Somebody Tell Me this

Since when is gay rights special rights? Doesn't it still come under civil rights? This charter of rights issue has been stalled for years, and now that it has once again been brought up for completion we have some more issues coming in. The people from the Lawyers Christian Fellowship (Jamaica) have made the issue of basic human rights into a issue of gays wanting special rights and marriage rights.

The LGBT community in Jamaica is calling for our rights to be acknowledged. There has not been one call for gay marriage, but this is what they've jumped on. Just look at this article 'Unholy union' - Charter could sanction gay marriage in Jamaica - Christian lawyers. This same articulated fear from 2006 is still present today and is played upon by these people. You self-righteous, fearful people all we are calling for is our civil rights, our basic human rights. 


"The religious groups are also concerned about the inclusion of a privacy clause in Section 13, Subsection 3 of the Charter of Rights, with the words 'respect for private and family life, privacy of the home'." (full article here) The privacy clause is another big fear, why? What is so wrong with LGBT people wanting respect for privacy and privacy of home? Since when is it the government's, and Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and homophobic people and so many other persons' business to be peeping through the windows and under door bottoms and through key holes to see what TWO CONSENTING ADULTS do in THEIR bedroom? 


Shirley Richards president of Lawyers' Christian Fellowship  noted (in the above article) that "The rights pertaining to freedom of conscience, which is currently granted under Section 21 of the current Constitution, have not been fully repeated in the charter". She also added that the revised charter does not explicitly include the right to provide religious instruction, to students; as an example. 


Isn't Jamaica a democratic society made up "OUT OF MANY ONE PEOPLE"? There are many persons in Jamaica who are not Christians, we have Muslims, Hindus, atheists and so forth. Why should this group demand an explicit inclusion for them to be able to give such instruction which may be against the beliefs of these people, while at the same time they want to deny LGBT citizens their rights? It doesn't add up people. 


Now the fear that these persons expressed are legitimate but their main fears that they won't be able to preach out against homosexuality is in my opinion not well founded. The right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of beliefs and conscience is not, I believe an absolute right. Absolute would mean there would be no restriction on any of these rights. Can you imagine persons having the right to incite violence without knowing that they will be held accountable? That is where I believe those rights should stop; there is a line between belief and incite. You can believe that someone will go to hell for being gay you can preach that if they don't repent they will go to hell. But preaching, and encouraging that they be burnt, killed, and/or tortured is wrong and there is no way around that.


These persons seem more inclined to strike fear into the hearts of Jamaicans than they are in speaking the truth, speaking compassion, tolerance, communication. Where is the Christianity that you ought to display? Come on you're people of God, but this kind of behavior isn't Christ like. Just remember this, there are LGBT Christians all over the world, praying for you. We are a part of God's family.  It is too bad that using scare tactics is the method that you have to resort to. 

Tek Care

Alexis

It's too painful

I read a blog post today, every time I read these posts it brings me down, but today having read it it just makes me feel like crying, crying out to God. I feel so hurt, disappointed. My first reaction was anger but now it's just tears. This corrective rape Jesus, oh my God when will you reach down and help us. This is one more too much.

The article can be read at Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender & Queer Jamaica (here)
Please note a correction however to the first part "...perform on the three bastards..." this should actually have been two.

Tek Care  

Alexis

Good God (*shakes head*)

COUPLE BEATEN AT HOME FOR FREAKY SEX

The above is an article form the Jamaica Star.

This is past disappointing, upsetting disgusting, I can't come up with more words. The nerve, these men have to have gone into the couple's home and then allegedly beat them for having "freaky sex" IN THEIR OWN HOME! How in God's name did these people end up in the couple's house much less to BEAT them for some thing private,  A PRIVATE CONSENSUAL ACT. Then after that to rape the woman in the same method for which she and her male sex partner were beaten?? What kind of foolishness was this? And then they talk about homosexuals being the most sexually perverse? Since the cultural thing to do would to beat and kill LGBTs then why they don't kill rapists too? Since the Christian and religious thing to do is preach fire and brimstone then I wonder if they will do that when they hear of rapes? Hypocrisy.

Tek Care  

Alexis

Is the US promoting homosexuality?

I read an article just now on the Jamaica Gleaner website which speaks about the current extradition 'saga' and touched on homosexuality among other things. This is an extract from the article:

There might be connections between the Buju Banton arrest, the courageous stand of Prime Minister Golding against the homosexuality that the US is promoting worldwide, and the Coke case (click here for full article)


Now my question; why do so many persons think that the US is exporting or promoting homosexuality? Do they fail to realise that (like in this country, Jamaica) there are LGBT people already in existence, there were LGBT persons in Jamaica before the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders (DSM). How then could the US and other countries be exporting and promoting this sexual perversion called homosexuality? Sumaddy explain dat to mi please (Someone please explain that to me)

Tek Care  

Alexis

Mi love the Constitution. Raaaee. Lol

Yall, check out the Constitution of the Gay Freedom Movement. Interesting, the movement is now dead or repressed? It needs to be restarted. Some of the organizations ain't doing much, prob the movement can help to fill those other voids. Just a thought.

