Woman assumed to be a lesbian chopped viciously allegedly by neighbour

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

also the case update HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

European Parliament: Include LGBT non-discrimination clause in future agreement with African, Caribbean & Pacific States

Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted a report in which it calls for inclusion of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in a future agreement with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

In accordance with the terms of the Cotonou Agreement, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) met four times, in 2012 and 2013. The 23th session was held in Denmark from 28 to 30 May and the 24th session in Paramaribo (Suriname) from 27 to 29 November 2012. The 25th session was held in Brussels from 17 to 19 June and the 26th session in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) from 25 to 27 November 2013. Andris Piebalgs, the Member of the Commission with responsibility for development, addressed the Assembly and Members held the customary Question Time with him. The successive Presidents-in-office of the ACP and EU Councils attended the sessions. During 2012 sessions, nine resolutions and a declaration was adopted. During 2013 sessions, nine resolutions were adopted. Regional meetings in 2012 were held in Lusaka (Zambia) and Apia (Samoa). Regional meetings in 2013 were held in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and in Abuja (Nigeria). 23rd session in Horsens (Denmark) The 23rd session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly adopted three resolutions prepared by the standing committees: –       the political impact of the Libyan conflict on neighbouring ACP and EU States –       price volatility, the functioning of global markets for agricultural products and their impact on food security in ACP countries –       the social and environmental impact of mining in the ACP countries, as well as an urgent resolution on the situation in Nigeria with regard to security. The Assembly also adopted a Declaration on the reform of European fisheries policy and its impact on ACP countries. The Co-Presidents issued three declarations: the situation in Mali; the political situation in Madagascar; the situation in Sudan and South Sudan. 24th session in Paramaribo (Suriname) The 24th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly adopted three resolutions prepared by the standing committees: –         responding to the political and humanitarian crisis in Somalia: the challenges for the European Union and the ACP group; –         ICT-based entrepreneurship and its impact on development in the ACP countries; –         the importance of access to energy for sustainable economic development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, as well as two urgent resolutions on: –       the situation in Mali and –       the situation of instability and insecurity in the Great Lakes Region and, in particular, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Co-Presidents issued four declarations: the situation in Mali and in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Millennium Development Goals; beyond the Cotonou Partnership Agreement; and the poaching of African elephants. 25th session in Brussels (Belgium) The 25th session of the JPA was held in Brussels (Belgium), because Ireland, holding the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, declined to organise it in Ireland despite insistence of ACP and EU Members of the Assembly, hence breaking an old tradition and violating the spirit of the Cotonou Agreement and the JPA Rules of Procedure. The Assembly adopted three resolutions prepared by the standing committees: –         the threats posed again by military coups to democracy and political stability in the ACP countries and the role of the international community; –         the Economic Partnership Agreements – next steps; and –         human resources for health in ACP countries. as well as two urgent resolutions on the situation in the Republic of Guinea and in the Central African Republic, amendments to the JPA Rules of Procedure and a code of conduct for members of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly participating in election observation missions. The Co-Presidents issued two declarations on Eritrea and Madagascar 26th session in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The 26th session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly was held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). The Assembly adopted three resolutions prepared by the standing committees: –         the respect for the rule of law and the role of an impartial and independent judiciary; –         South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation: opportunities and challenges for the ACP countries; and –         the social and environmental impact of pastoralism in ACP countries. as well as an urgent resolution on the security in the Great Lakes region. The Co-Presidents issued four declarations on the tragedy of Lampedusa, the crisis in the Central African Republic, the Republic of Madagascar and the Ninth WTO Ministerial Conference. Standing committees: Committee on Political Affairs, Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade and Committee on Social Affairs and the Environment The three standing committees met four times, both in 2012 and 2013: in conjunction with the four sessions (in Horsens, Paramaribo, Brussels and Addis Ababa) and twice a year (in Brussels) during the inter-sessions. The main role of the Standing Committees is to draw up reports on the issues of mutual concerns, political, economic and social developments that culminate in resolutions adopted at the plenary sessions (a maximum of six reports per year). Another important role of the Committee on Economic Development, Finance and Trade is to enable members to monitor the use of an instrument of fundamental importance to the ACP-EU relationship, development cooperation under the European Development Fund (EDF), which helps to redress a democratic deficit as parliamentary scrutiny over the EDF has in the past been notably lacking in ACP countries. Moreover, the Committees follow up on the implementation of the resolutions by the European Commission which provides for a parliamentary scrutiny and in-depth dialogue on the actions taken. Due to very low attendance by the members of the European Parliament, ACP members called to reschedule Committee meetings, so that they would not clash with other European Parliamentary business when held in Brussels. The meetings of the inter-sessions were shifted from Wednesday-Thursday to Thursday-Friday, which slightly alleviated the pressure on the interpretation services, but did not lead to an increased attendance of EP Members. Fact-finding missions The Bureau of the ACP-EU JPA held a fact-finding mission to the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy) in March 2012 and a mission to Fiji in July 2012 to assess the progress made by the authorities to return the country to constitutional order and parliamentary democracy. The Bureau of the JPA organised three fact-finding missions in 2013. The mission to Mali provided an insight on the fragile political situation and an assessment of the preparedness of the Malian authorities to hold elections. The mission to Liberia contributed to the political dialogue at the parliamentary level as foreseen in Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement and as suggested by HR/VP Ashton. Discussions with the authorities, Members of Parliament as well as representatives of civil society and international organisations raised issues on good governance, including parliamentary scrutiny on budgetary support and the organisation of the legislature. The mission to Haiti was a follow-up of the mission of 2010, whose purpose was to verify the status of the reconstruction and political developments, in a country confronted with a political stalemate. Election observation missions The Bureau of the JPA also organised two election observation missions, one to the presidential elections of Mali in July 2013 and another to the Parliamentary elections and the second round of the Presidential elections in Madagascar in December 2013. On 19 June 2013 the Assembly adopted a Code of Conduct for Members of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly participating in election observation missions. Future developments Through the quality of its work, the Assembly has succeeded in establishing itself as a key player in ACP-EU relations and cooperation. It has proactively continued to monitor political, economic and social developments in the ACP countries, with a view to promote development goals and the respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including respect for fundamental social rights, democracy based on the rule of law and transparent and accountable governance that are an integral part of sustainable development. The Assembly has played, and continues to play, a key role in monitoring the negotiations and implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) in order to ensure that the outcome of the negotiations respect development and economic objectives as stated in the Cotonou (2000) mandate. In this context, particular emphasis is also devoted to regional and sub-regional integration and cooperation. APC-EU cooperation is underpinned by a legally binding system and the existence of joint institutions. It is important for the JPA to continue to monitor developments extremely closely in order to ensure that its voice will be heard when considering options and alternatives to be put in place after the expiry of the Cotonou Agreement in 2020. Without prejudice to any possible outcome of the ACP-EU post-2020 negotiations, the JPA parliamentary dimension should not be diluted, but it should continue to play its important role in the post-2020 framework.

