Settle the Score on CVM TV's Live @ 7 (26.08.11)...the JFLAG ad campaign

Elon Parkinson started off the short discussion with the video being rejected by another station that being Television Jamaica and he asked why not this PSA?, he also said he was not sure of host station of his show CVM TV's position on airing the new ad calling for tolerance with actors former Miss Jamaica Christine Straw and her brother Matthew.

Patricia Donald of Women's Media Watch was live in studio, she said the media was hypocritical as they air violence and stigmatised items making women passive beings for example and men strong, overbearing sexual beings with masculine prowess the main messages.

She questioned what was wrong with the ad why the television stations would not air the clip?

It's high society persons who are presenting this announcement and she continued that it was the whole family who may be going through this outing of sorts. Where does the right of one person stops, she said the ad challenges us to ask what is love?

Persons questioned on camera basically disagreed that the media was not hypocritical many agreed that homosexuality is wrong many feared that young people may interpret the ad the wrong way thinking its normative, Miss Donald commended CVM TV however for airing the issue on live television. In the matter of accepting or condoning homosexuality she said the three issues are not related and differ as each member of the public interprets it. Out of five persons all said no they didn't think it was hypocritical by TVJ.

Meanwhile Dr. Livingston White media consultant and lecturer at Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication who was also live in studio echoed my sentiments in my previous posts that the Jamaica Forum for Lesbian Allsexuals and Gays JFLAG used the wrong colour folks for this ad as it may rub some persons the wrong way. The ad had too much "noise" possibly drowning out the real message of tolerance which is a good idea but the timing maybe wrong and the strategy seemed not well thought out, possibly suggesting some proper study or consultancy in this regard, noise here meaning distraction from what the real meaning of the intended message(s) is/are. Patricia McDonald agreed and said that other issues on the horizon may cloud the message as well such as how we relate to sexualities with emerging identities and orientations as transgender and intersex which she implied were missing from the main discourse.

Mr. White continued that proper research should have been done as persons may not have identified with the characters, the audience must also be considered carefully in planning any campaign. His answer to the airing of the previous ad with other rights activists, a reverend and more he said that it had a mixture of actors and messages based on HIV/AIDS Miss Patricia Donald agreed he continued that the shock appeal can work with this new ad with Miss Straw and her brother but other social interventions are needed to support the campaign, suggesting possible fallout from such campaigns, a kind of unneeded martyrdom as I interpret it, he said it seemed as a rush campaign not properly thought through and thus executed without proper guidance or planning, social change may not occur overnight and there must be a long term plan and the ad in its present form may also hurt the progress made if any in terms of the public discourse now more mature than years before.

Are we addressing the behaviour or the actions he asked as since certain acts are illegal under law. Tolerance, condoning and accepting are three different issues or descriptions, here echoing Miss Donald's earlier point.

Here is the question asked on Live @ 7 Facebook Page

Settle the score: Do you think the Jamaican broadcast media is being hypocritical by not airing the Public Service Announcements on gay tolerance?

Here are some answers:

Anything god against i'm also against it so mek them goweh wid them dirty acted. Them must not air nthng bout dem. Under the earth dem fi live where real people cant c dem!!

Wow! This is a very touchy topic! People should learn to accept each other even if u don't agree with each others sexual preference so if airing these announcements teach acceptance which inturn stem voilence, why not?

No they are not,i think they reserve the right to broadcast what is legally accepted. On the contrary,why would the gay community want it to be aired and they have spent so many years behind the walls.

No i don't think so. In Jamaica it is still considered taboo for a man and woman to be "affectionate" in public. Nobody wants to see homosexuals do that. I have no problem with someones sexuality, just don't try and throw it in my face. We have rights too.

No I dont think the media is being hypocritical the tolerance level of GAYS in our pretty little island is quite low enough already airing persons disgust will only heighten violence against those who support them, against the homos and against the media house that should choose to broadcast homosexuality whether or not the views express are not those of said media this will irate a lot of person

I don't think so,but at the same time everybody entitled to their own lives and opinion,and I think it would have a great impact on the innocent young men coming up.

i'll deal with the issue when/if it presents itself but i'm not into the whole desensitization of our nation's children...we're a Christian nation and if we don't stand for something we're going to fall for everything...i'm by NO means homophobic, but that doesn't mean I like sexually suggestive behaviours being flaunted in my face, gay straight or curved...selah

Here is my advice to the gays. Word an add like this, homosexuality is unnatural, repulsive, reprehensible nd abominable, however any1 is welcome to join at their own risk. Im sure the media wouldn't have a prob with that.

The gay community already know how jahn public feel mi nuh tink dem waah wax cleana fi clean out dem ears hole r eye glass fi read an less dem waah a beatin den dem can go demanstrate fi freedom a peech an chice jahn public cyah talarate hunga an bruk u waah bring adam & steve to dat de frustrashan well as mi seh dem waahnta beatin dem cyah go out deh go tan up pan treet side wid kiard bode rite up den wi

whatever the case may be, buggery is illegal in ja so to broadcast gay acceptance msg is sorta supporting illegal activities

ppl oonuh nuh affi worri dat deh media house a go shet dung if dem wonce carry nuttin fram dem mi guh pan dem website it seh new ad fi hit augus encouragin ppl fi luv gay pickni well tank gad augus dun it ahlso seh vielence pan de inkreese inna jamdung tek note HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE ON THE INCREASE IN JAMAICA wha mure oonu waahnt

So tell me now, men who love men and women who love women want us to accept and tolerate them; who the hell is gonna be next? - men who love children? Men who love goat? Men who love their own daughters? We need to send a strong message to all those abnormal pleasure driven perverts, no one was born a faggot. You chose that way of life. You, those who have sex with children, animals and birds are all the same.

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Clearly it's a start to the continued discourse on this campaign it would be good though for JFLAG to consider with drawing the ad as it stands which was hinted to by Dr. Livingston White as he said the Youtube version may not be the one the television station rejected as he said that version is too raw and needs major dressing up, in effect that version could not have been used for television but JFLAG has the advantage of the matter getting some traction from the furor so persons can go to the major social media sites including YouTube to see the ad which he suggested they should use to their advantage.

An influential had called for the ad to be withdrawn for reasons of the non consultation with the wider LGBT body politic or seven persons deciding for the rest of us but an attempted muzzling took place, see more on my sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica on Blogger:

Attempted censorship from the advocates towards views on the JFLAG Ad campaign??

There was a call-in section afterwards most callers had mixed feelings some agreed that there was some hypocrisy but also added their ought to be considerations for tolerance.

Christine Straw and her brother Matthew who appear in the ad did not appear on the show as was previously thought they would have. Mr. Parkinson went a little controversial near the end when he said the Bible may be inaccurate in some cases in a response to a caller who said the Bible says homosexuals should be killed.

I feel JFLAG's credibility is however shattered as with regards to the recently concluded civil disobedience by sections of the MSM homeless populations after they have been banned from going to certain NGOs associated with JFLAG.

Peace and tolerance

H