Transgender Day of Awareness (Norwalk CT)

Transgender Day of Awareness
May 8th 2010
Type: Education - Lecture
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2010
Time: 9:30am - 5:00pm

Location:
Norwalk City Hall
125 East Avenue
City/Town: Norwalk, CT

Description
The focus of the day will be relationships. To understand what it is to be transgender.

Come for any segment you like or stay for the whole DAY!!!

Venue change Norwalk town hall

Transgender Day of Awareness (Living in the Community or Relationships in the Community)

May 8th 9:30-5:00 Program
5:00-? Social Time
The vision of the day is to help family, friends, and the community understand some of the emotional experiences that a trans person goes through.

9:30 Doors open – coffee and breakfast items..
10:00-11:30 Spiritual Panel
Moderator: Bernie

Topics:
• Acceptance by your chosen religion on being trans
• Reconciling religion with who you are, your internal conflicts.
• What does scripture say?
• “Why did god do this to me?”

Participants:
Rev Salas – Parish Minister Unitarian Universalist
Patti Smith (M2F) - Catholic Apostolic Church in North America
Rev. Aaron Miller - Associate Minister of Pastoral Care at MCC
Joann Prinzivalli – scripture analyst

11:30-1:00 Relationships and transition Panel - how transitioning affects others
Moderator; Amy Rose

Topics
• Discuss your experience
• What was your first reaction and how does it differ from how you feel now?
• Has your relationship changed?
• What image did you have in your mind?
• Did you have any notion of your friend/loved one internal struggle?

Participants:
(Amy’s son)
(Spouse)
(Parent)


1:00-1:30 Lunch is on us (Bull’s head market)

Intro by Amy Rose

1:30-3:00 Donna Rose (Title unknown - her story & transition stages, medical, Sexual Vs Gender Identity, touch on the three panel discussions)

3:00-4:30 Workplace Panel – Office Relationships
Moderator Rachel or Chris

Topics:
• Transitioning at work, how to “come out”
• Keeping your job
• Relationships with other employees
• Transition steps

Participants:
Rachel Goldberg
Donna Rose
Tony Ferraiolo



Expo tables:
TCC Groups
• TCC Groups
o Triangle Transgendered Society
o Transmasculine
o TransPartners
• True Colors
• Unitarian Universalist
• Connecticut Transadvocacy
• Jim Collins


This event is for friends and family of transgendered individuals to help educate what their friend and loved one is experiencing.

So friends and family are encouraged to come.

Also, if you know of any transgendered friends please pass the word along about this event.

check out the event's facebook page

Suspect charged in connection with John Terry's murder

According to the Jamaica Observer

A 23-year-old man from Bull Bay in St Andrew has been charged in connection with the murder of John Terry, Honorary Consul to Jamaica from the United Kingdom.

Charged with conspiracy to murder is Richard Ewan, who is also of a Reading address in St James. Ewan worked as a security guard in Montego Bay at the time of Terry’s death. Police charged Ewan after interviewing him yesterday.


The 64-year-old honorary consul was found strangled at his Mount Carey home in St James on Wednesday, September 9, 2009.

A post-mortem on the body, showed that he died from asphyxia due to ligature strangulation associated with other injuries to the neck and head.

Terry was apparently killed by someone known to him as officers said their examination of the home found no forced entry or signs of a break-in.

Terry's body, which was wrapped in a sheet, was discovered by his gardener.

He was employed as a maintenance manager at the Half Moon Hotel up to the time of his death. He worked previously as a manager at the Round Hill Hotel.

Fake Shebada causes trouble

Keith 'Shebada' Ramsey, roots play icon and star of the hit play 'Bashment Granny', says he is being impersonated on popular social networking site Twitter.

The actor is distancing himself from the actions of an unscrupulous individual who created a Twitter account recently and wreaked havoc on the site for the short time the account was active. Soon after the cyber war began to heat up, however, the account was cancelled.

On the site, users 'follow' each other in order to interact and see each other's posts. The fake user, who went by the name 'Bashment Shebada', followed several persons on the site, some of whom were displeased and made it known.

