Navigating Treatment as Prevention

by Trenton Straube

Treatment as prevention (TasP) can refer to several bio-medical strategies. In both pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV-negative people take daily regimens of antiretrovirals (ARVs) to reduce the risk of a possible infection. In prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), pregnant women with HIV take meds so the virus isn’t passed to their babies.

Last but not least, TasP also can refer to the idea that treating people with HIV not only improves their health but also prevents transmission of the virus. It’s this notion of TasP that most people seem to associate with the phrase—and it’s this aspect that remains the most misunderstood.

The concept has been floating around for years—after all, if ARVs dramatically reduce the virus in bodily fluids, then it follows that HIV is less likely to be spread during sex—but it gained backing five years ago with the so-called “Swiss Statement.” Authored by four of that country’s HIV experts, it claimed that an HIV-positive person on ARVs and with an undetectable viral load and no sexually transmitted infections cannot transmit HIV through sexual contact.

The statement, however, was based on “review of the medical literature and extensive discussion.” In 2011, the supporting data arrived from the HIV Prevention Trials Network when its HPTN 052 trial found that, for heterosexual couples, starting early treatment led to a 96 percent reduction in HIV transmission to the negative partner. The news made global headlines. The journal Science named it “the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year,” and Time magazine listed treatment as prevention as the year’s No. 3 medical breakthrough.

In December 2012, Chinese scientists claimed that TasP indeed prevented infections—but by 26 percent, not 96. So which is it? What’s more, given that anal sex is 10 to 20 times riskier than vaginal sex and that the studies were based on heterosexuals, how do the findings apply to gay men? The flood of recent data might seem overwhelming, but on closer inspection, a clearer picture emerges on the horizon.

HPTN 052 researchers, led by Myron Cohen, MD, the director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina, enrolled 1,763 serodiscordant couples—in which one person has HIV and the other doesn’t—in nine countries. The study, which began in 2005, is ongoing. The couples were divided into two groups: In one, the positive partners started treatment immediately; in the other, they waited till their CD4 counts dropped below 250 or they had an AIDS-related illness. Everyone received regular counseling and care—any sexually transmitted infections, for example, were treated—and they were provided with and encouraged to use condoms (although there were more than 200 pregnancies). All HIV-positive participants attained an undetectable viral load.

By February 2011, the study recorded 28 cases of HIV infection linked to the positive partner. An additional 11 negative participants contracted HIV, but the virus was not genetically linked to their positive partner, which illustrates that the couples were not necessarily monogamous. Only one of the 28 cases occurred in the early treatment group, and it took place shortly after the trial began, when the positive person was probably not yet undetectable.

HPTN 052 is a clinical trial following highly motivated and monitored participants. How will its results hold up in the real world? To find out, Chinese scientists looked at already existing data on nearly 39,000 serodiscordant couples from 2003 to 2011. Despite lacking crucial details, such as whether people with HIV were undetectable, the researchers found an overall prevention benefit of 26 percent. Cohen sees this as “a positive message—that at a population level, you still see a benefit.”

On an individual level, the news looks even brighter. In January 2013, the U.K. Health Department published position papers by two leading AIDS groups—the British HIV Association (BHIVA) and England’s Expert Advisory Group on AIDS (EAGA)—stating that when the positive person is on successful treatment and three criteria are met, the risk of transmitting the virus through vaginal transmission is “extremely low”—as in, it’s “as effective as consistent condom use.” Those three conditions, according to what’s already being called “the U.K. Statement,” include:

• There are no sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in either couple.
• The positive person has a viral load below 50 copies/mL (considered to be
undetectable) for more than six months and on the most recent test.
• Viral loads must be tested every three to four months.

Fulfilling these criteria may seem straightforward, but there are caveats. For example, it’s possible to have an STI and not be aware of it. STIs are problematic because they increase inflammation, spurring both the amount of HIV and the number of CD4 cells—the very cells that HIV latches onto.

Similarly, although viral loads are likely to remain undetectable as long as the meds are taken regularly, treatment regimens can fail. “I’ve had my virus break through the medications a number of times,” says Jim Pickett, director of prevention advocacy and gay men’s health at AIDS Foundation of Chicago, who’s been on meds since 1997 and considers himself very adherent. “And yet, when I became detectable I didn’t know until I was tested—you don’t just one day have a headache and then know you’re detectable. You don’t know.” Hence, testing for STIs and viral load are essential.

How does all of this apply to gay men—and to anal sex? (Remember, it’s the sexual act, not the sexual orientation, that poses the HIV risk.) In the United States, men who have sex with men (MSM) comprise 63 percent of new infections, and globally, anal sex among heterosexuals is an often-overlooked driver of the epidemic. Although no TasP studies have concerned gay men or anal sex, Pickett says, we’re accumulating real-world data and their implications. Indeed, a meta-analysis by London researchers found that treatment can reduce the risk of transmission during anal intercourse by up to 99.9 percent. The U.K. Statement reached a similar conclusion.

Treatment as prevention works really well as a strategy for individuals who meet all the requirements. (Think about it: If it weren’t for the single person in HPTN 052, who technically wasn’t on successful treatment yet, that trial would have reached 100 percent success.) As a population strategy, however, myriad challenges—including the cost of the meds—can sink the prevention potential.

Of the 1.1 million people with HIV in the United States, almost 20 percent are unaware of their status. What’s more, only between 60 and 68 percent are linked to care, between 30 and 41 percent remain in care, and a dismal 16 to 34 percent have suppressed viral loads. (This collection of diminishing numbers is often referred to as “the cascade data.”)

To fully realize TasP, HPTN’s Cohen says, “you have to go through the process of testing people, treating them—in my mind, treating them immediately—making sure they remain adherent and making sure that their viral load is suppressed. If you do all that, I suspect transmission will go down to an unbelievably low rate.”

And while TasP may be a pivotal step in reaching the goal of “an AIDS-free generation,” the opportunities for misuse also exist. Leading thinkers such as the Global Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS (GNP+) have raised concerns. For example, will those living with the virus be coerced into starting treatment? Will they always be informed of their options? Will testing remain voluntary and confidential?

“Providing treatment to people living with HIV infection to improve their health must always be the first priority,” notes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a January 2013 background brief on TasP. But such statements are expected when it’s understood that placing people on treatment for a public health purpose is a violation of human rights.

“[I’m] very concerned that the priorities have been skewed, in part by pharmaceutical companies seeking larger markets and in part by a political and public health environment looking for an easy way out,” says POZ founder and Sero Project executive director Sean Strub. “It’s like they want to buy a can of pharmaceutical Raid and spray it on everybody to stop the transmission of HIV. But that still leaves all the other circumstances that facilitate HIV’s spread unaddressed, as well as creates a host of new problems.” We can ensure that people with HIV are making empowered decisions, Strub says, by measuring their treatment literacy once they start taking meds.

When to start treatment is another big question. HTPN 052 found a benefit to starting right away, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends treatment for everyone, regardless of CD4 count. But others go by different benchmarks. The data for starting therapy when CD4 counts fall below 350 is stronger than that for starting above 350, says Tim Horn, the HIV project director at Treatment Action Group, and it’s even stronger than data for starting above 500—or regardless of CD4s. Nonetheless, Horn concludes: “All of that said, I simply can’t imagine that we’ll find that [starting early] is actually harming people living with HIV on a large scale.”