According to the EP, sanctions should follow for those states failing to respect human rights clauses.

The Parliament also expresses its deep concern over anti-LGBTI laws, as found in the Gambia and Nigeriaand as nullified by the Constitutional Court in Uganda.

Currently, diplomatic, trade and aid relationships between the EU and ACP states are governed by the Cotonou Agreement. The Agreement includes a dialogue on “political issues of mutual concern or of general significance” in joint talks, including “discrimination of any kind” (Art. 8.4), yet fails to mention sexual orientation and gender identity specifically.

The report was adopted with a large majority of 575 in favour, while 64 voted against.

Ian Duncan MEP, Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights and Member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA), reacted: “In this report the European Parliament has made its position very clear: We do not accept the state-sponsored homophobia as we find it in an increasing number of ACP countries.”

“Over half of the ACP states criminalise homosexuality. It is time to effectively use our relationship with the ACP states to stop this wave of homophobia.”

Isabella Adinolfi MEP, Vice-President of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights and part of the ACP-EU JPA, continued: “When we are faced with the horrific violence people suffer for being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex, it is time to reinforce the principle that human rights clauses are universal and non-negotiable.”

“The right to non-discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, can not be compromised in the ACP-EU partnership. It is time to fully acknowledge that.”

Read more from the intergroup site:

Read the report on the work of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (particularly paragraphs 1, 15 and 16)

Read previous posts on the ACP-EU relations

Read previous posts on Anti-LGBTI laws

The priest did nothing wrong washing lesbians feet in church ...

washing of feet of lesbians Jalna Broderick (Quality Citizenship Jamaica) QCJ & Rochelle McPhee (JFLAG) by Rev Sean Major Campbell

I was asked to give my two cents on this so here it is:

Female group defends clergyman who washed lesbians' feet, bearing in mind the moral of the story is Jesus emphasized not to create outcasts as the woman who was a prostitute who washed his feet and when Peter and others scorned her Jesus reminded them to leave her and let her express her feelings and espoused the parable of the money lender.

See: Luke 7:36-50 - Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman NIV

There was a heated discussion this week among a group of vendors as they tried to decide whether homosexuals should be allowed to attend church and participate in worship.

They were responding to reports of a priest washing the feet of two lesbians during a church service last week.

They all came to the conclusion that the priest did nothing wrong and committed no crime.

"All those who are passing remarks and criticisms had better be careful, because we are all sinners," one woman said.

She explained why she believed the priest washed their feet.

"I believe the priest was following the example of Jesus. I know Jesus would have washed their feet and told them to go and sin no more," she said.

An older woman said she initially disagreed with what the priest did, but when she reflected on the matter, she came to the view that the priest could not have turned them away.

"If the priest had turned them away or chased them from the church, some of the very same people running up their mouth about it would criticise the priest and the church," she said.

another angle of the feet washing

She said it is not easy to please people and "those without sin must cast the first stone".

One of the women referred to an incident at her church last year where a pastor had sexual intercourse with one of the female members inside the vestry.

"So what happened to that pastor?" a member of the group asked.

"Nothing happened to him, he is still preaching at the church because they covered it up," she said.

The women began to list out various illegal and ungodly activities happening in some of the churches.

