NY's Gay Marriage reactions & our scenario

First let me say CONGRATULATIONS New Yorkers and enjoy as you bask in the new rights you now have!!!!!!!!!!

So as New York finally got their act together and passed the Marriage Rights to same gender loving folks right in the nick of time for Pride celebrations the reactions have been coming in from all over. Congratulatory references have been extended from other jurisdictions from within the United States and abroad and there has been talk of the Prop 8 issues in California getting some boost to dealing with it as it will make its way to the Supreme Court.

see more from 365 Gay News

Here is a PBS Newshour discussion on the issue

also see NYC has new gay marriage campaign

Locally let us recap the struggle and or invented discussion on the issue that was used during the Charter of Rights debate as a smoke screen to deny us any mention in the document and the draft that had some very small coverage was challenged by the Lawyers' Christian Fellowhip, LCF.

see: Gay Marriage - An Invented Issue by the christian right movement

NY-Based Co-Founder of J-FLAG sees no need for same sex-marriage,

Opposition sides with Govt on No to same sex marriage

No Same Sex Marriage says Prime Minister in Charter of Rights Bill Debate

PNP 2006, No plans to Legalise Same Sex Unions (the same PNP that has a larger support base from the LGBT community)

Listen this important audio posts which include PM Bruce Golding's speech in Parliament on the issue of Gay Marriage in 2009

No to Gay Marriage in Jamaica etc .. my two cents from October 2009

(ignore snapvine references as they are closed)

Pastors and sermons on local radio especially the main Christian station Love 101FM have been opposing the issue as expected and there is even a song played referring to opposition to crossdressing, the song is mostly played on a Saturday is supposedly recorded by an artist named Gideon in the new dancehall/gospel format which is getting heavy rotation since the station's revamping of their programs.

The song's main chorus "Man fi dress and act like man" or "Man nuh fi dress in oman clothes" clearly this is a swipe at effeminacy and its linkages to male homosexuality and associated stereotypes. Other station DJs have been dropping edited songs, looping certain one-liners that have in them anti homosexual sentiments camouflaged in between clean songs.

Wilmot "Mutty" Perkins host of Perkins Online on Power 106FM has always been openly tolerant and has said he sees nothing wrong with homosexuals being allowed the right to marry as it's our private business. He has said before he has gay friends who he enjoys their company as they are no different than anyone else except for our sexual orientation.

There has been some level headed responses although not totally leaning on affording same sex marriage rights fully, outspoken Professor Carla Dunbar aka Professor Sex basically summed it up by saying she support and is tolerant of homosexuals but not marriage rights on a whole. Radio talk show hosts have been weighing in as well and as expected the vast majority oppose the idea plus dropping hints of paedophilia and predatory behaviour towards pubescents.

In a Gleaner letter from an anti gay author and to which I responded the writer took issue with marriage rights being extended and outrightly said same gender loving Jamaicans should leave.

see: Gays Must Leave Jamaica Alone (Gleaner Letter) ....... my response

There is a lot to learn from all this friends.

Peace and tolerance

H

XXXXTRAZZZZ

Smile Jamaica - TVJ

Jamaica Morning Show

Simone Clarke-Cooper

Simon Crosskill

and Reverend Carla Dunbar

Same sex marriage On TVJ (June 28th 2011)

Same sex marriage On Smile Jamaica (June 28th 2011)

Jamaica News (June 28th 2011)

The Daily Show - Happy Gays - New York Gay Pride Parade
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

First Transgender Miss Gay Caribbean Queen passes

One of her last appearances in New York (pic owned by wemakenoiseent.com)

Jennifer Banks performing during the competition last year

Sorry for this late entry readers but the news just came to hand to me - Jennifer Banks, the reigning queen of the Miss Gay Caribbean USA pageant, died Saturday June 18th from liver and kidney failure.

She was 39.

The transgender Banks, a self-described "big girl" who loved to perform, saw herself as a role model, pageant coordinator Hemish Gervis said.

