Transgender Influentials shafted at hurriedly haggled CCM representative elections

photo - Two of the leading voices in the Jamaican transgender community (taken from the upcoming Taboo Yardies documentary where they were interviewed)


What are CCMs - COUNTRY COORDINATING MECHANISMS

Country Coordinating Mechanisms are central to the Global Fund's commitment to local ownership and participatory decision-making. These country-level multi-stakeholder partnerships develop and submit grant proposals to the Global Fund based on priority needs at the national level. After grant approval, they oversee progress during implementation. Country Coordinating Mechanisms include representatives from both the public and private sectors, including governments, multilateral or bilateral agencies, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, private businesses and people living with the diseases. For each grant, the Country Coordinating Mechanism nominates one or more public or private organizations to serve as Principal Recipients. CCM Core Functions Coordinate the development and submission of national proposals. Nominate the Principal Recipient. Oversee implementation of the approved grant and submit requests for continued funding. Approve any reprogramming and submit requests for continued funding. Ensure linkages and consistency between Global Fund grants and other national health and development programs.


At a recent stake holders meeting as hosted by HPP an arm of the USAID United States Agency for International Development in Kingston at the Courtleigh Hotel on September 15, 2011 which was originally designed as indicated in this excerpt of the summary - "This consultation is being hosted by the Health Policy Project (HPP) Jamaica (note overview document attached) and will seek to update and hone a shared vision and advocacy agenda for the LGBT community, especially as it concerns its strategic role in the HIV response. The meeting is particularly timely in light of the finalization of the Government of Jamaica’s National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2012-2017 and the upcoming Round 11 Global Fund application. This consultation will build on prior strategic visioning and planning work within the community, as well as the ongoing priorities and initiatives underway. In particular, the National LGBT Consultation meeting held in March 2010 provides a base from which to build. The March 2010 consultation meeting produced a National Action Framework for LGBT that has guided important actions in the past 1 ½ years. The goal of this consultation is to develop a shared vision for the LGBT community in moving forward human rights through advocacy and other communication strategies." some agencies present were JASL, JFLAG, Underlined Response etc.

HPP - the Health Policy Project (HPP) aims to strengthen policy, advocacy, and governance for strategic, equitable, and sustainable health programming in developing countries. HPP focuses on key health areas—namely HIV, family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH), and maternal health—as well as crosscutting issues, including gender equality, stigma reduction, and health equity. Building capacity of government, civil society, affected populations, and other partners helps ensure that host countries are at the center of decision making for their health programs. This transfer of skills and leadership is central to the Global Health Initiative (GHI), President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and other U.S. Government (USG) efforts that recognize the importance of in-country capacity, ownership, and accountability for making a lasting impact on health policies, programs, and systems.


In Jamaica, HPP supports in-country partners to strengthen national policy, advocacy, and capacity for reducinggender-based violence (GBV) and stigma and discrimination (S&D) related to HIV and sexual and reproductive health. The proposed program contributes to achievement of the USG’s Partnership Framework with Jamaica,national and PEPFAR objectives for HIV prevention and health systems strengthening, and the GHI’s principle on women, girls, and gender equality. Lessons learned from this work will also inform HIV and RH policy responses in the wider Caribbean region.




GLOBAL FUND

Bearing in mind several of us were not present at that original 2010 meeting as it was a specially selected set of invitees and or we did not receive any report or minutes to that effect so as to aprize us of the discussions. However with the two of the newer leading transgender voices present in the room at this latest meeting the original focus was diverted deliberately by chiefly the Chairman of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition CVC who also happens to be the chair of the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life's Board and a Management Committee member of JFLAG haggled unto the agenda the vote for the representatives for the MSM and Transgender groups as apart of the CCM structure. While one of the ladies was nominated the what seemed well pre-planned moves were executed with two gay men in essence ending up as the representatives in the form of one Mr. Fabian Thomas (former Programs Officer of the National AIDS Committee) and founder of Sankofa Arts Facilitation deputizing under one half of the Loft Management team in the form of Mr. Brian Paul Welsh both men in my estimation and that of others are unqualified to speak for the transgender community in particular when they do not engage them on points of advocacy. The latter gentleman seeks some members of the transgender community through his party events and club which he manages but nothing more. 