In 2010—a year before the HPTN 052 results—San Francisco became the first U.S. city to adopt a policy of universal ARV access. In other words, of offering treatment to everyone regardless of CD4 count, which many people view as TasP. The decision, according to Brad Hare, MD, the medical director of the HIV/AIDS Clinic at the San Francisco General Hospital, was based on their own real-world data and on-the-ground experiences as well as the input of community groups such as Project Inform and the state agency that oversees the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

The HIV clinic sees 3,000 patients; it’s a public health setting where none of the clients has private insurance and there are high rates of active substance abuse, homelessness and mental illness. “It’s a tough patient population,” Hare admits. So how’s the new policy panning out? “It’s working pretty well,” says Hare, explaining that 92 percent of clients are prescribed ARVs and of those, 82 percent have undetectable viral loads (this compares with the nationwide average of between 16 and 34 percent). Citywide, new infections are decreasing. In fact, looking at data from 2004 to 2011, researchers writing in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes recently concluded: “‘Treatment as Prevention’ may be occurring among [men who have sex with men] in San Francisco.”

However, Hare points out, the successes cannot be attrib-uted solely to the city’s universal ARV policy. San Francisco has also invested in its testing and treating programs, and it offers a health benefits program to people with HIV. Also, MSM comprise 90 percent of the city’s HIV epidemic, and the local activist community remains informed and involved. “San Francisco is a unique place,” Hare says, “and [our policy] may not apply to others. But there are a lot of generalities we can learn. First of all: This can work.”

Hare has observed that his clients decide to start treatment for a variety of reasons. Some hope that the meds will help them maintain cardiovascular health. Others want to stave off mental decline. He recalls one patient who initially declined ARVs because his blood work was good but then changed his mind after two incidences of condom failure resulted in his negative partner taking HIV meds as post-exposure prophylaxis.

When speaking with his patients, Hare stresses that the evidence points to personal health benefits for starting treatment as soon as they’re ready. Then, as if it’s almost a “by the way” aside, he mentions the prevention benefits for their partners and the community. In fact, he says, “I don’t see our policy as written as a treatment as prevention policy. It is clearly based on the benefits of the individual [with HIV].” In other words, it’s treatment as treatment.

Now that you have tested positive you will need to find at least three kinds of support:

1) A counsellor with some understanding of gay/bi issues and HIV who can help you with the consequences of this for you and your family. Whether you are out or not, or have a supportive environment or not, will all affect your interaction with HIV, and it is best to be prepared for both practical and emotional issues, and a counsellor can help with these.

2) A really up to date and knowledgeable HIV/AIDS specialist. This is harder to find than one might imagine despite the large organisational structure for HIV/AIDS. Most private doctors, quite frankly, know nothing about it and the ones with most experiences are in public hospitals. But these are not the easiest of places to visit and in any case their focus is, rightly, on mass treatment, and not quite geared towards someone who is middle class and able to bear some of the expenses of the treatment. In other words, the government/NGO system focuses, as it must, on large scale, free treatment and cannot be adjusted that much to each individual patient. But ideally with a disease like HIV, where each person's prognosis can be very different, this individualised treatment is needed and if you are in a position to get it, you must.

3) A physician who will treat your regular illnesses with some knowledge of your HIV status. While the physician should treat your illnesses for what they are, it is possible that it might be best if it is known that HIV is a background factor, so you need a doctor with some knowledge of this. This may not be that critical at the moment, since you are most likely quite healthy now and will be for a while, and this will not be an issue. At some point in time though it might, but hopefully by then you will be better networked with the HIV support scene. Getting in touch with a HIV support group is also a good option to consider at a later point.

OK, but for now, you need to relax. What's happened isn't wonderful, but its not the end of the world. The problem with HIV is that it comes with all the stigma and fear and in your case this will be multiplied by concerns about your family. But you need to remind yourself that:

a) It is just a disease, it is not a moral judgement on you.

b) It is not fiercely contagious. The saving thing about HIV is, in fact, that it is a virus that is quite hard to get. You need direct contact of certain kinds of bodily fluid - blood, semen, pre-cum (it is there in saliva but at such low levels you don't need to get worked up about it). The virus also dies quite fast outside the body. So you are not risking infecting people by just being around them. (I need hardly say that you have to be careful about sexual partners and if you have had unprotected sex with anyone recently then you might need to consider telling those partners).

c) You can have a quite normal lifespan. One way to look at it is that you have acquired a medical condition like diabetes. This can be serious and cause all kinds of complications if it is not treated, but it is quite possible to treat it and build that treatment into your life.

At some point you will probably need to start taking the drugs and yes, in the past the side effects were not great. But newer treatment regimens have reduced this to a large extent and if you find a good specialist you should be able to increase the chance that you will get a fairly problem free treatment regimen.

As to when you will have to start treatment that is harder to say and it is why a specialist is needed. Please don't listen when doctors says, as they often do, that you only need to start starting treatment when your CD4s cells drop below 200. This is the norm set by the government in connection to administration of free medicines, and it is no surprise that they have chosen a level that makes optimum sense for them (in terms of total cost) as well as the patient.

But you don't have to be bound by this and can decide what will be the optimum point for you. The tendency in the West now is to start treatment much earlier - specialists may recommend starting when CD4s fall below 350, or if they show a rapid decline. Please don't believe one myth that floats around which is that after starting treatment you only have that many years to live. Such claims are based on mass studies, with people who often don't have access to healthy food and living conditions, and this should not apply to you. I hope I don't need to say that you need to focus very strongly on maintaining your health in general. (Alternate healing practices like yoga can't cure HIV, but they can help here, in improving your general health and reducing stress).

What you will have to start doing now and this unfortunately does involve real costs, far more than that of the drugs themselves, is to start monitoring yourself more often. This involves going to a good path lab - I think its best to stick to the large national chains like Metropolis if that's there where you are - and doing a HIV package which will show two things: 1) virus levels and 2) CD4 levels (and other white blood cells). These will vary inversely, but its not easy analysing them - virus levels in particular can vary alarmingly without it meaning much. This is where the specialist is vital.

The cost of the testing package is around Rs4500 and this is an expense you HAVE to find money for, at least in this initial phase as your body gets used to the presence of the virus in it. I would suggest you do tests every 2-3 months for the first year and then, as you get a sense of how the virus is settling down in your body you can do them less, but once every six months is a minimum. The cost of these tests is the real financial blow with HIV and while there has been some work being done on bringing them down or providing free tests at government hospitals, this is all still a problem.

All this is a lot for you to process so please take your time to go through them. Please consider seeing a counsellor to help you deal with personal issues, as well as a good doctor. You will be surprised, once these are in places and you are taking good care of your health and being aware of, but not obsessing, about your condition, how routine it can come to seem. Never entirely routine, of course, but manageable and certainly no reason not lead a normal life. 

What about telling others about my status?

The most important point to remember is ... you don't need to tell everyone that you are HIV positive. You need to think about who needs to know and how to tell them. Blurting it out all at once is certainly one way of telling others that you're positive. But healthy disclosure is a process that may require many discussions and contemplations.

