Insensitive Parents & displaced Adolescent MSM part 4

Insensitive Parents & displaced Adolescent MSM

So two more cases of forced evictions have come to hand involving gay males and their parents who simply do not want to endure their own siblings simply due to their sexual orientation and a pervasive homo-negativity that has come to dominate our attitudes towards homosexuality.

The first case involves an 18 year old who is described as slightly effeminate but somewhat soft spoken; he has been meeting some challenges according to him for some time in his younger days at school as his demeanour raised the suspicion level with other classmates. His non participation in male orientated sports such as football and cricket whilst not selecting other sports mostly female oriented sports as an alternative; those being netball or so he was ridiculed sometimes on the grounds as a sissy or too standoffish. Such antecedences are too common place in many crisis interviews with subjects who make reports. His mother had been asking him about a girlfriend similar to my own upbringing and veiled warnings about making sure that he was not funny or being gay.

This case also had a social media element to it as his Facebook profile was supposedly seen by another person close to his mother had been feeding her information that he has several males on his friends list and it looked suspicious. I do not know how many times I have carried entries on this blog and GLBTQ Jamaica of outings due to misuse or poor usage and monitoring of Facebook and other platforms with siblings or strangers who comb through for clues in their eyes about person’s sexual orientation for supposed proof so as to enact their stigma and hate.

The young man was eventually forced to leave the home and was assisted by a professional linked to a youth group who in turn reached out to JFLAG and others. My spare room is already occupied so I could not assist when I was contacted by Aphrodite’s P.R.I.D.E Jamaica APJ who originally handled the case. He has since settled thankfully at a temporary shelter arrangement as is the case these arrangements have expiry dates and how he will fear afterwards is unclear for now. His mother has been engaged but she is impatient to hear any consoling words and is adamant she does not want him back at home ad that he should find his way now he is an adult in her eyes seeing he has now 18 years old. Efforts are still in train to enable some sort of dialogue and re-integration with the mother; other family members are said to be mum with one uncle siding with the mother on the stance she has taken.

Case 2:

19 year old gay male forced to leave after gay nonfiction book was discovered in his bedroom.

In this case a best friend has offered accommodation temporarily as he is pursuing a short course at a skills training institution.

A simple book burrowed from a colleague that has no suggestive photos or such imagery on its cover was scanned by a relative which in turn led to a series or conversations within the family; there was some history before of tense situations with his mother as evidenced in arguments where she would hint that he has no interest in women and she knows. They say mothers always know and by all accounts with regards to this case it is true.

Her repeated hints to the 19 year old made him uncomfortable and as if he spotted the forthcoming doom he had already dropped hints to friends that he wanted to leave the house as he is not so steady. It was that forewarning that made a way open for him so soon as opposed to other cases where persons struggle in the initial displacement or forced eviction. Family member’s reaction since his removal from the home has been mixed; more so negative than positive with one relative residing overseas blasting him by phone claiming that he and his kind want to impose homosexuality as in the US where she lives but Jamaica will have none of that she reportedly shouted at him or words to such effect.

Beds are hard to come by these days as many persons simply clam shut their assistance for newly displaced as the image of homelessness is not so good a near complete dismissal to engage such is the easier way out.

Hope that both cases can be dealt with some long term resolve.

Meanwhile Kingston's Mayor is claiming she has recieved death threats:

Oh boi will this ever be solved? even with all the aspirational social media posts and announcements of projects but no serious answer yet.

In a previous post this video was featured:

Trina Bo$$ Bitch is her own boss, but suffers in a country that has no LGBTQ rights. Find out more on GAYCATION Jamaica tonight at 10pm.
Posted by VICELAND on Wednesday, March 16, 2016

also see:
Ellen Page's Gay Imperialism is Not Activism

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:
Gay homeless return ‘HOME’ … say housing promises were not fulfilled


Insensitive Parents and Displaced MSMs Part III 2011

Accused Gay Killers of Megamart employee still at large

Homeless gays accused of Megamart employee murder

Clash of cruisers & homeless again

Fighting noisy lesbians forced to relocate as neighbours loose patience

Normally when one hears of forced evictions or impromptu notices with LGBT persons at the receiving end it has something to do with stigma & discrimination and or homo/trans/bi/lesbophobia of some kind. Somehow we never fail; we never fail however to annoy folks and then cause undo resentment and intolerance when the causations are as a result of our very own actions. I cannot tell how many time reports like this one have been circulated or rumoured. However in this case it was too close to home for me. Two women sharing a space and who identify as lesbians in a swanky St Catherine community of Avon Park in recent months were forced to leave the rented premises last month and rent/deposit returned as occasional fights and arguments much to the annoyance of neighbours (according to the neighbours).