According to reports there was strong protest from the founder of The Underlined Response and a few others as to having persons who can speak directly to the communities represented and a great amount of time was spent arguing this insistence of having this activity done, unfortunately the attendance was low and I could not get time off to attend while some persons walked out during the haggling. The two transgender individuals present in the meeting were shocked and outraged as what was played out before them and that they were left out of their own community representation. 


One in a subsequent conversation with me said she was disappointed as she wanted to play her part and learn the systems and felt they were carried to the meeting just to show a face. If ever we needed more evidence that this kind of shifting is nothing more than a power play then this is it. Even in the face of glaring bare faced unethical moves to secure a grasp on the precious global fund avenue for money in the positioning for the Round 11 tranche of funding for marginalized groups.


All this while the first lady of transgenderism in Jamaica sits at home on intermittent difficult times literally speaking while her sisters are shafted and their issues used to jostle for power.


also see an older report/study in 2010 on Conflict of Interest issues to do with the previous CCM setup:
Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) Conflict of Interest: ... 


also listen to my most scaving critique yet of the hypocrisy in our advocacy, frankly more and more of us are reaching our limit to the crap we can take while the people who really need the interventions languish.

 Real Advocacy or Not Part 2 - Transgender Influentials shafted by glbtqja5 (errata - it should be Round 11 instead of Round 12 as said in the clip)

Please be vigilant and look out for yourselves.


UPDATE November 2011: Round 11 is no more as Global Fund struggles with funding, see:  Global AIDS funding cuts will affect millions: activists

Transitional Funding Mechanism takes effect

http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/application/

No word yet locally as to what programs may be affected or halted


Peace and tolerance

H

3 more brothers displaced teetering on homelessness

So in the aftermath of the homeless MSMs second civil disobedience on August 23 and 24, 2011 at the locations of the two oldest organizations that serve or are supposed to serve this grouping who by the way now are equipped with a canine security team on the property to supposedly stop the "savages" from entering the plantation in an almost apartheid type of elitism right before our eyes news comes of more men who have sex with men who are struggling with finding a stable roof and income after falling on difficult times. Also of interest is the security detail that is on call 24 hours a day as well is still in place. The three new displacement cases are not all homophobic in origin but still makes us question who or why are we seeing so many new cases with the existing homeless populations some of whom are banned still from Jamaica AIDS Support for Life and JFLAG offices as no formal release has come to suggest same has been lifted. 


Permit me to just briefly touch on the circumstances that prevail with each case whilst thanking the persons who responded to taking them into their homes (in the case of those who were fortunate) and that audio post (see top of blog a soundcloud embedded link) where I asked if persons would do same? One brother lost his job and fell on hard times as his home on the other end of the island where he resided was destroyed by fire earlier this year he has been struggling ever since to recoup his losses and find employment. Thankfully he has been given a short stay at a friend's house in Kingston while he actively seeks employment, we only hope he doesn't jeopardize that kindness as we have seen in previous cases with other brothers who land in the same predicament. He had made contact with the J on the issue but has not received any positive word on any interventions yet. A special thanks to the member of the Underlined Response who also provided some temporary shelter as he was limited so to do but the young man was grateful just the same as he was bale to rest and at least temporarily ease his mind.


 Brother number two also has lost his job but has not been so lucky in getting a short stay at best as he has been bouncing here and there in the public domain. He too also has been having some difficulty securing a steady income and a roof since he had to leave the last place he rented among other things, these circumstances also are echoed in the case of the third person from this post. Both men are struggling but some of us who are concerned are limited or restricted and either do not have the accommodation to temporarily assist or are too scared to do so after being bitten with bad experiences before in the name of assistance. The former is my reason as I have moved from my old address in Kingston where I have helped persons before by providing overnight stays and a shower and so on where I could, unfortunately the landlord wanted the place for his family or so he said at the time. 

