Love 101FM's Family Time on Homosexuality

Love 101 FM carried another edition of Family Time series this week they continued on the subject of homosexuality following up on last weeks edition with none other than Dr. Wayne West on the homosexual agenda. This week they took a more Christian view on it almost conflicting as also a psychological approach was used as the guest is both a pastor and psychologist and the two seems to have almost clashed as the discourse outlined below will bring to bear but of course as Love 101 is a religious station the Leviticusal line has to be carried with a so called sympathetic approach to gays with a view for change, obviously suggesting reparative therapy. The causality issue was prominent as well where early initiation, loss of bonding from same sexed parent (old belief that is still used by the religious opposition) and effeminate men with a supposed hormonal imbalance who are rejected by society but welcomed by gays hence going into same sex activity. In other words all these persons are forced into gaydom, no mention is made of the person who realises very early that they are same sex attracted which leads me to believe the agenda here was mainly reparative therapy. The guest is also linked to the Back to the Bible which is linked to Focus on the Family and we all know (Dr.) James Dobson though untrained in psychology has deemed homosexuality an abnormality and curable. 

Dr. Barry Davidson was the guest in this discussion, he is a family Psychologist, serves as Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Family Life Ministries. He holds Master Degrees in Theology and Psychology as well as a Doctorate in Family Psychology, majoring in Marriage and Family Therapy, from The Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, Pasadena, California.
Since 1981, Dr. Davidson has been counseling with couples, adults, adolescents, and families, and assisting them in resolving personal and relational problems. In May of 1989 and 1990 respectively, he received the Jeff Balswick Memorial Award, and the Faculty Award for academic performance in Marriage and Family Therapy at Fuller Graduate School Awards Convocation, culminating his work with Project Family Outreach, an agency for ethnic minorities living with multiple or severe social, emotional, and spiritual problems in Pasadena, California.
His contributions to academia have been numerous, as a visiting lecturer at Azuza Pacific College in California, lecturer at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology and a part-time lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

Dr. Davidson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Family Life Ministries, has served this Organization since 1983 in the capacities of Executive Director, Director of Counselling, and Chairman. He is a consultant to the Executive Team of the Jamaica Psychological Society and sits on the Board of the 'Back to the Bible Broadcast'. He authored the well-known pre-marital counselling manual Before They Say "I Do", and co-authored "Healthy Families A Caribbean Perspective," with Ms. Maureen Watson.

We will use the following keys for this post - DB - Dr. Barry Davidson and the Host as The Host.

The Hosts: Who is a homosexual?

DB: Broadly defined homosexuality is an erotic attraction to persons of one owns sex although homosexuality includes sexual thoughts feelings fantasies and overt sexual acts with same sex partners, the term usually is not applied to pre-adolescents, to individuals usually young people whose curiosity leads to brief experimentation of erotic involvement with persons of the same sex or to people in prisons or to isolated same sex environments who temporarily engage in homosexual behaviour because opposite sex partners are not available, it is important I believe to distinguish between homosexual behaviour that is engaging in at least periodically in sexually stimulating actions with another person of the same sex and homosexual orientation which are feelings, sexual attraction towards members of the same sex many people with a homosexual orientation never let others know of this same sex preference and never engage in homosexual behaviour with other human beings sometimes we don't make the distinction and as a result create difficulty for people.

So when we talk about homosexuals we need to realise that what we are saying is that these are people who engage in sexual activities and sexual behaviour with those of the same sex. Man with man woman with woman

The Hosts: So you mean it's intentional not necessarily something you fell into at one time or you were testing out at some point?

DB: It's not something you experiment with it's something you have grown to like and continue to do

The Hosts: Can you describe a homosexuality type(s)?

DB: There is no such thing as a homosexual personality type or types homosexuals are of all age they come from all occupational fields and socio economic levels, some of them walk effeminately or behave effeminately some don't some are very masculine and so it is always erroneous because you see somebody who seem effeminate to assume that person is a homosexual 

The Hosts: Is any person born a homosexual?

DB: The research does not support that, in at least, Masters & Johnsons did a major research some years ago and from the research that they did it suggests that homosexuality is neither inborn or nor genetic 

The Hosts: If its neither inborn or genetic then is it normal?

