under Hitler. Bullying, therefore, is a serious crime designed to humiliate an individual who appears to be powerless, and is carried out through physical, emotional and social aggression.

Discovering self

Many of these so-called 'effeminate' boys have no idea what their sexual orientation is. The majority of them are like their perceived heterosexual peers. They gradually feel rushes of testosterone which result in wet dreams and erect penises when they wake up in the mornings.

They observe the growth in pubic hair and their voices start becoming husky. They are following the normal course of development. Some of them might display a soft and more nurturing persona. They might not have the instinct to be brutish and wild.

They probably see beauty in the sunset and enjoy watching the behaviours of bees and butterflies. They also might be averse to cussing and swearing and throwing garbage on the school ground. Such positive human responses might be described by the bullies as girlish.

I would like to argue that bullying of such young men and boys has nothing to do with their sexual orientation. It has everything to do with the perceived effeminate behaviours. The victims of bullying are nurturing, compassionate, caring, sometimes passive and do not engage in sexual banter.

In other words, they do not fit the image of the macho man, the bully, the brash and impolite brother, the crotch grabber, the bad word curser, the boy who passes gas without saying 'excuse' and the slayer of numerous truckloads of 'gyals'. In short, the victims of bullying are not necessarily homosexual. They are perceived as effeminate.

Therefore, we need to recognise that hatred and the disrespect of things feminine are at the base of the bullying, which is reportedly a feature of many Jamaican schools.

Let's be real. The majority of gay men are the closeted macho, multi-muscled, three piece-suited fellows who occupy private-sector organisations, the corridors of political and academic power, and the upscale houses of the nation's suburbs.

They are the icons of the society. They produce trophy children and have beautifully attired wives and girlfriends at their sides.

In some black American communities in the United States, these are the men who declare loudly that they are not gay - they are merely on the down low.

Tomboys get off

The resentment to, and repression of, femininity is a unique strategy of the patriarchal mindset, which is the base of what is described as homophobic tendencies in a society. This is the explanation for bullying of boys who are perceived to be effeminate, as opposed to the bullying of the' tomboy'.

Such a girl has the right to display the established masculine traits of the macho boys. These girls climb coconut trees, walk with a swagger, sling guns on the ranch, rope horses and cattle, and pass gas loudly without excuse.

No boy or girl would dare bully this tomboy. In fact, boys are usually afraid of her. She is not shy about using a few choice 'bad words' and she will not hesitate to 'horse-whip' any boy who dares to confront her. By the same token, young men from powerful families will not be exposed to the homophobic bullying that poor boys have to put up with.

Recently, Anderson Cooper, one of the most famous journalists on CNN, declared to the world that he is gay, has always been, and will continue to be for the rest of his life. We have no idea if Anderson's peers recognised effeminate traits in him when he attended high school. What we do know is that no one in his circle would have dared to bully the son of Madame Vanderbilt.

When one is from the right family, backed by wealth and power, no bully, or their families, will ever take liberties. Duppy certainly know who fi frighten!

In short, the established masculine traits are not devalued. They are seen as the real definition of the human.

The challenge is for us to transform our ideas and deal decisively with violence in schools. We must stop justifying the unjustifiable.

Glenda Simms, PhD, is a gender expert and consultant. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and glendasimms@gmail.com.

Fish, Foul Swimmer And Scammers .............

Orville Taylor, host of RJR's Hotline has added his voice to the scamming and LGBT matters.

I would have loved to continue the analysis of the shame in Parliament last week, but the despicable, recalcitrant and unexemplary behaviour of one particular parliamentarian doesn't deserve more of my intellectual attention. Needless to say, I accept the apology of Lloyd B. Smith, except that he omitted to address his initial denial that he had instructed the marshal to remove J.C. Hutchinson.

Raymond Pryce's homage to his gentlemanly, St George's roots is also well received. However, his winding, though eloquent prevarication about the Christian symbolism of the fish was amusing and trifling as he skilfully avoided making a straight and direct response to Hutchinson's. However, if 'LLyde' B could not remember the point, it is quite possible that Pryce forgot too.

Nonetheless, we know, in popular parlance, what is meant by a 'fish', and it is defined by my tongue-in-cheek linguist friend as "a male who exhibits 'feminish' (effeminate) traits or who copulates with members of his own sex". It is a derisive term, and given the illegality of male homosexual intercourse, any reference to a member of parliament as this aquatic creature is serious. It means that such person is engaged in criminal behaviour and thus unsuitable to be seated there. Free speech carries major responsibilities, and parliamentarians must not use their tongues loosely.

BAILEY'S BOLD STATEMENT

But since we are on the topic of criminal behaviour and homosexuality, let's rewind the tape to a year ago. Then, Fitz Bailey, senior superintendent of police (SSP) in charge of the Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID), made a bold statement based on the intelligence he gained. Bailey was trying to break the back of the scourge of the notorious lotto scam, which threatens the very stability of our democracy. In the Second City, Montego Bay, gangs and other criminal networks stepped up their activities over the past few years.

A well-organised and lubricated network, it involves the contacting of unsuspecting victims, in mainly the United States, with lies about their having won millions. This windfall is only collectible by the 'winners' sending money, usually through one of the money-transfer institutions. Around 30,000 telephone calls are made each day to the United States by these criminals.

Most of the people contacted are not sufficiently gullible to be caught by Jamaicans who do a very poor job 'imidaydin di amerikan hacksent'. However, some are dumb enough to be trapped, and others, usually senior citizens, with a touch of dementia and no means of earning back their nest egg, empty their accounts in pursuit of an illusive and elusive golden-age fortune.

Estimated by the American authorities as raking in a stunning US$300 million each year, it is big business and has changed the lifestyles of anouveau riche set of young men, who own cars and houses well beyond the means of many an executive. Scammers are the new dons, and with their wealth in a sub-economy which has not grown in decades, distort the price of goods and services, making it too expensive for the average citizen to cope. Furthermore, by becoming the wrong type of role models, they potentially derail the next generation. Moreover, the US is issuing warnings which can also erode our image even more than the exaggeration of our homophobia.