I came by way of the information in assisting a friend of mine to find a flat to rent and in asking around I was told of the empty flat and the subsequent background to the residence which is still empty. I am told but not able to confirm that the landlord in intent on not renting any suspected homosexuals or lesbians as they do not want a repeat of the incident with the now removed ladies. In early February the women woke up the cul-de-sac at the end of the avenue on a Sunday morning of February 21st. The women were arguing allegedly about monies owed and other domestic matters; it was as the decibel levels rose that the subject changed to other intimate matters in earshot of persons near by who allegedly snickered as the verbal onslaught ensued.

Matters concerning a previous date with another woman and other more salacious issues were aired quite openly for the growing audience as more persons opened their doors to the melee. The women did not care one person I was able to speak to in my quest to find out about the availability of the house for a site visit for the rental attempt for my brethren; they were just letting it all hang out to dry and the word ‘sodomite’ and other colourful Jamaican parlance dotted the exchange with threats of who can shoot whom and such or have bad man friends as it were.

Neighbours subsequently full to the brim with what they were subjected decided to intervene as a retired police officer broke the melee albeit outside the threshold of the property at the gate of the house. His attempts however was met with a strong rebuff from both women who claimed he was ‘fassing’ [inquisitive] in their business but he reportedly quickly reminded them he and others who were watching all this go down were doing exactly that because they could hear the arguments quite clearly. Both the man and the women continued in a tit for tat and then a subsequent phone call was made to the landlord who was reportedly livid, a similar incident took place in Greater Portmore late last year and also in Spanish Town at the court house of all places where an employee had a tiff with her supposed lover which spilled out into the streets. Then there was the chopping incident carried in the Observer in 2015 of a lesbian; the story was presented as a lesbophobic case but subsequent investigations and foot patrol by myself and friends who reside on the very townhouse complex revealed a totally different picture surrounding the incident and why she was chopped.

Annoying neighbours especially one woman who ended up committing the chopping, unneeded kissing and public displays of affection in the common areas of the complex despite cameras are installed by the strata management etc. Getting alleged rogue cops from outside the official precinct jurisdiction involved as well only added fuel to the fire. We must learn how to conduct ourselves in order to command respect and just display that as LGBT people we can be and ought to be dignified; in turn such dignity will give credence to the call for recognition of rights and freedoms and help if in a small way lessen the wall of resistance we face even if persons are not directly in the struggle for change.

The Avon Park matter however ended with the landlord’s visit; discussions (or common gossip) as the case may be with neighbours on the issue and a subsequent notice to quit issued. One of the pair removed the week following while the other agreed to live out her deposit and such. I tried to get more information as to the type of reaction verbally from the captive audience was like but to no avail. It just goes to show we must chill sometimes and try to solve conflicts more peacefully while setting the example so onlookers will have no ammunition to justify their criticisms or lesbo(homo)phobia. Adopting so called badmanship attitudes in out to project strength in a tussle or disagreement is just plain stupid as it makes no sense; or trying to see who can outdo each other. There are just too many issues surrounding intimate partner violence that require some sustained and targeted response.

Hope they learned the lesson. As for the house hunting we had to settle for somewhere else; I did not see the need to pursue that property after learning what happened and it would be a case of transfusion of liked persons and maybe homo-negative responses from curious neighbours given the history of the space.

Peace & tolerance.

H

also see:

Lesbian fined for property damage of neighbour’s house despite lesbophobic provocation

Kicked Out! Lesbian told to leave home by father as he can’t stand the site of her

Case update: Chopping incident, relocation, truth telling & unneeded attention

HOPE for the Vaginal Ring: Follow-Up Studies on New HIV-Prevention Method for Women Announced

More than 300 members of the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) were gathered in a hotel conference room in Rockville, Maryland, earlier this month and, somewhat unexpectedly, the assembled scientists had something to celebrate. On March 13, four days after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened a stakeholder meeting of African women, researchers, advocates and statisticians, it announced that it would indeed fund follow-up studies to the ASPIRE dapivirine (TMC120) antiretroviral ring trial.