DB: It depends on what you mean by normal, when we think of normal quite often we think of majority so it is normal for us to drive on the left hand side of the road in Jamaica because that's the norm, so when you think of normal statistically the majority of people are heterosexual and not homosexual so in that sense it would be considered abnormal because it is not the true case for the majority of people ........

The Hosts: is it wrong to experience homosexual thoughts?

DB: There are many people who experience the thoughts, there are many of us who experience all kinds of thoughts, you might experience the thought of lusting but do you act on it? you might experience the thought of stealing but do you act on it? the thoughts are things we experience because we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with all kinds of ideas, what we need to be able to do is to recognise, understand our thoughts but to focus on the appropriate behaviour, so for instance a man who is not homosexual and is completely heterosexual and he sees a beautiful woman and so the thought of sleeping with that woman might come through his mind, does he act on it? no he can't because she is not his wife so it would be inappropriate, so we need to recognise that people do experience thoughts of all kinds, for instance one of the things that challenges us today why I believe the whole homosexuality is such a big issue is that pornography is a big thing access to pornography is very easy these days, you just have to have a computer and you go online go on the Internet and you can access thousands of pornographic sites and alot of them are homosexual sites and so you have alot of our youngsters who spend a tremendous amount of time on the computer they access these sites, they see this and observe it again and again so it becomes something that is apart of  their thinking and because its a part of their thinking they now want to act on it, it is very easy for two guys to be in a room and nobody thinks anything so we don't know if any experimentation took place. Experimentation might lead to further experimentation then it might become habit and then it might form for them what is now their perspective, their preference in their own sexual expression.

The Hosts: How does someone really become a homosexual?

Get the rest here:

   Love 101 FM Family Time on Homosexuality 19.01.12 by glbtqja7                  

Certainly we have a long way to go in the discourse and understanding between parties what is striking to me is that pastors who are psychologists tend to ignore the DSM rules in as far as homosexuality is concerned when it has not been a disorder since 1973. Other questions asked were how does one counsel a homosexual? does the Bible allow any room for homosexual relationships? 
Then there were the callers who in large part opposed homosexuality as was expected. I tried calling in but the lines were busy as is usually the case whenever homosexuality is discussed on any station.

Peace and tolerance

H

Ooops! ..... Not so fast with compliments for Cuba just yet......

photo credit: 

In the previous post we saw news of the expected passing of gay marriage and possibly other LGBT rights for Cubans, a positive step by amidst this come awful news of a murder of a member of the community there and police harrassment of native bloggers to that island. I tend to agree with a fellow blogger who also had the post title captioned in his opinion on the new developments in Cuba.

Florida-based news website Cubanet is reporting that a young transgender woman has been beaten to death in police custody in Cuba.
¨Eighteen-year-old Leidel Luis, who was known as Jessica, originally from the province of Santiago de Cuba and who lived with her partner named Yariel in Las Tunas, died after receiving a brutal beating in Guáimaro in Camaguey, southern Cuba.

It is alledged that she was picked up at a traffic stop 4 January by police calling her "faggot, nigger and disgusting."

The report is sourced to a prison inmate, Rolando Castro Sanchez who names those he alleges beat Luis to death as police officers Galindo Yarian Larena, Juan Ramon Lorenzo, their commanding officer Heriberto, and the sector chief Boris Luis Caballero. It is alleged that her body was removed after she was found dead in her cell in the middle of the night to an unknown location.

Cuba's Communist Party Congress, which opens 28 January, will reportedly adopt pro-gay provisions. Mariela Castro Espín, the daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro and the leading advocate for LGBT rights in Cuba, wrote on her blog this week that the revision of the Family Code in 2013 will include recognition of same-sex couples.

However, continuing police harassment in Cuba, including arrests, has been reported on a number gay Cuban blogs, such as that of the Reinaldo Arenas Memorial Foundation. Gay Cuban blogger Francisco Rodríguez Cruz has also condemned 'irregularities' committed by Cuban police, who, he says, have repeatedly fined visitors to a gay meeting spot in central Havana. In September a death in custody of a transgender man was reported in Havana...¨ read it all, ¨Muere Travesti Tras Golpiza Propinada Por Policias¨

ENDS

Sorry to hear of this tragedy. Like us in Jamaica our Cuban brothers and sisters alike have their share of drama with the authorities although same sex and transgender aesthetics are more publicly accepted than any other island in the belt here but apparently violence is still a feature as is even in more progressive or "free" states where displays of affection are normative in a sense and legislation provides protection and recourse for aggrieved persons. 