Yet, the scammers are another threat. Disputes resulting from the distribution of the spoils invariably lead to conflicts, and violent crimes are the direct result.

Furthermore, as Bailey noted, "The scammers ... use a portion of their ill-gotten gains, either to purchase guns or to pay for protection. When the Stone Crusher gang was very active, that gang was supported from the proceeds of the lottery scam. So we have no doubt it is funding other illicit activities."

Let's be honest, though. Jamaican culture discourages fluency and good communication skills among males, and it is considered by many to be unmanly for young men and boys to speak proper English and to do so in an accent that is mild and pleasant to the ear.

Sociologists and anthropologists such as the late great Barry Chevannes have demonstrated that we raise our boys wrongly. Please correct me, but effeminate men tend to be more orally competent than macho youth who speak as if they possess goat DNA.

LIPPY PRO-GAY LOBBY

Last year, brave Bailey boldly declared that gays were "prominently involved in the 'lottery scam". With a knee-jerk reaction and Jamaicans for Justice's (JFJ) backing, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), with some interested lawyers in tow, jumped on him like a donkey found by mischievous schoolboys.

Labelling his comments as irresponsible, the groups, which have their own 'agender', and not necessarily a penchant for objectivity, complained that they further served to stereotype and thus, I imagine, stigmatise gays.

Refusing to budge, Bailey declared, "I have empirical data to support that. We have the responsibility to investigate these cases ... . We're not targeting any specific group or saying people should go and attack anyone. All I'm talking about is the profile of the individuals ... ."

This is what police do, and social scientists do it, too. We try to look at trends and tendencies. It was a rational comment, as offensive as it was. When the police say that the typical fraudster is a middle-class, computer-literate youth, they are not saying that all, or even most, persons of that category are crooks. Indeed, the majority of people of any demographic classification are law-abiding citizens.

And here I make the disclaimer that the buggery law, routinely breached by gay men, is not one of the points of reference. There is no special gene which gay men have which predisposes them to, or excludes them from committing, crimes.

True, it is difficult to know whether or not a person is gay because sexual activity is 99 per cent private. A self-declaration is unreliable, because only a small minority leave the closet, and there are some, such as asylum seekers, who paint their homeland as the most homo-antipathic country on earth. With regard to the lotto scammers, it is also likely that men will crossdress and exhibit unmasculine behaviour to deceive the police. After, all, there is evidence that at least one organised gangster has used female attire to elude capture.

BUILDING PROFILE

What was funny about the comments made by Bailey in July last year and in April this year is that nobody doubted that the scam was pulling so much from the Americans, although there was no independent confirmation. There was no debate that it was connected to the spate of shootings and killings, nor when it was suggested that it was a well-coordinated web, involving perhaps employees of some of the remittance outlets. And when the tentacles were revealed to even touch members of the constabulary, a few cringed, but none called Bailey a liar.

Inexplicably, as Bailey pulled together his information and attempted to build a profile of the typical person who was entangled in the scamming network, people looked askance at his utterances and, eventually, the commissioner issued an apology and withdrew the gay-association comment. Though conciliatory, the statement from the top cop never said that Bailey was wrong.

Then, two Saturdays ago, the police, acting on intelligence, raided a dance organised by suspected lotto scammers. At the end of the operation, more than 130 suspects were detained. Although most of the patrons were dressed in female attire, only 11 had the necessary biological paraphernalia to be called women, although they might perform female roles. While most of them were processed and released, as is the norm with any police raid, credible sources from the police suggest that charges are going to follow and breakthroughs made.

I think we will soon owe Bailey an apology.

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.

original article ENDS

here is another cartoon on the matter as the talk heats up:

UPDATE July 19th
....... now comes Clovis cartoons with the "fish" connotation carrying over from the recent parliamentary debate uproar and long-winded apologies, I suppose Clovis (the cartoonist) is trying to put a spin on the men held in custody, chiefly the deputy mayor of Montego Bay and the supposed closeness to the LGBT community?

see more here:

MoBay deputy mayor arrested

Betty Ann Blaine on the big gay lie ..........

Typical as one starts they all come flying out the cracks, it all started with Les Green parting shot as he departs for his country of origin now this .................... from Betty Ann Blaine, while I concur in a sense the veracity of some of the cases and whether they were truly homophobic to loop same sex paedophilia in her opinion without proper proof is down right publicly mischievous and smacks also on a kind of intellectual dishonesty and there seems to be loads of that coming from all sides of this vexed issue of homosexuality in Jamaica.

Have a read of her article from the Observer:

The report in the July 8 Sunday Observer in which outgoing Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green spoke openly about gay-on-gay crime in Jamaica, is not only timely but also important, given the orchestrated campaign against Jamaica. And when Les Green speaks people listen.

If there is a single police officer whose name has become publicly synonymous with integrity and truth-speaking, that police officer is Les Green. That is not to say that there aren't many more like Les Green in the Force. The fact is, however, that Les Green became the face of anti-corruption within the JCF, earning him the respect and admiration inside and outside of the police force.

In addressing the concern of the murder of gay men in Jamaica, ACP Les Green is quoted as saying, "All of those murders that I have investigated have been in relationships and are victims of gay attacks, domestic situations." The Sunday Observer report stated that Green flatly rejected the line of reasoning being promulgated by JFLAG (Jamaica Forum For Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays) about the violence and discrimination levelled against gays in Jamaica, admitting that all the murders of gay men he had investigated, only one was not committed by a member of the gay community. "That was Steve Harvey and that case was a robbery," Green said.
What Les Green has divulged is what most Jamaicans already know to be a fact. Jamaicans are not violent homophobes as JFLAG and the international gay community have been advertising. What Jamaicans do not accept is the open, "in your face" displays of homosexuality in its various modalities.
For far too long the homosexual lobby has been perpetuating the big lie about Jamaica's violent homophobia with little evidence to substantiate the claim. What the gay lobby refuses to talk about is gay-on-gay crime, especially murders, and the levels of sexual violence perpetrated against the most vulnerable in the society, including children.