Tek Care  

Alexis

Jamaica Gleaner Letter: Making Scapegoats Of Gays

I believe I wrote a blog on something along this line, not so well put together mind you, but I think I did. Let me look, I did but I was doing more ranting that talking (here). The below is a letter written by Mr. Maurice Tomlinson. Same thing I've been saying; well said Mr. Tomlinson.

Jamaica Gleaner Letter: Making Scapegoats Of Gays

Published: Monday | April 19, 2010

The Editor, Sir:

Shirley Richards of the Lawyers Christian Fellowship has so far not commented on the recent spate of domestic violence being perpetuated against our women by men from all walks of life, including entertainers. She has instead, chosen to decry the 'deceptive' Walk for Tolerance, put on by Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, which sought to increase awareness of the need for tolerance for groups vulnerable to HIV/AIDS as an effective way to combat HIV/AIDS.

Love and tolerance

She has been silent on the beating and killing of women. She apparently spurns the biblical injunctions of love and tolerance of the marginalised, regardless of acceptance of their lifestyle. She utterly rejects legal and constitutional principles about the recognition and protection of rights for the most vulnerable in society. She takes on the gay issue because it is easy.

And then there are those like J.M. Fletcher (Gleaner, Saturday, April 17 ) who, preposterously ask gays to leave Jamaica. This is neither possible nor probable. Hitler tried the same thing during World War II with disastrous results for the German society and the world at large. The world is still paying the price for Nazi intolerance.

Jamaica's intolerance and homophobia has also blighted the world in the form of our violent music, and the world is now reacting by banning our artistes and implementing hate-speech legislation.

For those who think that gay rights are not civil rights, look carefully at the wording of the international treaties created after WWII in reaction to Nazi brutality. Courts as far flung as India, South Africa and Brazil have found that gay rights are indeed civil rights.

Jamaica needs to focus on the real threat to its peace and security, which is a poorly performing economy, instead of seeking to make scapegoats out of a marginalised and vulnerable group. That would be Nazism all over again.

I am, etc.,

MAURICE TOMLINSON

maurice_tomlinson@yahoo.com

Montego Bay St James

Tek Care  

Alexis

HIV and MSM community: Should we care? — Pt 2 - Breaking & Current Jamaica News - JamaicaObserver.com

BY PATRICIA WATSON

Monday, April 19, 2010

JAMAICA'S culture of multiple sexual partners which is epitomised in Beenie Man's Nuff Gal recording has contributed to the conundrum the country finds itself with regards to HIV.

More than 80 per cent of persons diagnosed with HIV reported having multiple sexual relations.

The 2008 Knowledge Attitude Practice and Behaviour Survey revealed that 76 per cent of males (from all population groups) aged 15 - 24 years reported having multiple sexual partners in the last 12 months. Men aged 25 - 49 years old were less likely to have multiple partners but also stood at 52 per cent.

In Nuff Gal, Beenie Man chants, "...the one burner business nah work again, 'cause one man fi have all 50 gal friend. If yu stop drink roots, start drink it again, 'yu haffi have the stamina fi service dem".

This situation is equally prevalent among heterosexual men as it is among men who have sex with men (MSM) and the legal and moral context within which gay men operate in Jamaica compounds their sexual behaviours and attitude.

"The reality is that, in our context, I don't see MSMs planning monogamous relationships. It is not that I am saying it is impossible, but due to the security risks you won't find a lot of men doing that," said a prominent businessman who is bisexual.

His statement supports the findings of a survey conducted by Dr Peter Figueroa, et al in 2008 which not only found that 31.8 per cent of MSMs surveyed were living with HIV, but that multiple partnerships were very common. The survey showed that 27.4 per cent of MSMs had two or more male partners in the past four weeks and 25. 9 per cent had one new male partner in the past four weeks.

"The social condition under which MSMs negotiate partners is different. There is absolutely nothing in the society that encourages healthy relationships, dating, spending time together, etc," said Jalna Broderick, prevention, treatment and care co-ordinator at Jamaica AIDS Support for Life.

"Few have stable places in which to live or have sex. There is pressure not to be seen with one specific person in case he becomes linked to or associated with that persona and therefore confirm questions about your sexuality."

