Nations pledge to support gay rights at UN meeting (Jamaica Not Present it seems)

Gay rights were discussed at the UN Human Rights Council
(ppsssst you know what to do)

Several countries have responded positively to recommendations on gay rights at the 8th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
During the session Ireland and Slovenia expressed concern at the maintenance of the death penalty for homosexuality in Iran and criticised Nigeria for failing to follow up on recommendations to repeal the death penalty for consensual sexual conduct.
"In reply, Nigeria stated that no executions have taken place, and asserted that the maximum penalty for consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults is 14 years’ imprisonment," according to a recent report on the June session from LGBT rights group ARC International.
Ecuador, the Czech Republic and Japan were among nations that accepted recommendations to further address discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity,
However, the Ukraine said they would not apply the Yogyakarta Principles as a guide to assist in policy development.
The principles were adopted by a meeting of experts in international law in Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2006.
They set out a legal standard for how governments and other agencies should end violence, abuse and discrimination against sexual minorities.
Switzerland rejected a proposals that federal legislation be introduced to prohibit discrimination, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, that the Yogyakarta Principles be applied to enhance the Government’s commitment to non-discrimination, and that the rights accorded to same-sex couples be equivalent to those accorded to opposite-sex couples.
Benin rejected calls to decriminalise homosexuality.
Zambia said it would not to decriminalise same-sex activity between consenting adults or develop HIV/AIDS programmes to respond to the needs of sexually-active gay men.
Egypt said killings based on sexual orientation do not warrant the same degree of attention or concern as killings based on race.
Pakistan rejected calls to decriminalise adultery and non-marital consensual sex, claiming the recommendations fall outside "universally recognised human rights."
However, there were positive commitments from some EU nations.
Romania agreed to develop awareness-raising programmes, including for law enforcement personnel, to promote respect for persons of minority sexual orientations or gender identities, to punish ill-treatment of sexual minorities in detention, to take additional measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to protect the rights of LGBT activists to participate in peaceful public gatherings, such as the GayFest.
Poland accepted recommendations to adopt an anti-discrimination law, including on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, to withdraw any restrictions on addressing issues of homosexuality within educational establishments, and to ensure respect for the freedom of expression and association of those campaigning for equality on grounds of sexual orientation.
The UK agreed to follow the Council of the European Union Asylum Qualification Directive with regard to sexual orientation as grounds for seeking asylum.

Babi Watch

As you might have realised we have been following this asylum case closely in a bid to show you the rigors of asylum seeking that can occur, even a high profile case such as this proves that there are no guarantees as many of you here in Jamaica would like to believe, it is not as easy as it looks people!!

(Babi pictured on the left) was deported despite protests from various quarters.

Click his image to see the latest update from NoBordersWales' blog, they even sited us as well, wonderful work guys!! and thanx for the recognition.

"Babi sought asylum in the UK in 2006 following years of persecution because of his sexuality. His brothers on finding out that he was gay had threatened to kill him, with one attack from his eldest brother leaving him with only eight teeth......" CONTINUE HERE

I am sure they, NoBorders will keep us abreast of his sujourns.

We are praying for him.

Peace.

Gay leader assassinated in Baghdad

A leading gay activist in Iraq has been assassinated. 27 year old Bashar was targeted by gunmen yesterday.
He was one of the organisers of safe houses for gay men in Baghdad and was co-ordinator of Iraqi LGBT in the city.
Peter Tatchell of LGBT human rights group OutRage! said:
"On 25th September, I received the sad news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, was assassinated in a barber shop.
"Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range.
"He was the organiser of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people.
"Bashar was a kind, generous and extremely brave young man – a true hero who put his life on the line to save the lives of others.
"My thoughts go out to his loved ones and to the other members of Iraqi LGBT.
"Their courage is an inspiration to all people everywhere fighting against tyranny and injustice," said Mr Tatchell.
A UN report in 2007 highlighted attacks on gays by militants and religious courts, supervised by clerics, where homosexuals allegedly would be 'tried,' 'sentenced' to death and then executed."Violence against gays has intensified sharply since late 2005, when Iraq's leading Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a fatwa, or religious decree, which declared that gays and lesbians should be 'killed in the worst, most severe way possible," said Alli HIli of Iraqi LGBT.
"Since then, LGBT people have been specifically targeted by the Madhi Army, the militia of fundamentalist Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, as well as by the Badr organisation and other Shia death squads.
"Badr is the military arm of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is one of the leading political forces in Baghdad's western-backed ruling coalition," said Mr Hili.
While homosexuality is in itself not illegal in Iraq, several laws are used to persecute gay people.
Laws against loitering, indecent exposure, spreading "dangerous diseases," committing and indecent act in public and making "indecent" advances are all used.
However, of much more pressing threat to gay Iraqis are the actions of militia groups.