The results of ASPIRE and its sister trial, The Ring Study, were released during CROI 2016 at the end of February. Then, this month the NIH held its meeting. When Sharon Hillier, Ph.D., one of ASPIRE's principal investigators, announced the results to MTN staff, "people literally cheered -- they just stood up and cheered," she said.

That's because, after many attempts and several disappointing trial results, this was one of the few microbicide trials -- and one of the fewer designed specifically for women -- to move on to open-label extension trials and potentially lead to availability for those women who need HIV prevention most.

"Everyone is so anxious to take this next step, to see -- can we realize the promise we think we have [with the ring]? And can we build on this to do even better?" she said. "No one is happy with 27% [overall effectiveness rate]. And we think we can do better than 27%."

ASPIRE and HOPE

When ASPIRE's results came out at CROI 2016 last month for the dapivirine ring, the 27% reduction in HIV acquisition sounded modest to say the least.

But, when researchers parsed the data further, they discovered that efficacy went up with a woman's age. For women aged 21 and under, the ring provided no benefit. For women 21 to 25, effectiveness shot up to 56%. For women older than that, the rate was 61%.

That 61% was the foundation for moving forward with additional studies, said Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.

"Everyone went in to the [NIH] meeting saying, 'We need to first examine the data -- is there really a pathway forward?'" he said. "It's clear there is, even though it's confusing when you look at the data. Twenty-seven percent is rather weak, but when you break it down by women older than 25 and women younger than 21, the 61 percent effectiveness is good enough to move forward. That's as good as circumcision in some respects."

Specifically, the NIH funded two follow up studies. One, ASPIRE's open-label extension trial, named HOPE, will seek to recreate the first study, but with some twists. Each of the 2,629 women in Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda who participated in the original trial will be offered the dapivirine ring. The hope, said Fauci, is that if women know that they are getting a ring with active drug in it and that it's been proven to reduce HIV acquisition, then more women will use the ring, which may change overall protection rates. It's happened before.

However, the study will also tackle adherence another way: by asking the women to once again consent to the study, but this time also asking them candidly whether they're participating in the study because they really want to reduce their risk for HIV, or whether the study is the only way for them to get regular sexual and reproductive health care.

"By re-consenting them, we're saying, 'We get it,'" he said. "'So tell you what: Sign up for the study, but be honest, tell us if you have any intention or not of using the ring.' So then they'll be able to separate out the people who are really using it from those who aren't."

Study participants who say they don't intend to use the ring will still receive health care, but their intention not to adhere will be factored into results.

Then, the study will check in with participants every month for three months, changing out the ring and checking how much less dapivirine is in it after 30 days than when it was distributed -- a sign that participants have actually used it. The idea is to remove the incentive to lie to get health care and use drug levels to test for adherence.

Finally, the study will have a divided design: In those first three months, participants will come to the clinic every month to get a new ring. For the second three months, participants will be given a pack of three rings and be instructed to change the ring out themselves. Then, participants will be asked to bring back the rings, and total drug depletion will be measured.

"It's clever," Fauci said. "It will give [researchers] a chance to compare a clinical trial setting, where [women] are seen every month, versus a real-world setting, where we give them three rings. The bottom line is to figure out what role adherence plays in efficacy and what are the motives to participate."

Robust Discussion

Dazon Dixon Diallo, president and founder of SisterLove, Inc., and convener of the U.S. Women and PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) Working Group, was at the NIH meeting and described it as a robust discussion of both the science and women's reproductive health needs.

Unlike the VOICE trial, which was designed to test the ability of combination tenofovir/emtricitabine (Truvada) to prevent HIV in women, but was stopped early due to lack of adherence, there was no effort to blame participants for not using the drug. The question was, "How do we design these trials in a way that does not design it to fit the research, but is also meant to fit into women's lives?"

"It was not about blaming them," Dixon Diallo said. "It was really looking at the full implications of a large clinical trial like this, and how nimble can it be to really understand and shift as needed to make sure that the trial itself is fitting into women's lives in such a way that makes them want to be more adherent and to participate."