She said she knew of a case where a pastor got one member pregnant and is still head of the church, but not supporting the child.

"Murderers, thieves, rapists, homosexuals, fornicators and adulterers are holding top positions in some churches. So what is wrong in washing the feet of two lesbians ?" she queried.

"This is perhaps the only act of kindness the women have ever received in their life, and this could change their lifestyle," she said.

She also said she had nothing against homosexuals, as long as they do not force themselves on innocent children or influence them.

"Some homosexuals are barefaced. The ones who try to seduce young children should be locked up," she said.

The Sexual Offences Act which was passed in 2009 has provisions in place to severely punish adults who sexually offend children. Under the act, a child is a person who is under the age of 16.

Besides homosexuality is not illegal it is Buggery that is illegal between two men or a man and a woman with or without consent. It must be proven via a physical examination of the alleged persons with certain natural substances found on specific parts of the body (anus) and certain conditions of the said place.

one of our homeless trans sisters being evicted from a house she and others occupied illegally

Where I depart from the Reverend however is his stance on homelessness for LGBT and the seeming tokenistic nature he and other powerful religious figures have taken by not really helping them consistently as I elaborated on an old post on my GLBTQJA 2014 blog: 

Rev Campbell and Yvonne McCallah Sobers in 2013 at Shoemaker Gully Xmas treat

Hypocrisy from the pulpit on homeless MSM in Jamaica? 2013

Peace & tolerance

H

Jamaica Should Open Arms To Gay Tourism

A recent Gleaner hospitality news feature reported that Cuba, Barbados, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina are among the top 10 most gay-friendly destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America.

Not surprising at all, these countries have huge tourism industries, attracting visitors from all over. Cuba, despite its political limitations, has made major strides with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) rights to the point where it is almost a non-issue now.

I have seen openly gays there, in hotels, and outside. It's not in your face, but no one is bothered. Yes, LGBT groups have great economic power, and the article reports that the LGBT tourism industry is valued a whopping US$200 billion annually.

What a great loss to Jamaica that we cannot be more tolerant, considering that tourism earns more than 50 per cent of our foreign exchange and account for a quarter of all jobs!

We limit ourselves and our potential by virtue of our own prejudices and unnecessary hostility. 'Gay-friendly' does not mean acceptance either, what it means is, we are mature enough, intelligent enough to recognise that diversity is a part of life, and that our customers will come to us in all sizes, shapes and forms.

The article went on to state that there are few properties on the island, five resorts to be specific, which currently list their properties as 'gay-friendly'. If true, this is progress. However, I know of only one such resort that has been gay-friendly, for decades, hospitable to all guests, regardless, and its room occupancy level hovers at nearly 100 per cent at all times, all year!

TRAIN STAFF TO UNDERSTAND DIVERSITY

More properties in Jamaica need to train staff to understand diversity, they will eventually learn. All persons are potential tourists, and our industry leaders must wake up, and realise the world is also changing around us while we continue to limit ourselves.

When Jamaicans go abroad, whether to visit or to live, they adapt so easily, no issues at all, as they learn to live with, play with, and work with LGBT individuals.

I, therefore, don't buy the argument that our people cannot learn to be more tolerant on home turf! Diversity and tolerance should be an integral part of Team Jamaica's tourism training, which is a start. And, yes, we can still hold on to our ethics, morals, religion and even offer prayers for those we choose to judge and condemn!

I hope someone in authority take heed; the larger resorts do already encourage LGBT tourists especially with certain events such as Bloom at Hedonism or so on.

Others such as the up-end market Round Hill is known for entertaining LGBT guests as couples and so on.

A word to the wise is sufficient.

Peace & tolerance

H

Misinterpreting Marley's 'Who the cap fit' .......... Man To Man is So Unjust as Anti Gay

Blakka Ellis 

Hear wha mi a say today. Call me a nerd, or whatever, but I have a fascination with literary analysis and lyrical interpretation. Yes, exploring the meanings, themes and ideas in poems, songs and stories was probably the single most enjoyable aspect of my life as a student. Mi kinda weird, doh? Yeah, man, and that also was the most fulfilling part of my work in a former life as a teacher of high school Literature.

So when one of my nephews sought to engage me in a conversation some years ago, about the meaning of the lyrics in some of Bob Marley's songs, I was pleased as punch and ready to reason.

The pleasure soon evaporated though, when the youngster reluctantly accepted that although my arguments and explanations made sense, he still held on firmly to the view that Marley actually spoke out against homosexuality in his music. And the example he cited was 'man to man is so unjust, you don't know who to trust' - the opening lyrics from the song Who The Cap Fit.

Well, I felt that such a gross misinterpretation of Marley's lyrics was probably forgivable in the case of my nephew because he, admittedly, had never, ever yet 'read off a whole book' yet, and didn't pay much attention in school.

It was much harder to forgive an educated man, MP Dr. Dayton Campbell, who used the same flawed interpretation when he quoted Marley in a twitter rail against American singer Frank Ocean after his performance on the Grammy Awards show last year. According to news sources at the time, the MP tweeted "Frank Ocean man fi have ooman pon dem mind. How di hell man end up on your mind massah?? 