In these instances, the character made it clear in no uncertain terms that he would follow anyone he chose to.

expressing concern

One user,Ryan, queried why he was being followed by the actor, with the following post, "Why is Keith Shebada Ramsey following me?" To this question, Bashment Shebada replied, "Yu luddy! Yu a come gwaan like seh yu a nuh badi. Mi falla anybadi mi c."

After this retaliation, Ryan blocked Bashment Shebada, but this only seemed to anger him more. He later tweeted, "All a di man dem wha a block mi. Unnu nuh see all a di hat gal dem whe a falla mi! Me win! Ah bey!"

A scan of the site revealed many users who had blocked the fake Shebada and who were expressing concern at the fact that he had chosen to follow them.

Before cancelling the account, Bashment Shebada had made several tweets. Among these were tweets which sought to enquire how the site worked and who was on it. One tweet asked, "A how dis work now?" Another said, "People, how unnu so boring? Gimmi di met nuh! Ragga deh pan dis?"

When contacted by THE STAR, Ramsay said he was not responsible for the rude messages and was not even aware that he had been impersonated. "I wouldn't do that," he said, "I have an account, but I haven't used it for a long while, because I don't even remember how to sign in. It is not me and I am very sorry about that."

The actor said he was wrapping up his current play on the local scene and was looking forward to a new play, set to be released in the summer. He said the new play would be more "edgy" and would take him back to his Bashment Granny roots.

Several popular figures have recently fallen victim to fake Twitter accounts. These include Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.

“Corrective Rape” continues in 2010

So with the reluctance or refusal of the two main organizations that say they serve GLBTQ people in Jamaica to publicly comment or deal with this horrible issue of “Corrective Rape” a burrowed term I use from the African experience of the sexual abuse of lesbian and bisexual women in a bid to straighten them out, the problem seems to be a hush hush issue which when it actually occurs to victims, they do not know where to turn. Many suffer in silence as they implode emotionally on themselves while few others fortunately have some support from family or friends despite the traumatic experience and their sexual orientation.

The last main case that came to my attention earlier this year one of the lesbian two sisters (from one case) who were abused I communicate with one a regular basis and she is upbeat as ever and in fact she has gone into advocacy mode so to speak as a one woman movement sharing her concerns for GLBTQ issues in general and assisting other sisters and brothers of homophobic violence in what small way she can, the other sister as I was informed is now coming around as I had concerns about her slow return to normality as she reluctantly sought to find the relevant counseling services at the time following the dastardly acts she was forced to perform on the three bastards. One of the three perpetrators has since been tried and sentenced to 29 years imprisonment as he had previous convictions of sexual abuse over his head while the others are out there doing god knows what to women. CISOCA, Centre for investigations of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse previously known as the rape unit is aware of the problem particularly in central Jamaica but they cannot prosecute suspects due to the fear many victims have of coming forward and testifying during their respective trials,or many cases don't get off the ground, I guess it’s hard as one has to relive the experience in plain site of ones attacker(s).

Am I one of the few who seem to be concerned by this? I don’t hear JFLAG or Women for Women addressing this issue if any at all, the scared advocacy business is not putting any of us anywhere, and we need to speak out and loudly.

New casesI have been able to confirm one that occurred in east Kingston only last Wednesday April 15, 2010 where a twenty year old bisexual sister was lured into a trap deliberately set by her attackers who informed her that she needs to straighten out herself and “stop mek woman fuck yuh” (stop allowing women to fuck you) as one or more of the eight men who savagely took turns raping her repeatedly advised her.

There seems to be a light connection to the recent marching band controversy in the walk for tolerance issue as one of the perpetrators made some reference to lesbianism and the boldness of gays in a march. The band is from the neighbouring community so it seems the fallout has borne some evidence.

I have managed to speak to her directly and she is slowly coming into good spirits she has been to the rape unit and is now following up on her prescribed anti retroviral medication course which basically acts as a prophylaxis regime to handle any eventuality of HIV infection, she is to continue this for the next 6 or so months as is customary for rape victims also she has done the necessary tests for other STIs and is cleared in that respect so thank God. She has the strong support of her mother which is good and I have done what little encouragement I can. She is to continue her official counseling sessions towards full recovery. She has relocated as well as the men have issued a threat of sorts. Why would eight men seek to do this when the general belief by men in Jamaica is that “man fi have nuff gal” (according to Beenieman) or men are to have multiple female sex partners. I thought we were a homophobic country so why would I want to see seven other men beside me entering the same orifice?

