Minister of Education says no to condoms in schools & grooming of children to see homosexuality as accepted

The last time I looked at this was via two podcasts entered on October 28, 2012 and September 18, 2012 and written entries as well on the withdrawal of a teachers’ manual on sex and sexuality. As today is also Children’s Day I decided to release this entry today although it was ready from the moment the story broke. On his feet in parliament on May 15, 2013 the Minister of Education Reverend Ronald Thwaites said that condoms will not be distributed in schools neither will children be “groomed” into seeing homosexuality as accepted in Jamaica. Coming just days before the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, IDAHOT to be observed on May 17th his exact words were:

“This government led by this Prime Minister lifts up to our children the ideal of faithful love and marriage between a man and a woman as the basis of a family even as we insist on tolerance and love for those who are exposed to homosexuality but let it be clear Mr Speaker we will not be grooming children towards same sex unions and we will not be distributing condoms in schools. Guidance counsellors and their counterparts in the school and community health care systems they must know what to do when a student is in danger of sexual abuse but school is not a ramping shop, restraint must be taught by example and precepts, sex education yes, condoms no” 

He continued regarding the withdrawn yet forward thinking Home and Family Life Education manual that in part spoke to homosexuality, anal sex and a guided imagery exercise of role reversal which was to be conducted in a supervised environment by specially trained counsellors/teachers he said “ .... A positive value laidened age appropriate health and family life curriculum has been revised by a broad based working group for required use in all schools by September.”

Some lunacy here from the goodly minister or playing to the gallery seeing the party/administration has lost some major political capital post the IMF negotiations and confidence in the economy. It is not the first time of course we have seen the issue of homosexuality being made a platform for great pontificating and moral material while playing to the religious right’s imperative. What was also interesting is that the withdrawn HFLE manual is a voluminous document that spoke to several other wholesome developmental issues yet for one section it was removed out of fear.

Lasmay cartoonist from the Gleaner captures it best

So teaching children how to think on tolerance in regards to homosexuality is seen as grooming them to accept gay marriage? It is unbelievable the fear and paranoia coming from the powers that be in the education ministry, some people are gay, bisexual or the other variants we all have to come to that realization sooner or later. I am not surprised regarding the gay marriage bit and lumping all of that as a drive to homosexualize the nation as it were, it was in 2009 when the Bruce Golding administration rode the invented gay marriage discussion as a ploy to cloud the then Charter of Rights debate when the powerful religious lobby Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, LCF also took part in seeing to it that certain key words were removed from the language in fear of any supposed loop holes for any rights or recognition of homosexuality in their eyes. Also at that time the then opposition leader who is now the Prime Minister referred to by Minister Thwaites sided with the Bruce Golding administration on not to gay marriage On October 20, 2009 where she said “Mr Speaker when we accepted the final report from the committee that looked at the bill we were completely satisfied with their recommendation of a provision to restrict marriage and liked relationships to one man and one woman within Jamaica and that the provision should specifically spelt out so that there could be no ambiguity (applause) yes! One man one woman and if you are Jamaican and you go overseas the same applies.” (applause) she continued that on highly sensitive matters such as these overseas supporters and governments must recognize the voice of the majority, she also continued that if same sex marriage was legalized it will lead to chaos in the country. The same charter also spoke to non-discrimination in terms of class, moving about and association but apparently certain things must not apply to some minorities;

The tyranny of the majority?

Red herrings here as per usual? ...... Of course to get everyone worked up

Scared or coward politicians who can’t make the bold decisions needed?

Where is the real tolerance in all of this?

We seem to have a different sense for human rights as it is not universal as is espoused prior to that as well during the P. J. Patterson administration in 2006 the then Minister of Justice A. J Nicholson prepared a statement on No To Gay Marriage at the time and given the recent dodge by the present administration now on the suggested buggery review by Mrs Simpson Miller during the last leadership debate prior to the December 2011 election it is clear that the issues of homosexuality and condoms are being lumped to make it into a political football for mileage. Let us also not forget that at no time was there any agitation for gay marriage rights or state benefits for same sex couples in Jamaica when we can’t even get passed just privacy, consensual sex and more progressive legislation alongside the deep seated cultural rejection so engrained in our psyche. I was not fooled from the start as was some advocates who hailed Mrs Simpson Miller’s suggestion as a promise only to have their hopes dashed, we must get used to Jamaican politicians by now and how they operate and with a powerful religious group and churches right behind them they will feel justified to take the so called higher ground yet look at the hypocrisy where children in lockups, the indigent and other afflicted groups are treated and silence from those same churches not to mention the politically skewed Jamaica Council of Churches who only seem to be very vocal when the Jamaica Labour Party is in power. 