Think of disclosing your HIV as the beginning of a new dialogue with the ones you most love and trust. Not only will they learn about you through this process, but you'll learn a lot about yourself as well. The starting point may be saying "I have something to tell you-I have HIV." But chances are that isn't going to be the final word.

Setting the stage for disclosure can make a big difference. Think about where you want to tell someone that you're HIV positive-a place where you feel comfortable and safe. If possible, arrange some place safe for you to go after the initial disclosure, like a friend's house or a support group.

Consider bringing a few pamphlets about HIV or an HIV Infoline card for the person you're telling. Not only might they use these resources later, but having them helps that person know you're not alone, that there's support for you-and for them. Consider bringing someone who already knows you're living with HIV.

Remember that their first reaction is not going to be their last. Like you, those whom you love need time to adjust to this new information. Finally, be brave and proud of the decision you've made!

Telling others you're living with HIV can be scary, painful, and difficult. In the long run, it's usually not as hard as the heavy burden of secrecy. While there's no one best way, there are a few things to think about in advance that might help.

Common reasons why some people choose not to disclose is that others may find it hard to accept your HIV status; some may even discriminate against you because of it. Discrimination within one's family or friends can really hurt. Discrimination at work can hurt, too, but it is also illegal.

The pros may be that sharing your status can feel empowering and can foster a new sense of closeness among friends, family and loved ones. Not hiding your HIV status from doctors or other health care providers can help ensure that you get the most appropriate care, too. Disclosure can also reduce the risk of HIV transmission to others, and it can lead to better, healthier sexual relationships.

The Walk for Tolerance was not a gay march .......... Out of the closet out of Jamaica

We need to be always careful how we use things or try to rewrite history to agitate for rights and freedoms, subtle dishonesties in the eyes of some no matter how slight we may think they are can obfuscate the struggle and reputations hence wiping out credibility and we have lost alot of that in recent times due to all kinds of skewed strategies and narratives on a shaky premise.

Photo from the Walk for Tolerance in Montego Bay in 2010 not of JFLAG but of a US group carrying a rainbow flag.

See more scenes here: WFT Scenes & More

Ethics in advocacy is so important and we have been less than open and honest over the years on crisis issues and our own historical data, why I brought this up was that after re-reading an article from the Sunday Gleaner by Dadland Maye on being an asylee in the United States entitles Out of the Closet Out of Jamaica a photo was captioned (above) as prominent as ever to suggest that an older activity in 2010 by Jamaica Aids Support for Life known as a Walk for Tolerance was referred to as a gay march on April 15, 2010 there was a clear article with representatives from JASL as published in the Observer who went at pains to make sure to clear the air on the issue of the walk at the time that it was a pride march in disguise, even if it was it raises serious questions about strategy, programs and methods of engaging the public based on openness and honesty. 

Initial reports that the walk from Montego Bay's Howard Cooke Boulevard to the Dump Up Beach was successful turned ugly hours later with news that anti-homosexual elements were abusing and harassing the participants according to the Observer article.

"It is alleged that some houses between St Ann and St Mary where some of the persons came from, were stoned. But we are yet to get more details on that. There were persons from Mandeville and the St Ann area who were verbally abused. Some of our sex workers have been harrassed... they say people have accused them of marching in support for gays," said Devon Cammock, prevention, treatment and care co-ordinator and chapter manager for Jamaica Aids Support for Life, Montego Bay.

According to Cammock, the prevailing stigma that the JASL is a gay organisation, " is going to hurt persons especially those who need help".

"Our major focus is minority groups because they are the most vulnerable to HIV and Aids and based on the feedback we are getting from the number of persons coming in to us, it was evident we had to do something. Part of what we needed to do in our ongoing campaign about stigma and discrimination was atolerance walk". JASL works with members of the marginalised communities. We work with sex workers, we work with men who have sex with men, we work with hearing impaired, we work with we work with people in general," he said adding that the participants were 'marching for their own rights'.

Among the groups that participated in the walk were:

* The Jamaica Red Cross;

* The Sex Workers Association of Jamaica,

* The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians and Gays (JFLAG);

* Women for Women (WFW) and persons living with HIV.

Nancy Wilson, the openly gay leader of the Metropolitan Community Churches also participated.

The rest of the article by Mr Maye however was relatively OK save and except for the atheistic ambit which I have a huge issue with but for the issues that cause many Jamaicans to leave our shores.

here is an excerpt of the article:

Forgetfulness makes people lose their ability to identify with the life of others who pattern their history. They will still fight, but they might lose the activist passion of prior years. I promised myself I will always try to remember the bad. But I now appreciate that I can recall and love the beautiful memories that had taken second status to the sorrowful ones for so long. I had forgotten those things that made me love Jamaica.

Why do I look forward to Americans asking me, "Where are you from?" Why do I feel at home, even though away from my first home, when I hear our voices speaking in Brooklyn supermarkets, or see bodies wearing the black-green-gold colours of our flag in a Queen's train, or feel a hand touch my shoulder at a Manhattan event only to say, "Yuh dress like one a we. Lawd a mercy! Heh-heh-hey! Are you from Yard?"

Feeling situated in a safer physical space in America and living farther away from painful memories, I am able to reflect on Jamaica and Jamaicans. On the things that united and loved us. Our rich inquisitive culture. Our Patois semantics. Our loving and feisty body languages. Our comedic country life versus the dramatic city life. Our PNP and JLP politrics theatrics. Our privilege of knowing the name/s of every great-grandmama with herbal bushes beneath their pillows, and of the coming-to-no-good children down dat deh yard deh, and the good-brain ones who reap most community smiles.

Our care in showing up at hospitals with grater cake and cornmeal pudding, but not only for family. Our tendency to pack cemeteries to weep, to hold an experienced weeper from tumbling inside another grave, and to 'rockstone' the casket out of love, but not only for family.

Disseminating information of Jamaican pride alongside its horrors is what journalists and activists should deploy in their roles. Increasingly, it concerns me whenever I visit places to speak that audiences expect only doom-and-gloom stories about Jamaica.

"The violence there! How bad is it?

"Will I get killed there?"

"No disrespect, but I will never go to your country. Sorry!"

"They can keep their beaches and all-inclusive hotels to themselves!"

"Aren't you glad you escaped?"

After hearing these comments, I question what damage I, journalists, and other human rights activists have done in representing the Jamaican story. How might we represent it to ensure that it certainly brings attention to horrific human-rights abuses without cultivating a global impression that Jamaica is an island of savages? Activists and journalists should remain concerned about whether our roles to liberate Jamaica might be inadvertently liberating global stereotypes about Jamaicans.

read the rest HERE

also see this flashback on the controversial Walk in 2010: 

The Walk for Tolerance aftermath mistakes and suggestions

South Korean Court Rules Trans People Can Change Gender Markers Without SRS

Some positive news on the international trans human rights front coming out of South Korea.

On March 15 the Seoul Western District Court ruled in a case brought by five trans masculine individuals that trans individuals could change their legal gender status without undergoing genital surgery

With court ruling, surgery to alter genitals is no longer necessary to change one’s legal gender status By Um Ji-won, Park Hyun-jung, staff reporters of hankyoreh 

A court ruled on Mar. 15 that transgender individuals can change their legal gender status without undergoing genital surgery.

Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of accepting requests from five female-to-male transgender individuals to have their family register listing altered to be classified as male. None of the five has undergone operations to surgically alter their sex organs.

The five filed their request in December, arguing that the demand for surgery to conform to the changed gender status constituted the main barrier to approvals and violated the spirit of the legal gender modification system, which is to guarantee the Constitutional rights of transgender people.

One of the five, identified by the initial "K," was born with a female body, but started identifying as male when he was a teenager. In the 1990s, he underwent surgery to remove his breasts and uterus and began taking male hormones, leaving him with a thick beard, deep voice, and stocky build. He has lived with his wife for the past two decades, but he has not gone through the final step of the sex change, namely surgery on his genitals. Not only is the procedure dangerous, with a high risk that it will require multiple operations, but it also costs the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars.

K looks like a regular male, but his resident registration number begins with a "2," which indicates legal female status (male registration numbers start with 1). He cannot go to work at companies that demand a career history with a resident number, so he does deliveries and other temporary jobs. When he has gone to hospitals and government offices in the past, the employees there have looked at his ID and said, "This can't be you." Going to vote is out of the question. He and his wife have not filed a marriage notice.

K and others like him ended up left out in the cold even after the Supreme Court rule in 2006 that transgender people could alter their legal gender status. According to guidelines for approval the Court drafted the following year, individuals have to possess "external genitalia of the opposite sex" from their biological one.

According to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Legal Research Association, an organization of attorneys and activists for the human rights of sexual minorities, no country but Japan is known to require genital surgery as a condition for altering one's legal gender status. Countries like Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and Argentina do not even require surgery to remove reproductive capabilities. The US federal government does not demand any operations at all for gender status changes on passports and immigration documents.

Last January, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health sent an opinion to Seoul Western District Court arguing that genital surgery should not be a requirement because it is not medically necessary and is a difficult procedure with a strong risk of side effects and other negative consequences.

On hearing the news that the request was granted, an excited K said it was "almost revolutionary for members of sexual minorities like us."

"Once I've altered the gender on my family registration, the first thing I'm going to do is announce mine and my wife's marriage," he added.

Han Ga-ram, an attorney with Korean Lawyers for Public Interest and Human Rights, which represented K and the other transgender individuals, said that with no Supreme Court rulings or laws existing to reflect the latest decision, calls for changes to the law were likely to intensify.

The European Parliament wants to outlaw homophobic crime and speech in the EU

Today the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on strengthening the fight against racism, xenophobia and hate crime. 

The text calls on the European Commission to add homophobia and transphobia to the list of EU-sanctioned hate speech and violence.

Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Justice, discussing the resolution

Since a 2008 Framework Decision, the European Union foresees specific, higher penalties for racist and xenophobic speech and crime. These measures are now in force in all 27 Member States and Croatia, due to join the EU on 1st July this year.

The European Parliament has today repeated previous calls to include homophobia and transphobia in the list of grounds covered by the next version of the 2008 Framework Decision, due for review this year.

Today’s resolution was exceptionally authored by all six main political groups, who agreed that ”expressions and acts of anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, anti‑Gypsyism, homophobia and transphobia” should be punished by EU law, something the Parliament had already asked for.

The final text also calls on the Council to unblock the anti-discrimination Directive, blocked by Germany and conservative Member States for the past five years.

Raül Romeva i Rueda MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament’s LGBT Intergroup, commented: “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people face the same type of threats, violence and crimes across the EU. Racist and xenophobic crimes deserve specific punishment, and so do homophobic and transphobic ones: they target an entire group, rather than individuals.”

Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP, also Vice-President of the LGBT Intergroup, added: “Together with the Commission, we’re waiting for the results of the largest-ever survey on LGBT people’s lives in the EU and Croatia. Once these results are published, it will be up to Viviane Reding to translate them into effective change across EU policies.”

“I’m expecting the survey’s 93,000 respondents will have underlined how much hate they face, encouraged in some countries by political and religious leaders.”

The Fundamental Rights Agency will publish the results of its LGBT survey on 17th May, the International Day Against Homophobia.

Should prisoners have conjugal visits?

Continuing a conversation I was in on Facebook with persons about a Star News story a couple days ago I am still on the fence with this issue on one hand it would be ideal for the sake of lessening the rage in our culture of violence but given a recent story that female warders are also allegedly granting sexual favours to selected members of the male prison populations albeit conjugal visits are not only for sexual contact but also enhancing family life and personal contact.




Chad Bryan, STAR Writer penned this story below given the recent controversy with a man who reported got a woman pregnant while allegedly in custody but it has turned out that the time that the supposed intimate contacts were to have occurred he was not incarcerated.

Prisoners should be allowed to have conjugal visits or, by extension, have sex with their spouse, noted attorney Dr Paul Ashley believes.

It is a view shared by head of the Department of Correctional Services Lieutenant Colonel Sean Prendergast.

Ashley posited that there is a well-known fact that homosexual men in some penal institutions are separated from heterosexual males.

"Implicit in this is that sex takes place among homosexuals in prison. My view, therefore, is that there should be conjugal visits with specific guidelines," he said. "One is presumed to be innocent not celibate, and if you are clothed in the presumption that you are innocent awaiting trial, why should you be denied sex since you are innocent until proven guilty?"

Ashley also added, "enforced celibacy is not a part of one's punishment. Even if it was, what are you then saying to homosexuals in prison who are given condoms?"

Prendergast explained that, as it stands, a conjugal visit for the purpose of sex is not allowed, but he would welcome the idea.

"Currently, the policy is that it is not allowed. My personal view is that I would like to see the day that it can be allowed. I would use it as a tool of control just like family visit. If we allowed conjugal visit, we would have well-behaving inmates. At current, the department does not have the facilities for that," he said.

Corporate Area pastors Reverend Peter Garth and Bishop Rowan Edwards dismissed the idea of allowing prisoners the right to sex while incarcerated.

"I am not certain that that should happen. It is a part of the punishment and, as such, should not happen," Garth said.

Echoing Garth's sentiments, Edwards said, "no, totally wrong. If they have violated the law, that's a part of their freedom they have given up. I'm not in agreement with that."

However, Pastor Carla Dunbar advanced another opinion.

"I would not have a problem with it, because of the reality in our society. That can be used to influence behaviour. If they are going to be there for a long period of time, that can be allowed once per month," she said.

ENDS

however the homosexual contact or behavioural bisexuality in prisons is of concern and the present ban on condoms listed as contraband thought they do find their way in via various means and men have been found to be HIV positive after entering the prison system which begs the question what is really going on behind closed bars in this case?

For the sake of bisexuals I would imagine sexual contact with the opposite sex may help relieve sexual tension (my unqualified opinion) but as for same sex urges maybe the system if ever getting to forward thinking consenting adults could be allowed time together with condoms supplied but the correctional services may never let this happen and we would never hear the end of it.

In an older post from sister blog Gay Jamaica Watch on Male Rape I hinted to the then correctional figureheads and their unease with the suggestion of male rape in prison. There was a story in 2011 also that spoke to molestation in a bathroom of a male prisoner by other prisoners, see HERE there was a short documentary on the issue of male rape as well but the issue has since died down somewhat.