"She was really happy to have won the crown, and she wanted to use the opportunity to prove to other people that they can do what they want to do, regardless of their sexual orientation, or size," Gervis said.

Born in Puerto Rico, Banks' family moved to San Fernando, Trinidad, as a child. At 14, her family relocated to New York, settling in the Woodstock section of the Bronx.

She learned hairstyling at the Wilfred Academy cosmetology school in New York, and worked at salons on the upper East Side.

Her favorite place to perform was Escuelita, a gay club on 39th St. where she often took the stage lip-syncing to Rihanna in recent years.

Her mother, Sybil Browne, said Banks loved to joke around by doing voice impressions on the phone.

"She would disguise her voice, and I would say, 'Don't play with me!' And she would laugh, and she would laugh."

"She just loved to laugh and smile," she said.

Besides her mom, Banks is survived by her two brothers, Dave and Roger Browne. Her father, Byron Browne, died in 1992.

Read more:

The Viewing/Funeral Service for Jennifer Banks (the reigning Ms. Gay Caribbean USA) was held on Friday, 24th June at the Unity Funeral Chapel - 2352-54 8th Ave., New York, NY

GB NEWS carried a short statement from the Gay Pagaent organizers as well excerpted here:

(Brooklyn, NY) – The organizers of the Gay Caribbean USA Pageant wish to share with the entire community the untimely and sudden death of the reigning 2010 Ms. Gay Caribbean USA Queen, Jennifer Banks. She passed on Saturday, Jun 18, 2011.

While details are still emerging about the exact circumstances surrounding her death, information available suggest that she died from medical complications to a sudden illness at a hospital in the Bronx.

Ms. Banks, who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the pageant, successfully won the crown in a field of six contestants.

“Jennifer Banks was one of the most dedicated contestants ever to participate in the pageant. She will be remembered for her commitment to the goals and objectives of
what the pageant is about,” said Hemish Gervis, pageant coordinator.
With her passing, the organizers plan to include a special tribute in her honor at this year’s pageant in September.

Read here: to see the original pics from the competition in NY September 2010

Since this year we have been losing many important persons both locally and abroad as the universe changes and the master responds, May her soul rest in peace.

Peace and tolerance

H

Assaults on Gay and Transgender People in Puerto Rico on the rise

The Miami Herald’s France Robles reports on the wave of anti-gay, lesbian, and transgender assaults that have been increasing since November 2009, when transgender teenager Jorge Steven López was decapitated, dismembered and set ablaze [see Horrific murder of gay adolescent shocks Puerto Rico]. Robles states that eighteen gay or transgender people have been killed since then, three murdered in a single week earlier this month. Here are excerpts with a link to the full article below:

The murders have been committed in various areas across the island and by different perpetrators, which advocates say underscores their belief that widespread homophobia—not a serial killer—is the culprit. [. . .] The attacks come amid growing fundamentalist rhetoric on the island, where senior politicians are often influenced by conservative religious leaders who speak out publicly against homosexuals. Even as arrests are made and long sentences handed out, experts here say murders and harassment have continued, because the government has failed to implement anti-discrimination policy and remains largely mute on the disturbing trend.

[. . .] “You have religious and political leaders saying: ‘Gays don’t matter; they are the devil and twisted,’” said Pedro Julio Serrano, the communications manager for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “That’s inciting violence. We have not seen anything like this here since the 1980s.” In that decade, serial killer Angel Colón Maldonado, aka the “Angel of the Bachelors,” was found guilty of killing six gay men. He was suspected of killing 27 more.

Serrano said today’s anti-gay rhetoric is largely led by Puerto Rican Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who makes it a point to ask senior government job candidates up for confirmation hearings whether they support gay marriage. [. . .] Pastor Wanda Rolón [also] made headlines when she posted a Facebook status update saying that “RM” was going to “send Puerto Rico to hell.” Later, she denied that she was comparing singer Ricky Martin to the devil, but lamented how the entertainer flaunts his homosexuality.