The bisexual businessman also explained that "as Jamaican men, we have been brought up to believe that having many partners is a credential". The notion of having 'nuff gal' is also alive in the MSM community.

The survey done by Dr Figueroa and his team also revealed some other interesting data. Some 28.8 per cent of MSMs reported having had sexual relationships with at least one female partner in past four weeks; 15.9 per cent were living with a female sexual partner and 33.8 per cent had two or more female partners in the last 12 months.

According to Broderick, this is done mainly to deflect from social scrutiny. She noted that our society encourages men to have multiple sexual partners evidenced by some of the questions asked: 'How come mi neva see you wid no ooman?', 'Nuh time fi yu fi bring home a pickney now?'. She said being without a woman questions the man's masculinity and so rather than having that questioned they opt for relationships with women. On the other hand, she noted that some of the men involved with women are "genuinely bisexual and really and truly want both men and women".

It is against this background that experts in the field have been lobbying for the decriminalisation of buggery. It is clear from the data that significant portions of MSMs are also having sex with women. It is also clear that the rate of HIV infection among men is much higher than the national average of 1.8 per cent. Unless steps are taken to lower the rate of infection among MSMs, then it is logical that the national average will not be reduced.

Another key finding of the survey was that condom use among the MSM population was low compared to heterosexual males. Condom use among MSMs was at 30 per cent below that of the national average where condom use varies between 72 and 84 per cent for males.

You can send your questions or comments relating to HIV or related issues to info@eveforlife.org or write to Eve for Life, C/O Jamaica Observer

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

I have nothing more to add it just reiterates the points on tolerance and non-discrimination. In the words of Patricia Watson: "Unless steps are taken to lower the rate of infection among MSMs, then it is logical that the national average will not be reduced."

Tek Care  

Alexis

SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT MSMS?

Follow the above link to view the observer news article. Until this government acknowledges that MSMs are a vulnerable group and visibly make an effort to reach them the work for reducing the HIV/AIDS cases in the island will for ever be difficult. MSMs will not, until tolerance and non-discrimination is emphasise  and displayed by the government, be able to receive proper medical treatment. Also these MSMs being driven underground, will then resort to "covering up" and so increase the possibility of spreading HIV/AIDS.

So Should We Care About MSMs? Yeah we should.

Tek Care  

Alexis

Blessing sung by RJ Helton

Oh my gosh guys, you gotta check out this song. It's so touching. Families and friends and everybody who knows somebody (who knows sombody.....etc) who's gay or bi or trans should watch or the very least listen to this.
Season One of American Idol and finalist RJ Helton

Tek Care  

Alexis

Jamaica Gleaner News - In Africa ...A step backward on human rights - In Focus - Sunday | April 18, 2010

Jamaica Gleaner News - In Africa ...A step backward on human rights - In Focus - Sunday | April 18, 2010

Desmond Tutu, Contributor

The following article was first published by the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation.

Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity - or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity. It is time to stand up for another wrong.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family.

And, of course, they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their community have suffered. In Malawi, men have been jailed and humiliated for expressing their partnerships. Just this month, mobs in Mtwapa Township, Kenya, attacked men they suspected of being gay. Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counselling services to all members of that community because the clerics wanted gay men excluded.

Life imprisonment

Uganda's Parliament is debating legislation that would make homosexuality punishable by life imprisonment, and more discriminatory legislation has been debated in Rwanda and Burundi. These are terrible backward steps for human rights in Africa.

Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa are living in fear.

And they are living in hiding - away from care, away from the protection the state should offer to every citizen, and away from health care in the AIDS era, when all of us, especially Africans, need access to essential HIV services. That this pandering to intolerance is being done by politicians looking for scapegoats for their failures is not surprising. But it is a great wrong. An even larger offence is that it is being done in the name of God. Show me where Christ said: "Love thy fellow man, except for the gay ones." Gay people, too, are made in my God's image. I would never worship a homophobic God.

No one chooses to be gay

"But they are sinners," I can hear the preachers and politicians say. "They are choosing a life of sin for which they must be punished." My scientist and medical friends have shared with me a reality that so many gay people have confirmed, I now know it in my heart to be true. No one chooses to be gay. Sexual orientation, like skin colour, is another feature of our diversity as a human family. Isn't it amazing that we are all made in God's image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people? Does God love His dark- or His light-skinned children less? The brave more than the timid? And does any of us know the mind of God so well that we can decide for Him who is included, and who is excluded, from the circle of His love?

The wave of hate that is under way must stop. Politicians who profit from exploiting this hate, from fanning it, must not be tempted by this easy way to profit from fear and misunderstanding. And my fellow clerics of all faiths must stand up for the principles of universal dignity and fellowship. Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.