In 1997, Lieutenant Colonel John Prescod(left in photo), then Commissioner of Corrections, suggested that condoms be distributed in the prisons as a means of stopping the spread of HIV. The suggestion sparked a riot that claimed the lives of 16 prisoners, some of whom were accused of being homosexuals and as it turns out many who died weren't actually gay but prior rivalry and a golden opportunity for a disturbance led the way to the attacks. The National AIDS Committee had recommended again in 2000 to the then Peoples National Party administration launch Mandatory medical examinations for all inmates, segregation of HIV positive inmates, legal conjugal visits, a health education programme for the prison, and permission for terminally ill patients to be allowed to die at home, were also among the recommendations made to the Government which were ignored.

Dr. Raymoth Notice (right in photo above) medical expert then in the penal system had said at the time, "...We recognize that the incidence of HIV is increasing in the general population and not only that, studies have shown that the incidence of AIDS in prison is six to 10 times greater in prisons than in the general population," also he continued "the level of homophobia and ignorance as well as the lack of resources have hampered the education process a whole lot. Before we even get to the condom issue it is important first and foremost to educate the population about AIDS. But everyone has been too afraid to do anything since the riots. There is no analysis being done, no reliable data, inmates are leaving with the disease and taking it back to their communities."

Lambert Brown, the UAWU's the then first vice-president, had said that although he was still opposed to condom distribution in prisons, he had nothing against the other recommendations made.

"The fight against AIDS is not based solely on condom distribution," Mr. Brown said. "Those who are promoting condoms in prison are using the back door to promote homosexuality which is illegal." here suggesting fear.

see the 1996 documentary here:

The prison wife phenomenon, multiple partner and the religious issues are looked at in the clip.

Peace and tolerance

H

Vatican embarrassed as €23 million property investment includes Europe’s biggest gay sauna

by Joseph Patrick McCormick of the Pink News wrote the following piece and I find it funny but given how much land the church also holds in Jamaica as was revealed in recent times since the call of churches to start paying property taxes one wonders why these holier than though institutions find themselves owning so much assets yet the poor need assistance. 

Makes us wonder what the church is really all about as an absolute monarchy?

Following several recent scandals, it has now emerged that the Catholic church has bought a €23 million (£21 million) share of an apartment block in Rome which houses the biggest gay sauna in Europe.

Just a day ahead of the papal conclave to elect the next Pope, this latest development has caused embarrassment to senior Vatican figure Cardinal Ivan Dias, who stays in a 12-room apartment on the first floor of the building, just above the ground-floor entrance to the sauna.

The 76-year-old is due to take part in the election at the Sistine Chapel tomorrow, but has been left red-faced following the revelation that the entrance to his apartment is just yards from the entrance to Europe’s biggest gay sauna, Europa Multiclub.

As well as Dias, who is widely considered particularly conservative, there are 18 other apartments in the block, many of which house priests.

An Independent report questioned whether the former archbishop of Bombay may have offered spiritual guidance to attendees of the sauna, given that in the past he has said that gay and lesbian people can be “cured” of their “unnatural tendencies” through the “sacrament of penance”.

Since resigning on 28 February, Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica published an article claiming that Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to quit was in part finalised by a Vatican report showing that the Holy See was affected by outside influences, including a “gay lobby”.

La Repubblica newspaper has now noted that the presence of “Italy’s best known gay sauna in the premises [as] an embarrassment”.

In other embarrassment for the church, in a statement issued by the Catholic church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien addressed allegations made against him by five priests within the church, and admitted that his “sexual conduct” has been “below the standards expected” of him.

The sauna’s website promotes a bear night, with a video in which a man strips down before changing into a priest’s outfit. It says Bruno, “a hairy, overweight pastor of souls, is free to the music of his clergyman, remaining in a thong, because he wants to expose body and soul”.

Readers on Italian gay websites made jokes at the cardinal’s expense. One person said: “’Oops, I took the wrong door, I thought it was the chapel.’…If you can’t go to the gay sauna for fear of being seen what do you do if you have millions of Euros stolen from Italians? You buy the apartment block with the sauna inside.”

The purchase of 2 Via Carduccio reportedly went through in 2008.

Another LGBT Group launches with a mature lesbian focus ...........................

Another LGBT entity has joined the growing number of groups in Jamaica taking on more on the ground or frontline issues we hope making the number of such groups to 7 in my last count.

Aphrodite's Pride another lesbian focused entity with emphasis on bisexuality as well also celebrated its first year on February 14th as founded by Laura Garcia, Sheronette Mercurious and yours truly with other volunteers. Now comes a fellow blogger turned out lesbian Angeline Jackson with her charge head on to the issues, I wish her and her team all the best in their resolve. Have a read of a recent interview with her.

Angeline Jackson is a lesbian activist in Jamaica, one of 76 countries around the world where being gay is illegal. Last summer, she attended the Spirit of 76 meeting in Washington, D.C., where she came away inspired to do more for the LGBT community back home.

Jackson returned to Jamaica and founded Quality of Citizenship Jamaica (QCJ), which “recognizes that the concept of citizenship cannot be subjected to personal biases.”

Angeline Jackson speaks with SDGLN Contributor the Rev. Canon Albert Ogle about LGBT rights in Jamaica, what life is like for LGBT Jamaicans, and her vision for Quality of Citizenship Jamaica. She represents the next generation of LGBT activists in countries where life is dangerous for sexual minorities.

Albert Ogle: What was it like for you growing up in Jamaica knowing that to come out as a lesbian would instantly make you a criminal?

Recently while speaking with some students from Boston College, it dawned on me just how growing up as a lesbian in Jamaica has affected me. Being a lesbian isn’t criminalized in Jamaica, but so many other things happen. A few years ago I was sexually assaulted at gunpoint, an event which several other women had experienced. All of us had one thing in common: We were all same-gender-loving women; though it was never stated by the police or the court that the crimes were motivated by our orientation, I as well as the other women have come to that conclusion.

When I was younger, I suffered many periods of depression and states of suicidal tendencies, which resulted mostly in the development of cutting habits. When it seems as though the whole world is against you, you’re not considered a full citizen, and your country indirectly affirms that you aren’t deserving of being called a Jamaican or living freely in your home country. It really is a damaging feeling especially with no one to talk to. Unfortunately I still suffer states of depression.

Albert Ogle: What are the differences and similarities for gay men, gay women and transgender Jamaicans?

Gay men face more direct and regular instances of abuse, be it physical or verbal. Gay men also face greater discrimination in terms of employment, health care and housing.

Lesbians and bisexual women also face levels of stigma and discrimination. However for women, though, we face potential physical abuses, we are oftentimes more likely victims of sexual abuse, and employment discrimination in the form of coerced sexual favors for advancement in the workplace. Though J-FLAG attempts to collect information on this population, the statistics are, in my opinion, woefully incomplete.

Transgender persons also face discrimination; unfortunately the transgender community in Jamaica is not very visible and as such it is difficult to understand theirs situations.

It should be noted that though Jamaica has an anti-sodomy law on the books, which directly affects gay men, that same law is used as the basis for discrimination against the entire LGBT population, and there is no law that protects specifically on the basis of sexual orientation.

Albert Ogle: You attended the Spirit of 76 meeting in Washington last summer. How did that event help you and reshape your work in the LGBT community?