Besides the law as in the marriage act in Jamaica presently will not allow gay marriages in the first place as it clearly states it is between a man and a woman and will take major amendments to include same gender loving persons. In 2001 there was a presentation made to the committee deliberating the Charter at the time with regards to discrimination but it was avoided via intellectual gymnastics as per usual. 

The avenue of challenging the marriage act has not been used even though the avenue exists and the reason why the discrimination clause was overlooked was due to a fear that such a challenge would come in the future counter to the charter. In other words no loopholes must be left for gays to get any rights now and in the future, a principle that was used also in the Sexual Offences Bill debate and the parliamentary submission regarding the buggery law in 1998.


Teenage pregnancies are up as much as 18%; HIV/AIDS rates are of concern with teenage girls in particular as the trends suggest older men are having sexual contact quite regularly. Initiation is also a challenge and withholding information and instilling an abstinence only messaging is not practical in today’s world. I will admit I was not pleased with the way the discourse on the suggestion of condom distribution in schools was handled properly by the press, the church (who owns and runs several high schools) the respective stake holders including the Ministry of Health’s and related national HIV programs and the public, what should have been made clear is distribution from a certain age upwards with the relevant information and skill sets provided and shared. Schools would not just become a condom slot machine where teens can simply get condoms as they please, there will have to be monitoring, counselling, information dissemination and other alternative activities presented as options for sexually active teens.

If we were to follow the authorities one would walk away thinking that the present set of adults were not young once with urges and desires, attractions and indeed initiation and experimentation and as the austerity measures take effect of sorts all kinds of methods are now being found to cut where possible and this cop out from handling sex and sexuality matters even as the minister himself recognises initiation and despite the finding that 60% girls of one class at a Kingston school were mothers, he also said in his presentation, “The education system in Jamaica recognizes that many children are initiated into sexual activity during their classroom years, some of the mass media, the carnival culture and confused family values are among forces who weaken the truth that premature sex is seat if true love”

As he imputes motive in the line with the word “forces” his continued belief that some invisible hand somewhere is trying to force homosexuality on the nation’s children during the preparation of the previous version of the HFLE manual that he now says is revised and now our kids will get a sanitized version and yet again we hide the real truth from them when they themselves know more about sex than the adults who teach them. He however encouraged school administrators to re-engage pregnant teens and not to shun them. The occasional preachy scripture related lines must be noted as well in his presentation.

And what about prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infection in the face of the fact that many teens are not going to remain sexless or virgins by thirteen years of age? Many students during the waiting period of the review of the withdrawn HFLE manual were not attending related classes according a small check I did. My neighbour’s grand daughter who attends Alpha Academy has the textbook equivalent to the manual at level 3 and when I quizzed her about the classes she said that no classes has happened and the students welcomed the free period on that given day on the time table. So valuable time has been lost, God knows what mistakes have been made or what could have been avoided.

Fear is a hell of a thing why is there the conflation with same gender sex and abuse or homo-paedophilia so pronounced and how can it be addressed? The teaching of same sex couples as a form of the newer family unit is not precluding the traditional heterosexual unit or taking away rights from such persons. Of course the gay lobby predominantly JFLAG whose stewardship by now you my readers realize am not pleased with will be relying on the law suit coming up in May and June by two persons on the ad rejection by both television stations and the challenge to the buggery law in a sense by activist/blogger Javed Jaghai. Very little came from the aforementioned persons/groups when the HFLE manual was withdrawn earlier this year possible showing how out of touch they are with how connected all of this is to the homophobia we have faced over the decades. I have long concluded that it is because of the lack of the proper curriculum on sex and sexuality over generations why we are at the chronic homophobic position. If we were taught not to fear sex, see homosexuality as orientation and not to hate but seek to understand the issues, abstinence as well as sexual negotiations with safer sex, self esteem and sexuality we would not have the psyche of fear and hate of the feminine and the unknown.