Desmond Tutu is archbishop emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I really don't think I need to add anything more, Archbishop said it all. You know prob for the next walk for tolerance we should some message from him prob even his presence, either physically or through some medium. 

Tek Care  

Alexis

Pictures from the Walk for Tolerance

These pictures have been edited to protect the privacy of the participants, as seeing that he walk has been turned by the media into a gay march, displaying participants faces may prove detrimental to them.

Tek Care  

Alexis

Walk for tolerance

I am sick and tired of seeing blogs and news reports stating that Jamaica had a gay pride. The local media twisted the truth to that effect and now an onslaught of letter and radio comments on such. The international media has it saying it was a gay march as well. It's frustrating. This is what one participant (Angel) had to say:

---------------------------------------------------------------  


“Walk for Tolerance”

Montego Bay Jamaica

April 7, 2010 was a historic day. On that day persons from all parts of society who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS took a stand for their human rights, called for tolerance and called for an end to the violence and discrimination against such groups.

Participants included; allies, sex workers, and LGBTIs among others.

The walk which was spearheaded by the Jamaica Aids Support for Life took place in Montego Bay and began at the Howard Cooke Park and ended at Dump-up beach. Signs calling for tolerance, pamphlets, banners and a grand rainbow flag were displayed during the walk.

Official reports state that approximately one hundred (100) persons took place in the “Walk”. There were approximately 13 groups and organizations that took part in the “Walk”, including the Ministry of Health and Metropolitan Community Churches (with ministers including Rev. Nancy Wilson (moderator) present).

At the end of the walk, we gathered at a tent at Dump-up beach there were short presentations and greetings from the groups that participated. Booths were set up where persons could get more information on HIV/AIDS, get tested and sign up as volunteers (with Red Cross).

I am pleased to have been part of this Historic Event and look forward to being part of many more, as we continue sounding the call for tolerance and non-discrimination.

Angel

Tek Care  

Alexis

My Response to a Jamaica Gleaner letter

So today I read a blog on a fellow blogger's page and was really heated up at the comments made by the person writing the letter. Yes each person has an opinion but just because your opinion and my opinion aren't the same, doesn't give you the right to chase me away from what I have a rightful claim to. My response was not sent to the Jamaica Gleaner nor did I make a comment on the web page. I would advise that you follow the link and read the letter before reading my response, as this may not make much sense without some knowledge of what the letter itself said.

My Ranting Response

Until some churches or some ministers acknowledge that their understanding of passages in the Bible may be flawed and until Gay or gay affirming Christians can be publicly and without fear be allowed to explain their beliefs, then this notion that pedophilia and bestiality and polygamy... etc are all the same sin as homosexuality will forever continue. And it will be harnessed and developed by these pastors. But what all of these persons forget is that they're taking judging us, they are committing the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, seems like they are the sodomites.

As for us to leave, we leave for many reasons but definitely not because we're 'kindly' asked to leave, we have as much right to live in this country as any other person here in Jamaica. I wonder though if all (every single) gay Jamaicans were to get up tomorrow and move to countries that are tolerant, what would it mean for this country. Yes they would continue, or yes they could rebuild. But I think it would show them that though we are persecuted our contribution to society when withdrawn would be quite visible.

You know we probably should encourage a boycott next time around since it seems that our disagreement was not needed.

I'll probably save this letter that J.M Fletcher wrote to the editor for the day when things do change. Oh to see their faces.

The "Christianity" being practiced or those proclaiming themselves as Christians need to go read their Bibles again, the hate and haughtiness, lack of sincerity, and bigotry coming from them, as I stated above, comes among the sin of Sodom and her sisters. Daily we see the true Sodomites in the rhetoric of these people. My prayer though is that God will remove the scales from their eyes, for they don't read nor 'study to show themselves approved' rather they swallow the regurgitated lies, half-truths and uncertainty from those before them. We aren't calling for them to accept for I believe that all should be able to hold their beliefs, but when it comes to spreading intolerance, and murder messages based on lies and half-truths then that's where the line in freedom of expression and beliefs needs to be drawn.

Tek Care  

Alexis

First Post

For the past couple days I've felt a pull to come back and blog, I don't have much in mind nor a set structure but things have been spiraling lately here in Jamaica and I thought that I should add my voice as well. For now the blog posts will be few and probably far between. By June I should be posting more often. As the blog title and description suggests this is going to be mainly about me ranting on issues (local) current and past that are relevant today or as they come to my mind. Also I may comment on those within the international scene, and also about books and movies. Looking forward to posting.

Tek Care  

Alexis