Strange how Jamaican men express their obvious hatred and contempt for women in these sick acts. I’ll address the hatred issue in another post.

The other two incidents I am tracking and hope to get sufficient details to provide a formal report allegedly occurred in Kingston in March and Clarendon in April respectively details are sketchy for the former but speculation is that the sole victim was attacked while on her way home from her daily activities by three men in her area one of whom has publicly expressed sexual interest in her by making advances but she refused, this is similar to a case that is documented of a student who returned to Jamaica on vacation from the states in 2008 who also suffered a similar fate.

The second case in rural Jamaica happened this month as well and it was a family member who made me aware of the incident as she wants the matter hushed. Her brother by the way is straight. I doubt I will be able to provide anymore information on this one but for as much as the numbers this will prove that the abuse of women continues.

How many the incidents like this have occurred that have slipped under the radar and no serious programs seem to be in place in our ad hoc GLBTQ advocacy system to treat with care to the victims of such an experience. Maybe as a gay man it looks strange to see such concern for lesbians maybe I am unique, who knows but homophobia is what it is no matter how it manifests itself and to whom.

If you know of any homophobic or for that matter lesbophobic incidents or have experienced your own please contact me on lgbtevent@gmail.com, glbtqjamaica@live.com this is with a view to document and track such cases for purposes of historical data and reference and possibly more.

Please be safe, look out for your neighbours and friends.

Peace and tolerance

H

Bogus pro-gay arguments (Gleaner letter)

The Editor, Sir:

Maurice Tomlinson of Jamaica AIDS Support for Life has accused the Jamaican Parliament of "wanting gays dead" because of Parliament's retention of anti-sodomy laws in the 2009 Sexual Offences Act.

He has also demanded tolerance for the vulnerable participants of the gay lifestyle claiming that tolerance is necessary to decrease the incidence of HIV/AIDS among men who have sex with men (MSMs).

How then does Mr Tomlinson explain the fact that the incidence of HIV/AIDS has been increasing among gay men in the United States since the early 1990s? Why was it necessary to introduce the 'National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day' (NGMHAAD) in 2008?

For the 2009 observance of the day, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a brochure titled 'HIV/AIDS and Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM)' which stated :

"MSM made up more than two-thirds (68 per cent ) of all men living with HIV in 2005, even though only about five per cent to seven per cent of men in the United States reported having sex with other men."

Population accounts

Dr Jonathan Mermin, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the CDC stated: "Men who have sex with men still account for nearly half of the more than one million people living with HIV in the United States even though this population accounts for a very small percentage of all persons in the United States."

Why is the above occurring in a country in which homosexuals enjoy significant and increasing political power, legal endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle throughout the United States and same-sex marriage in some states?

I am, etc.,

W. WEST

wayne_west@hotmail.com

Kingston 6

Gays have rights too says Carolyn Gomes

Dear Editor,

In recent weeks there has been much ado in the media about the "Walk" in Montego Bay to draw attention to the high level of intolerance towards persons vulnerable to, living with, and affected by HIV/AIDS. Much of the discussion so far has been clouded by questions about whether this was a walk for tolerance or a gay march as gays rightly participated in this walk, being one of the groups most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

While there have been opportunities to discuss some of the critical issues highlighted by the walk, one question seems left unanswered: what if it was indeed a gay march - so what? What would be so wrong with members of the Jamaican gay community raising awareness about their right to exist?

Indeed, gay rights are human rights as was so well articulated by none other than the notable Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. In an article titled, "In Africa ... A Step Backward On Human Rights" published by the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, Mr Tutu made the significant point that "no one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity - or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds".

In essence, he provided an opportunity to frame the discussion about how we as a people should respond to each other - love of humanity regardless of our differences. The truth is that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people who are part of so many families are suffering from the bigotry and prejudice that exists.

It is high time we as Jamaicans take stock of the abuse we perpetuate in denying our brothers and sisters the opportunity to earn a decent living, access health care and the love of family and each other because of prejudices, laws and policies that we inherited from our colonial masters.