Many of the other youngings from the older population of homeless persons (some from as far back as 2009) who were involved in that infamous civil disobedience actions against the Jamaica AIDS Support and JFLAG have been getting by but just that and with the position of the Crisis Intervention Officer to be made vacant soon as she is said to be leaving for Amsterdam under what some say is the regular use of the underground railroad system to seek asylum there maybe further ignoring or aloofness by JFLAG towards the men. New kid on the block the Underlined Response has been trying with a short term tin drive for canned items and clothing etc plus some fund raising from their recent Pride Fest event but that is far cry from what is really needed, some of us do contribute money where possible. We need some sort of transitional housing interventions going. Again we have to bring to book the stewardship of the two aforementioned agencies that are the oldest in terms of formal outreach setups for same gender loving people yet as the oldest they have not been setting a proper example in this regard and towards this population when we knew from as early as 2007/8 of the increasing numbers of men who have sex with men tittering from displacement to homelessness and back again, especially from that private party DVD that went public. After 13 years in existence being formed out of  JASL in December 1998 JFLAG was set up to not only deal with the buggery law and other legal matters with a hotline that has been defunct for more than ten years but also the frontline services that its parent could not do as it primary focus was HIV/AIDS in the mainstream but not limited to that. Bear in mind that Jamaica AIDS Support for Life JASL was founded mostly by gay men in the heyday of the AIDS epidemic in 1991, seven years later came JFLAG out of GLABCOM (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Community) which was an interface activity for Jamaica AIDS Support for Life's targeted interventions strategy but with no real advocacy autonomy at the time to act as it was purely centered around HIV issues but the other problems were encroaching hence the other J's formation.


If this is all we have to show from our once highly respected, trusted and vigilant advocacy structures after so many years then we are going nowhere it seems, are they suffering from burn out? but we need to do our own bit in our various quarters and build if ever so slowly, we cannot continue in this modern day and age with no radical front-line support services inclusive of psycho social interventions chief among them a resident social worker and psychologists to guide these men to the road to recovery.


Other suggestions from y standpoint include:

• Help out where you can
• Tell someone who you think that can assist
• Talk to someone who falls in this category, sometimes a kind word does wonders
• Contact new movements such as the Underlined Response theunderlinedresponse@gmail.com
• Make contact here via lgbtevent@gmail.com
• Start a donations drive or donate where possible to reputable persons and the UR
• Donate via the Paypal buttons on this blog or on Gay Jamaica Watch 

We are going to have to start dealing with these issues ourselves as clearly the representatives are not interested in helping lives interrupted.

here are some hard hitting commentary and older posts on the matter from my other blogs and here

Homeless MSMs Saga Timeline 28.08.11 by glbtqja3

From the pen of one of our homeless brothers ……..

Also see other related posts

Hypocrisy, Continued damage control via stands or a genuine call for inclusiveness in western Jamaica?

Settle the Score on CVM TV’s Live @ 7 (26.08.11)…the JFLAG ad campaign

Attempted censorship from the advocates towards views on the JFLAG Ad campaign??

Rowdy gays banned by J-FLAG, JASL ………. (Jamaica Observer)

Blow to gay ad – TVJ rejects J-FLAG’s PSA ……. J-FLAG says rejection of PSA unfortunate

Doing ‘business’ in New Kingston … Jamaica Observer on MSM Homelessness ….. JFLAG should be ashamed

Complaint of “Freaky Gays” Harassing New Kingston Residents ……..

The Quietus (Safe House Project Closes) (from 2010)

Gay Ad angers Clerics 

JFLAG/AIDSFREEWORLD unimpressive show at community meeting 

Peace and tolerance


H

Residents protest, force gays to leave (Star News) .......

From the Star news

PAULA GORDON & SHELDON WILLIAMS, STAR Writers

A group of homosexuals had to pack up and leave a popular community in Portmore, St Catherine, THE STAR has learnt.
It is understood that a protest carried out by some intolerant residents led to the group's disappearance.

When THE STAR visited the community recently, we were prevented from going unto the property because of their strict security procedure. When we inquired about the matter, we were told that the 'gays' already left the community.When we pressed for further information, we were directed to the chairman of the citizens' association. But that person told THE STAR that he could not confirm or deny if an actual protest was staged.