In particular, she pointed to the comment of one 18-year-old participant, who had asked the ages of the counselors who worked with women during the trials. The implication, said Dixon Diallo, was that mixing peer support and relatable staff could improve social connections and change how younger women, especially, perceive the trials.

For her part, Hillier said that the NIH's decision to fund the studies was not just a win for ASPIRE, but also for the technology in general, which will receive follow up separately in The Ring Study.

"With these two positive results in two separate studies, if [the NIH] didn't move forward, it was really closing the book on this kind of research," Hillier said. But now, she said, everyone on the team is excited about next steps. "We're feeling like we have a ton of work to do, but we're really excited we get to do it."

What a Young Woman Wants

When the NIH announced its funding of HOPE, it also announced funding for another trial, one meant to ask a different question: Why did the dapivirine ring show no effectiveness in women under 21, the group of women at highest risk for HIV?

It could be that younger women weren't using the ring. But it could also be that there's something biologically different about young women that makes the dapivirine ring ineffective. So MTN-035, also funded by the NIH this month, will seek to determine if it's preference or biology.

The 18-month study will be divided into three sections. For the first six months, women will get to choose either tenofovir/emtricitabine pills or the dapivirine ring for HIV protection. For the next six months, they will switch. Then, at the end of the year, they will be asked which method they prefer -- "or neither, obviously," Hillier added.

At the same time, when women attend their monthly clinic visits, researchers will take biological samples -- vaginal fluid samples, for instance, or swabs -- to study the immune cells in the vagina and other biomarkers of HIV risk. That data will be broken down further into very young women aged 16 to 17 and women 18 to 21, to assess whether biological markers and efficacy differ by prevention type.

"So we're trying to give women a sense of agency," said Hillier, "that they're going to be empowered to select what works for them."

Heather Boerner is a health care journalist based in San Francisco and author of Positively Negative: Love, Pregnancy and Science's Surprising Victory Over HIV.

Jamaican edition of Gaycation TV series angers viewers

In a followup to a previous post yesterday The Challenges of Running a Queer Homeless Shelter in Jamaica the wall of resistance and disbelief of real homophobia in Jamaica suddenly appears even after being dormant and giving a false sense of tolerance in the minds of some.

The Star and other media carried parts or whole of the backlash as well.

Jamaica's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender societies have once again been thrust into the international spotlight.

This after parts of an episode of Gaycation (a TV series which documents the lives of people from the queer community) emerged on social media.

The video has been causing quite a stir on Facebook as users believe the documentary is once again painting a bad image of Jamaica on the international market. But Jamaicans need to remember the truth of homophobia here is uncomfortable for all involved. Bearing in mind also as a nation and at government policy level if we are serious about image building and economic development then LGBT tourism and the all important new pink dollar element would be considered but I guess that won't happen for now.

In the latest episode of the popular Canadian TV show, Canadian movie star, Ellen Page and her best friend, Ian Daniel journey to Jamaica where they meet members of the Gay community who talk about the dangers they encounter based on their sexual orientation. Miss Page unfortunately left out so many other things which often happens when visitors come here to shoot documentaries or features and do not have a fuller grasp of the issues here and our sub-cultural nuances; neither the groups that bring them here too; most voices in that department are mostly protected middle or upper class tertiary level educated folks on behaviour change but who only operate based on reports and not real world experiences.

They interview a transgender man who refers to himself as Trina Boss B**ch who tells them he wants to seek asylum overseas because he fears for his life in Jamaica. He then proceeds to show them where he was burnt with acid and shot allegedly by persons who do not accept his lifestyle.

The video has angered some social media users who believe that the documentary is being used to brand Jamaica as a dangerous homophobic country.

“This celebrity gal really guh Jamaica guh film this,” one user posted. “We keep allowing them to mek we country look bad. Uno stop anywhere in this world u go u have haters of gay lifestyle so stop negatively branding my country,” the post continued.