Loving acceptance of each other and tolerance of differences, protecting the rights of all are what we are called to live and display. In the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Let us begin this process of rethinking and renewal sooner rather than later.

Carolyn Gomes

Kingston 6

No to Dudus extradition, no to US demands

There might be connections between the Buju Banton (right) arrest the courageous stand of Prime Minister Golding against the homosexuality that the US is promoting worldwide, and the Coke case

Mervin Stoddart

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

While the US continues to subject Jamaica to its superpower one-upmanship over the Christopher "Dudus" Coke affair, many Jamaicans continue to sleepwalk with "matter" in their eyes concerning that and other global geopolitical developments.

Although it will always be true that there are none as blind as those who will not see, and although no amount of preaching, teaching or writing can inject common sense into brainwashed "sheeple", those who love Jamaica and its people must continue to try to rouse Jamaican sleepers from their socio-political slumber.


Based on the talk on Jamaican streets, radio-show and television comments, Internet blogs and newspaper articles dealing with the Coke case, certain camps among Jamaicans and people with vested interests in Jamaica can be identified. Yet, one gets the impression that among the majority of Jamaicans who should be concerned about this case, namely, the poor and the common people, there is a "couldn't care less" attitude and outright apathy, leading this writer to wonder when we will all wake up.

The US game of imperialism has utilised the same strategies with slight modifications throughout its history. Strategy number one is for the US to give up the least and gain the most, using every method from deception to brute force. Not enough Jamaicans read US history, especially the massacre of the Native Americans, perhaps because Jamaicans became completely mesmerised by US propaganda movies featuring Indians and lawmen.

Too few Jamaicans understand that the US plants groups and individuals in Jamaica to orchestrate US policies, including the destabilisation of Jamaica, as seen in the Michael Manley era. Very often those US puppets are Jamaicans - including politicians, professionals and people from any level - who are bribed, blackmailed or brutalised to play their parts.The greatest need, therefore, is for this camp of Jamaicans, the innocent ignoramuses, to be taught by politicians, preachers, pedagogues and people who know the truth about US imperialism. If those Jamaicans are not duly educated, then it will be "dog nyam wi suppa".

US strategy number two is a kind of distraction that approaches deception but which runs much deeper than any one issue or development. The Dudus debacle is a classic case. The US always uses groups and individuals to do its dirty work and then disposes of those suckers. The JLP did some dirty work for America during the Manley years and it might be "sucker time".

There might be connections between the Buju Banton arrest, the courageous stand of Prime Minister Golding against the homosexuality that the US is promoting worldwide, and the Coke case. Thus certain Jamaican factions, some diaspora entities, and of course, those clandestine forces promoting US interests online and elsewhere, are now swarming like vultures toward this Dudus distraction to help the US accomplish its hidden agendas.

This camp containing Jamaicans and non-Jamaicans, the licky-lickey lucre lovers are those for whom the US can do no wrong and for whom Jamaica can do nothing right. They lack analytical ability, spout overworked clichés and paddle in ad hominem Portia-potties. It will take enlightenment from Yeshua Messiah, or timely repentance when their turn comes to be US suckers, to help that camp. Yet, every single Jamaican is important and should be helped to see the light, if at all possible.

There is also a guild of pathetic pragmatists who deliberately support US policies that they know to be immoral and evil, simply because it is the "wise" thing to do to remain in US favour so as not to lose business, lose visa, or otherwise suffer recrimination. This camp makes it easy for the US to perpetrate its strategy of using Trojan horse gifts to manipulate and exploit Jamaica. They grab at straw arguments to support extradition for Coke and proffer non sequitur ramblings and biased rancours against PM Golding and the Jamaican government. Some are opportunists who play the Coke conundrum for political points, while others try to curry US favour.

It is not totally unwise to play it safe at times, but members of this camp must remember that imperialism is no respecter of persons. It would be better for this guild to remain quietly neutral instead of bad-mouthing Jamaica. Private sector groups, Opposition spokespersons, church organisations and media houses that kowtow to the US position in this Coke affair might be bordering on treachery, especially when some of them played similar roles in the Manley years.