The latter mentioned fears has made homophobia well grounded in our nation and is going to take generations to change the thinking despite persons well travelled or exposed to other cultures. The so called family values that are used as reasons to avoid discussing difference and sexualities but the pathologies of said family life issues in a Christian sense are hidden or driven from a pulpit without any room for engagement for persons who have issues in their lives, marriage for example a discussion on Love 101FM on May 16, 2013 openly spoke to this in a very rare occasion marriage is pushed forward as if once one gets married in the church with God as its centre then all is well when this could not be further from the truth as the same issues of discovered incompatibilities show up after the ring is on, domestic violence, cheating, high rates of divorces within the church itself and down low issues as well where persons struggling with homosexual or bisexual urges marry to avoid, try to change or suppress such feelings and orientation.

Even as May is observed as Family month in certain church denominations it is clear that the very family values that more and more seem to be adopting very exclusionary ideologies is going against the very word of God and he sent his son to embrace the outcast yet homosexuals are supposedly viewed as poisoned individuals where even some anti gay voices have gone as far as creating “others” by using very degrading description to make scapegoats for their hate, what about the basic premise of judge not and not be judged or do unto others? Misplaced aggression hidden under a platform of religiosity here is at work I think and it reminds me of the fact that it was the Scribes (similar to modern day theologians) and Pharisees who were Jesus’ strongest opponents simply because he reached the poor and the ordinary yet it was Rome’s intellectual, political and legal systems that were made as weapons to crucify him with deception becoming a major tool for this new type of theocracy in other words enemies and fraudsters within who pontificate on virtuous platforms. 

The theology is in the sociology basically, if the church or religiosity is not willing to step into the present reality or become accommodative to difference then how long can it survive being insular and holding fast to some older ideologies that do not make sense in today’s world?

And if winning souls for the kingdom is supposed to be the work involved here for the church on earth then using derogatory terms, separatists ideology hidden in theological mumbo jumbo and hypocrisy in the name of Christ to create “others” so they can be made infectious, then where is the witness component here, is it only preaching to the converted and keeping themselves to themselves the ultimate goal here is that what Christian witness has come to or where is the leadership by example?

So we remain at a standstill as the education ministry decides to remain in the old ages regarding sex and sexuality at the expense of our young.

In a follow up press briefing the minister made it clear he was not afraid of a backlash from the gay lobby, “Fear is not an issue in this it’s a question of what is right” he continued that advocating the homosexual lifestyle is not in line with the mood of the Jamaican people or what is right and moral, “We must be very careful that in the interest of tolerance we do not allow minority groups to defeat majority sentiments.” In other words I interpret that as stay in your place as minority voices and protection are unimportant in his eyes.

Peace and tolerance

H 

Some background:

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally

Urgent need to discuss Sex & sexuality nationally part 2

from the earlier HFLE Fiasco in 2012

Flashback to 2012

United Belize Advocacy Movement homosexuality case raps ......... judgement to come

 

After 3 years of anticipation, and 4 long days of legal back and forth, the Caleb Orozco United Belize Advocacy Movement head's challenge to Section 53 of the criminal code in his country has finally been argued to completion, and tonight or until about December, it is in the hands of the Chief Justice to make a decision.

Eamon Courtney, the lead attorney for the Churches, finished his presentation this morning. His argument explained why the Orozco challenge should be struck out of court.

After a 5 hour presentation, Courtenay briefly explained that thrust of his argument: that Orozco could not prove that any of his constitutional rights were violated because he’s never been prosecuted, and will likely never be prosecuted for his sexual preference.

Eamon Courtenay - SC - Attorney for the Churches

 

"Once UNIBAM was struck out as a claimant then it left Mr. Orozco's affidavit with very little evidence about a personal prejudice that he was being affected by and in the absence of that - the cases are very clear that you cannot bring a claim under the constitution. We relied on cases and I heard Mr. Hamel-Smith in reply criticizing me for the submission for making it late but I think he will understand that that is the law. Whether I make it now or yesterday - that is the law. He has no standing in this claim. I don't want the impression to be given as I understand it has been given in some quarters of the media that the church is insensitive or intolerance to the rights of gay people, lesbians or transgender people. I submitted quite carefully and clearly to the court that in face one of the most tolerant entities in our democracy is in fact, the church.