“Sorry to say I don't like this. People need to remember that we depend on tourism to help our economy. A show like this do more bad than good for us. These gay are looking attention. Me upset and cross because I see gays walking in Jamaica freely and nobody not troubling them,” another said. The video has already been viewed some 51000 times on Facebook.

additional comments rang similar to this one suggesting such features the subjects interviewed are coached:

When marginalized groups hidden from mainstream cannot get to speak and do speak it is welcome relief when opportunities present themselves so to do; but when it is guided by supposed 'foreigners' who are loathed by Jamaicans as imposing homosexuality on the nation or mistrusting the motives as a means to gain rights then we are bound to be at this war for some long ways to come. How does one bring credibility to the crisis reporting component of public advocacy is the key question out of all this.

In the previous post the issue of asylum was referred to but with public antigay advocates pouring cold water on the truth of gays complaining of homophobic attacks by the likes of Betty Ann Blaine then they feel justified in always leading the opposition to any rights seeking or law reform (Buggery). 

also see and view:

Betty Ann Blaine on the big gay lie 

Forced evictions are real and so are genuine cases of homophobia although there is a school of thought that says the cases are all gay on gay crimes. Previous posts on here and Gay Jamaica Watch bring this conundrum to bear:

To the disbelievers ............Yes, J'can LGBTians are still forced to leave Jamaica

NO GAY RAGE - Homosexuals Are Not Targeted For Violent Crime, Say Experts 2013

Meanwhile homelessness has not gotten the proper attention it deserved even from old and experienced NGOs and advocates bearing in mind it is the oldest piece of evidence birthed from stigma and discrimination. That we have to contend with outsiders telling our stories just makes the matter complicated; alliances are crucial but as I hinted above a broader scan of the issues is needed and not skewed look at this while not asking why is it that NGO seem so helpless? Of course the excuse is lack of funding which is somewhat true but outfits such as JFLAG has had to return funding they got as according to them they could not find a place to do the intervention.

Remember this?:

So our displaced cannot settle eh? ....... police raid premises with cross dressers! which was alleged to be funded by the J

So much to ponder.

Peace & tolerance

H

The Challenges of Running a Queer Homeless Shelter in Jamaica

Here is another entry on homelessness presenting the issue as if it is unsolvable all the time, when we all know it is not exactly so; especially given how the only Safe House Project was dubiously closed in 2009/10. We must never forget JFLAG was silent towards JASL's board who made a decision to close the shelter pilot prematurely then leading to a backing up on older populations and new displacement cases.

also see previous homeless matters on Gay Jamaica Watch HERE (newer posts will appear first) Vice conveniently left out the most recent occurrences including internal maters and murder accusations and such (Gay Man Beaten And Left To Die In Sandy Gully, St Andrew) and (22-Y-O Gay Died by Electrocution After Trying to Jump a High Voltage Fence); also see the beginning of the issues from the closure of the project: The Quietus ……… The Safe House Project Closes and The Ultimatum on December 30, 2009

Have a read of the latest presentation on homelessness and see what you make of it:

Source: Viceland (bear in mind it is a paid site so we are subjected to paying to see happenings of our own country/population by a foreigner; talk about the insult to us and lack of principles, but what else is new?)

Homelessness is a massive problem in Jamaica. As of 2015, the unemployment rate in the country was 13.2 percent among adults, and a staggering 38 percent among youth. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in January this year, the Jamaica Observer revealed a 26 percent rise in homelessness over the past three years. The problem is particularly prevalent amongst the country's LGBTQ community, who comprise at least 40 percent 2011 of the overall homeless youth population.

Jamaica is not known for its progressive views on queer issues. In 2006, Time magazine asked if the island was "the most homophobic place on Earth." In 2014, a Human Rights Watch report found that over half of respondents in Jamaica had experienced violence on the basis of their identified gender or sexuality. Reports of corrective rape and the mob murder of gender queer youth Dwayne Jones have also made the headlines in recent years. Across the 1990s, dancehall fast became one of Jamaica's biggest exports, but it has been well documented how many of the scene's biggest stars performed lyrics that openly incited homophobia. While in the 1970s and 1980s the gay rights movement operated much more freely (the country even had known gay clubs and visible LGBTQ space), today activists conduct clandestine operations and hold discreet gatherings as mounting homophobic sentiments pervade public discourse.

Back in 2014, VICE News covered a group of queer homeless youth in Kingston, colloquially referred to as the "Gully Queens." This was part of an outpouring of international concern over the country's queer homelessness problem. Despite widespread media attention in the wake of VICE News's report, the very same group of homeless youth are still on the streets, and the hoped-for improvements have not yet materialized.