Attending the various meetings in Washington, D.C. during the summer 2012 showed me that many people were around the world supporting and working to help those of us in countries where homosexuality is illegal or where same-sex sexual activity is prohibited -- this became a reality in my mind for the first time. My meetings motivated me to be more active and more vocal in my work here at home, and gave me different perspectives and new ideas. I particularly remember one meeting, where the term “quality of citizenship” was used in speaking about the way lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender citizens of some countries are unworthy of being classified as full citizens.

Albert Ogle: Tell us about QCJ and what you hope it will grow into in the next five years?

The name Quality of Citizenship Jamaica (QCJ) came out of the meeting which I spoke about earlier. The idea for QCJ came out of the need for an organization which specifically works on issues surrounding lesbian, bisexual and other women who have sex with women. QCJ will primarily be a research and education organization with scope for further activity as it develops. QCJ recognizes citizenship as a legal status, defined by civil, political and social rights, and that by virtue of Chapter Two of the Jamaican Constitution, persons born in Jamaica and persons born outside Jamaica to Jamaican parents have an automatic right to Jamaican citizenship.

QCJ recognizes that the concept of citizenship cannot be subjected to personal biases; to blatantly deny a person or group of persons their citizenship would directly violate both international treaties and the Jamaican constitution. Though human rights is part of the concept of citizenship, it can be made subject to cultural biases as aptly illustrated in Jamaica by the Attorney General’s declaration that he has no intention of abiding by the Constitutional requirement to interpret human rights according to standards found in other free and democratic societies, stating that Human Rights will “not be interpreted by international human rights norms, but rather to use Jamaican situations to determine the extent of rights.” (“Human Rights, Sovereignty and the Politics of Truth,” Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, Jamaica, World Human Rights Day Symposium, Dec. 10, 2011).

Quality of Citizenship Jamaica (QCJ) is committed to improving the lives of young and aging lesbian, bisexual (LB), and other women who have sex with women (WSW). QCJ is also dedicated to working with LGBT youth. We aim to do this particularly through research into health issues, matters on sexuality, sexual violence, and sexual and reproductive health issues among our constituents. QCJ is steadfast in helping to create a health system that is responsive to the needs of the LB, WSW and general female population in Jamaica.

Our constituents are lesbian, bisexual (LB) and WSW youth (16-29) and the aging lesbian population (QCJ’s working definition of aging is 40 and older).

In the next five years I see QCJ as being the go to organization on issues of LB and WSWs within Jamaica and the Caribbean. I see QCJ providing the well needed statistical data on matters that touch and concern our constituents, training young leaders who understand themselves and who want to make the world a better place during their lifetime.

Albert Ogle: What role can religion play for good in the Jamaican situation for LGBT people?

Jamaica is a very religious society; arguably we are socialized in Christianity. Religion is one of the main driving forces behind the discrimination meted out to LGBT people, and our existing anti-sodomy laws. Religion which focuses on unity, love and tolerance can be good in the Jamaican situation. There are existing faith communities which focuses on these principles, these communities can speak up, with and for the LGBT Jamaican people. They would become a voice that does not currently exist and can help in shaping religion to play a good part for the situation of LGBT people in Jamaica.


Albert Ogle: How are you connected to other activists and organizations and what do you see as an underlying theme globally for all you are doing?

I must say, Jamaican Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays has agreed to be QCJ’s fiscal sponsor, per our request until we develop the capacity and no longer need that support. QCJ has been introduced to other local organizations all of whom has indicated a willingness to work with us; QCJ has also been introduced to Jamaican activists. Internationally I have begun informing activists I met during my visit to DC, and Bali, and also those who have visited Jamaica, about QCJ and how we may work together.

Albert Ogle: How can readers help you and QCJ achieve your goals this year?

QCJ is currently run by volunteers, and has a balance of $0. This year QCJ’s major goals are: to register as a non-profit organization under Jamaican law; participate in International Women’s Day; conduct an IDAHO event of a rainbow flash; and conduct two workshops, one with lesbian, bisexual (LB) and WSW youth, and one with the aging lesbian population.

Also, QCJ is in need of office stationary and marketing material. Finally, in our first year, QCJ would like to begin one of our pieces of researches into issues affecting our constituents. QCJ happily welcomes any and all donations, whether they are cash or kind donations, we also are happy with donations of time and online training.

More information on Quality of Citizenship Jamaica can be found on our website HERE.
I can be contacted at: ajackson@qcjm.org, qualitycitizenshipjamaica@gmail.com or 1-876-317-2227.

Cross-Dressers Not Deserving Of Sympathy? (Gleaner article)

The long standing issue to do with the homeless msm in New Kingston and its environs for almost four and a half years since the closure of the Safe House Pilot project in 2009/10 has been getting alot of attention again given the crackdown on the activities of the men after being accused of a vicious attack on a popular supermarket among other things.

Pity the author of the article is limiting his critique to just the realm of transvestism but there was some balance where he mentioned the welfare issues in some sense, this piece came after my podcast highlighting the actions taken by some of the owners of the lands who have hired guard dogs and armed security details to protect their lands now. The long awaited shelter that was banded about by JFLAG is not forthcoming and the agency along with their parent Jamaica AIDS Support for Life and all other tenants on the landspace have been given eviction notices as the property is said to have been sold.

here is the podcast as recorded February 23 after a visit to a section on New Kingston where the men congregate:

Here is the article however ...........

Robert Lalah wrote:

People living in the Golden Triangle area of St Andrew have been complaining about a rowdy band of gay men who congregate at an unoccupied house near Hopefield Avenue after hours and raise ruckus.

The police have had a hard time dealing with the noisy trespassers and struggle with balancing their duty to enforce the law, with their responsibility to protect offenders from being harmed in lock-up. After all, men who behave effeminately might not fare well among other detainees who tend to believe that lawbreaking should be done in a more manly way.

Recently, some unruly men had to be rescued by police when they were pounced upon by a group of people who were fed up with their girly gallivanting. Both The Gleaner and STAR ran striking photos the next day of the men dressed in women's wear.

Many people were shocked by these photos. It's not every day we see men dressed like this. And that they showed no embarrassment, even though this happened in the middle of the day in a heavily populated area, was alarming.

I wondered what would become of the men after the police took them away. It didn't appear that they were trespassing on property or breaking any other laws when they were cornered by the group, so they wouldn't be charged with anything. They apparently have no home, so taking them there wasn't an option. What were the police to do? Take them to Cross Roads and let them off? That would be a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

I guess the police know how to handle these situations.

Last week, I was out for a morning run in the area and passed by the house where the men used to gather. I noticed about five security guards with mean-looking dogs there. Not even the most emphatic heterosexual would dare trespass. Problem solved, I thought to myself.

But a few chains down the road, I was confronted with stark proof that the problem was, in fact, far from being solved. There's an empty lot near Vale Royal that's fenced off, even though there's nothing there but bush. As I passed by in the early morning, I glanced over, and, to my surprise, saw one of the men I'd seen in those photos. He had on the same clothes he did then and was walking through the bushes looking at the ground. I would have just continued running if the sheer sadness of the scene hadn't stilled my legs.

No difference

There was this man, this human being no different from you and I, walking around like a hungry dog searching for food. He looked more like a wild beast than a man. As the sun rose above him, he looked up and saw me staring. He stuck out his hand as if to ask for money and I gestured that I had none to give. With that, he shrugged and went back to walking around looking at the ground.