The international gay lobby must be made to understand that for Jamaicans homosexuality is both a deeply cultural and a deeply spiritual matter. Jamaica is not a country where sex and sexually explicit behaviour are openly displayed or tolerated, whether it involves heterosexuals or homosexuals. You don't see, for example, couples kissing or caressing openly in Jamaica. That is just not our culture.
Open displays of homosexuality are even more unacceptable to Jamaicans, not only because people are unaccustomed to seeing that type of public display, but Jamaicans are a Bible-believing people, and are clear about what the Good Book says about homosexuality. For most Jamaicans, God's word is paramount, even while they admit that sin abounds in the lives of all men - whether heterosexuals or homosexuals.
From what I see and understand, and contrary to what JFLAG is promulgating, gays in Jamaica have a tremendous amount of power and latitude. I am aware that many sit in very high and powerful places and wield a lot of influence both inside and outside of the country.

But JFLAG is not satisfied with the collective and financial power that the homosexual community possesses and the advancements it has made in Jamaica in recent times. What it appears determined to achieve is the wholesale societal acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, even if it goes against the country's cultural norms and Christian beliefs. In order to achieve the goal of "homosexualising" the Jamaican society, the strategy, it appears, is to affect legislative change as well as to marshal powerful external governmental forces to pressure Jamaica into compliance. It is important for the homosexual community to know that as far as Jamaicans are concerned, God is more powerful than governments, even when the majority of the governed are poor and dependent as is the case of Jamaica.

It's interesting how selective and strategic the homosexual lobby is in its information and communication campaign. One of the issues not talked about are the levels of HIV/AIDS within the MSM (Men who have sex with Men) community. Are those cases increasing, and what does that mean for the wider society? As the homosexual community expands to include not just gays and lesbians, but bisexuals, transgender, transsexual, transvestite and intersex groupings, the question must be asked, is the lifestyle good and healthy for society? It seems to me that that conversation is not only imperative, it is urgent.

For me personally, I want to reiterate my deep love for all of God's creation regardless of sexual orientation, and it is the Word of that same God on which I stand. What I find unacceptable, however, are the dishonest and exaggerated stories that are being bandied about to support claims of the wanton murder of homosexuals by Jamaican homophobes. It is time for Jamaicans to fully debunk the big lie, and the factual information coming from ACP Les Green should be duly noted and documented.

With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com

ENDS

Here is a vox pop from the Jamaica Observer on what persons perceive of "gay murders"

also see:

Gays Take Aim at Betty

also see the response from J-flag on TVJ's morning show Smile Jamaica

Other responses:
A Gay's Life is Not an easy road
The Big Gay Lie is a Fact (an alleged police officer wrote)

Response to the article “The big gay lie is a fact”. (AGFC Blog)

also an interesting Facebook exchange on her profile with a LGBT community member reveals much disturbingly:

And she finds it offensive when the AGFC (antigayfactcheck) called her an anti-gay activist?

What does she mean by “Just know that the rights you are fighting for will not go anywhere because of me in particular“? Is that a threat to attack our free speech?
This is the woman that wants to be Prime Minister with her political party, New Nation Coalition? 

Is this how she will treat the fight against AIDS as the leader of our country? As something gays have because of their “nasty deprave [sic] acts“? 

To think of AIDS as something to laugh about?

Is this what her indulgence into the anti-gay agenda turned her into? What happened to the human rights and child rights activist we knew of?

More HERE 

Meanwhile here is some audio commentary to contemplate on

Wheel and come again, ACP Green ...... but

Someone has responded via a letter to the Observer as to the trope from outgoing former assistant police commission Les Green who basically berated the gay lobby's agitation on gay murders in Jamaica, where he has postured that it is not true. It would seem in the article there is some truth but our intellectual dishonesty is worrying to me as well. The specific June 13th double murders of the homeless men was NOT a homophobic incident and also a few others since the start of the year. We must take each case on their own merit.

Here is my audio as well:

meanwhile the Letter writer wrote:
Dear Editor,

Les Green's comments in the July 8 Sunday Observer are misleading! I don't understand his comments, but the media seem to be running away with them

Jamaica is a very intolerant society when it comes to gays, no question. The buggery law itself is anti-gay, making men who have sex with men (MSM) actually illegal, so how could he say otherwise? While it would seem that most gay murders on the island might be gay-related, usually following similar gruesome patterns, murder is still murder. Is he saying that because it is gay-related, it's not as big a deal? Clearly, these murders are a symptom of a much bigger problem, when you have a society so filled with violence .

Murder is usually inspired by intolerance anyway, so regardless of the specifics I don't see how this former senior police officer could suggest otherwise. Ironically, he is also suggesting that cross-dressers in Jamaica are too contrived, I suppose too bold, by being themselves and going out in public in "drag". If Jamaicans are so tolerant, why would he make this comment to warn cross-dressers? Is it illegal to cross-dress? Why should I care, or be bothered if someone want to walk the streets in women's stockings? It is their lives, their way of self-expression, their art, not mine. I have seen cross-dressers in many major cities elsewhere, and though some may get a few stares, even laughs, generally there is no fear or prejudice.

Also, it is not just gay cross-dressers who are attacked in Jamaica, any sign of looking different or seemingly effeminate can inspire a random attack. I have read stories about bullying in schools of effeminate young students - this is totally unacceptable, another sign of cultural intolerance. I witnessed a mob attack in broad daylight on Oxford Road, where two guys who were perceived to be gay, just by their sense of style or mannerisms, had to run for their lives.

I have friends from New York who were visiting the island as tourists who also had to flee New Kingston Shopping Centre, because they dressed differently. Luckily a woman driving by saw what was happening and opened her car door to rescue them, and warn them of what exists even in those areas. So Les Green needs to think again. His stay in Jamaica has been relatively brief; he did not grow up in Jamaica, or experience all aspects of life there, to be making such generalised comments.