Bob done tell you say man to man is so unjust!!!"

Of course, the tweet lit up a mini firestorm about the politician's perceived anti-gay stance, and appropriateness of his comments etc. with biting remarks and fighting words coming from both attacking and defending poles. But that area is not my focus. My issue is with the literary analysis and what I see as misinterpretation of Marley's words. And guess what, I'm now discovering that Dr Campbell and my nephew are not alone in their 'misconscrewed' view. Well, students, teacha say a never dat Bob mean by 'man to man is so unjust'. No hyah!

OK, I can stretch my brain enough to maybe imagine how the idea of 'man to man is so unjust' could vaguely possibly be about sex and sexuality. Here's how. Like, for instance in the case of say, some lonely heterosexual women now, who could understandably be justified in feeling that it's unfair or 'unjust' for men to be going with other men, when they are there willing, able, available and horny, but unable to get men to go with them. But that's a hell of a stretch. I don't think Mr Marley was singing from that standpoint.

Anyone who attempts a serious interpretation of the song [one that takes into account the other verses and chorus] would agree with me that those initial lines are referring to the unfair and [bad mind] ways in which human beings deal with each other. And although the word used is 'man', the song is clearly [as in the case of plenty biblical references] using man to refer to all human beings.

Di song a talk about people generally, woman, man and 'others', and how dem wicked and deceptive. Marley was reminding unnu say 'your worst enemy, could be your best friend and your best friend your worst enemy', so watch some a dem, how dem 'eat and drink with you, then behind dem su-su pon yu'.

Is that kind of unjust way, how man deal wid man, Bob Marley did a pree! So stop twist and mix up the words of the Gong. 

What? 

Who me a talk? 

Who di cap fit!

Dancehall Act Stylysh says Lesbians Linked her on Instagram after Secret Lovers' Song Controversy ....... Video Shoot to Commence

Dancehall artiste Stylysh will be shooting a video for her 'Secret Lovers' single, featuring Ishawna, sometime this week to next according to sources close to her camp.

"The buzz around the song has been incredible so far. The whole lesbian rumours were a bit crazy and, after the STAR published a story, a lot of lesbians began to link me up on Instagram and started saying some really crazy things to me, but mi just laugh it off because ah just entertainment, and people got the wrong idea. But, at the end of the day, everybody ah live dem life, and what dem do behind closed doors is their business. I love all my fans," she said. 

It seems the hype surrounding the lesbian bit has worked in making the song popular in certain circles at least as some artistes do anything for sales and hype these days, was it a purposeful risk by her management and Ishawana? seeing that lesbianism is not so frowned upon as male homosexuality.

Secret Lovers is a take-off of the 1985 hit single by R&B group Atlantic Starr."The video is going to have a few surprises. The fans are going to love the twist at the end," Stylysh said.

The video will be directed by Marshall Artz studios.

She has been on a promotional tour over the past few weeks, doing interviews on MD TV, CVM's Da Wrap, HYPE TV, RE TV and Swagg TV.

"This major promotional push has paid off because of the response I have been getting from fans in the streets. My Instagram page and Twitter pages have more followers, and I am getting more spins on radio for Gypsy and Secret Lovers," she said.

She recently recorded a new single called It Nuh Easy (Jailhouse Drama). She will be releasing If Mi Man A Gimme Bun for Seanizzle Records later this week. Other upcoming projects include songs for Chase Mills Records, Building Block Records and UIM Records.

photo from urbanislandz 

Pamputae's infamous lesbian kiss

As I said in my previous post on this I only hope this is ethical and not a pretend not to be a lesbian to gain hype for the song then the truth comes out, we have seen other female dancehall acts land themselves in not water such as Pampatae's "lesbian kiss" and her career seems to have stalled since with very little output or appearances on shows.

Stylysh

Ishawna dolled up from eliteja

We can safely say then that Jamaican entertainment has crossed some lines somewhat and is now serving same gender loving women subjects more but is it on a honest end is my query, yes the sex industry via strip clubs are or have been there already in terms of live or simulated lesbian sex on stage (even by non lesbian dancers or performers) as Jamaican men lap it all up pegged on a fantasy to be with more than one woman.

Also see: 

We're not lesbians - Stylysh clarifies song with Ishawna .......... And So What if They Were?

Peace and tolerance

H

Tobacco plant be the key to HIV Prevention via Microbicidal Gel?

HSC communications and marketing

Researchers from the University of Louisville will lead an international effort to utilize tobacco plants to develop a gel containing a specific protein that will prevent the transmission of HIV. The project is being funded by a five-year, $14.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Kenneth Palmer, PhD, is leading research into using tobacco plants to help develop a gel that would prevent HIV.


“Our researchers are looking to solve problems that affect the world,” James Ramsey, president of the University of Louisville, said during an announcement of the research Aug. 4. “Globally, more than 34 million people are HIV positive. The development of a low-cost method to prevent transmission of HIV certainly is something that is desperately needed and the use of tobacco plants as a method of carrying the vaccine appears to be key in the process.”