I've been bothered by that moment since then. Why didn't I help him? I had a few hundred dollars with me and could have spared it. I felt ashamed when I got back home because I knew that my own selfish pride got in my way of helping someone desperately in need.

I didn't want to engage with this man dressed in women's clothes or risk being seen giving him money, and that stunted my instinct to help. I know that if he hadn't been dressed in women's clothes, I'd have given him the money. The fact that I didn't, because of his appearance, is wrong.

In that moment, I had the opportunity to be the change all of us want to see in Jamaica. Every day people write letters to the editor and phone call-in programmes saying they want a better country. Aside from grand economic and social strategies, the way we achieve this is by changing the way we relate to each other in our everyday interactions. I let pride and selfishness influence my conduct with a fellow Jamaican, and that will get us nowhere.

I've been back to the area, seeking to right this wrong, but now there's a sign on the fence stating that the property is protected by a guard and attack dog. Another 'problem solved' for a landowner.

The man I saw there has moved on and will face discrimination and hatred from all corners. My hope is that somewhere along the line, he'll meet up with someone whose willingness to help won't be compromised by selfish concerns. People like that have the power to make this country better.

Robert Lalah, associate editor - features, is author of the popular Tuesday feature, 'Roving with Lalah'. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com

also see: 

Street MSM stone JFLAG's Office

And we continue to reap the world-wind for not addressing homelessness when it was manageable

Interfaith treats homeless msm in St Catherine (December 2012)

Homeless MSM make news again for all the wrong reasons

Certainly persons like myself and others who were part of the various consultations and groups such as GLABCOM who in years in the making came to set up the previous Safe House that was closed under dubious circumstances feel so hurt how things have played out, the least amongst us are just that it seems "THE LEAST" but hope remains while company is true however as persons are seeking other ways to deal with this once and for all excluding the politics that makes advocacy in this country. The other populations outside of Kingston due to their docile nature and introverted mannerisms however are not mentioned for any interventions for a shelter of at the very least street based frontline work, I guess we always have to wait until one of us dies or is badly beaten or attacked for them to be used as a public relations magnet to the issue.

Prevention is better than cure I say.

UPDATE MARCH 8

A Clovis cartoon from the Jamaica Observer depicting the supermarket drama some time ago which highlights the continued belittling of the group of homeless men.

Peace and tolerance

H

Bahamas: Chief Justice predicts that equal marriage will be addressed in court soon

The Bahamian Chief Justice has said that he believes that courts will address the issue of equal marriage soon in the country.

In an optimistic address, Sir Michael Barnett predicted that the issue would come to the courts in the Bahamas, and said that he would be looking to other countries for reference when considering the issue.

“I have no doubt that it is only a matter of time when the courts of The Bahamas will address the issue of same sex marriage,” he said on Friday

“I also have no doubt that in deciding the issue we will have respect for the decisions that emanate not only from the Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia, but also from decisions of the courts of the Unites States of America.

“But our references to the views of justices of the United States are not limited to referring to those decisions in our own judgments.”

He went on to say that similarities with the US due to its close proximity to the Bahamas would play a role in how possible legislation would take shape.

“Based on its proximity to the United States, commerce, trade and tourism link our respective economies,” he said.

“More and more citizens of both our countries are finding it necessary to resort to the courts of our countries to resolve the disputes that inevitably arise.

“Ours is an ever shrinking global village. The problems that affect the lives of our citizens and the residents of our respective countries have more in common than there are differences.

“Our respective countries both have written constitutions that protect our human rights. Our citizens and visitors look to us, the justices of court, to protect these rights. Little justice is served by reinventing the wheel.

“Our task as justices is helped by looking to our colleagues of different countries to see how they have considered and dealt with the problems.”

He went on to say that the internet made it easier to research similar cases around the globe.

Two weeks ago in the Bahamas, Anglican Bishop Laish Boyd recommended that the constitution be amended to rule out the possibility of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Boyd presented his recommendations to the Constitutional Commission on 1 February, and did go on to say, however, that he did not support equal marriage.

While civil unions and equal marriage both remain illegal in the country, some same-sex Bahamian couples have travelled abroad to marry.

European and German high courts rule same-sex couples are regular parents

Today two high courts in Europe ruled in favour of same-sex couples adopting children. Both judgments make clear that lesbian and gay couples provide children the same safety and stability as heterosexual couples do.

 

In the first decision, the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rightsconsidered the case X and others v. Austria. The court deemed that

the Austrian Government had not provided any evidence to show that it would be detrimental to a child to be brought up by a same-sex couple or to have two mothers and two fathers for legal purposes.

The court’s highest chamber ruled that since unmarried different-sex couples could adopt one another’s children under Austrian law, there was no valid reason to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting one another’s children.

In today’s second decision, Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court came to the same conclusion, decreeing that successive adoption ought to be open to same-sex couples under the same conditions as different-sex couples (although joint adoption remains unavailable).

Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Co-President of the LGBT Intergroup, commented: “These timely rulings confirm what we have known for decades: LGBT people already live in families and have children, and are equally good families in comparison with heterosexual couples. Our children are loved, and grow up in stable families.”

“They do, however, remain victims of society’s intolerance towards their parents. Today’s court cases will lead to a better life for families with lesbian and gay parents in Germany, Austria, and the rest of Europe.”

In recent days, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ had announced Turkish diplomats would be asked to retrieve Turkish children placed in same-sex families in European countries.

In reaction, Vice-President of the LGBT Intergroup Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP declared: “These rulings should help put Mr Bozdağ’s mind to rest: gay and lesbian families are just the same as any other families.”

“Same-sex couples have been legal parents for the past 12 years in the Netherlands, and of course in twelve years there has been no conclusive evidence that this harmed children in any way. I hope more EU countries will now follow suit.”

Additionally:

Germany's highest court has extended gay adoption laws to bring them in line with rules that apply to heterosexual couples. Judges ruled that existing laws were discriminatory.


The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe overturned a ban on Tuesday on so-called "successive adoptions" for gay couples in civil partnerships.

Under the ruling, if one partner has adopted a child, the other partner now has the right to become the adoptive mother or father of that child as well. Until now, they could only adopt their partner's biological child.



This aspect of adoption law had previously only applied to heterosexual couples; a distinction which the Karlsruhe court said went against Germany's basic law and was therefore unconstitutional.

It ruled that same-sex couples could provide for a child as well as couples in a traditional marriage.

"In marriage as in a civil partnership, adoption provides the child with legal security and material advantages in terms of care, support and inheritance law," presiding judge Ferdinand Kirchof told the court.

The ruling followed a legal challenge from a woman who was forbidden from adopting a Bulgarian-born child whom her female partner had adopted.

Tuesday's decision does not alter legislation, however, which forbids same-sex couples jointly adopting a child. They may still only adopt the same child on an individual basis.

Germany legalized civil partnerships in 2001, but in spite of recent rulings in Britain and France, has not yet moved to allow same-sex marriage.

ccp/kms (dp
a, AFPD)

The difficult task of separating drag culture from transgender identity .......