And I don't understand that recent police raid in St Ann either. It is one thing to go after criminals if they are involved with illegal stuff, but playing up the cross-dressing part seems like targeting a certain group, and this seems extremely odd to me. While one would agree that Jamaica has changed a lot over the years, due to the media, internet, TV and films which help societies in some ways to become more aware, it is very unfair to say that Jamaicans in general remain tolerant to issues pertaining to sexuality; this is very misleading. 

It wasn't too long ago our own former PM publicly stated in a BBC interview that gays could not serve in his Cabinet. Gays who don't even cross-dress are still subject to ridicule, bullying, prejudice, hate. I therefore urge the former Assistant Commissioner to seriously rethink his comments.

Pete Delisser

Pdelisser 1988@yahoo.com

ENDS

Here is a video vox pop from the paper as well about supposed "gay murders" and possible causes.

Here is an older video from 2009 that gives some insight as to the early beginnings of the explosion of homeless men on the island separate and apart from the existing populations.

Violence and venom force gay Jamaicans to hide 

This was when the organizations meant something but since all kinds of politics has clouded our advocacy structures roles and responsibilities.

Peace and tolerance

H

Labour Ministry Launches HIV Workplace Education Campaign

The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) has launched an HIV in the Workplace Public Education campaign, aimed at sensitising employers of the need to adopt policies on HIV and AIDS.

The initiative being undertaken by the Occupational HIV Unit in the Ministry’s Safety and Health Department, falls under the United States President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), being implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In his address at the launch held on July 3 at the Mona Visitor’s Lodge and Conference Centre in St. Andrew, portfolio Minister, Hon. Derrick Kellier said HIV/AIDS is an important workplace issue and impacts significantly on production and national development.

He said there are increased costs on companies through decline in productivity, increased labour costs and expenses, costly treatments and loss of skills and experience.

He pointed out that the most critical segment of the workforce (15-49 years) is most at risk for contracting HIV, and with a prevalence rate of 1.7 per cent, with two of every 100 persons infected, it is important for the country to respond seriously and urgently to the epidemic.

“It is necessary for all sectors to respond appropriately to HIV and AIDS in the workplace, and put policies and programmes in place,” he stated.

He said the MLSS is leading the national response through a rights-based approach aimed at reducing HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

He informed that the national HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy, which was developed in 2007, will inform regulations to be appended to the proposed Occupational Safety and Health Act, which is being implemented to address health and safety concerns in the workplace.

The Minister therefore gave the undertaking that the country should have an Occupational Safety and Health Act by the end of the current financial year.

Meanwhile, he said the Ministry continues to be proactive with its voluntary compliance programme, encouraging employers to provide safe work environments in order to reduce stigma and discrimination. “Companies are also being urged to implement educational and training programmes that can contribute to behaviour change,” he said.

 

In her address, Mission Director, USAID, Denise Herbol said stigma and discrimination continues to drive the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Jamaica, and that the partnership between the USAID and Jamaica, along with other donors, multilateral organizations, non-profit groups, and people living with HIV, work to make positive resource and programmatic investments to save lives, which otherwise may be lost to the disease.

“Through PEPFAR, we are working with Jamaica to address the negative impacts of stigma and discrimination, creating equal access of quality care and services for those living with HIV. A partnership with the Ministry of Labour in addressing and combating stigma is critical,” she stated, noting that activities include strengthening the voluntary compliance programme in the private sector.

Discrimination by cops while carrying out duties ??? ..........

While cops have their responsibilities to carry out they must do so without open stigma being displayed, the alleged lotto scamming activity is said to be also in the same sex community resulting in a crack down on a party at Club Heavens last weekend at a popular socialite's birthday party. The cops appeared on the scene with anti gay remarks blaring even as the article below that appeared in the Gleaner yesterday portrayed a clean crackdown procedures ignoring the actual sequence of events as since told to me by several upset patrons hours after being processed and released.

Here is the article firstly

Kenrick 'Bebe' Stephenson (right) awaits processing by the police while two cross-dressers strike a pose for the camera after they were detained by the police

Scammers Party In Drag

Several cross-dressers, some suspected to be involved in the illegal lottery scam, were taken into custody and a number of items, including motor vehicles, seized by the police yesterday during an intelligence-driven operation in St Ann which targeted scammers from western Jamaica.

Head of the Lottery Scam Task Force, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Leon Clunis, and his team raided a nightclub on the border of St Ann and Trelawny early yesterday morning and discovered scores of men dressed in women's apparel, some proudly displaying their get-up.

According to Clunis, two of the men held were wanted by the police.

They were identified as Kenrick 'Bebe' Stephenson, an alleged mastermind of the illicit lottery scam who was wanted for absconding bail, and a man from Kingston who the police did not name but said he was wanted for housebreaking and larceny.

Charges were also laid against a man in connection with a quantity of illegal drugs found at the club.

"We took in more than 130 patrons, and confiscated a number of phones, and about 15 vehicles, including Skylines, and we are presently sifting through to determine the ones we need," Clunis told The Sunday Gleaner.

"At this nightclub party, we thought that there were many females, but in reality there were not more than 11 females; most of them were males dressed as females," added Clunis.

"We have no interest in one's sexuality or sexual preference, we are dealing with crime and criminality in general. As long as it is committed, we are coming after you."

In May this year, Stephenson was charged with unlawful possession of property and abstracting electricity from the Jamaica Public Service Company.

The police were also probing his alleged involvement in the lottery scam after he was held by members of the task force during a raid in St James.

But Stephenson has reportedly failed to attend court, prompting the issuing of a warrant for his arrest.

proper documentation

"We are doing our jobs, and ensuring that what we do is properly documented," said Clunis.

"What is very important is that corporate Jamaica is on board and they have been giving us assistance in terms of intelligence and quick information to which we can respond."

In the meantime, Clunis disclosed that during an operation last Friday, another alleged major player in the lotto scam was arrested in the Santa Cruz area.

He was taken to a remittance service facility to collect some $250,000 which is believed to have been obtained through the purported sweepstakes.

