Jamaica - Homophobia, Murder Music and Free Speech

Since the recording of this interview there have been some efforts that have borne fruit.

1). The Reggae Compassionate Act
2). The changing attitudes of the police (still needing improvements)
3). The slowly evolving public discourse on LGBT issues
We still have a long way to go.

A point of interest is that Brian Williamson was not the first openly gay individual to go public...Gay Freedom Movement (GFM), founded around 1974 by five Jamaicans and an American Jesuit then working in the island. It focused on consciousness-raising within the LGBT community and professional organizations, issued a newsletter, Jamaica Gaily News, and ran a Gay Youth Program, Prison Outreach Program and a free STD clinic.

General Secretary, Larry Chang, who was also publisher and editor of JGN, was the first Jamaican to come out publicly, being interviewed on radio and JBC-TV and through his letters to the press. Before he fled to the US in 2000 where he was granted political asylum in 2004, he had helped found JFLAG.

Thanks however to Peter and others for highlighting the issues though.

Peace.

LGBT History Month - Stop Murder Music

Stop Murder Music is a campaign is jointly run by Outrage!, the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group and JFLAG in the early years.

The term 'Murder Music' was coined by British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell in the mid-1990s to describe the homophobic work of certain Jamaican musicians, primarily dancehall and ragga artists who called for and encouraged physical violence and murder of homosexuals
The Murder Music Campaign have accused Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Sizzla, Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, Capleton, T.O.K., Buju Banton and others of promoting anti-gay violence, harassment, and bigotry through their music.

Tatchell has called for laws against homophobic music and the Campaign participated in protests outside concerts. The Campaign has especially objected to lyrics which seem to support violence, including murder, towards gay men. Tatchell's campaign began in the early 1990s when Buju Banton's song "Boom Bye-Bye" was released and has continued to date. Dennis Carney, chair of the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group, argued that the MOBO Awards had a responsibility to exclude anti-gay artists because, "homophobic lyrics in music normalise hatred towards black gay men.

"Tatchell picketed the MOBO Awards ceremony to protest at their inviting performers of murder music. Tatchell received death threats and was labelled a racist. Tatchell defended himself by pointing to a life's work campaigning against racism, and stated that his statements on Jamaica were in support of terrorized black groups within Jamaica.

The Jamaican leg had JFLAG representatives such as Mark and myself translating the lyrics for the UK based advocates so they could understand our patois hence their knowledge and understanding of the ever changing descriptions that have been hurled at us in the name of opposing homosexuality.

Peace and tolerance

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LGBT History Month - Forum on Gay Rights' Relevance

In September 2000 JFLAG hosted a forum on whether gay rights were necessary in Jamaica. Present were Jamaicans for Justice representatives, human rights advocates, members of the legal fraternity, Amnesty International Rep and interested allies.

The forum helped to highlight that gays and lesbians suffered discrimination as a sexual minority and that gay rights are not divisible from human rights. The overwhelming challenge, therefore, remained apparent, to educate Jamaicans on the importance of upholding human rights as set out in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. First and foremost this regards to the right of life.

Coincidentally, the same day JGLAG had its forum, the then Prime Minister was quoted in the national paper as saying that hanging and sodomy laws will remain on the books as long as he is in power. This declaration was made less than an hour after he was returned unopposed as President of the People's National Party (PNP), this solidified the necessity of human rights organizations to work together to uphold human rights in Jamaica.

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LGBT History Month - The Work of The Women for Women Group

Women For Women (WFW)
A Non-Government Organization which focuses on issues as they relate to Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered women


OVERVIEW
Women For Women is the offspring of efforts by Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays (J-FLAG), in collaboration with Jamaica Aids Support (JAS), to support the needs of lesbian and bisexual women and other related group(s) of women.


They used to occasionally present at general LGBT meetings via GLABCOM, gay, lesbian, bisexual community meetings under Jamaica AIDS Support for Life's targeted interventions programs before it was discontinued in June 2009 in the Kingston chapter.


In September 1999, the JAS/J-FLAG initiative was born; a women’s group established for support and recreation named Lesbians In Action (LIA).


In October 2000, LIA participants went through a facilitated process to restructure the group. After two facilitated meetings, the name changed from LIA to

WOMEN FOR WOMEN (WFW)


A new identity was born with more succinct mission and vision, a new format a with renewed interest and commitment toward the group.


As with any other organization, WFW went through a breakdown in 2002, but despite the hiccup, a new Steering Committee was formed in March 2003, and we can safely say that some positive strides have been made to improve our organization and community.