Bosnia gay festival closes after attacks at opening event

The organisers of a Queer Festival in Sarajevo have decided to close after some participants were attacked by an angry mob last night.
"We cannot guarantee the safety of visitors," organiser Svetlana Djurkovic told Reuters.
"The festival is closing down."
It was the first gay festival in Bosnia and was due to end on Saturday.
At the opening event in a Sarajevo art gallery last night, attended by 250 people, a gang of 70 men threw stones and shouted homophobic slogans.
They were driven back by police, but returned as people were leaving and beat them. Some of the victims were dragged from their cars.
Five men will face charges.
Posters appeared on the streets of Sarajevo earlier this month proclaiming "Death To Gays" and imams have spoken out against the festival, claiming that homosexuality is immoral and contrary to the Koran.
Today MEPs criticised the violence in Bosnia and reminded the country that respect for LGBT rights is a requirement of countries seeking EU membership.

Iranian President attacks US acceptance of homosexuality

The President of Iran has admitted in an interview that there may be "a few" gay people in his country, but attacked homosexuality as destructive to society.
In an interview with US current affairs TV programme Democracy Now, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also rejected criticism of the execution of children in Iran.
During his last visit to the US a year ago he said in reply to a question posed about homosexuality during his speech at New York's Columbia University:
"In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country… In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it."
In his TV interview yesterday he condemned American acceptance of gay people.
"It should be of no pride to American society to say they defend something like this," President Ahmadinejad said.
"Just because some people want to get votes, they are willing to overlook every morality."
Iranian human rights campaigners estimate that 4,000 gay men have been executed since the Islamic revolution in 1979.
Under Sharia law gay sex illegal, with penalty of death for offenders as young as 14 years old.
The vast majority of executions of juvenile offenders worldwide take place in Iran, where judges can impose the death penalty in capital cases if the defendant has attained "majority," defined in Iranian law as 9 years for girls and 15 years for boys, says Human Rights Watch.
Iran is known to have executed six juvenile offenders so far in 2008. More than130 other juvenile offenders are currently sentenced to death.
In 2005 Iran sparked international outrage when it publicly executed two teenage boys.
Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were hanged because according to the regime they were rapists, however gay campaigners insist the boys were killed under Sharia law for the crime of homosexuality.
At first it was claimed by Iranian officials that they were aged 18 and 19.
The best evidence is that both youths were aged 17 when they were executed and therefore minors, aged 15 or 16, at the time of their alleged crimes.
"The legal age in Iran is different from yours," the President told Democracy Now when asked about executions of juveniles.
"If a person who happens to be 17 years old and 9 months kills one of your relatives, would you just overlook that?"
Mr Ahmadinejad was also unbowed by speculation that the US may take action against his country's nuclear weapons programme.
"Mr. Bush is very interested to start a new war," he said, but claimed Iran is "very capable of defending itself.
"We think there are enough wise people in this country to prevent unreasonable actions by the administration."
Mr Ahmadinejad is in New York to attend the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Out of the closet - Ulla (South Africa)

I was about 21-ish, I think. I’d left South Africa for the UK with a long list of questions I needed answers for, including, since I was pretty sure I was gay - how the hell was I going to go about getting confirmation? Since everyday life never seemed to bring me an opportunity to sleep with a woman, I decided that a personal ad in London’s Time Out magazine was the way to go. I kept that ad for ages, wish I still had it. I said something about red wine and good conversation and intelligence and humour. It was a good investment, that ad … kept me in friends, lovers, admirers and stalkers for years. But that, as they say, is another story; quite a few other stories in fact. It brought me my first four month relationship with a woman. She was a few years younger than me, 6′ tall and a biker, with a pierced nose and an interesting hairstyle. I never told her I was a virgin.
A little while into the relationship and with the zeal of the newly-converted, I decided it was Time To Tell My Mother. Considering I pride myself on my honestly, I have to wonder why, at that stage, I needed to phone mother, 6000 miles away, but not tell anyone in the actual geographical area around me, when I’d already been there a year or so. Anyway, at the time I was also quite an accomplished drinker, so I travelled rather far down a bottle of Stolichnaya (they’re not sponsoring this story) fresh from the freezer, and dialed South Africa. I was drunk. When I’m drunk I’m excessively cheerful and I merrily said to my poor mother, “I’ve got something to tell you!” She asked what and I sniggered and told her to guess. She got it in two. First she asked if I was pregnant and then, over the sound of my guffaws, whether I was a lesbian.