ENDS

I was absent however in my capacity as a disc jock for events there but I have been kept abreast by some disgruntled members of the party who felt they were grouped with everyone else as guilty before proven Innocent or without any evidence to the effect.

Allegations such as:

Persons stigmatized as HIV  positive were searched with some cops wearing two pairs of gloves

Profiling and sexually inappropriate suggestions that the cross dressers be searched in a fondling manner

A patron while waiting to be processed had an asthma attack and was left to suffer for some time without any assistance until one officer intervened

Police officer on the crackdown operations had no numbers on their person as is required by law

The disc jocks on duty at the time of the event were ruffed up by the cops and one reportedly was hit on the head 

Veiled threats and suggestions that we are to die as homosexuality is wrong

Alleged verbal abuse by some members of the patrol with selected members of the party

Patrons felt rather uncomfortable as they saw what was described as hate in the cops eyes, the patrons were taken to the Trelawny All Purpose stadium for processing.

Yes, if there is evidence that lotto scamming is happening then do whatever in a legal and transparent procedure in nabbing the accused persons with the relevant evidence but to stop an entire event using typical homophobic and homo negative tactics especially on the strength of ACP Les Green parting shot as he returns to the UK that the gay lobby is embellishing calls of homophobia, SEE MORE HERE persons should be free to congregate and entertain themselves and to think the club is situated far from any populated areas in a bid to avoid interference and yet still we ended up with this invasion without a warrant or proper explanation upon entry as to the reason for the patrol and searches.

Also of importance is what is going to happen to those persons who maybe involved in this activity and now have been falling from grace, will they be made displaced and subsequently homeless adding to the already problematic set of circumstances including murder and internal strife with overlapping communities such as the hypermasculine types.

All the gains it seems we were making with the police and the interactions and cooperation have been eroded here just by the two most recent issues and the problematic homeless populations and the deaths is worrying to me and some influentials. Where do we go from here?

Peace and tolerance

Also see: Cross-dressers held at St Ann fete on the Observer site

also see:

CLICK HERE 

and a subsequent letter to the Gleaner as well: The Club Matter – Unprofessional Police Behaviour Must Stop

H

Gay lobby claims not true, says Green ......

Source: Jamaica far more tolerant of homosexuals than the public hype’

A day before former Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green left the island at the end of his eight years of service, he rubbished a common claim by the gay community and international rights groups that homosexuals in Jamaica are victims of wanton murder, mob-mauling and marginalisation.

His pronouncement came just weeks after gay lobby group Jamaica Forum For Lesbians All-sexuals and Gays (JFLAG) suggested that two men killed in the New Kingston area were slain because of their sexual preference.
In an interview on Thursday with the Sunday Observer, Green said despite claims by JFLAG that Jamaicans are intolerant of their lifestyle, and are targeting them for death, his experience during his tenure here was totally different.


JFLAG has, for years, contended that gay people have been marginalised in Jamaica, but Green said while that may have been the case in the past, the country has come a long way in tolerating the homosexual lifestyle.

“I think Jamaica is far more tolerant than the public hype. There is a vibrant community in Jamaica and there isn’t the sort of backlash that some people say. I think we are much more tolerant and accepting. Just go around and you will see they are more flamboyant in the way they dress and behave as if they are comfortable with it. If that’s the case, why are they stigmatised?” Green said.

“It’s just the hype from some who claim Jamaica is very anti-homosexual, but the reality is far from that. There are many homosexuals who live and work freely in Jamaica,” he said.

Green explained that as a homicide investigator he worked closely with the gay lobby group which referred him to several incidents in which members of their community were murdered.

However, the former Scotland Yard detective said his findings show that the majority of gay killings are carried out by members of the gay community.

“All of those murders that I have investigated have been in relationships and are victims of gay attacks, domestic situations,” he said.

On June 13, the badly mutilated bodies of Winston Ramsey and Jermaine Thompson were found in an open lot on Trafalgar Road. Since the gruesome find, homicide investigators have reported that the killings had all the signs of a gay-on-gay crime. However, days after the killing JFLAG, in a release to the media, used the murders as a launching pad to call on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to look into the plight of homeless gay men.

“Among the most recent attacks against the gay community was the savage killing of two young men. The men were apparently brutally murdered with blunt instruments in the vicinity of the intersection of Trafalgar Road and Lady Musgrave Road. People who are homeless frequent this area. Among them are young gay men who have been made homeless because of the continued intolerance of homosexuality in Jamaica... We call on the prime minister and the ministers of national security and labour and social security to listen to the cries and needs of members of our community who continue to be subjected to discrimination and violence, have nowhere to live and no food to eat because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” the JFLAG release read in part.

However, Green flatly rejected that line of reasoning and said of all the murders of gay men that he has investigated only one was not committed by a member of the gay community. “That was Steve Harvey and that case was a robbery,” Green said.

Harvey was a Jamaica AIDS Support employee who was abducted from his Duhaney Drive, Kingston 20 home by gunmen and later found dead on Pinewood Terrace. Harvey’s ATM card and other items were taken. His vehicle was found parked at a football field in Grants Pen, St Andrew.

In 2002, the body of self styled psychic and television show host, Safa Santura, was found badly bruised and slashed at Cavaliers in St Andrew. Police say he was also murdered by his jealous lover who was later sentenced to life in prison.

Two years later, gay rights activist Brian Williamson was chopped and stabbed multiple times with the murderer leaving his remains inside his house at Haughton Avenue in St Andrew. At the time police reported that Williamson’s home was a hangout spot for gays. His killer, Dwight Hayden, was also sentenced to life.

In December 2006, the decomposing body of Wayne Pinnock was found in an upscale apartment owned by late Trade Ambassador Peter King. His nude body had eight stab wounds and his throat was slashed.

A member of the gay community who was present at the murder scene admitted to the Observer that Pinnock was gay and was in fact killed by his male lover.

King was himself the victim of a gay-on-gay murder. His nude, mutilated body was found in a pool of blood in his bedroom at Waterloo Road, Kingston 10. His killer, Sheldon Pusey, was sentenced to 15 years for manslaughter.