“Approximately seven years ago, UofL and Owensboro Health created a joint venture to develop a world-class plant pharmaceutical program that would have an impact globally,” said David L. Dunn, MD, executive vice president for health affairs at UofL. “Today’s announcement, coupled with the announcement we made in May about the Helmsley Charitable Trust providing funding to our research into two other cancer vaccines utilizing tobacco plants, demonstrates that the vision is becoming a reality.”

Kenneth Palmer, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and toxicology and director of theOwensboro Cancer Research Program of UofL’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center, is leading a team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the Magee-Women’s Research Institute in Pittsburgh, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Kentucky Bioprocessing Inc. and Intrucept Biomedicine LLC in Owensboro.

The team is working with the carbohydrate combining protein Griffithsin (GRFT), which is found in red algae. In laboratory work, the protein has shown to have broad-spectrum activity against HIV. GRFT binds to the dense shield of sugars that surrounds HIV cells and prevents these cells from entering other non-HIV cells. The team plans to develop a gel containing the protein for use during sexual intercourse by people at risk for HIV transmission.

To develop the microbicide, Palmer’s team takes a synthetic copy of the protein and injects it into a tobacco mosaic virus, which carries the protein into the tobacco leaves. After 12 days, the researchers harvest the leaves and extract the mass-produced protein for development into the vaccine.

“Our goal is to optimize the delivery system of the protective agent, which in this case is a gel, and determine its safety and estimates of its efficacy, leading to a first-in-humans clinical trial,” Palmer said.

“People may question why a cancer program is conducting research into HIV prevention,” said Donald Miller, MD, director of the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, a part of KentuckyOne Health. “In fact, cancer can be a result of every major disease that we know about, and HIV infection is no exception.”

Overall, the grant contains three significant projects – The Critical Path Project; Preclinical Testing Project; and Clinical Trial Project.

The critical path project involves manufacturing the microbicide active ingredient, ensuring quality of the microbicide and the formulated gel product and production for actual use. This process is in collaboration with two Owensboro-based biotechnology companies (Kentucky Bioprocessing Inc. and Intrucept Biomedicine LLC), and Lisa Rohan, PhD, at the University of Pittsburgh and Magee-Women’s Research Institute. Rohan has significant experience developing delivery systems for similar medications.

The preclinical testing project is a collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to use an animal model to ensure that the vaccine is safe and to determine that it actually provides protection from infection.

The clinical trial project involves developing the application to conduct a clinical trial for the Food and Drug Administration, as well as conducting the first-in-humans testing.

Defend Orashia Campaign Launched to Stop Removal from the UK by Home Office

In a follow up to a case I carried here in January of this year of a bisexual man who is Jamaican but is facing a possibility of being removed from the UK even after some ten years residing in that country is in fear of retribution if he is returned as the case has gotten some major press as of late. At one point he was made out to be a liar in a bid to get his stay in the UK and the authorities seem to also have bought into the line as well as he is not effeminate or "camp" as some other successful applicants are and are judged by.

A Facebook campaign has been launched entitled Defend Orashia led by No Border Leeds who have managed to convince persons as to the veracity of the story (including me) they have been on an aggressive public education drive since the matter broke.

Their latest post alongside their petition reads as follows(Aug 1):

"It's likely that the Home Office will try once again to issue removal directions shortly so please be ready to contact the airline.

In the meantime, check leedsnoborders.wordpress.com for how you can support & join our bloc at Leeds Pride tomorrow.

Press release-
Orashia's campaign gets support from Leeds Pride
Legal challenge continues as Orashia remains in detention

Leeds Pride Sunday 3rd August 12pm Millennium Square

The ongoing campaign by Orashia Edwards, a Jamaican bisexual fighting for asylum in Leeds, will be mentioned at the keynote speech during Pride tomorrow. Family and friends will march together to highlight the case of Orashia, who's currently in detention for the 3rd time this year. The march will also call for a complete review on how lgbti asylum seekers are processed as it is incredibly intrusive and currently 98% of people are denied asylum.

Orashia is currently in Colnbrook detention centre where his mental health has deteriorated dramatically but he cannot access the care he needs due to conditions there. Due to an intervention by his solicitor, he was able to see a psychiatrist who reported 'acute mental distress'. Obviously this condition cannot improve until he is released and campaigners will continue to focus on this.

His application for bail was denied on Friday 1st August as the Home Office hope to try and issue removal directions shortly. However Orashia's legal team will keep on fighting until he receives the protection he needs. Both a Judicial Review and a new bail application will be applied for on Monday."

ENDS

The Petition can be seen and signed HERE

The Group says:

If he is forcibly removed by the Home Office, his life is in severe danger in Jamaica. All is family are settled in the UK and he would be completely isolated and in hiding. His case has gained mass media attention and support in the past months and he has become well known both here in the UK and in Jamaica. This means that the danger his life is in, because of his sexuality, has increased and he was recently victim to a homophobic attack here in Leeds where he lives. This cannot be tolerated and if the British government and the Home Office say they stand for human rights and equality then they need to release Orashia from detention now.

In 2013 a Home Office spokesman said: ”We have changed our guidance to ensure that we do not remove individuals who have demonstrated a proven risk of persecution on grounds of sexual orientation.'' (PinkNews.co.uk). Why is this then happening to people like Orashia?