Part of the reason LGBTQ communities are so neglected in Jamaica might be due to the fact that almost 70 percent of the country identifies as Christian. Amongst many of them, it is believed that acceptance of LGBTQ persons is akin to turning one's back on God.

On the other side of the fence, seeking help from within the LGBTQ community is complex. As part of the investigation for the new episode of the VICELAND series GAYCATION, which focuses on the current state of LGBTQ life in Jamaica, Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, a leading Jamaican human rights activist and co-founder of LGBTQ-friendly shelter Dwayne's House, tries to explain the mentality: "LGBT persons who are able to have well-paying jobs, drive high-end vehicles, live in gated communities, will have few issues of homophobia, and they want to keep it that way so that they don't have to pay much attention to our youth here," she said. "[It's] class prejudice mixed with why are you doing this to draw attention to us? To make us look bad? "

This is not necessarily to say that there is a lack of sympathy for the homeless youth across the board among the middle-class members of the LGBTQ community. Rather, as J-Flag, Jamaica's leading LGBTQ rights organization stated in its 2013 Annual Report: "The diversity of Jamaica's LGBT community has been masked by the advocacy and media narratives that have focused on victimhood, crime and violence, sex and HIV." Therefore, when choosing issues to campaign for year on year, the middle-class members of the LGBTQ rights movement may be wary that consistently prioritizing the cause of the homeless youth will present the rights movement as a single-issue platform.

According to Dane Lewis, director of J-Flag, one of the greatest barriers to providing shelter for the LGBTQ homeless youth is a lack of funding. NGOs seeking to alleviate the burdens of the queer homeless youth were, and still are, locked in ongoing negotiations with both the government and international agencies for financial support that would help them address the issue on the ground. They find themselves consistently overstretched and unable to provide anything more than stop-gap support.

"The reality is such a project requires a significant investment to run a program that has been envisioned and designed by the various stakeholders invested in the response to homelessness." Lewis said. "Despite submitting proposals to major development agencies, the response has not been favorable."

McCalla-Sobers and Lewis have been spearheading efforts to set up The Larry Chang Centre, an LGBT youth homeless shelter named after the pioneering founder of J-Flag. Though they are hopeful that this year they will receive the last leg of funding needed to make the shelter a reality, the country's pervasive homophobia will likely make finding staff willing to work for an LGBTQ organization, as well as keeping the premises safe, significant challenges.

Until that happens, there are other groups in the country stepping up to help. The National Anti-Discrimination Alliance (NADA) is a Jamaican organization "committed to protecting the rights and freedoms of all people regardless of social or cultural biases." They have provided LGBTQ-friendly safe houses and private shelters for the homeless since 2014. NADA is a small-scale operation, relying largely on the kindness of volunteers willing to open their homes for those in need. When that's not an option, the group will pool their resources and rent a residential property that can be run as a safe house. The shelters can only take on a few guests at a time and operate on a word of mouth basis, but nonetheless, NADA represents a small but significant victory in the struggle to provide shelter to displaced members of Jamaica's LGBTQ community.

Andrew Higgins, founder of NADA, believes that they have so far been able to avoid becoming a target of anti-LGBTQ groups by operating as a "non-discriminatory" organization rather than a "pro-LGBTQ" organization.

The fact still stands, though, that NADA's shelters are primarily aimed at people who are newly homeless, rather than those who have been living without shelter for several years. With a high occurrence of HIV and other medical problems within the long-term LGBTQ homeless community, as well as a high rate of unemployment and training, any shelter will have to provide more than just a roof in order to see the long-term homeless youth rejoin broader society. Therefore, for shelters like NADA's with limited funding, the best strategy is to focus energies on those who have just become homeless in the hope that they can prevent them from becoming homeless in the long-term.

For McCalla-Sobers, it is the fate of the youth population who have been homeless for some years now that she is trying to address once and for all.

"They've been traumatized. Re-traumatized. And traumatized ten times on top of that. People often speak about their behavior, and I'm not sure how I would act in their place." McCalla-Sobers says. "They have made it clear to me in the past; what they really want to do is leave this country."

As it becomes clear that even when provided with shelter many among the LGBTQ homeless youth have been displaced for so long that they believe it is impossible to ever feel at home again in their own country, the need to address their circumstances is more crucial than ever.