He explained: "From time to time people do congregate and discuss issues in the park." He also said that no resident could be forced to leave the community because of their beliefs or sexual orientation. "These are owned homes, we just ask people to conform to our rules. We never ever force people to leave, we do not discriminate," he said.

Meanwhile, he pointed to issues such as speeding on the property and excessive noise as issues that they would speak to residents about. Nonetheless, the matter had become a popular topic among Portmore residents as THE STAR recently witnessed persons from other communities discussing the matter at a service station in the municipality recently.

"Police go rescue one a dem one night, the one who a the 'woman', but hear the joke, when him go inna the police vehicle him never properly dressed, so him ask him boyfriend if him can pass him blouse fi him from the dresser," a man said, which amused the others. Meanwhile, when our news team attempted to gather further details about the displacement of these 'outcasts' from the St Catherine South police, our queries were initially met with chuckles.

Nonetheless, the police source who commented on terms of anonymity confirmed that the police were aware of the discomfort felt by straight residents who lived among those suspected to be gays.

"Anno there so alone inno ... each time a community or a scheme build up, dem find themselves deh until their cover gets blown," the lawman reasoned. However, he emphasised that there were no arrests made as the actions taken by the straight residents against their non-straight neighbours did not escalate into physical violence.

ENDS

My two cents

Sometimes we too make it bad for ourselves and the amounts of complaints that have come from the residents of the area namely Caribbean Estates/Innswood to be precise have been numerous, from loud music to fights to strange or surprising to some the thug characters coming in on bikes or in high end sports utility vehicles make the other residents suspicious in addition to recent sightings of a particular set of dancehall acts coming from a house known for its occupants being cross dressed and ganja smoking have not gone down well with the mostly upper middle income residents in this gated community. We have to also seriously take into account the energies we give off the persons around us and how we carry ourselves in public, sure one can be a cross dresser and still let people gasp in shock at how good one looks but not for the noise one makes or the type of characters one has around one in full view of a cynical public. 

Fresh in the minds of many in that community also I have since learnt is that Innswood incident that was shown on television Jamaica, TVJ some months ago where the police were called in to calm nerves as residents got tired of complaining of the antics of my "sisters" in a rented house. The clips of which have been online for a while but the furore has since died down on that case.

Here are some scenes from that story which I carried on my sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch entitled:

That Innswood matter ......

So we have to be cognizant of our surroundings guys and remind those of us to just be respectful of others views, at least according to the piece in the Star News the neighborhood persons made it clear they weren't interested in removing them due to their sexual orientation but due to the complaints, if they are to be believed.

but this story also links to the area in St. Catherine:

View more videos at: http://nbcmiami.com.

also see the problems related to the labeling by SSP Bailey on the gay community as scammers

Apology Accepted JCF but some questions on several fronts still linger ..

J-FLAG Responds To Police’s Assertion About Gays & Organised Crime

UPDATE September 27th

The Star also carried this:

Community did nothing to protect them

Months after homosexual residents were displaced from their homes in a popular community in Portmore, St Catherine, one man claiming he was one of those who was chased away, said the community did nothing to protect them, as they were attacked repeatedly.

"The security who were over there pointed us out and called us homosexuals and they wouldn't protect us," the man, who spoke on terms of anonymity, explained.

"I just want them to tell the truth," he said, adding that the homosexuals who lived there experienced physical violence.

The man then took the opportunity to describe in detail the abuse which he and the other estimated 20 homosexuals who lived in the community had to endure.

"My windows were hit out by children, they poisoned my dog. Dem puncture the wheels of my Kia and Levin ... If we a walk go down to the plaza, they would stone us," the man said.

criminals

He also explained that his neighbours told lies on him and others accusing them of being criminals so the police could arrest them.

"One morning police swarmed my house and accused me of doing lottery scam," he claimed.

Additionally, he pointed out, "On every cluster, the residents have problems with homosexuals. People would also run us down with machetes. They used a knife to cut another gay on his head but there were no arrests".