Orashia is an amazing person who has the ability to shine so much more than he has been given a chance to here in Britain. He is a faithful friend and does what he can to help and support others going through similar issues to him. He has a close family, many friends and is involved in various groups and organisations around Leeds. His situation has meant that life is a daily unknown battle for himself, his family, especially his mother who works overtime on order to support him, and those closest to him. Please sign this petition and demand Orashia be given a fair chance at a real life now and not be punished for his sexuality.

You can watch a short documentary about Orashia's story called State of Limbo here:http://youtu.be/Wy3R2QtqONM

Another documentary called Judgement Day about Orashia's court hearing on 30th June can be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVib2Hh6Oog

Impossible for Intersex People to be Cisgender?

Dr. Cary Gabriel Costello

"Is it impossible for intersex people to be cisgender because it is impossible in society to live completely as in intersex person with no male or female legal checkbox?"

In my experience, what you find when speaking with intersex people about this is an interesting split based upon gender identity. Intersex people who do not identify with the binary sex they were coercively assigned at birth tend to see all intersex people as forced to live trans lives. Intersex people who do identify with the binary sex label they were given at birth instead generally see themselves as cis people, and only frame as trans gender those intersex people who gender transition or who assert a nonbinary gender identity.

Personally, as an intersex gender transitioner, I fall into the camp that does not view intersex people living in our society as cis gender, even if their gender identity matches their assigned sex. Intersex children are born neither male nor female, but are forced into a binary sex category by a contemporary social ideology that says this is mandatory. Many are then subjected to infant sex assignment surgery to try to make their bodies conform to their assigned sex. What is that other than a forced sex change? Just because a person grows up to identify with the sex they were assigned at birth does not mean they will feel surgeries they were subjected to were appropriate. Loss of potential fertility and loss of capacity for sexual sensation are prices that they may not consider worth the result of a somewhat-more-sex-conforming body--note that many people who gender transition by choice choose not to get genital surgery. Thus, I believe, framing medical interventions into the reproductive organs and genitals of intersex people as trans interventions, not "corrections," is important, as it will force doctors to give us agency over what is done to our bodies, and prevent them from removing the very sexual features we may most identify with.

The problem with my framework politically is that a majority of intersex people today do live in their assigned binary sexes, growing up as we do in a society in which that is the norm. The percentage of us who mature to gender transition or assert a nonbinary gender identity is much higher than is the case for nonintersex people, although we don't know the exact degree of the difference because doctors are emphatically not collecting data on us, their sex-assignment "failures." Still, a majority do live their lives in their assigned sexes (often completely in the closet about being born sex-variant, as doctors have urged parents to train their children to be). And most such people do not identify at all as "forced to live a transgender life." That is, they identify as cis gender.

If someone says, "I was assigned female (or male) at birth, and I identify as female (or male)," then we usually call such a person cis gender. So intersex people who understand themselves as cis gender have a very valid basis for framing themselves that way. Certainly this is the way the medical field treats the situation, in claiming to assign us to what they used to call our "true" sex, and now call our "best" sex. Doctors view themselves not as imposing sex changes upon unconsenting infants, but as revealing our "real" binary (cis) sex.

I feel that understanding all intersex people who have been assigned a binary sex (which, in the US today, is all of us) as trans is useful, because it gives us a way to oppose unconsented-to infant genital surgeries. I view those intersex people who are happy in their assigned sexes as no different from people who are not intersex, but gender transition by choice and are happy as a result.

At the same time, I don't feel I have a right to tell an intersex person who identifies as cis gender that they can't do that. After all, as trans gender advocates note, every person is coercively assigned to a binary sex at birth. A person who grows up to identify as genderqueer, or with the binary sex they were not assigned, is forced to struggle with medical and legal and social forces to have their identity recognized, whether sex variant by birth or born with a body considered normative. So, viewing all cis people as coercively assigned to the sex with which they identify makes calling intersex people who identify with the sex they were assigned "cis gender" reasonable, from a trans-affirming perspective. (Of course, many people are not trans-affirming, and transphobia can motivate rejection of being labeled trans gender. But I do not believe it is either charitable or necessary to assume that an intersex person who identifies with their birth-assigned sex and rejects being labeled as trans is motivated by bigotry.)

I just feel that labeling anyone who is medically altered to change the sex characteristics of their body as trans makes the most sense, and is useful from an advocacy standpoint.

UPDATE:

I've done some additional thinking about this topic, and would like to have people consider approaching gender identity in intersex people by acknowledging that we can never address intersex experience well through binary terminology. What we may really need to do is to introduce another term.

what I would suggest doing is adding to the terms "cis" and "trans" another term often used in scientific terminology. In chemistry, which gives us the language of cis and trans isomers, there are chemicals based upon a ring structure, called arene rings. When a chemical substitution is made in the same place on the ring, this is referred to as "ipso" substitution.

If we were to add the term "ipso gender" to trans and cis gender, we could perhaps describe intersex experience more accurately. A cis gender intersex person would be one with an intermediate gender identity, since that "matches" their birth sex. An ipso gender intersex person would identify with the binary sex they were medically assigned (the social sex substituted for their intersex birth status being the same as their identified sex). And a trans gender intersex person would be one who identifies with the binary sex other than the one they were assigned by doctors.