The adoption however of any pro LGBT legislation may push into over-drive the demand from the ground here in Jamaica to the promised review of the Buggery Law by the new government the People's National Party, PNP. Recently after the Prime Minister's first parliamentary address on her own mandate she said to journalists that talks are proceeding and that a timeline is not set as to when the review and subsequent conscience vote will take place, but bearing in mind the makeup of the cabinet and the all important Senate with individuals who have openly expressed anti gay views over many years one wonders if they will get pass their original positions.

Earlier in 2009 the former Prime Minister Bruce Golding had used Cuba as an example in the Charter of Rights Bill debate as one of the countries who supposedly stood up to the "avalanche" as he puts it to legalizing homosexuality bearing in mind it is not illegal in Jamaica but Buggery is (despite the gender of the recipient).

We are keeping our fingers crossed things work out and as for our blogging friends there, we have you in our prayers.

Peace and tolerance

H  

Cuba Makes Progress in Sex Reassignment Surgery ... expects communist party to accept LGBT rights

Havana, Jan 17 (Prensa Latina) Cuban surgeons have performed 15 sex reassignment surgeries, and other transsexual people, who are assisted by a committee in compliance with international standards, are applying to that kind of procedure, an expert said on Monday.

The director of the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX), Mariela Castro Espin, explained that the first such surgery in Cuba was performed in 1988. However, it was not until 2007 that the Ministry of Public Health decided to perform sex reassignment surgeries again. As we spread this service in the media, more people going through the conflict and who do not know that they can get help will come to us, said the expert in an interview with the website Cubasi.

So far, transgender people must go through a follow-up period of two years, during which they are assisted by specialists, along with a personalized hormone therapy for the duration of the transition to the gender with which they are identified.

At the end of the process, the committee endorses those eligible for sex reassignment surgery (commonly known as sex change) and for a legal identity change, said Castro Espin.

However, she explained that surgery is not an aesthetic whim, but a scientific procedure agreed upon internationally, which benefits transsexual people.

The surgical procedure helps them to relieve the distress they experience since early childhood, as a result of prejudices that lead to misunderstanding and discrimination, she assured.

On the other hand, she noted that since 2008, Cuba has been working on an educational strategy, supported by the media, state institutions, the Communist Party and civil society organizations, to respect free, responsible sexual orientation and gender identity.

This is a profound process of cultural transformation to provide elements of analysis to dismantle the prejudices that have historically dominate people, their sexuality and their bodies.

These and other important issues will be discussed extensively in the 4th Cuban Congress on Guidance, Education and Sex Therapy, scheduled for January 23-26, at Havana's Conference Center.

The event, which will be attended by experts from the United States, Spain, Canada, Venezuela and Argentina, among other countries, will be held under the theme "Sex Education in the Processes of Social Transformation".

rma/jg/abo/msl/vm
Modificado el ( martes, 17 de enero de 2012 )

ENDS

with regards to LGBT rights in Cuba reports state:
“I believe the party conference will define an explicit policy of non-descrimination in matters of sexual orientation and gender identity and that, in turn, it will help dismantle the prejudices standing in the way of its approval,” Mariela Castro, director of the National Sexual Education Center, said in an interview on the Web site CubaSi.

She made her comments when asked about the draft bill that seeks to modify the Cuban Family Code to legalize same-sex unions, among other rights it aims to secure.

For now, according to Mariela Castro, the bill is being studied by specialists of the Justice Ministry and experts of Cuba’s National Jurists Union with the idea of including it in the 2012 legislative schedule.

For several years Mariela Castro has promoted legal reforms on the island in favor of sexual minorities.

In 2008, the Cuban government approved sex-change operations by ministerial decree, but no progress has been made in Parliament to reform the Family Code.

At certain times the sexologist has also asked the Communist Party to rid itself of anti-gay discrimination.