[. . .] “The politicians are under the influence of these fundamentalists and their hate speech,” said Sophia Isabel Marrero Cruz, a transsexual activist who leads TTM, Transsexuals and Transgenders on the Move. “There is a pattern, and that threatening pattern is repetitive and escalating.” [Also see previous post Puerto Rico panel to investigate hate crimes from rp]

Her organization launched a crime watch to protect LGBT people, who tend to hang out outdoors because of a lack of bars that accept them, she said. [. . .] “There are people in the criminal justice system who really work hard on these cases, but police and judges need to be sensitized. People are prejudiced and allow themselves to be influenced by religious rhetoric.” Although the prosecutor’s office in Puerto Rico has a solid track record of getting long prison sentences once killers have been caught, she said prosecutors have not once used existing hate crime legislation as an aggravating factor in prosecutions.

Puerto Rico’s top prosecutor said the hate crime law has not been applied because it’s a difficult element to prove and he fears that a case could collapse if enough evidence is not presented. Cops and prosecutors are being trained about sensitivity and how to gather such evidence, Department of Justice Secretary Guillermo Somoza said. “I’d rather have a first-degree murder conviction than see the case collapse because we failed to prove the killing was motivated by prejudice because the person was white, Puerto Rican, Dominican or lesbian,” Somoza said.

“I’d rather have a bird in the hand then two flying around.” His office’s special task force on hate crimes found there have been 23 murders of gays and transgender people in two years.

For complete article, see http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/20/2275904_p2/deadly-assaults-target-gay-and.html

For photo and related articles, see http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/06/bryan-fischer-says-hes-a-victim-bryan-fischer-needs-a-lesson-in-hate-crimes/

and http://www.thestar.com/travel/caribbean/article/782381–gay-puerto-rico-opens-its-arms

Francheska González looked into her attacker’s eyes as he kicked and punched and saw her own death.

“He kept saying, ‘Faggot! You have no right to exist!’’’ said González, a 41-year-old transsexual. “I’d cry and scream, ‘What happened? Why are you hitting me?’ He said: ‘For being like that.’’’

González’s vertebrae was broken and right breast implant ruptured in the April beating, making her a survivor of a series of deadly attacks against transgender and gay people in Puerto Rico. When transgender teenager Jorge Steven López was decapitated, dismembered and set ablaze in November 2009, it marked the start of what activists say is an escalating wave of hate crimes in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Eighteen gay or transgender people have been killed since then. Three were murdered in a single week earlier this month.

The attacks come amid growing fundamentalist rhetoric on the island, where senior politicians are often influenced by conservative religious leaders who speak out publicly against homosexuals. Even as arrests are made and long sentences handed out, experts here say murders and harassment have continued, because the government has failed to implement anti-discrimination policy and remains largely mute on the disturbing trend.

In Puerto Rico, gay and transgender people say, it has become socially acceptable to despise them — especially men who dress as women.

“You have religious and political leaders saying: ‘Gays don’t matter; they are the devil and twisted,’” said Pedro Julio Serrano, the communications manager for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “That’s inciting violence. We have not seen anything like this here since the 1980s.”

In that decade, serial killer Angel Colón Maldonado, aka the “Angel of the Bachelors,” was found guilty of killing six gay men. He was suspected of killing 27 more.

Serrano said today’s anti-gay rhetoric is largely led by Puerto Rican Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who makes it a point to ask senior government job candidates up for confirmation hearings whether they support gay marriage.

“Change will come to the Supreme Court… a Supreme Court that will defend the rights of the Puerto Rican family, traditional family values, not this twisted family some try to implement through legislation or jurisprudence,” he said at a judicial confirmation hearing.

Pastor Wanda Rolón made headlines when she posted a Facebook status update saying that “RM” was going to “send Puerto Rico to hell.” Later, she denied that she was comparing singer Ricky Martin to the devil, but lamented how the entertainer flaunts his homosexuality.