It was a sobering moment and I just said yes. We spoke for a a short while afterwards and she impressed me by asking whether I had my own closet and if it was pink.
Apparently she cried a bit and spoke to my stepsister, who reassured her that I was still me and so forth. Apparently she surprised herself by suddenly and for the first time ever, being sorry that I might not have children (at 38 I still don’t and am sure I won’t). She was cool though and remains fairly cool, although too much talk of sexuality irritates her badly and we’ve had some heated debates about just why gay people have to be so “in your face” about it.
After that, my boss sussed me out, told friends she thought I was gay and eventually the job became untenable and I resigned. I was young and outraged and marched and bought t-shirts and proceeded to wrestle myself into my new identity with mostly positive results and reactions. I think in many ways it made me; it certainly gave me confidence.
I was thrilled when TLQ emailed about this project, as I’ve been collecting coming out stories too.

GRENADA - Book suggests homosexuality will be accepted in Caribbean soon

Grenada (CMC):

A university lecturer is predicting that homosexuality could soon be accepted as a way of life in the Caribbean.

Claude Douglas, a sociologist, has just released a new book titled, Homosexuality in the Caribbean: Crawling Out Of the Closet, which examines the rise of homosexuality in the region. The 60-page book covers issues ranging from biological origins and the gay tourist phenomenon, to the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in the region.
"If we look at the evolutionary process of the society and see how the society evolves, we would see that yesterday's deviants become today's and tomorrow's norms," Douglas told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

"Let us take, for example, the wearing of earrings by men. This was actually tabooed in Grenada many years ago. Today, there are men who appear almost feminine, based on their attire, and this is a growing acceptance now."
The book examines the libera-lism in Europe as it relates to homosexuality and how dependent territories in the Caribbean, such as Suriname, Martinique and Guadeloupe, have been affected as a result of the stance adopted by their former colonial masters.

More tolerant
For example, the author notes that in 2001, the United Kingdom was in the forefront of repealing laws in its overseas dependent territories, such as Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Anguilla.
"As the society evolves, people become more tolerant of certain behaviour that was sanctioned in the past; people become more accepting of certain behaviour. But it's a reality that we would all have to deal with, whether we like it or not," said Douglas, a lecturer at the St George's University here. "It is coming. It is really coming and we have to brace ourselves to deal with this upsurge in homosexuality in the Caribbean, and Grenada, in particular.
"There is a whole tide of this rights movement throughout the world and it's really taking hold in the Caribbean as well," he added.
Decriminalisation of homosexuality has become a hotly debated topic in the English-speaking Caribbean and the issue of whether homosexual cruises should be allowed into Port St George was a major talking point for months in Grenada late last year.
Advocates include St Kitts and Nevis prime minister, Dr Denzil Douglas, and Guyana's Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy who both suggested that decrimina-lisation could help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Attorneys general in the Eastern Caribbean are due to meet in Guyana in November to review the laws on homosexuality.

Favour women
Meanwhile, Pastor Gerard Keens Douglas says he is concerned that new legislation being developed to protect victims of sexual harass-ment could favour women against men because it is being spear-headed by a feminist group, the Grenada National Organisation for Women (GNOW).
"I believe there is no doubt it's going to be tipped towards the feminine position on the issue of harassment. I believe it's definitely going to be biased and prejudicial in favour of women against men," said the Pentecostal pastor.
GNOW has just completed a national consultation on sexual harassment to solicit feedback for inclusion in an initial draft bill.

Serious concern
While recognising the work of GNOW in the development of women here, Pastor Keens Douglas is calling on feminist organisations to abandon their old mantra that men are sexual aggressive predators while women are helpless victims.
"That would have been good in the 20th century and the 19th and going back, but from the 21st century, we have a new kind of female on the scene. The stakes have changed. What we have today are females who are thought to be aggressive, assertive, to get your way, don't take no for an answer.
"And whereas, in the past, men were always perceived as the sexual aggressors, today, it has become a cross gender issue and that has to be of concern. And so, in framing a legislative agenda that's biased against men, women are just as guilty. It really is of serious concern to me," the pastor added.