ACTIVITIES
We have so far hosted and continue to host educational workshops on the following topics:-


Healthy Relationships II
Spirituality & Homosexuality
Lesbian Parenting


They have also been involved in Panel Presentation organized by J-FLAG such as:-


The Women's Crisis Centre
National AIDS Committee
Combined Volunteer Social Services
School For International Training
The Peace Corp
The Editor's Forum



WFW is a four-pronged organization which covers:
Education
Activism
Recreational/Social Intervention
General Outreach

We welcome volunteers to work in any of the above mentioned areas.


You can contact them through lgbtevent@gmail.com

Peace and tolerance


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Immigration minister criticised for letting homophobic artist into Canada

Campaigners against anti-gay "murder music" artists have accused a government minister in Canada of giving Jamaican star Buju Banton "a platform to incite murder" after he was allowed into the country.
The Stop Murder Music (Canada) campaign is a coalition of more than 20 organisations that promote human rights.
The international Stop Murder Music campaign has targeted dancehall stars who perform songs advocatng violence against gay and lesbian people.
Last year a New York radio station cancelled a reggae concert as planned after the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation protested because homophobic performers Buju Banton and Bounty Killer were to perform.
Banton's notorious 1990s hit Boom Bye Bye appears to incite the burning, shooting in the head and pouring acid over the faces of gay people.
In October 2006 two of his concerts in the US were cancelled after pressure from gay activists.
In July 2007 he signed up to the Reggae Compassionate Act, promising not to perform songs that advocate homophobia, in a deal brokered by Stop Murder Music activists.
He later denied that he had made any such commitment.
Canada's immigration minister Diane Finley has been accused of being more concerned about getting re-elected than addressing the concerns of the LGBT community. The country is in the middle of a general election campaign.
“The Minister has abdicated her duties by allowing Buju Banton into the country and as a result has provided him with a platform to incite murder," said Akim Larcher, spokesperson for Stop Murder Music (Canada).
“Buju Banton has continued to perform ‘murder music’ whilst on tour in the Caribbean and has recently said that gays and lesbians are part of social decay.”
The group want him to be deported.
The Stop Murder Music campaign spearheaded by UK gay activist group OutRage! has brought about the cancellation of hundreds of concerts and sponsorship deals, causing income losses estimated in excess of $5m (£2.5m).

Review of The JFLAG Parliamentary Submission

As appearing in Parliament on June 5, 2001

"THE JAMAICA FORUM FOR LESBIANS ALL-SEXUALS AND GAYS (J-FLAG) WITH REGARD TO "AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF JAMAICA TO PROVIDE FOR A CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FOR CONNECTED MATTERS"

A constitution should provide a foundation of principles upon which the laws of a society are built. It should ensure, for all its constituents, the rights to equality before the law, and to dignity of the person.
Rights such as these are integral to the very foundation of this country. The birth of Jamaica as a modern nation occurred out of a history of oppression and colonialism that necessitated the claiming, by the disadvantaged black majority, of a new rule of law that idealised these two rights.

A Bill of Rights should seek to protect the inherent human identity from abuse. By this we mean that features which are inherently and innately a part of one's identity ought not to be allowed to form the basis for discrimination or exclusion by others. The Jamaican Constitution currently protects against discrimination based on race, and it is now proposed that gender be included as a head of non-discrimination. We believe that sexual orientation also ought properly to be brought under the protective umbrella of the anti-discrimination clause.

What, then, is "sexual orientation"? Professor Edwin Cameron (now a Judge of the South African Constitutional Court) writes, at pp. 450 of the 1993 volume of the South African Law Times ([1993] S.A.L.T. 450):

"Sexual orientation is defined by reference to erotic attraction: in the case of heterosexuals, to members of the opposite sex; in the case of gays and lesbians, to members of the same sex. Potentially, a homosexual or gay or lesbian person can therefore be anyone who is erotically attracted to members of his or her own sex".

Continue HERE for the full presentation or HERE for a summary

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A Genetic Link to Fight HIV

Scientists from the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology (GIVI) and the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have identified a gene that may influence the production of antibodies that neutralize HIV. This discovery is likely to lead to a new approach for making an HIV vaccine which enhances the production of neutralizing antibodies.

Since HIV became a worldwide problem scientists have been determined, yet unsuccessful, in creating strong protective antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacteria and viruses. Some scientists believe antibodies have a potential to control the HIV virus infection in humans if given enough help.
HIV is a type of virus named a “retrovirus,” which copies its RNA genetic material into DNA and incorporates it into the DNA of its host. Back in 1978, researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) studied a similar retrovirus in mice and found a gene named Rfv3 that influenced neutralizing antibodies construction. Once neutralizing antibodies are produced in the host, they can attack and destroy an infecting virus and allow the animal to recover.
By 1999, the search for the possible location of Rfv3 in the genome was narrowed down to a small region on chromosome 15, but that region contained 60 genes. Now, the laboratory of GIVI Director Warner C. Greene and a team of scientists from NIAID have shown that Rfv3 is actually Apobec3 - an innate immunity gene with antiretroviral activity. This discovery came as a surprise for the team.
The recent studies have been restricted to mice and a different retrovirus, yet the results of these studies may be extended to HIV as well. One of the HIV genes, Vif, specifically disables human Apobec3 proteins thus causing HIV patients not to produce broadly neutralizing antibodies against the virus. This new study suggests that drugs or vaccines that would interfere with Vif activity could allow humans to have better neutralizing antibody responses against HIV.