This terminology solution is not without its drawbacks. Usually people who are genderqueer in identity are considered to fall under the trans umbrella, but in the case of intersex people, they'd fall under the cis heading, which could prove confusing. But it's also possible that confusion would itself prove productive.

It's certainly worth considering.

Dr Costello is an academic and scaler of boundary walls, intersex by birth, female-reared, legally transitioned to male status, and says he is pleased with his trajectory

Indian Ministerial Committee Considers Granting Third Gender Status to Transgender Persons

NEW DELHI: 

The government has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to pursue implementation of the recommendations of an Expert Committee, seeking "third gender" status for transgenders, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Sudarshan Bhagat(above), in a written statement in Lok Sabha said the key recommendation of the Committee formed by the government was that the transgender should be declared as third gender.

He said the other recommendations include access to health-care, educational opportunities at all levels without stigma and discrimination, formulation of umbrella schemes and others.

The Supreme Court in its judgment had directed the Centre and state governments to take steps for framing various social welfare schemes for betterment of transgender persons, take proper measures to provide medical care, hospital and others.

"The expert committee has recommended a state level authority duly designated or constituted by the respective states/UTs on the lines of Tamil Nadu Transgender Welfare Board.

"An Inter-Ministerial committee has been constituted to pursue implementation of Expert Committee's recommendations," Bhagat said.

The minister said the Court has further directed to examine the recommendations of the Expert Committee based on legal declaration made in its judgement and implement them.

Replying to another question, he said that "keeping in view the socio-cultural-economic and technological developments in the last decade, the National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP), 1999 is being revised by the department of Social Justice and Empowerment to include promotion of measures to create avenues for continuity in employment or post retirement opportunities for senior citizens".

Bhagat said the NPOP, 1999 recognizes that 60 plus phase of life is a huge untapped resource and proposes that facilities be provided to senior citizens so that their potential is utilized.

To carry forward the spirit of the policy, various programmes like computer training for senior citizens, school programme for inter-generational bonding are being carried out.

Transgender folks celebrate with a cake after the Supreme Court'­s verdict recognizing third gender category, in Mumbai, India, April 15, 2014. Rajanish Kakade/AP

India’s Supreme Court had issued a landmark ruling in April that allowed hundreds of thousands of transgender people to identify themselves as a third gender. Human rights groups are lauding the decision as historic and groundbreaking.

“It is the right of every human being to choose their gender,” the court wrote.

“Recognition of transgenders as a third gender is not a social or medical issue but a human rights issue,” Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan, one of the two head judges on the Supreme Court bench, told the court.

The high court has ordered the government to allocate public sector jobs to transgender people, known as “hijras” and include them in welfare programs.

The court ruling is a result of a petition filed by a group of transgender people that argued their community was marginalized both economically and socially. Arguing that their non-legal status has led to further discrimination, hate crimes, and lack of access to jobs and education, the petitioners asked the government to grant them formal recognition for the first time in India’s history.

“Transgenders are also citizens of India,” said the court in its order. “The spirit of the Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of caste, religion or gender.”

Federal and state governments will need to recognize the third gender on birth certificates, passports and driving licenses. The government will also consider transgender individuals a minority to help fill quotas in jobs and schools.

One of the petitioners in the case, transgender activist Laxmi Tripathi, told reporters outside the Delhi courthouse that the court’s decision will advance equality in India.

“Today, for the first time I feel very proud to be an Indian,” Tripathi said.

While India now recognizes the transgender community as a third gender, the ruling only applies to transgender people and not gays, lesbians or bisexuals. In December, the Supreme Court reversed a 2009 court order that decriminalized homosexuality, reinstating a ban on gay sex.

Jamaica’s Multi-Media Artist, Yrneh Gabon Brown, for major exhibition at California Museum

Jamaica’s flag continues to be carried high all over the world . And while the country is known for its excellent performances in the areas of sports and music, Jamaicans are shining and achieving in many other areas as well. Now comes news that Jamaica’s multi-media artist, Yrneh Gabon Brown, has secured his first six month solo exhibition and sale of his work at one of California’s leading museums, the California African American Museum.

The exhibition will run from August 29 2014. This is a great achievement for any artist in a competitive environment where only the best gets rewarded with even a second glance in Hollywood’s fast pace jet-set world of the arts and entertainment. .

Yrneh’s exhibition is being presented under the theme ‘Visibly Invisible’ and tells the stories of his personal journey and awakening while researching and documenting the devastating effects of prejudice, ignorance and violence inflicted upon people affected with albinism in Tanzania, Jamaica and even the United Sates .

As a special aspect of his exhibition, Yrneh has invited his mentor, well known Grammy and Emmy-nominated actress and visual artist, C.C. Pounder, to exhibit a piece of her work which ties in with the theme of his show on albinism. ‘C.C Pounder who is known for her roles in ‘ER’, ‘X Files’ and the movie ‘Avatar’, has been a strong supporter of my research on albinism in Africa and it was through her involvement and support that I was even able to undertake the research and to travel to Tanzania’, noted Yrneh. 