We are understanding of Mr. Orozco's position and in fact - Mr. Orozco should be praised for having raised this issue. The point is that he has raised it in the wrong forum. The court is not an academic institution, it is not a place where you come and ask for advisory opinions for example the International Court of Justice. You have to suffer a right, you have to suffer a prejudice and when that happens to you then you come to court. All the cases that were relied on by my learned friends except the ones that come from Singapore - I distinguish that because they don't have an equivalent to our section 20. They said that in that case the mere existence of the provision on the law is enough - they don't have section 20. Our section 20 says - very carefully that you have to have a right that is being contravene, is likely to be contravene, or has been contravened in relation to you. So it is not an academic question and if Mr. Orozco cannot prove that the police has threatened him, that they have arrested him, that there's a likelihood that he's going to be prosecuted or arrested or somehow prejudiced by this law then he cannot have standing. The proper place for him to seek redress is in the National Assembly - seeking to get the legislators to change the law on the matter. I made the submission to the court this morning that all the evidence from Mr. Orozco, all the evidence - document after document shows representations to the National Assembly asking them and the government to change the law. 

We sited responses from the government saying that they are not prepared to do it and so what I told the court is that the claimants are upset about that and have come to the Chief Justice and asking him to lash and discipline the legislatures because they are not doing what Mr. Orozco wants. That has no place in our democracy - when it comes to law making and when it comes to defining what is a criminal offense in Belize - that is determined by the National Assembly and not by the Supreme Court." But as we showed you, there are members of the church who have the impression that if the 3 words that Orozco says are offensive to his rights are removed, it deflates Section 53 of the criminal code, and makes it ineffective against perpetrators of male on male rape, and child molestation.

Courtney told us that he can understand why that concern has arisen. According to him, it partly because the claimant’s case is unclear; it is not applying the strength it needs to qualify for a proper challenge in court.

Eamon Courtenay
"There case isn't clear. I pointed it out to the Chief Justice, in fact they have presented the court with four options. The one option they have not presented the court is striking down Section 53 completely so once that is off the table, the question is what type of sexual practices are constitutional and what are not? That is why they have to give the court four options to choose from. The point that we're making is once you move away from an absolute challenge to Section 53 and say to the court 'I am giving you a menu' and as an example I gave to the court - 'this is a very nice steak and how do you want it? Rare, medium rare, medium well or you want it well done?' They are giving four options to the chief justice asking him to choose how he likes his 'steak'. The constitution precludes that type of operation by a court. They should take those four options to the government, to the legislature and say 'we advocate for one or two or whichever' and have the legislature choose it."

And in relation to this issue, UNIBAM sent out a release yesterday in which it condemned all of abusive sexual behaviour, including all forms of rape and child molestation.

According to the organization, Section 53 is not the answer to male on male rape, and that there needs to be legislative reform on the rape laws to make them gender-neutral.

In relation to the challenge in court, Chief Justice Benjamin has reserved judgement for a date to be later announced.

Some content from Belize 7 news and videos by Brian Paul Welsh, to see more UNIBAM stories click the tag immediately below.

A mother’s hateful letter, a lesbian’s suicide attempt

A twenty three year old Jamaican lesbian residing in New York is still recovering in a medical facility in the United States following an attempted suicide at the end of February 2013 after a series of hateful written correspondences over a four year period after she left Jamaica to take up studies between the aggrieved lesbian and her mother. The letters according to a well respected source close to the matter who asked that I share this and who was willing to have certain aspects of the ordeal known were quite fine during the first few exchanges but as time progressed the young woman who had been contemplating coming out way before her departure from Jamaica was worried about the reaction from her mother and other sister at that time. She has been having some difficulty swallowing and so her time in the hospital has been extended as news spread of this case many including myself are still in shock after learning of this as she is personally known to me.

Born and raised as a church going sibling she did all the expected activities that well behaved and obedient child should do but felt something apparently gnawing at her inner core, the source continued. It was not until in her teens that she soon realised that her same sex attractions grew far stronger than she could ever imagine and even went as far as praying to seek remedy and a healing cure for this scourge as it were. I can remember my own attempt literally hours on my knees in my bedroom praying to God to be rid of this desire for men and my feeling of shame and guilt as well. I went as far as subscribing to the early ex gay notions of homosexuality being caused by an absentee father (even physically present in the home) and so it was also with this young lady, she at one point bought into the idea in her search for reasons that it was because she did not have a strong father figure hence her desire for women.