At the time of his sentencing, his attorney pleaded with the judge that his client stood a great chance of being sodomised due to “rampant homosexuality” in Jamaica’s prisons.

At least one foreign national has also fallen victim to the vicious blades of a gay killer.

Former British diplomat John Terry was found strangled at his home in Mount Carey, St James in September 2009. His body was wrapped in a sheet. Police reported at the time that a hand-written note was found in the house which suggested the reason why Terry was slaughtered.

Green, who at the time was the head of Serious and Organised Crime, was forced to refute claims by the British media that Terry’s death was a hate crime.

“I don’t think it is a homophobic attack, although it’s been run in the UK press. It isn’t consistent with the information that we have. It is unlikely,” Green said at the time.

A security guard was arrested, charged and convicted of Terry’s murder.

While Jamaicans are becoming more tolerant of the gay lifestyle, most are not willing to allow public displays of affection or cross-dressing as obtains in Europe and North America.

In February 2007, three cross-dressing men were saved by the police from an angry mob outside a pharmacy in a St Andrew plaza. A similar incident occurred a few weeks later in downtown Kingston.

“I am not into gay-bashing, but the problem is cross-dressing and going downtown. Do they do that to create a media blitz? That just seems too contrived,” Green said.

original article ENDS

A response from Maurice Tomlinson:

It is clear that ACP Green has been infected with the same malaise (or he probably brought his low-grade homophobia with him from the London police force) which typifies the Jamaica Constabulary Force. He therefore believes that gay Jamaicans should not be seen and definitely not be heard. He also seems very content to identify with those who strenuously argue that gay Jamaicans are engaged in some kind of suicide pact and most, if not all the attacks against the Jamaican gay community are self-inflicted. However Jamaican television station, CVM TV, reported that in the early hours of the morning of October 18, 2011 armed thugs invaded the home of 16 year old Oshane Gordon and chopped him to death because of his "questionable relations with another man." On June 21, 2012, the same station reported of the mob invasion of the home of suspected gays in the community of Jones Town, Kingston. There have been numerous attacks in between, few of which have been reported to the police because of attitudes such as exhibited by ACP Green’s. Even in their homes gay Jamaicans are not safe from attack because of their sexual orientation. Yet, Mr. Green paints a rosy picture of what it means to be gay in Jamaica.

We therefore ask ACP Green that if he really believes his own views about the human rights situation for gay Jamaicans could he please dress in drag and go downtown Kingston (or Ocho Rios, Falmouth or Montego Bay) for just one day?
In response to Mr. Green’s statement that gay Jamaicans are attacking each other, some homosexual Jamaicans engage in acts of domestic violence, just like some heterosexual Jamaicans. This is a function of our national problem with conflict resolution. The critical difference is that straight victims of domestic violence have the protection of the country’s Domestic Violence Act while gay Jamaicans do not. Is it any wonder therefore that some gay relationships end in death because of the sense of powerlessness, decades of psychological abuse spawning internalized homophobia and a general feeling of being trapped?

Les Green demonstrates the classic signs of someone who is woefully deficient in critical thinking skills. Thankfully his tour of duty with the Jamaican police force is coming to an end. The Jamaican government has said that more UK police are coming to the country. We sincerely hope that Green’s replacement is more familiar with basic human rights principles and has the capacity to really think for himself, instead of being sucked into the anti-gay group think of the monolithic Jamaican police force. But we doubt it. Chances are the Jamaican Police Force will not wish to accept someone who will rock the boat too much. And the British government (still smarting from the remarks about aid conditionality made by Prime Minister David Cameron) will likely hesitate before sending a true “homo-lover” to the Jamaican police.

ENDS

my two cents:
So the intellectual dishonesty continues in a sense, with flowery narratives and intellectual masturbation, the June 13th matter concerning the two homeless MSM by Trafalgar Road definitely was NOT a homophobic killing and the lobby needs to be careful how we go crying wolf, we can't fool the public, there are homophobic murders yes but there are also non homophobic murders as well that involve MSM/Trans individuals as victims. JFLAG et al are sometimes too quick on the draw the cry out and not check each case on its own merit and make sure before making demands on government. The RJR retraction by ED Dane Lewis shows us the aftermath of such repeated missteps.

Here is some more on audio, WE MUST BE TRUTHFUL AND SURE IN OUR ADVOCACY 

A WARNING FOR THOSE CONSIDERING Male to Female SRS

main contributed by Jamaican Transgender advocate Laura G with additional readings added
What if you “succeed” in completing a TS transition, but did it for the wrong reasons?

Yep, you get the idea! This is one place you do NOT want to go!

In the large majority of cases, transsexual (TS) transitions work out well over the long-term, as we’ve seen in the many stories documented in Lynn’s Transsexual Women’s Successes page. However, in some cases a complete TS transition may totally fail to meet very unrealistic expectations, and way too late the transitioner may realize that undergoing sex reassignment surgery (SRS) was a BIG mistake.

In Lynn’s TS Informational pages, we discussed some of the social risks that face TG and TS transitioners. In the SRS information page, we discussed some of the medical risks of the surgery itself. Here in this page, we focus on the risks involved in undergoing SRS in cases where the overall rationale for transition and/or for undergoing SRS is questionable.

Some examples of “wrong reasons” and wrong situations for undergoing SRS are (i) efforts to become a center of attention and live a “sexy life”, (ii) thinking it will “automatically turn oneself into a woman” in others’ eyes, (iii) deciding to become a woman on a whim (for example, in the midst of a mid-life crisis), (iv) doing it for autosexual “thrills”, (v) doing it while suffering from preexisting serious mental conditions unrelated to GID (depression, bi-polar conditions,…), etc.