Through videos, recorded in these locations, and artwork created in various media, (photography, collage, assemblage, sheet metal, cast bronze and ceramic sculpture), Yrneh will share his inspirational trips and heart-felt devotion towards children and adults living with albinism.

“I first saw the prejudices against people with albinism as a child in Jamaica and this has inspired this exhibition ,” he noted.

Yrneh is an artist dedicated to a cause, which in and of itself is not a unique quality but according to those who have helped him to hone his craft and creative skills, what is rare is the depth of his devotion to it, and rare also are the creative ways he champions it. Yrneh believes that his artwork must have a real impact in the world and must create change. He believes that art has power. While undertaking his studies at the Roski School of Art and Design at the University of Southern California, Yrneh saw his work as active in the larger social and political fabric. Yrneh is focused on building his audience and his means of support and educating the world. He envisions his work as being fully integrated into the social sphere in a way that few other artists do.

In his work to be displayed come month-end, Yrneh presents the history of and contemporary conditions surrounding albinism in areas of Tanzania, where human body parts are sometimes used as ingredients for the practice of magic. The belief persists that these magic practitioners can make their customers more powerful, personally, economically, and sexually. These practitioners prey on people with albinism even to this very day, mutilating or killing them for their body parts.

Beyond the big story, Yrneh makes artworks that tell the stories of individuals with albinism, so that the whole terrible practice becomes personal. Through his exhibit, he intends to educate and to bring about change.

Yrneh Gabon Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He has lived and worked in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean and now resides in Los Angeles, California. Before migrating to the USA, Yrneh won gold and silver medals in speech and drama festivals from the Jamaican Cultural Development Commission. In 1988, he won the grand finals in the Tastee talent contest, then the leading talent contest in the Caribbean.

Yrneh has worked with several television and film studios such as, New Line Cinema, Disney, Mupheduh, Paradise Films, & Television, Lorimar, ABC’s 20/20, HBO T.V, Channel 4 Brazil, T.VJ Jamaica, and CVM-TV (Jamaica). In 2006 Yrneh Gabon Brown took the brave step and returned to school where he pursued a degree at the prestigious University of Southern California, Gayle Roski School of Fine Arts (USC ) graduating with honours.

‘I’m excited about this solo exhibition and am putting the final touches to the pieces which will be finished and fully installed for the opening come August 29.”Yrneh added.

Ugandan gay pride parade despite legal challenges ....... third in succession

ENTEBBE, Uganda (AP) — Scores of Ugandan homosexuals marched through sprawling botanical gardens in the lakeside town of Entebbe on Saturday, their first pride parade since a Ugandan court invalidated a controversial anti-gay law.

Many marchers wore masks, signaling they did not want to be publicly identified in a country where homosexuals and their supporters face severe discrimination.

Although organizers had expected more than 500 people to attend the event, fewer than 200 turned up, said gay activist Moses Kimbugwe, who noted that many were afraid of possible violence following a court's decision earlier this month to jettison an anti-gay law that had wide support among Ugandans.

"We are here to walk for those who can't walk, who are afraid to walk," said Kimbugwe. "We are here to celebrate our rights."

Uganda's Constitutional Court ruled last week that the anti-gay law enacted only five months ago was illegal because it was passed during a parliamentary session that lacked a quorum. Some lawmakers have pledged to try to reintroduce the same legislation when parliament emerges from a recess later this month. They said they would try to pass the same law in parliament since it had been invalidated on technical grounds and not its substance.

A transgender Ugandan poses in front of a rainbow flag during the 3rd Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride celebrations in Entebbe, Uganda, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014. (AP PHOTO/REBECCA VASSIE)

On Saturday, activists held up placards saying they would not give up the fight for gay rights in this conservative East African country of 36 million people. Some waved rainbow flags as they danced and frolicked on a sandy beach on the shores of Lake Victoria, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital, Kampala.

This was the third annual gay pride event, organizers said. The first one, in 2012, turned violent after local police tried to break it up, said Ugandan lesbian activist Jacqueline Kasha. This time they had been given assurances by the police that they could go ahead with the march, she said.

"We are a group of people who have suffered enough," she said. "We are Ugandans who have the right to gather in a public place ... and we are going to have fun."

Some among the marchers said they had initially planned to hold the event in Kampala but were warned by police that such a move would be provocative and possibly dangerous.

Homosexuals face threats including evictions by landlords and many have fled to neighboring countries such as Kenya, where the anti-gay sentiment is less pervasive, according to Ugandan rights activists. Many homosexuals are victims of extortionist campaigns by people who threaten to reveal their homosexuality to the police, said Kasha, the lesbian leader.

copyright (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)

Homosexuality had been mostly a taboo subject in Uganda until a lawmaker, saying he wanted to protect children from Western gays, introduced a bill in 2009 prescribing the death penalty for what the bill described as serious homosexual offenses. The bill was revised to remove the death penalty and instead have jail terms of up to life for convicted homosexuals. 

Watchdogs groups and some Western governments condemned the bill as draconian and unnecessary in a country where homosexuality had long been a criminal offense.