Finally the struggle was too much to bear and as most do come to the realization that this is me and I cannot change who I am. Her mother’s hounding of why she did not have a boyfriend soon cropped up and the other predictable condemnations including the use of passages to instruct her that it was her job to reproduce or to procreate (excluding the lesbian knowledge bit) her mother even went as far as to suggest pastoral intervention to supposedly preselect a man for her in the church as she was to remain in the church as her mother’s insistence even in adult life. It was a relationship however with a female music teacher that became rather close in her nineteenth year that caught the attention of some who in term somehow got word to her mother where the descent began. While she resided with her she eventually moved out to attend a tertiary institution and soon found herself receiving late night phone calls with an angry mother on the line demanding to know if she was a lesbian and the whole nine yards. Time passed and the relationship between the mother and the young woman grew tense but they kept contact non the less though becoming more infrequent.

Her departure to the states was eminent and her mother made it known that she knew she was about to go overseas and live her so called “dirty” life which was where the source claimed the real hurt began. Instead of encouraging her daughter to be successful a mother decides to instil shame and hurt on a daughter who was carving out her life and career goals. The letter exchanges commenced along with emails and phone calls and without fail the young lady would be reminded of the Sodom and Gomorrah story, the abominations and so on.

Reparative therapy at one point was also hinted to and that was where the estrangement and withdrawal begin with the young woman who felt she could no longer carry this burden of trying to please her mother. The damning written piece however came in Christmas of 2011 where her mother in a lengthy hand written piece which suggested motive and time to gather her thoughts on what she wanted to express made it clear that she did not support her lesbian lifestyle and that God was going to punish her and other damaging condemnations. Judging by the outcome here the road to the young lady’s decision to end her own life had been paved but what came through also from the source is that she hardly sought any assistance on the face of it from anyone, not even her close circle of friends who are reeling from the shock of the news that she would take such a route of finality. Her return letter just before the suicide attempt was typed, printed and mailed to her mother a copy of which was seen by the source who paraphrased that the young woman said she was hurt by her mother’s shaming words and she wanted nothing more to do with her as she was only her mother by blood, nothing more.

She attempted to use a leather belt she had in her closet tied to a ceiling fan and a chair as support for deliberately kicking the chair from under her however the attempt failed as she had a visitor some ten minutes after the fact who entered her flat and made the shocking discovery and called for help to take her down where she was rushed to the hospital. Her mother upon hearing the news sounded a bit indifferent according to my source but has been keeping in touch non the less. Question is how many other LGBT people, Jamaican and otherwise who are going through this kind of rejection and have gone as far as self mutilation or suicide as a solution? To think also presently we have no serious permanent systems in place of psycho social interventions within the advocacy structures to address the specific LGBT rejection fallout similar to this case. It in November 2012 that a case was brought to my attention of an attempted wrist slitting by a young man who had reported became fed up with his own issues as well.

With signs of trouble hard to detect the experts however tell us that we can still see them if we pay very close attention to ones behaviour but who has time to be scrutinizing every move another makes? Ironically the son of American self help guru Rick Warren the man who influenced the world with his book and speeches took his own life earlier this year Matthew Warren ended his life by the gun yet Mr Warren Sr. did not see it coming. Words do can hurt as this case points to especially when it comes from relative as a mother who we seek validation in who we are even as adults. I am wondering if her mother is now considering more improper words by now condemning her that she committed another sin especially one that is deemed unpardonable in scripture. Samson’s suicide as it were where he destroyed the temple is not a sin in my eyes that’s a more a case of martyrdom or a form of heroism to me, after all he was protecting his nation on the face of it. Also in a mental sense or diminished responsibility ones state can also be a determinant factor one cannot be held responsible for an act such as that given the state they may have been at the time of the attempt. The other family members seem not to have factored post the attempt, at no point was her sister mentioned in any detail which suggest there could be possible estrangement between them as well. The woman’s father had passed away some years ago.

Hope is what is needed overall as I asked it is just worrisome as to how many others out there are suffering in silence and that is preventable or at least some intervention be brought to the fore. We have had no serious forumatic activity in this regard to help community members get over this hurdle, the expectations that many of us had of a matured LGBT positive social activities and interventions after some thirty plus years in total of agitation we would have seen systems put in place to respond to immediate service needs for cases such as this. No suicidal hotline for things like this locally either which makes me ask where does one go for answers and help?

Fingers crossed, prayers going up and high hopes abound and we hope she pulls through and reach some resolve, reconciliation and reunification with her mother on this matter, I hope her mother evolves at least on her thinking towards rejection of homosexuality and realises her words have power. Thanks to her friend who shared aspects of this story and hence the approved post you now see. There are so many stories out there to tell by so many of us to bring some reality to bear.

Hope remains while company is true.

Peace and tolerance

H