The extradition treaty between Jamaica and the US is lopsided and pragmatically flawed. It smells like an agreement between entities, one of which is more equal than the other. In its Narcotics Report the US admits that 70 per cent of guns used in crimes in Jamaica come from the US, yet there is still only a one-way extradition from the weaker nation to the other. Most of the agreements between the US and other nations mentioned in that report simply give licence for the US to have free run in those countries which in turn give up their sovereignty to US imperialism. Jamaica already suffers too much from such manipulation and exploitation from European, North American, and other nations and NGO groups.

This fight for Jamaican sovereignty and justice for Coke should not be a Golding gladiator bout but a cause in which every single conscientious Jamaican should stand up against US bullying.

Thank God for the conscientious crew that analyses this extradition issue from the standpoint of Godly justice and divine righteousness. It includes the Rev Al Miller, PM Golding, and others. If it were not for the spectre of imperialism, grounded in social Darwinism, overshadowing this issue, long ago there would have been delegations of diplomats from each country meeting behind closed doors to resolve this issue respectably, and there would not have been that US one-upmanship displayed in their Narcotics Report.

Too much "sufferation" among Jamaicans is being caused by foreigners. Careful analysis of the Dudus case will help Jamaicans learn many vital lessons about how they are being exploited from without. Wake up and live, Jamaicans!

INMerv@hotmail.com

Music problem

the letter writer suggests that the gay lobby in the US have silenced Buju Banton among other things....................

Dear Editor,
We need to be cautious about the kind of music we present to the world. It is unfortunate that we are at times offering gutter music for the buying public to indulge in. We have to clean up our act and find no fault when the world fails to listen to our substandard music.

The music fraternity should therefore understand why so many artistes are getting such an outright fight from Uncle Sam. The current problem comes from how we were socialised into an unfortunate corrupt and violent social system.

We are an undisciplined people, and we are too steadfast in what we believe in, without analysing critically the pros and the cons to see viable outcomes.

However, on the matter of Buju Banton being sent to jail, it's all hogwash. Buju was like a lamb to the slaughter because of anti-gay lyrics and his stance on biblical principles. There is no disputing that Buju was a target for pro-gay activists whose main purpose was to incarcerate and silence him.

The popularity of local dancehall acts, the so-called icons who infiltrate the society with profanity, violence against women and sexually devious lyrics are the craze among the young and gullible.

Everything that they say becomes the buzzword in short order. They are not role models, but they have such a great impact on the populace that they influence change in slang phrases all over the island.

We have a big problem, but we need a new beginning so we can hold our own and be a force to reckon with once more.

Paris Taylor

Greater Portmore, St Catherine

paristaylor82@hotmail.com

HIV and MSM community: Should we care? — Pt 2

BY PATRICIA WATSON

JAMAICA'S culture of multiple sexual partners which is epitomised in Beenie Man's Nuff Gal recording has contributed to the conundrum the country finds itself with regards to HIV.

More than 80 per cent of persons diagnosed with HIV reported having multiple sexual relations.

The 2008 Knowledge Attitude Practice and Behaviour Survey revealed that 76 per cent of males (from all population groups) aged 15 - 24 years reported having multiple sexual partners in the last 12 months. Men aged 25 - 49 years old were less likely to have multiple partners but also stood at 52 per cent.

In Nuff Gal, Beenie Man chants, "...the one burner business nah work again, 'cause one man fi have all 50 gal friend. If yu stop drink roots, start drink it again, 'yu haffi have the stamina fi service dem".

This situation is equally prevalent among heterosexual men as it is among men who have sex with men (MSM) and the legal and moral context within which gay men operate in Jamaica compounds their sexual behaviours and attitude.

"The reality is that, in our context, I don't see MSMs planning monogamous relationships. It is not that I am saying it is impossible, but due to the security risks you won't find a lot of men doing that," said a prominent businessman who is bisexual.

His statement supports the findings of a survey conducted by Dr Peter Figueroa, et al in 2008 which not only found that 31.8 per cent of MSMs surveyed were living with HIV, but that multiple partnerships were very common. The survey showed that 27.4 per cent of MSMs had two or more male partners in the past four weeks and 25. 9 per cent had one new male partner in the past four weeks.

