Another case of stigma by appearance and perceived sexual orientation
As more reports come in of problems in the home and communities based on supposed abhorrence predicated on perceived sexual orientation I am a bit concerned as the response systems also seem not to be working in as far as formal LGBT ones are concerned, the lesbian in question did make a report at the insistence of a gay friend and she attempted to do so to an advocacy group but all they seem to have done is collect the report by phone and then no major follow up by them; instead she had to be calling them for what to do next or for further engagement and evidenced by her frustration as she reaches out for advice and some financial intervention.
One hopes that the stipend arrangements for such cases I had redesigned are still in place to assist such individuals or least tweaked for persons who find themselves in such challenges as this one. Fine that reports are being taken but the follow up and closure outside of asylum is still an administrative hiccup it seems.
The matter like most others these days came to my attention via social media which positively affects actions to closure and crisis reporting and a rather lengthy text message from an intervening party who was also included in the social media linkage and at whose house the 22 year old evicted lesbian is staying temporarily. She is also not fully employed which like similar displacement/forced eviction cases makes recovery difficult as support systems as in this community based assisted shelter response the person being assisted is left to the mercy of the kindness (however long it can last or is offered) of that time.
The 22 year old woman who hails from Manchester has been having a series of arguments with her father, according to the young lady who allowed me sharing the matter says her father would repeat a certain line in his rebuttals or rebuke that he cannot stand the site of her as if to send a subtle message that she had to go without saying it in so many words.
Matters came to a head however over the Christmas holidays in 2014 after a gathering at the house of family members and afterwards another one of those sporadic arguments commenced and continued according to the distraught lesbian far longer than usual as was due to her mode of dress for the evening as she was in a white suit presenting as semi butch, the shirt she claimed to have worn was mans and this did not sit well with her father; he claimed at the time it was inappropriate and that as his daughter she was to have presented herself better to the other family members who by the way outwardly do not really express any sign of abhorrence when I asked her if she felt such from them. Sometimes one can get signs from them as well which can suggest how far the rejection of lesbophobia as in this case has spread or is spreading.
The relationship according to the lesbian which was already tense changed for the worse over time and the final blow came in another holiday just ended in Easter interspersed with arguments and standoffs, he then told her the damaging words as usual and issued the ultimatum, his fears according to him was compounded by a revelation that neighbours and others were talking about his manroyal daughter and how she wanted no man.
“Mi nuh want nuh raasclaat manroyal round me, dutty gal......” (I want no [expletive] man royal around me, you dirty girl) the emphasis on ‘manroyal’ is crucial and has factored in previous cases of lesbians and transmen mistaken as lesbian presented aesthetically with masculine features. This hatred of the masculine present in biologically born females is substantiated by songs such as Beenieman’s Man Royal claiming he does not want to seen with such identified or looking persons. So our women also are profiled in this awful misunderstanding of sex, sexual identity and sexuality; a lack most visible in our school systems for several generations hence in part the ignorance playing itself out as in this case in family and community challenges.
He also allegedly went as far as to suggest she should find a man and have a sex life as if to imply some corrective sexual action would hetero-normalise her orientation and by extension her look, a suggestion that has also factored in cases I have seen during my time at JFLAG’s crisis intervention’s desk and via reports to my blog links and so on.
Thanks to the informal crisis shelter assistance from a young man in Porus Manchester for now and she is talking to a cousin in another parish to relocate and find an online job with PPL Register as I suggested to her in a subsequent conversation by phone. There are other stories and unconfirmed reports that I and others are tracking as the traditional spike that occurs when LGBT matters are most public seems evident yet again. Owing to a most public of them all and a shot in visibility by no less a person than the US President during his visit to Jamaica while positive in one sense has a price for some of our brothers and sisters but sometimes inevitable martyrdom is unavoidable, even if LGBTians do not necessarily subscribe to the cause of the struggle they may be affected by the spin offs positive or negatively from same.
As more displacements occur islandwide the trends seem to be suggesting more same gender loving women are factoring as victims and are older as well, just a basic scan islandwide which I attempted in late 2014 proved to me there is a challenge for the population overall and there is hardly any funding for family preservation or re-integration work just now. I am not sure if Obama’s visit will assist or change that department. Our New Kingston group friends have since scattered after the police removal in December 2014 and the outcome presented itself via a brawl just some days ago as one of them was accused of stealing a phone and another phone stealer was sentenced in a dubious case. Other minor clashes with the public have been reported as well but unconfirmed, since the dubious closure of a pilot project in 2009 the welfare and haphazard social issues that attend to MSM/Transgender displacement/homelessness have skyrocketed.
Also see my last post on MSM eviction that I was able to confirm:
Hope this sister keeps her head up and builds from this temporary fall.
Peace and tolerance
also see:
or the podcast I had done at the time
H
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