Another Vicious Anti-Trans Attack

One of the first ever formal transphobic attacks on record as Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays never covered this area as widely then until we came across the phenomenon with this client, it was there I got fired up about transgender issues in depth and commenced my research on the associated issues.

At around 2:40am Sunday September 21, 2008 the above photographed victim was befriended by two males at a park in New Kingston, pretending to help "her" out. New Kingston is widely known for open commercial sex work by mostly women and males as cross dressers servicing specific clients then who are aware of the demarcations. While sitting at a bus stop initially near the park, the two males who were passing by presented themselves as keeping her company, around some time after the men offered to keep her warm, as it turned out this was a front to launch their planned assault on the victim.

The victim who is a pre-operative transsexual presents as a woman so the men believing the victim was female attempted to rape her.

She fought vigorously to be free of her attackers, however not before sustaining the injuries photographed where a knife was used to slash her throat, they tried to strangle her and ripped her blouse and pants off, It was at this juncture that upon realising she was a "he" they inflicted the slashing.

The security guards on the premises nearby were not very helpful, when she tried to seek help partially nude, after escaping her attackers, who by this time made off with her cash amounting to $JA9000.00, a cell phone and other personal effects, one guard apparently attempted to pull his firearm and told her to get away.

It was a commercial sex worker on the strip who saw her and assisted her by calling the police. They arrived and took her to the hospital and instructed her to file a report after getting medical attention.

She subsequently contacted JFLAG representatives who arrived at the hospital to her aid where she remained for some days before being released, she recuperated and was having trouble finding a permanent shelter at the time of her displacement.

August 2011

Since all that she has had to endure some problems resettling and so on and at one point was homeless for a short period with just some assistance from Jamaica AIDS Support where she was allowed to occupy an area for a short time. She has since then recovered and is self employed while presenting as a woman as she is pre-operative Male to Female.

Peace and tolerance

H

Breast milk purged of HIV virus

Cotton wool soaked in sodium dodecyl sulphate deactivates HIV virus

A simple nipple shield that prevents HIV transmission from a breast-feeding mother to her child has been devised by a Cambridge University engineer.
Stephen Gerrard, a chemical engineer, has helped devise the shield that can disinfect milk as it leaves the breast.
The device uses a detergent used by biochemists to denature proteins for analysis.
A layer of cotton-wool soaked in the chemical is added to a conventional shield and this deactivates the virus.
The layer deals with the virus without having to go through heat treatment which is the normal treatment to deactivate the HIV virus.
The International Design Development Summit (IDDS) in the United States brought together engineers and field workers to work on research projects aimed at developing prototype designs.
Non-toxic solution
Mr Gerrard, together with a team of five others, was assigned the task of creating a practical design for heating breast milk to deactivate the virus.
"We quickly established this may be too lengthy a process for many women in developing countries so they might not have the time for it," he said.
"Research has shown that copper and copper compounds can work but another approach, carried out by a group at Drexel University seemed more promising.
"Their research has focused on sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), which can kill the HIV virus quickly and in fairly non-toxic concentrations."
Their project could also have benefits beyond prevention of HIV.
"We were concerned that using our nipple shield could be stigmatizing, since it would identify a mother as HIV infected," said Mr Gerrard.
"We're considering marketing it as a way to deliver medicines or micronutrient supplements to aid breast feeding. For example, they can also be used for iron or iodine deficiency."

Two gay asylum seekers deported from UK

In the past two days two gay men who claimed their lives would be in danger if they were returned to their home countries have been forcibly repatriated.
Ugandan John Nyombi was deported on a flight in Entebbe on Friday evening. His supporters in the UK say he is now in hiding from police.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission issued an action alert on Thursday because of the escalating violence against LGBT people in Uganda.
Mr Nyombi's solicitors believe that the deportation was "an illegal act of the UK Border Agency."
Babakhan Badalov, known as Babi, was deported from Heathrow yesterday afternoon on a British Midlands Airways (BMI) flight to Baku.
A reknowned artist, he claimed his sexual orientation and his public opposition to the Azerbaijani government put his life in risk.
His supporters say his removal contradicts UK Border Agency rules as they changed the details of his forced removal at the last minute and did so on a Saturday.
They also claim a border agent said to Mr Badalov before he was deported: "You make us sick, you're going back where you belong."
Despite a campaign that successfully persusaded Azerbaijan Airlines not to transport Mr Badalov, BMI agreed to repatriate him.
Gay rights acitivst Peter Tatchell said he recently met Deputy Prime Minister Harriet Harman and she and Barbara Follett, Equalities Minister, agreed to "examine and assist in the correction of any unfair treatment of LGBT asylum applicants."