The research team conducted several experiments by mating mice with different Rfv3 and Apobec3 profiles. They demonstrated that Apobec3, similar to Rfv3, plays an important role in the early control of the retroviral infection in mice and also has an effect on specific retroviral antibody responses. Another discovery was that Rfv3 sensitive mouse strains that fail to make antibody responses have a natural defect in Apobec3. These results provide convincing evidence that Rfv3 and Apobec3 is the same gene.
This link between Apobec3 and neutralizing antibody responses is even more interesting when we come to consider studies that found people that somehow resist the HIV infection despite being exposed to the virus for years. These individuals were found to produce a special type of antibody recognizing the virus and genetic mapping studies of their resistance points to a chromosomal region where the human Apobec3 genes are clustered.
The next step for the research group would be to investigate Apobec3 differences in these individuals and currently they are screening for compounds that could improve the Apobec3 function during an HIV infection.
TFOT has recently covered several stories on different aspects of the HIV virus. One such story is of a natural protein which prevents the HIV virus from spreading, discovered by scientists at the Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center. Another story covered a new combination of antiretroviral therapy which effectively restores HIV patients’ immune function levels to levels similar to those found in healthy individuals, discovered by scientists by a European research group.
For more information on the Apobec3 research visit the Gladstone institute website.

Scientists Find First Immune Responses To HIV Infection Ineffective

Scientists have identified the very first antibodies to appear in the wake of HIV infection and have concluded that they are virtually impotent in mounting a meaningful defense against the invading virus.
The discovery is the latest finding in a growing body of work from scientists in Duke University's Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine and Immunology (CHAVI) focusing on better understanding the cascade of events occurring immediately after HIV infection.

The current study was enabled by a valuable resource: a repository of plasma donor blood samples that were collected every three days - before, during and after HIV plasma viral load ramp-up in acute infection. Because the samples were held for weeks to complete HIV and hepatitis B and C testing, researchers were able to track the immune response from the moment of infection until several weeks after transmission.
Georgia Tomaras, PhD, the lead author of the study appearing online in the Journal of Virology, says the earliest immune response to HIV infection comes in the form of antibody-coated viruses (also known as immune complexes) arising eight days after the virus reaches measurable levels in plasma. In most infections, formation of antibody-coated virus particles is the first step in controlling infection. When it comes to HIV infection, however, that first step appears to be a feeble one.
"Mathematical modeling tells us these early antibodies do not slow the spread of the virus," says Tomaras. "We are conducting additional studies to determine if these early antibodies may actually be encouraging viral replication or if they could be useful in greater numbers to stop the infection."
Researchers say additional virus-fighting B cells, or antibodies, show up over time. For example, antibodies to the gp41 part of the outer coat of the virus appear five days after the first antibody-coated virus. In contrast, virus-specific antibodies that might be able to control infection if they were to appear in sufficient numbers do not arise until weeks after the infection - long after the virus has irreversibly inserted its code into host genes.
Scientists generally believe that antibodies against part of the outer coat of the virus, envelope, known as gp120, hold more promise against HIV infection. "But if they aren't activated until after HIV has already inserted itself into host genes, in essence, establishing a latent pool of infected cells, then it's too late for these antibodies to do much good," says Tomaras.
Understanding the time frame in which the right kind of immune response might have a chance to be effective in thwarting HIV infection is critical to designing an effective vaccine strategy, says Tomaras. "Most researchers now believe that the window of opportunity for an HIV vaccine to work is very narrow, and we are concerned that this window may close within a few days after transmission."

Coupling current findings with data from earlier studies, Barton Haynes, MD, Director of CHAVI and the senior author of the study, believes that a successful vaccine would have to create immunity that would precede the time of infection, a process that might also involve manipulating the earliest antibody response and then sparking the stronger, broadly neutralizing response that normally occurs at a much later time in natural infection.
"We are encouraged by these findings," says Haynes. "The pace of discovery is picking up and the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. Little by little we are learning more about the very earliest stages of HIV infection and a getting a clearer picture of what a successful vaccine will have to do."

By: Duke University Health System - Mon, 10/13/2008 - 05:18