However, the man admitted amid the hatred, some residents were openly apologetic.

"You have good residents over there. Some of them, mainly women, came back to apologise later," he emphasised.

When asked if he was experiencing the same dislike and abuse in the community where he has relocated, he confessed, "I'm comfortable where I'm at now, everything is ok,".

When THE STAR enquired into the matter with the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), the organisation said it was had been made aware of the displacement of homosexuals from the community in question.

Corbin Gordon, programme & advocacy coordinator at J-FLAG, said, "We were alerted some time ago of the abuse in Portmore ... We are aware that homosexuals are being driven out of their homes and communities because of homophobic violence."

At the same time, he emphasised, "We have a lawyer on retainer who can take up such cases."

ENDS

Peace and tolerance

H

Accused serial rapist on the run has been cut down ............

A serial rapist with over 9 charges of rape and assault hanging over his head and who is said to have been a master mind of a rape ring in central Jamaica which targeted young women mostly from the working class and which also included same gender loving women who are massaged into dates or meetings online via social networks has been cut down by the police. He was awaiting trial for several of the counts that were against his name but some of the cases had stalled as the victims did not come forward. Impeccable sources were able to confirm his identity and some other particulars, thanks to them for alerting me on this.

According to the Radio Jamaica News recently they reported on September 16th:

A St. Ann man suspected to be a notorious rapist who was being hunted by the police after he escaped custody, in July, met a tragic demise in Montego Bay, St. James, Friday afternoon. Twenty-four year old Vivian Brady of Mount Olivet was cut down in a hail of bullets, following a police operation in an area known as "Whitehouse", close to the Sangster International Airport. Brady, who was wanted for multiple counts of sexual assault, was killed moments after abducting a woman and attempting to rape her. 

 According to police reports, about 3p.m., Brady, who was driving a stolen car, held up a woman at knife point and drove her to an area known as Morgan's Road, near the airport. The woman reportedly put up a fight and sustained knife wounds. She managed to escape and made a report to the Coral Gardens Police Station. Members of a police party cornered Brady near the airport. He was shot and killed. Brady reportedly escaped on July 20, while being transported from Clarks Town in Trelawny to a lock-up in St Ann. Since that time he frequented the Coral Gardens and Ironshore areas. The policemen involved have been placed on interdiction. Brady was charged in five parishes for several sexual offences including rape and abduction, as well as robbery. In St Ann alone, there were at least 10 sexual offence charges against him.

While The Star News some months before as well carried an All Points Bulletin of sorts on the escaped man who eluded the security systems and was in hiding: (July 26, 2011)

Detectives seek public's assistance in locating escapee

Detectives in the St Ann Division are seeking the public's assistance in locating 24-year-old Vivian Brady of Mount Olivet in St Ann who escaped police custody on Wednesday, July 20.

He is facing several charges for offences which occurred in the St Ann Division. It is also reported that he has similar charges in St James, Trelawny, St Mary and Westmoreland.


These charges are:
nine counts of rape
10 counts of robbery
10 counts of abduction
one count of indecent assault
one count of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition

Reports are that Brady escaped custody while being transported from the Clarks Town Police Station lock-up in Trelawny, to the St Ann's Bay Police Station lock-up in St Ann where he was expected to have attended the St Ann Circuit Court to answer to several charges on Thursday, July 21. He reportedly escaped custody when they got to a section of the Mount Olivet main road, Runaway Bay, St Ann.

There is now an ongoing operation to recapture Brady but, in the meantime, police are appealing to members of the public who may know of his whereabouts to contact them at 972-2211, Kingfish at 811, Crime Stop at 311, police 119 emergency number or the nearest police station.

ENDS

This business of corrective rape has been increasing since later 2007 when I was acting in the crisis intervention  role whilst at Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays JFLAG where the first case I saw was a telling one where a couple was forced out of their own home and raped at gunpoint in Portmore St. Catherine, the brutal act left one woman distraught and concerns raised by the lesbian community and their representative group WomenforWomen. 

Unfortunately the issue is barely glanced at by the J and conveniently used in press releases and newspaper articles but no real interventions to assist women in defending themselves at best of raising the awareness of the problem. Similar to the homeless msm (men who have sex with men) populations rise over the years and JFLAG crudely ignoring this issue until it became a national news item, one hopes this doesn't happen to the same gender loving females as well where persons are hurt and left to fend for themselves with no serious in house frontline interventions to include psycho-social work with recovering persons.

Well one is off the streets albeit he was not alive the face the courts.

Be vigilant, Be Safe

Peace and tolerance

H

Jamaican Christians & Homosexuality (Gleaner 18.09.11) ...a response from a lesbian Christian

Martin Henry, Gleaner Contributor

Jamaican Christians, certainly in the majority for the time being, are finding themselves more and more in a sticky mess when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. There are not many other things that their holy book rails against with such explicit clarity and vehemence.

But the Gospel of love and the equal rights and dignity of persons made in the image of God, which are fundamental Christian virtues, are being urged upon them as a reason for tolerance for the homosexual lifestyle. And tolerance means neutralisation of any moral condemnation, normalisation, and acceptance.

Their brethren in foreign are busy voting normalisation and acceptance and ordaining homosexual clergy. The homosexual lobby here has grown strong, organised, smart - and media savvy. The most powerful newspaper in the country has taken on the role of chief advocate. And the envoy here from the most powerful country on the planet, a Baptist sister, has normalisation as high priority on her diplomatic agenda.

The Church here, as almost universally, has come to rely upon the State to advance its moral agenda. But despite the "not in my Cabinet" protestations of the prime minister, it is only a matter of time before the Jamaican State bows. And the Jamaican Church?

Christians used to view Genesis 2:24 as establishing right at the beginning a divine order for family and sexual relations that should not be tampered with. The scribe having narrated the creation of woman from a rib of man concluded, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh." Jesus clearly had no intention of disturbing that order but reinforced it by citing the Genesis text in a controversy with his opponents over divorce (Matthew 19).

The ancient city of Sodom has contributed the words 'sodomy' and 'sodomite' to the language. When the wickedness of the town was described on the eve of its destruction, it was in terms of homosexuality. Lot, a migrant there and quite knowledgeable of the ways of the city, invited two naïve male visitors off the streets and into his home for the night. Having fed them, "before Lot and his guests could go to bed, every man in Sodom, young and old, came and stood outside his house and started shouting, 'Where are your visitors? Send them out, so we can have sex with them!' (Genesis 19:5, Contemporary English Version).

To Lot's pleading not to "do such a terrible thing", the riled-up mob in contemporary language shouted, "Don't get in our way ... . You're an outsider. What right do you have to order us around? We'll do worse to you than we're going to do to them."

Only a miracle saved the visiting men that night, and raining brimstone and fire destroyed Sodom and neighbouring Gomorrah early the next morning.

But Christians, at least enlightened and sophisticated ones, no longer believe their own narratives.

An interesting spin on the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative by those who wish to serve two masters is that the sin of that fateful final night was not homosexuality per se but the intent of gang rape displaying inhospitality and the violation of personal rights through non-consensual sex.

Christians used to hold that, to avoid all confusion, God made a clear and explicit ruling on the matter: "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination. Neither shall you lie with any beast and defile yourself with it; neither shall any woman yield herself to a beast to lie with it; it is confusion, perversion, and degradedly carnal (Leviticus 18: 22 & 23, Amplified)."

In the article 'The Old Testament Attitude to Homosexuality', appearing online, theologian Gordon Wenham notes, "The Old Testament rejection of all kinds of homosexual practice is apparently unique in the ancient world. Most of the ancient Near East adopted an attitude to homosexuality very similar to that of classical Greece and Rome, which simply accepted it as long as it was done among consenting adults.

Indeed, Greeks and Romans often approved homosexual acts between adult men and youths where it was part of an ongoing educational relationship. Seen in their Near Eastern context, the originality of the Old Testament laws on homosexuality is very striking. Whereas the rest of the Ancient Orient saw homosexual acts as quite acceptable, provided they were not incestuous or forcible, the Old Testament bans them all, even where both parties freely consented."