Cuba’s Communist Party will gather on Jan. 28 for its first National Conference, a meeting that has sparked great expectations about the possible changes and guidelines it will come up with for a generational “changing of the guard,” as Raul Castro requested at the sixth party congress last April.

But the president put a damper on such expectations last week when he told reporters “we shouldn’t get our hopes up” about the conference since this is an “internal matter” of Cuba’s only legally recognized political party.

meanwhile - VI Cuban Congress on Education, Sexual Orientation and Therapy

The National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and the Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for the Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES) announce the VI Cuban Congress on Education, Sexual Orientation and Therapy, to be held in Havana from 23 to 26 January 2012 in its usual venue of the Palace of Conventions in Havana. Session under the theme "Sex education in the processes of social transformation."

The purpose of this event is to contribute to interdisciplinary discussion of the notion of human sexuality, and complex process of transformation in various areas of social reality.

In parallel, develop the II Symposium Transidentidades, gender and culture , the Second Symposium of Clinical Sexology and I Consensus Chronic diseases and sexual dysfunctions .

These meetings are intended to facilitate dialogue and the system of best practices and theoretical experiences, as well as joint academic partnerships between institutions and civil society groups, regional and international organizations to contribute to the development and implementation of strategies and public policy around sexuality and sexual health, integrated into the processes of social transformation.

Sexuality education from emancipatory paradigms, compared to learned patterns of domination, presents us with a commitment to social transformation and weigh the humanist values ​​of solidarity, equality and social equity.

We count on your valuable participation.
Mariela Castro Espin
Chairwoman

ORGANIZE
National Center · Sex Education (CENESEX)
· Society for the Cuban Multidisciplinary Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES)
· Palace of Conventions in Havana, Cuba

SPONSORS
Ministry of Public Health
National Council of Scientific Societies of Health (CNSCS)
Academy of Sciences of Cuba
World Association for Sexual Health (WAS)
Latin American Federation of Sexology and Sexual Education (FLASSES)
Center for Psychological and Sociological Research (CIPS)
Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECI)
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Unite to End Violence Against Women in Latin America and the Caribbean
ONUMujeres
United Nations Program for Development
FOS Belgium
Oxfam Canada
Canadian Embassy
Nations Population Fund, United
Culture and International Cooperation

Watch out, Jamaica (Observer) letter writer on atheism

 

Dear Editor

The homosexual crusade has opened a new front in its assault on society's norms and traditional way of life. Its global centres in America, Canada and Europe have blown a gale-force wind in atheism, giving it much vitality and a new appeal.

Being atheist is now the most happening thing within the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual community. New adherents and veterans alike are now flocking to this newly found mode of awareness, and are using it as a proxy to further their foothold in society.

The choice of atheism — and not some other spiritual belief system — is an excellent preference for them. For one, it helps fortify their fundamental claim of being born gay; and further, it grants them the force necessary to help challenge the main charge against them: that homosexuality is essentially an ungodly lifestyle choice. In other words, atheism provides the free-thinking platform where homosexuals can dismissively reject the absolute notion of a God and of a final arbiter over morality.

By virtue of this, homosexuals are able to bluntly reject all forms of religious condemnation against them. This, of course, is central to their purpose, as they relish the idea of being able to use atheism as a doctrinal counterweight against all religions, especially Christianity, which has been a constant rebuking thorn in their movement's path.

Prior to this, it was the their sagacious use of the American Civil Rights laws to legitimise a lifestyle, which many still consider morally repugnant and totally contrary to the natural order of life. The Civil Rights laws, one of the greatest legislative achievements of the 20th century, was enacted to give minority groups, but primarily African-Americans who have suffered years of colour prejudice, the right to function as full citizens.

However, proponents of the gay rights movement have hijacked the Civil Rights movement and its laws, and have also cunningly used the same model of activism and advocacy as that of African-Americans to gain constitutional protection as a group. 

This added protection guarantees homosexuals their civil rights and bans discrimination against them based on sexual orientation. By reason of this, homosexuals' fundamental rights are protected twice under most civil societies' constitutions; once as members of a free society and once more as members of a special group.

Like body-piercing and tattooing, the new buzz of atheism will find its way into impressionable cultures such as Jamaica that takes its cue from "foreign", so to speak.