Regrets and adjustment difficulties seem to occur especially frequently in the cases of older intense crossdressers and sexual fetishists whose drive to transition is based primarily on male sexual feelings and habits. These individuals will gradually lose their male libidinous responses to their new female body as time passes after the removal of their testicles during SRS. This loss of libidinous rewards, combined with accumulating practical, social and emotional difficulties in postoperative life, can lead to serious long-term adjustment difficulties for those who’ve “made a mistake”. (This effect is quite different from the experiencing of a heightened female libido and improvements in lovemaking capability that occur in many other postoperative TS cases).

The bottom line here is that EXTREME CAUTION is advised if you are unsure of your motives for SRS.

Examples of cases of “regrets”:

Following are stories of people who have experienced regrets and have openly talked about their particular regrets. We can learn a lot from such cases, which help clarify the nature and validity of this serious warning:

Renée Richards

Dani Bunten Berry

Sandra MacDougall

Samantha Kane

Summary

more reading:

HERE

"Keep it to Yuself mentality" on homosexuality part 3 .... stay in our bedrooms?

In part one we looked at a local female entertainer's take on homosexuality and her position on it via a stigma ladened song she released some time ago.  I also examined the general belief of Jamaicans on the keeping of homosexual tendencies private or to ones self as the only way people will begin to overlook the lifestyle to a certain extent and the music involved.

GO HERE for part 1 see also video on Ernie Smith's interview (MP who lashed out at gays in Parliament recently) where he expressed the same sentiments about gays keeping "filth" to ourselves. MP's Erratic Behaviour in Parliament using or abusing his parliamentary privileges to lambaste even the police. Just other examples of shoving us in the closet forcibly.

Also see popular Jamaican homophobic words and their use

People like Shirley Richards of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and others in the anti-gay lobby get easy opportunities in the print media to spew their homophobic rhetoric without fail or question by the respective editors even when it is clear that garbage is written for example see Jamaicans homophobic? That's a lie! letter to the Gleaner she wrote recently. These folks would prefer us disappearing or retreating in our selves and yet they are members of church congregations and christian organisations if they had magic they would make us straight and win in the end.

In part two I continued on the same trajectory while looking at ethical issues from the religious right and now comes part three which is a two subject post. One is a letter that appears in today's Gleaner entitled "Keep it In The Bedroom"  and the second is a talk show clip which hinted to an alleged predatory move by an alleged gay man towards a younger man that upset a friend of the man who expressed his upset of gays trying to change or convert other men towards homosexuality on the face of it. This is not the only letter of this kind from the newspapers wither but first here is the letter:

Keep It In The Bedroom!

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The dark, sordid, murky, foreboding, filthy and demonic world of homosexuality is not a lifestyle to be embraced and celebrated, even though no less a person than the president of the United States has given his approval.

What a person does in his private domain is his private affair and his privacy ought to be respected, but this celebration ought not to be forced upon an unwilling public.

All persons should be loved, but not all lifestyles should be embraced.

I am referring, in particular, to that wedding picture on the front page of your newspaper dated Monday, June 4. We are very upset at the prominence that it was given in your newspaper. We the citizens of Duncans are very angry. We do not support marriage between Eve and Eva, or between Adam and Steve.

It is also to be noted that in The Sunday Gleaner dated June 10, there is also reference to lesbian marriage ('I want to marry my gay partner'). Is this what your newspaper is promoting?
St Paul refers to this lifestyle as one embraced by people of a reprobate mind. Is this a healthy and decent way of living?

Love the homosexual, but NEVER embrace his or her lifestyle.

P. LOGAN

ENDS

My main question is how can you love the person without seeing them for who they really are and allowing free expression? ........ but you must be free to be you! oh really?!!!

See what you make of this readers.

Meanwhile here is the audio from BEST FM100 on Winston Babatunde's show where a caller  mentioned his supposed disgust as outlined above:

Clearly the male caller is frustrated but while I can concur that if one makes an advance or romantic gesture to another and the person does not reciprocates a threat is NOT the way to then enforce your feelings on another, this is precisely what sometimes makes the LGBT struggle problematic overall and inadvertently reinforces homo-negativity leading to homophobia in essence in the responses from the public. But to enforce homo-negative sentiments to castigate the entire LGBT community is also a NO NO in my book, not all same gender loving persons are interested in forced flirting or are in the business of "forcing" ourselves on persons, there maybe more to this than meets the eye or ear in this case.

One question lingers in my mind in this case despite the limited information provided by the caller, did the intended subject of this lust by the man who issued the threat lead the man on to believe there was some interest otherwise?

There are so many other variables at work sometimes with relationships and hookups especially with hyper-masculine types as was hinted to that the threatening caller is. It seems host Babatunde tried to not let the caller to his show jump to inciting violence on the airwaves but I think he was not on point with handling the call and it sounded a bit disjointed on the hosts part, judging by the monitoring as well by the Broadcasting Commission and rightly so.

Have a listen and see what you make of it.

also in today's Star News there is a letter to the Tell Me Pastor column on a similar story as outlined in the audio above, the letter is excerpted below:

Keep your gayness to yourself 

 

Dear Pastor,

I have great concern for what is happening in Jamaica. One of my great concerns is about gays who try to incorporate innocent lives into their group. And when they try to do this, they do it in a subtle manner, so if a person is not sensible enough to recognise or do some homework in order to find out who is who or who they are getting involved with, they are caught in the web.

This is Jamaica and I am a Jamaican and I would prefer if gays keep their gayness to themselves or declare themselves whenever they are seeking friendship from a female. A female like myself who is not aware of who is who because I grew up in a sheltered lifestyle can get caught in these type of scenarios where gays/lesbians try to manoeuvre their way into our lives.

being threatened

I feel overwhelmed right now. It is because of this reason why I am jobless. It is because of this reason why my life is now at stake. I am being threatened. It is because of this reason why I cannot go about my business freely. My past co-workers claim that one of my children's father is gay and they eternally taunted me with this and victimised me. If he is such, I honestly didn't know and I went to him as a woman to a man. I don't believe in same-sex relationships. I honestly don't support this type of lifestyle.