Stance undisturbed

And Jesus, the supreme paragon of love and founder of the Christian Church, left that Old Testament stance undisturbed. The New Testament is just as drastically clear about the matter. In the midst of Graeco-Roman culture, accepting of homosexuality as long as freemen citizens did not allow themselves to get penetrated, Paul, in a damning passage in his letter to Christians at Rome about the results of giving up the truth of God for a lie, declared, "God let them follow their own evil desires." "Women no longer want to have sex in a natural way, and they do things with each other that are not natural. Men behaved in the same way. They stopped wanting to have sex with women and had strong desires for sex with other men. They did shameful things with each other, and what has happened to them is punishment for their foolish deeds" Romans 1:25-27, CEV).

The Christian holy text is just extraordinarily insensitive to sociological and biological defences of the naturalness and inevitability of homosexuality, simply calling it an abomination which provokes divine wrath. And as the culture swings back to the first-century pagan Graeco-Roman world in which Christianity was founded and in which homosexuality was normal, Christians are cringing at the broadsides delivered by their holy book against the practice.

It borders on the absurd when one church leader, after a brilliant elucidation of the campaign strategy of the homosexual lobby, could only whimper at the end, "We should not be quick to put aside our traditional values with gay abandon." The gay lobby may rightly respond: Tradition changes. The Roman Catholic Church no longer says Mass in Latin, Mormons no longer defend polygamy, Anglicans now have Rastaman reggae songs in their hymn book, Seventh-day Adventist men can now wear a wedding band - and traditional values which opposed homosexuality are everywhere rapidly changing. Christians may have once been quick and confident to reply: "... But the word of our God shall stand forever (Isaiah 40:8, KJV)."

But speaking against homosexuality is becoming increasingly costly to Christians. And it is not just the burden of imposed shame and the accusation of intolerance. Simply reading text regarded as sacred may be classified as 'hate speech' not to be tolerated in the bastions of freedom. Last Wednesday, as the US State Department launched the 13th annual International Religious Freedom Report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the usual punchline that the protection of religious freedom and the promotion of tolerance around the world are fundamental concerns of the United States and that the US will continue efforts to support religious freedom both at home and abroad.

Limited freedom

More and more that freedom and tolerance in the United States itself, and in a growing list of 'Christian' countries, do not include the freedom to publicly declare the nasty things that the sacred text of the Christian faith explicitly says about homosexua-lity. This column, laced as it is with anti-homosexual biblical quotations, is not likely to see the light of day in any mainstream newspaper in North America or Europe. The Gleaner, despite its own stance, has published, saying much for press freedom here.

Not only do a growing number of both individual Christians and their multifarious denominations no longer believe that their sacred text is the final authority on faith and practice and the foundation for just laws, they are unprepared to declare, "We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29, NKJV)", as Peter and other apostles did while being interrogated under arrest for preaching a gospel judged divisive and disruptive by its powerful enemies.

Not only is homosexual practice roundly condemned as an "abomination" in the Christian holy text, but the Divine Lawgiver loudly declared that it defiled the land and the defiled land would vomit out its inhabitants. Paul also announced God's wrath against the corruption of the natural order by people who knew God and consciously rejected His authority. "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools."

Now, all of this may be purely pious platitudes proclaimed to frighten simple-minded people to behave in a prescribed fashion. But an old theologian, S.H. Kellog, who believes it, says: "... Marriage and the family are not merely civil arrangements, but divine institutions; so that God has not left it to the caprice of a majority to settle what shall be lawful in these matters ... . The nation that will not serve Him shall perish. All this is not theology, merely, or ethics, but history. All history witnesses that moral corruption and relaxed legislation, especially in matters affecting the relations of the sexes, brings in their train sure retribution, not in Hades, but here on earth ... . For despite the unbelief of multitudes, the Holy One still governs the world, and it is certain that He will never abdicate His throne of righteousness to submit any of His laws to the sanction of a popular vote."

Martin Henry is a communication specialist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and medhen@gmail.com.

In a swift response a christian lesbian has tackled the issues presented via Jamaican GLBTQ Christian