A long standing tense relationship between transgender activists and some popular cross dressing or drag queen icons continue and with an egregious error made recently by a JFLAG representative at a symposium on identity where they lumped transgender individuals as drag queens, the invisibility issue with local transgender persons has been an issue for me as LGBT is conveniently used as the call letters for the struggle but the actual inclusion is far from happening just yet in all the years of pressing on-wards.

I thought it appropriate to post this entry from leading African American trans blogger Monica Roberts, where she wrote:

Trans Womanhood does not equal drag

TransGriot Note: My guest post that is up at the NBJC blog commenting on Monica Beverly Hillz's recent trans coming out announcement

With Monica Beverly Hillz coming out as trans onRuPaul's Drag Race on February 4, it was seen as a good news, bad news moment by much of the trans community.

While we celebrate our trans sister taking such a huge step in her life, the irony of the moment wasn't lost on many of us in the trans community.

She was coming out as trans on a show in which its creator has a contentious relationship with the trans community, and has repeatedly uttered problematic transphobic comments..

The trans community also has a love-hate relationship with the drag community as well for the rampant transphobia and misogny in elements of that world.

That's why many of us in the trans community (myself included) refuse to watch or support Drag Race. But I also realize there are enough people who do regularly tune in to the show to where it has now survived on LOGO for five seasons.

So taking it into account Drag Race has a large viewership who could use a little Trans 101 education, it's time for the trans community and our allies to take this opportunity Monica's coming out presents us to put a major dent into the long held myth that drag queens and trans women are exactly the same and far too often conflate the two..

So lets start with the major difference between an trans woman and a drag queen.

A trans woman is someone born in a masculine body at birth with a feminine gender identity and expression that lives full time in the feminine gender role. They may seek gender realignment surgery, counseling, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and other medical procedures to facilitate the process.

That is light years difference from a drag artist who generally loves everything about being in the masculine gender role, blanches at the thought of genital realignment surgery and have no desire to present as female except on stage.

There are and have long been trans women like Monica who perform in the drag world for various reasons. Some do so because they simply enjoy the experience of being on stage and the confidence boost it provides. Some do so because it's a job that helps them earn the money to pay for their hormones, other medical procedures to perfect their feminine presentation and eventually get to the point where they can have genital surgery.

Trans women who are on that drag stage when the performance is over wipe the excess stage makeup off their faces, hang up the beaded gowns and gaudy costumes and head outside the club in their regular clothes and stripped down makeup to live their everyday feminine lives in a world that is indifferent and in many cases hostile to them. And far too often some of that hostility directed at trans women comes from people in the same gender loving (SGL) and cis communities. It also manifests itself in terms of discrimination and off the charts levels of violence and death aimed at us. 

image not included in original article

It has long been an irritant to African-American trans women that cis people will easily let the 'she' pronoun slide off their lips for a RuPaul, Madea or any assorted drag queen but can't bring themselves to do the same for a transwoman in their midst who is living her everyday life in the female gender role.

Trans woman does not equal drag queen. It's past time for people to get that fundamental point and give trans women the love, respect and codified human rights as members of the community they deserve.

University of Technology launches Tolerance project post gay student abuse

UTECH launches tolerance and respect project for students and staff (TVJ video above)

Go HERE for the original post on Gay Jamaica Watch on that matter and the related video

A sensitization project  on respect and tolerance was this morning launched  at the University of Technology (UTECH).  The project "Promotion of Respect, Tolerance and Diversity" was developed in response to the November 2012 assault of one of the university's students who was accused of being a homosexual. Partly funded by the European Union, the sensitization efforts which will be undertaken throughout 2013 will address issues related to respect and tolerance particularly as it affects the rights of 
minority groups such Lesbians, Gays, Bi-Sexual and Transgender (LGBT).  

The respect and tolerance project though mainly focused on students and staff at the University is also intended to reach the wider society. It will feature sensitization sessions at each of the University's six locations, public forums, a qualitative research and national survey, essay competition among all tertiary students across the island, debates organized by the Students' Union and the purchase of CDs and print materials to be used throughout the project. The University has also committed to modifying its curriculum for the academic year 2013-2014 to address issues of respect, tolerance and diversity. 

Addressing the launch, President of UTECH Professor Errol Morrison pointed out that following the well publicized incident several measures have already been put in place and that the project comes as a well needed support to ensuring that change. "Despite some of the negative publicity which occurred some three months back we are only so happy that we are now moving on to a new threshold…We are not only attempting to reach out to the University community to create that better understanding and appreciation of difference but to reach out to the  wider society trying to engender that softer accommodating society." 

Ambassador Paola Amadei, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica commended the efforts of the leadership and administration of the University to undertake such a programme adding that only when all Jamaicans are guaranteed equal rights and freedom will it unlock its true potential.  

"Discrimination based on sexual orientation will be a specific focus in this project, as individuals still face significant obstacles to full participation in public life, hindering their ability to work, study and integrate in society without discrimination and exclusion. The great diversity of the Jamaican population is aptly represented in its motto "out of many one people". To live up to this motto members of society who are considered "different", should not be  discriminated against and to the contrary should be able to exercise the full gamut of their rights in society. "


Contact- Jodi Brown-Lindo 
Delegation of the European Union to Jamaica,  
Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas and the Cayman Islands 
Tel: 1 876 924 6333 

As part of its Respect and Tolerance Initiative, the University of Technology (UTech) has developed a special course targeting security companies.

Michael Steele, head of the Joan Duncan School of Entrepreneurship, Ethics and Leadership, said the course would focus on conflict resolution, values and ethics, customer service and human rights.

The course and wider initiative are a response to an incident at the campus last November where a student, accused of being gay, was allegedly beaten by two security guards after he took refuge in the guard post after being chased by students.

Two of the security guards involved are currently before the courts on various charges.

"Coming out of the incident, there were various calls for action against the security company. Some people thought we should fire the company right away," said Steele.

"We felt, as an institution, that we should take the higher road, and we should try and inculcate a certain level of tolerance by training," he added.

open to all security companies

A separate set of courses addressing issues of tolerance, respect and diversity will be inserted in the curriculum for the 2013-2014 academic year.

"We put everything in a series of short courses and have it open to all security companies," said Steele. He noted the university had started marketing the course and had sent its proposal to over 30 security companies across the island.

"We have got one or two responses but we are more or less waiting on the full response before we start the course," he said.

Steele said of the few to respond, their attitude was favourable but they were worried about the cost.

"It's a short course, so the cost is not that high but any additional cost is going to be, for some companies, a cause of concern."

He suggested companies look at the returns of investing in the training rather than just at the cost. He said the course would be available at all UTech campuses.

The Respect and Tolerance Initiative is funded by the European Union at a total cost of €9,950 or J$1.21 million.

Professor Rosalea Hamilton, UTech's vice-president of Development and Community Services, led the discussion among staff and students to form the initiative.

Hamilton noted various viewpoints were gathered from the informal sessions on the November incident, and about similar events across Jamaica. She felt participants had a better understanding of their differences and learned how to respond to some of the complex issues arising from the incidents.

Hamilton warned that not everyone will change their point of view and we would have a renewed look at what 'one love' and 'nuff respect' really mean.

"As we expand the limits of these phrases, we believe that enough of us will conclude (like Marcus Garvey) that we are all children of one God, one aim, one destiny. One love."meanwhile feedback came from some students via a report on Radio Jamaica, RJR's newscast recently: