Imposition, Bribery or foolhardy - UK Minister takes ‘pink diplomacy’ to anti-gay nations

A gay Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant is championing a controversial drive to fund equal-rights activists in homophobic regimes.British missions in countries such as Jamaica, where homosexual acts are punishable by long jail terms, and Nigeria, where they can lead to the death penalty, are being encouraged to “support progress” by financing gay pride marches and legal challenges from local campaigners.

As well as targeting Commonwealth countries, “pink diplomacy” will extend to eastern Europe, where gays have suffered brutal attacks from far-right groups. Opportunities to tackle discrimination in ultra-conservative nations, such as Iran, are also being considered - cautiously.The move risks a backlash from countries where support for homosexuality runs contrary to state teaching and religious beliefs.The fact that the initiative is being promoted by Bryant, a former Anglican curate, could exacerbate things. He was ridiculed for sending a picture of himself in his underpants to a friend via a gay dating website six years ago.

Bryant, 47, said: “It is completely up to staff in our embassies and consulates around the world to decide the most appropriate and effective way of making our case but we do encourage this important work because British values are based on fair play and the protection of the individual’s freedom. We are not naive about this work. In some places oppressive regimes make it some of the toughest work we do.”Bryant thanked Robin Barnett, the ambassador to Bucharest, for attending a gay pride march in the Romanian capital that had previously been targeted by thugs hurling fireworks and stones. A 2008 study by the European Commission ranked Romania as the most homophobic in the European Union.Officials confirmed this weekend that the new policy included financial backing.

A Foreign Office briefing document sent to British missions, said Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Nigeria and Uzbekistan were “countries of particular concern”.

SOURCE

Barebacking in Jamaica a worrying reality for me

I have been holding on to this post for a while since I wanted to be sure that what I was gathering was factual, as the post title says bare backing is a rising trend here in Jamaica despite high visibility of safer sex messages and interventions by NGOs and the Ministry of Health young gay and bisexual men especially are practising bareback sex.

The discussion came up for me over the weekend again when a young man came to me worried about the decision he had made to have unprotected sex with an older male lover who happens to be married. Following that luckily I happened to be at a get together put on by a concerned former gay rights activist who called an impromptu meeting of 13 males to discuss various issues affecting gay men here and of course the matter of HIV/AIDS came up for mention. The participants mostly in their mid twenties spoke frankly about their practices and how they did practice safer sex, but in a break out condom demonstration myself and another AIDS 101 trained individual ran with we found out, that while persons were aware of the need for a condom and the main reasons that of to stop HIV/AIDS transmission many were not knowledgeable of the other STIs. It was also surprising to hear that beliefs we thought were dead several years ago that of HIV+ people visibly showing signs before one would take condom action were still around in the minds of a younger generation who never saw the onslaught of the disease in it's hay day.

Many of the young men continued that they preferred bareback sex due to the natural feeling and the supposed complaints by their partners of becoming flaccid after putting on a condom. Very few in the group practised or knew about enemas at all and none had ever seen an enema kit before disposable or otherwise. Few used the home remedy method that of a bottle with plain water for flushing. It begs the examination of what is required to rescue the young MSM population despite all the well intentioned efforts to capture and enthrall this group to safer sex practices.

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It's not only homosexuals that are bareaking but str8s and bisexuals too, myths about sex with virgins to cure common Sexually translitted diseases are still alive and the whole hepephelic scene where teen girls are the object of sexual attraction by older men is still quite commonplace. Bisexual men in particular while practising safe sex with their male partners tend to not use condoms with their at home or common law female partners thus anything can happen to the obedient wife or spouse. It just boggles my mind that all we know about AIDS and safer sex individauls do not or are not able to make the concious decision to practice safer sex of abstinance for that matter for their own preservation.

As for figures the most recent MSM survey that I am aware of :

Privately I am doing my little part for spreading the word on safer sex at least persons can make informed choices, for me it must be ongoing the business of HIV/AIDS intervention especially for our up and coming excited youngsters and adolescents.

ONE MIND AT A TIME YAH.

Lata

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