"The social condition under which MSMs negotiate partners is different. There is absolutely nothing in the society that encourages healthy relationships, dating, spending time together, etc," said Jalna Broderick, prevention, treatment and care co-ordinator at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life.

"Few have stable places in which to live or have sex. There is pressure not to be seen with one specific person in case he becomes linked to or associated with that persona and therefore confirm questions about your sexuality."

The bisexual businessman also explained that "as Jamaican men, we have been brought up to believe that having many partners is a credential". The notion of having 'nuff gal' is also alive in the MSM community.

The survey done by Dr Figueroa and his team also revealed some other interesting data. Some 28.8 per cent of MSMs reported having had sexual relationships with at least one female partner in past four weeks; 15.9 per cent were living with a female sexual partner and 33.8 per cent had two or more female partners in the last 12 months.

According to Broderick, this is done mainly to deflect from social scrutiny. She noted that our society encourages men to have multiple sexual partners evidenced by some of the questions asked: 'How come mi neva see you wid no ooman?', 'Nuh time fi yu fi bring home a pickney now?'. She said being without a woman questions the man's masculinity and so rather than having that questioned they opt for relationships with women. On the other hand, she noted that some of the men involved with women are "genuinely bisexual and really and truly want both men and women".

It is against this background that experts in the field have been lobbying for the decriminalisation of buggery. It is clear from the data that significant portions of MSMs are also having sex with women. It is also clear that the rate of HIV infection among men is much higher than the national average of 1.8 per cent. Unless steps are taken to lower the rate of infection among MSMs, then it is logical that the national average will not be reduced.

Another key finding of the survey was that condom use among the MSM population was low compared to heterosexual males. Condom use among MSMs was at 30 per cent below that of the national average where condom use varies between 72 and 84 per cent for males.

You can send your questions or comments relating to HIV or related issues to info@eveforlife.org or write to Eve for Life, C/O Jamaica Observer

Sexual deviance and the Catholic Church (Wignall)

Sexual deviance and the Catholic Church

Mark Wignall

One of the most refreshing aspects of our democracy as expressed through the press is that it allows opinion columnists like Michael Burke and myself to appear in the same social space while conveying, in the vast majority of instances, views which indicate that we hardly ever share common ground on a range of issues, including politics, sex and relationships, religion, etc.

For those who place a high value on diversity of opinion expressed publicly, it is actually quite liberating for those who read newspaper columns to attempt to fill that large gap which exists between the two ends while ripping us to shreds if either of our views fall outside of their respective range of 'reasonableness'.


POPE BENEDICT XVI... may have covered up incidents of priestly paedophilia
POPE BENEDICT XVI... may have covered up incidents of priestly paedophilia 1/1

In his columns Burke is more a Catholic who just happens to be a columnist than a columnist who just happens to be a defender of the faith, and his weekly pieces reflect that position unapologetically. On the other hand, I subscribe to no religion and none of the widely accepted deities.

As one of two main purveyors of Catholicism through regular newspaper columns, Burke could not escape wading headlong into commenting on the embarrassing international sex scandal presently plaguing the Catholic Church, especially because of journalistic investigations which indicate that the pope may have covered up incidents of priestly paedophilia while he held a lesser position years ago and was in charge of some of the men so accused.

Last Thursday Burke expressed in his column, "Unacceptable, no matter who does it", a position which indicated little in the way of an objective examination of the sex scandal, but rather doled out a dogma which rendered him much too deeply immersed in Catholicism to see anything but the stale political and religious doctrines of the church. In the second paragraph of his column he stated, "There have even been attempts to sully the name of the pope by accusing him of covering up such deeds when he was an archbishop in Germany. God alone is his judge as to whether this was so. Is this an attempt to discredit the pope no matter what he does or says? Who but the devil himself would want to do that, especially as the pope speaks in the name of Jesus Christ? But Jesus Christ did promise that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the church."

One of the troubling doctrines of the church is priestly celibacy, and increasingly it is thought by many outside of the Catholic faith that celibacy as a requirement for its priesthood encourages into its ranks a higher percentage of men who initially had no natural desire for the opposite sex, coupled with a host of other sexually related neuroses developed from the wrong signals being triggered at puberty.