The latest crusading effort by international organisations, under the guise of promoting human rights, has come in the form of the US State Department announcing that future foreign aid will only be doled out to countries which are deemed homosexual-friendly, thus delivering a crippling economic blow to countries like Jamaica and Uganda, which oppose homosexuality and which also rely heavily on foreign aid assistance to supplement their budgets.

Recently, an African-American parent in Washington, DC, upon learning of her lesbian daughter's recent conversion to atheism, became distraught and declared that she was more bothered by her becoming an atheist than by being gay. This has become a challenge for parents like her as the spread of Atheism rises with the support of social networking, the Internet, and social clubs.

The concept of a Black atheist or Black atheism was a misnomer in African-American culture. But now, the idea is becoming more ubiquitous and steadily making inroads in bastions such as Harlem, Brooklyn and Washington, DC. This should be cause for consternation in Jamaica, as whatever is flavourful in America, especially with African-Americans, becomes flavourful with Jamaicans.

Very soon, this exotic union of homosexuality and atheism will barrel its way onto our shores and will take with it all vestiges of sexual morality. Watch out, Jamaica, a transforming force of human secularism is heading our way

C Anderson
c.andrsn1@gmail.com

ENDS

This supposed fear and or paranoia is just unbelievable to me but then again the way how some sections of the Christian community lambaste homosexuality and dishonestly link male homosexuality in particular to predatory paedophilia without subscribing to or verifying the facts is a serious cause for concern, then it is no wonder persons turn away and become atheistic when God is for all intents and purposes is a loving God despite the sinner's sin as no supposed sin is greater than any other but homosexuality is marketed as such by some.

Sometimes I really do wonder if these over zealous persons or religious fanatics do not realise the very Antichrist which is so prophesied about is gaining more power by simply the vitriolic way theses persons condemn homosexuals without in some cases inviting dialogue or a movement towards Christ. This continued deceptive anti gay quest is becoming more of a turnoff to the average person if ever so slowly.

Personally I do believe in God but not the one that is being so presented to the world as so vengeful and hateful, how can hate and God be even in the same sentence when he came for the outcasts? only earlier today I posted on my sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch about whether Apostle Paul really condemned homosexuality per say but more so the non monogamous relationships that existed at the time in Rome where he was based.

See:  Did Apostle Paul actually accepted Christian homosexuals?

The widening divide between the religious and the LGBT communities which also include LGBT Christians is worrying to me and there has to be some common ground especially here in Jamaica with talk of a promised review of the Buggery Law, knowing how influential the church still is here in Jamaica the review maybe thwarted especially when it gets to the conscience vote where members of parliament are expected to reflect their constituents' views if and when it occurs (many still see the promised buggery review as an election ploy to get pink votes in the Dec 29th polls).

As for the so called homosexual agenda, whatever that is, what agenda is the writer referring to? LGBT people have always been here but with successive generations things change and judging from the text in the letter the writer lives overseas, hypocritical that he stomachs homosexuality albeit with the necessary state protections where passed in the US and are exporting the hate to us. If I may quote a set of questions posted elsewhere: Isn't it ironic how many of these "Ministers" and Anti-Gay alliance groups readily and hastily flock to Black nations to spread this hate?
When's the last time you've heard of these groups go over to Norway or Denmark?
Makes you think what's their REAL motive in behind the targeting of specific countries and continents?

What is also very interesting is the amount of money being devoted to anti gay campaigns and full paged ads in Caribbean newspapers here (below) was one such as done by a group calling itself the Isaachar Foundation on Dec 1, 2011 bearing in mind a full page ad locally can run you up to half a million dollars depending on the day it's run.

while more pressing matters visible to all are left to simply go on, issues such as homeless kids, children in the care of the state, abused children and the umpteen missing kids here in Jamaica via the Ananda alerts in the papers daily, the zeal at which bishops and others go after or bash homos is far less energetic that developing interventions to solve those aforementioned problems but who cares really? HYPOCRITES!!!!!

Here is a look back at an exposé of homophobic evangelicals in the U.S. who support anti-gay rhetoric and violence in Uganda, thus exporting hate in the name of Christ whilst getting substantial funding in the process. 

Peace and tolerance

H