Follow Roxy on Twitter.

Learn more about the lives of queer Jamaicans on the latest episode of GAYCATION on VICELAND. Find out how to watch by clicking here.

ENDS

While other persons try in there own way to assist the image of the homeless MSM/Trans persons has been tarnished so badly by reports that it is difficult to get cooperation from persons in terms of temporary shelter.

also see:
Jamaican Artistes wanted to 'clean up' the streets, Say homeless gays not a good look for Jamaica, JFLAG yet to respond 2013

YOUNG MSM/TRANSGENDER WANT TO BE TREATED AS CITIZENS NOT POTENTIAL HIV/AIDS VICTIMS 2014 (wordpress blog)

Community based crisis sheltering is still an option for the displaced 2013 and more from GLBTQJA sister blog HERE (newer posts will appear first)

Let us see where things go from here even as groups as old as in their twenties cannot seem to or want to directly deal with homelessness despite knowing homelessness is the most visible consequence of stigma.

Peace & tolerance

H

Gay “Cures” Are Harmful And Don’t Work, Says World’s Largest Body Of Psychiatrists

I hope folks such as Pastor Aaron Dumas see this; only days ago I posted my concerns regarding his disregard for the DSM and the suggesting to the public of restorative or reparative therapy in his weekly column; this news now could not have been more timely.

see more on that: 

There goes 'Tell me pastor' again pushing reparative suggestions to a bisexual woman

meanwhile:

The World Psychiatric Association has condemned so-called conversion therapy and called on governments around the world to decriminalise homosexuality.

The largest international organisation for psychiatrists is to publish a statement condemning conversion therapy as unscientific, unethical, ineffective, and harmful, BuzzFeed News can reveal.

In a wide-ranging call to reduce the stigmatisation, discrimination, and resulting worsened mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) will formally announce on Tuesday its opposition to any attempts to turn LGBT people heterosexual – known as “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy”.

“There is no sound scientific evidence that innate sexual orientation can be changed,” says the WPA’s position statement, which has been supplied to BuzzFeed News.

“Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality can create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish, and they can be potentially harmful. The provision of any intervention purporting to ‘treat’ something that is not a disorder is wholly unethical.”

Although many psychiatric organisations in Western countries, such as the UK and the US, already publicly oppose conversion therapy, the WPA represents over 200,000 psychiatrists in over 118 countries, many of which criminalise homosexuality and, in some cases, condone attempts to “cure” it.

The WPA’s statement, which will likely be seen as controversial by many of its members, says: “A same-sex sexual orientation per se does not imply objective psychological dysfunction or impairment in judgement, stability, or vocational capabilities.” It continues: 

“[The WPA] acknowledges the lack of scientific efficacy of treatments that attempt to change sexual orientation and highlights the harm and adverse effects of such ‘therapies’.”

The WPA also calls on governments around the world to scrap laws against homosexuality:

“WPA supports the need to de-criminalise same-sex sexual orientation and behaviour and transgender gender identity, and to recognise LGBT rights to include human, civil, and political rights.”

But to reduce the suffering and mental ill-health experienced by a disproportionate number of LGBT people, governments and psychiatrists alike need to go much further than decriminalising homosexuality and banishing conversion therapy, the statement says:

“[The WPA also] supports anti-bullying legislation; anti-discrimination student, employment, and housing laws; immigration equality; equal age of consent laws; and hate crime laws providing enhanced criminal penalties for prejudice-motivated violence against LGBT people.”

It also cites research demonstrating that countries that liberalise laws around homosexuality – and provide equal legal treatment – see a resulting improvement in the mental health of their LGBT citizens.

And in a radical move that goes much further than its British or American counterparts, the WPA says psychiatrists have a duty to fight discrimination against LGBT people.

“Psychiatrists have a social responsibility to advocate for a reduction in social inequalities for all individuals, including inequalities related to gender identity and sexual orientation,” it says.

The WPA will publish the statement in full on Tuesday and email it to the heads of all member organisations shortly after.

full Buzzfeed article HERE

UPDATE:

See sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch for the full statement:

WPA Position Statement on Gender Identity and Same-Sex Orientation, Attraction, and Behaviours