Burke is of the view that the criticism of the church was unfair and he may well be correct, because I have never sensed among our people a great outpouring of love for the Church of Rome. But Burke hardly assists his cause when he estimates that only about 1.5 per cent of Catholic priests are paedophiles then states, "If there are a million Roman Catholic priests worldwide, 1.5 per cent is 10,500. That is enough to talk about one paedophile priest every day for 21 years and give the impression that everyone is involved."

Burke makes the admission that in the religious hierarchy, God is first, Jesus is second and the pope, who is infallible in ecclesiastical matters, is Jesus' representative on Earth. After all, he said, the pope need not bother himself with plebs outside the church who criticise the well-established political nature of its cultic-like religion and the papacy because it is only God whom he recognises as the one he should answer to.

According to Burke, having 10,500 Catholic priests who are sexually attracted to little boys does not fall outside of the sexually deviant norm for other denominations, but he fails to appreciate that in any religious entity which claims a hermetically sealed personal relationship between its leader and God/Jesus Christ, the presence of just 10 paedophile priests would be scandalous.

This is the hook on which all organised religions are eventually caught - their claim of divine proximity, then when those among their leadership cadre are caught surreptitiously removing the undergarments of others outside of their established relationships, whether those garments belong to men, women or little boys, the leaders automatically claim a mortality that is subject to human frailty, then beg their gullible followers to forgive them.

The history of the papacy and the Roman Catholic Church is one filled with murder (the Inquisition) and personal debaucheries such as via Pope Alexander VI -- previously named Roderigo Borgia - who came to the papacy in the same year that Christopher Columbus was making his trek to the Americas. The Catholic Church has been inextricably linked to strategically playing cards with the secular princes of its early days and although one pope was even imprisoned by Napoleon, the papacy's survival through much political intrigue to modern times says more about its political manoeuvring, huge financial base and income than its claim to a divine link.

The papacy and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church are more political than they are a guide to mankind's betterment.

That said, it is my view that any organised entity that requires its members to be celibate must face more than the possibility that some of those members, faced with a lifetime denial of sexual pleasure, could one day arrive at a place where only sexual deviance can exist. The Catholic Church's insistence that a human being's natural sexual urges must be suppressed and denied as the price to be paid for 'service to God' has exploded in their face and we can only wonder at the number of priests who are still yet unmasked in this grand deceit.

Catholic writers like Burke are obviously reluctant to face up to these realities, but it is shameful to reduce it to a numbers game as a method of defence.


Was I wrong to criticise Minister James Robertson?

Last Wednesday evening I spent the better part of two hours seated at a round table with James Robertson, minister of mining and energy, discussing important matters taking place in the ministry.

Previously, I had taken the minister to task for his 'silence' on what's been happening in his ministry. It was my view that the silence was directly linked to inaction in his portfolio. After exactly one year in the ministry, what did the minister have to show? A lot.

In truth, after my first column criticising the minister, Information Minister Daryl Vaz had contacted me and conveyed the information that much of what was being worked on in the ministry by the minister and his technical, legal and administrative team were highly sensitive matters that could not be reported on in a blow-by-blow fashion. Vaz had promised that the minister would make contact with me as soon as the time was opportune to release the information.

My impatience, however, got the better of me, and again I took the minister to task in another column.

Much of what takes place in developing policies, sourcing the funding for such policies and ironing out the intricacies and the possible pitfalls require an investment of time with regard to negotiations, travel to overseas destinations and long hours spent drafting documents before the signers come on board.

My meeting with him was indeed a lesson to me on the time-consuming nature of the inner workings of government.

I submit my Sunday column on Thursdays and did not have the time to fully comprehend many of the finer points of the technical aspects of various projects. A list titled Achievements/Developments in the Jamaican Energy Sector, drawn up in his first year in that post, included among many other items, the National Energy Policy 2009-2030; the utilisation of LNG as an addition to Jamaica's energy mix; the collaboration with an overseas funding agency to conduct wind assessment and mapping and feasibility studies to develop solar/wind farms in the country; the Petrojam refinery upgrade; technical cooperation for the implementation of a bio-fuels policy; and the development of a bio-fuels industry in Jamaica. Much of the work was in an advanced state.

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