Activists have called for a boycott of BMI.
gayasylumuk criticised the government today.
"Gay and lesbian Labour voters in particular consider changing their vote if the [LGBT asylum] policy isn't changed before the next election," the group said.
"This is one way to get the message through on their hypocrisy regarding lesbian and gay rights issues — when embassies in other countries are flying the rainbow flag they aren't doing this in Tehran, Kingston or Kampala."
Earlier this year the rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGBT community, flew during Pride in two eastern European nations from the British Embassy as a show of support.

No Borders South Wales

Click the image to go to No Borders South Wales to see the "Babi must stay protest" outside the UK borders offices on Wed the 17th September....since then however he has been deported despite the efforts by this wonderful group.

At least it has shown us here that we need to fight for what we want ourselves.

Good example to us from No Borders South Wales

their motto :

Organising against migration controls and for freedom of movement for all!

Peace.

Lesbians Take Over?

(as usual read the star news with a grain of salt as fear is the driver here than common sense; as if seeing or toucherism will make the contact viewer gay! ........ oh boi)

Men have been taking a back seat at strip clubs as women are being given all the attention, investigations by THE WEEKEND STAR have revealed.

Many men say they are being outdone and in some cases outnumbered by strip club-attending lesbians. To add insult to injury, they allege that exotic dancers now seem more fond of women.
"It look like wi haffi go ban di lesbian dem or gi dem one club fi dem self cause is like dem a tek ova ya now. Dem did always a come a club but now a dem a run di club dem an a dem nuff a di dancer girl dem interested inna. Dem naw pay wi nuh whole heap a attention again," an irate sounding Kirk Hewitt, a patron at a club explained. Hewitt, 39, claims he has been attending strip clubs for a long time, but, like this reporter, was quite surprised by the turn of events at a club recently.

Groups of women were seen gathered at various sections of the club dancing together. They were soon joined by the exotic dancers who would play with them, leaving the men by themselves.
The women would wine and grind on each other, touching and even kissing, much to the disgust of some men who openly showed their displeasure by shouting expletives and rude comments at them.

Similar situations were witnessed at several other strip clubs.
"Yu si dem my youth, if some woman nuh strong inna di earth none a dem naw go lef fi nuh man get," Andre Garrick, another strip club patron said. "A pure group a dem par eno and dem have up dem money suh di go-go dem nuh business cause dem a get fi dem ting."

Money is the reason

Other male patrons agreed that money was the reason for them being outdone by the women.

"Dem gal deh money tall eno, a pure big car dem drive and fi dem table always full a liquor, plus dem nah ramp fi all tip di go-go dem wid some big money...True we as some hardworking man now a try play tight wid our own, di go-go dem naw badda stress demself ova we," another said.

HAVE MORE FUN

But many of these women say they are just merely trying to have fun and are not trying to outdo the men.
"I go to strip clubs all the while, and it's not a case where we are trying to overthrow men so to speak, it's just a case where more and more of us are becoming more comfortable with our sexuality and want to have more fun," one woman said.

"Men like to party, we like to party, men love to see dancers and we love to see them too," another added.
When asked about her feelings on the issue, one dancer, who identified herself as Ginger, boldly replied, "Money talks bull... walks!"
Her views were echoed by other dancers. "A nuh seh wi naw pay di man dem nuh mind but a di woman dem a spend di money suh wi haffi go weh di money deh," one added.

Clinical psychologist Dr Asquith Reid, said while money may be a pulling factor for this 'girl on girl' indulgence, as some females have claimed, people are generally just doing what they want to, be it in their homes or the strip clubs.

Reid said that immoral practices of this sort was nothing new but has got more widespread in recent times due to technological advances. "It seems more prevalent today because of the exposure that people now have to cable," he said. "People are exploring these behaviours that they see, some may end up liking it while others may not."

He noted that despite the behaviour of some of these women who trod the lesbian path or act in such a way in the clubs, they actually have heterosexual relationships at home.

ENDS

Sad that people always tend to ascribe money for gay sex as a reason for homosexuality, when will we grow into some sense nationally?

Peace & tolerance

H