I am impressing upon these gays that it is better if they declare themselves before trying to manoeuvre their way into innocent people's life. For this, I am now paying the penalty just because I didn't know. I am impressing upon young ladies, especially, to be in the know. Whoever wants to live this type of lifestyle can live their lives this way or whoever wants to entertain this type of lifestyle can go ahead, but please remember don't push themselves into innocent people like that. I am so upset and angry right now and it is reflected in my letter.

Anonymous

Pastor's response

Dear ..,

You have said quiet a lot. Evidently you have had personal experiences with gays that have affected you. I do not mean to imply that you have engaged in anything that is immoral or sexual, but whatever has happened, has caused you much pain.

You said your life has been threatened. Remember that all threats should be reported to the police. I wish you well and I hope that the warning that you have given would be taken seriously by young men and women.

Pastor

ENDS

See what you make of it all folks
Peace and tolerance

H

more audio from me:

Closet gays push up HIV

I guess since Diana King's coming out earlier this week (see below) this article seems timely and with the discourse on homosexuality and the family's supposed destruction by the religious right with all the quotations of foreign statistics here we can zoom in locally. We already knew that closetedness causes issues just from overseas studies and previous surveys especially the last before this release in 2007. One wonders how the religious right is going to respond now? maybe they will further cement their belief that buggery should not be decriminalized without properly examining the facts. 

Meanwhile the class issue comes up here, but homelessness was not associated with closetedness as we have seen recently with the overlapping population from the downlow communities who have been outed and found themselves homeless or displaced and clashing with older displaced populations who are more effeminate, I fear the agencies seem behind in the realities out there, consequences of the two murders of the two homeless MSMs in the Trafalgar area is glaring proof unfortunately of the issues coming out of the overlapping populations.

Here is the article though:

New research suggests fear of stigma keeps infected 'down-low' males underground

BY NADINE WILSON

NEW data showing a 32 per cent HIV prevalency rate among men who sleep with men (MSM) in Jamaica have reignited fears that the sexual practices of this largely underground community could erode gains made over the years in curbing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

According to Jamaica's National HIV Strategic Plan for 2012-2017, there are an estimated 33,000 MSMs in the country, but health officials say interventions targeted at this group have mostly failed because these men fear discrimination if their sexual activities are revealed.

A survey of the MSM community in 2007 showed that as many as 56 per cent had at least one female partner in the course of that year and almost 64 per cent identified themselves as bi-sexual. Only 57 per cent had ever done an HIV test, although almost 30 per cent of them had sex with multiple male partners within the four weeks prior to the survey. Only 67 per cent reported using a condom during their last sexual encounter with their main male partner, while 62 per cent reported doing so with their female partner.

What is particularly worrying to health officials is the fact that the MSM community is, for the most part, a 'bridge' population which is contributing to the increasing rate of HIV seen in women.

AIDS remains a leading cause of death among Jamaicans 15-49 years, with approximately 74 per cent of all AIDS cases in the island being within that age group. There were over 300 reported AIDS deaths in 2010 and as many as 2,100 Jamaicans estimated to become newly infected each year. This, despite the country making significant inroads in reducing the number of cases over the last few years with the introduction of a public access anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment programme in 2004. AIDS cases are highest among men.

Project co-ordinator at the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, Ivan Cruickshank told the Jamaica Observer the country is courting disaster.

"When we look at the rates of HIV among the MSM population, if we are not able to reach them effectively with HIV prevention, we really have a serious epidemic on our hands...," he said.

Acting director of the Ministry of Health's National HIV/STI programme, Dr Nicola Skyers, has said that while the ministry has been interfacing with MSMs in the lower socio-economic strata of the society, getting access to MSMs in the middle and upper classes has been extremely difficult.

"We do recognise that ignoring these subsets will cause an explosion within the general population because we know that there is a bridge. Men just don't have sex with men, they have sex with women as well, so we do recognise the risk of ignoring these particular populations," she told the Observer.

Cruickshank explained that MSMs with affluence rarely utilised the public health-care system which would enable policy-makers to fully grasp data on the community. Most, he said, usually seek treatment at private facilities or overseas.

"There is so much to lose that a lot of persons refuse to access health care because some of the questions that might be asked [and] some of the issues that they might need to take to the health care provider are issues that would identify their sexual practices," he said. He also noted that some of these men are also in heterosexual unions and do not want to risk their relationships with their female partners.

One male sex worker who has been offering his services to males since 2005 told the Observer that most of his clients were influential and wealthy men who had wives and children. He admitted that he did not use a condom with these men during his earlier years in the profession, and THATother male sex workers he knows still do not use them.

"When you are with these persons who are of good character in society, you don't perceive a risk because of the position that they are in. Because this person is a manager,or so forth, you don't perceive that they would be running around, and that sort of thing. [Because] they are protective of their families, you are willing to take your chances with that person, versus someone who is not 'up there' (affluent), who, in my head, is of greater risk because they might be sleeping around with any or everybody," he said.

He said some male sex workers "are flamboyant and dress effeminately" and so they sometimes chose not to access public health care because they fear being discriminated against, although their more affluent clients were able to easily access treatment through their private doctors. Most of their clients, he confirmed, are unknown to persons monitoring HIV/AIDS intervention programmes or policy-makers.

According to the National HIV Strategic Plan, the sexual practices of 40 per cent of reported male AIDS cases in Jamaica are classified as 'unknown', "and may reflect under-reporting by MSMs who are unwilling to reveal their sexual practices, as well as incomplete reporting."

This unavailability of data is a significant weakness in the surveillance system.

"The high rates of HIV infection and bisexuality among MSMs are likely to be important factors currently driving the HIV epidemic in Jamaica," the report noted.

The new National HIV Strategic Plan, which succeeds the current plan that ends in 2012, pointed to "an urgent need to identify remedial actions" so as not to jeopordise future funding, especially from global agencies that target at-risk populations.

"Specific approaches will be developed to reach subgroups of MSM: male sex workers, adolescent MSM, PLHIV (persons living with HIV), transgender, and bisexuals in upper social classes, as well as other MSM with money, power and influence who are usually the decision makers in the sexual relationship," the plan noted.