JFLAG says new study finds LGBT persons deserve equal protection under the law

I am never usually supportive of studies these days commissioned by the LGBT community or groups as they normally reflect the views of the funder or commissioner of said study and the representative sample tends not to reflect the real deal out there but this one hits the nail on the head it seems in as far as the feelings towards repealing buggery although the press release from JFLAG seems to suggest something else.

Given the recent MSM homelessness issues and public evictions, the countless amounts of homophobic abuse plus others I may not know of, the homo negative, lesbophobic and other related cases just by observation I do not see how this study could be an accurate representative sample of how Jamaicans feel about homosexuality, bearing in mind also some public agitations reflecting anti gay sentiments have been carried out and are planned, here is a flyer of one of the planned religious events for September 15th:

The recent radio discussions in succession on anti gay marriage points, strong opposition to the repeal of the buggery law and the suggestion by the PM for same I wonder sometimes, the demographic polled would be a start for me as Jamaicans who are travelled or in middle to upper socio economic circles and educated would have reflected this view easily however I am not so sure about below Half Way Tree or Cross Roads for that matter, that is if the Boxill team included those persons and the list of questions would be good to see before I am convinced we know very well the bitterness is far more pronounced from the lower socio economic strata, we do not need studies to tell us that, the beating of a drag queen in Spanish Town recently, the displacement of a 19 year old via Facebook scrutiny by non gay persons on the victim's friends' list, the rumoured murder of two gay men in the Hope Gardens area plus an unsolved murder earlier this year in the Gordon Pen area where the victim was left nude does not support the findings of this study.

Check me like two years ago I might have agreed somewhat that tolerance was coming but the opposite seems to be happening as incident accounts seem to be rising.

When are the J folks going to come into the real world?

How can we ask for tolerance when we ignore and vilify our own homeless brothers for starters?

additional commentary:

Have a read of the J's latest press release, interestingly when CVM TV exposed the eviction of the homeless men from Cargill Avenue the group was deafeningly silent, is this a diversion from that issue? One never knows. The offering of scholarship funding by the parent group JASL in the form of $20,000 per person is a start but the smoke screen does not work with me to divert us from the urgent matter of MSM homlessness when some of the men are scattered all over.

The release read as follows:

Kingston, Jamaica ---- September 5, 2012

A new study done by Professor Ian Boxill of the University of the West Indies shows that almost two in every five Jamaicans believe the government is not doing enough to protect and promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons to freedom from discrimination, violence and other forms of harassment.

The 2012 study was commissioned by the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) and funded by AIDS-Free World. It is a follow up to the 2011 study on Jamaicans’ views about homosexuality and the factors that determine those attitudes. Boxill used a nationally representative sample of 1000 persons between 18 and 84 years (margin of error of +/-4%) and two focus groups.
The National Survey of Attitudes and Perceptions of Jamaicans Towards Same-Sex Relationships found that while Jamaicans continue to have strong negative attitudes towards homosexuality, one in every five Jamaicans is tolerant of LGBT persons and would support an addendum to the charter of rights affording rights to the LGBT community.

“These findings speak to the progress we are making as a people in respecting the humanity, dignity and equality of LGBT persons,” said Dane Lewis, J-FLAG’s executive director. “However, given that we have a vibrant LGBT community, much more still needs to be done so we can more forward as a cohesive and just society that intends to become the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.”
The 2012 study found that persons 35 years old and under are more likely to be tolerant, accepting, supportive, admiring and appreciative of LGBT persons. The national survey also included a subsample of businesspersons and found that although they would not fire an openly LGBT person, a little over half of them would not employ LGBT people for the following reasons: they feel they would make their coworkers uncomfortable, they do not support the sexual orientation, they feared being stigmatized and they feared losing customers. However, focus group results show that coworkers did not see working with homosexuals as a significant problem (as long as they acted professionally).
“Urgent national leadership is required to address the chronic intolerance for LGBT Jamaicans so they can be afforded equal rights and protection of the law like any other person. " Lewis also said.

Maurice Tomlinson, legal advisor at AIDS-Free World, said, “this study provides conclusive proof of the malignant level of homophobia which continues to pervade all levels of Jamaican society and ravage lives. The serious effect of homophobia is most evident in the vastly disproportionate level of HIV among Jamaican men who have sex with men (MSM).”

“There is very little variance between the results of the two studies as there is still strong negative views towards same-sex relationships across all sectors of the Jamaican society. This was confirmed by two homophobia scales that were used by Boxill,” he said.

ENDS

The methodology would be good to know also as I would love to know how they arrived at this as I guess if they went downtown and dropped the questions there the resounding majority would have disagreed strongly, it all depends on where and who were in the sample size, social class counts in this issue of tolerance and or homosexuality after all didn't the amount of Jamaicans who saw homosexuality as "immoral" actually increased since 2010? This seems to be a way to court Portia Simpson Miller on her suggestion to review the buggery law more so than anything else.

Just a poll on facebook via CVM TV's Live @ 7 page which asked Should gay rights advocates change how they communicate their message of tolerance? had some interesting answers such as:

Yes and leave others alone that despise their behaviours

Jamaicans need to prioritize, many embrace Killings, scamming, and abuse of women n children but a act like homosexuality they seek to break down and cast out!

Tolerance does not necessarily mean acceptance and sometimes the messages come across as though they are forcing us to accept the gay concept but then again lets not condemn.

The gov't should band both of them lesbians and gays, . . they need guh one side wit dem nastiness.. mi nuh waah hear bout nun a dem..kmt

See more: HERE

What do you think readers?

UPDATE At 6:00pm Beyond The Headlines had a short chat on the issue:

The exchange softened the real deal of the study.

Then CVM TV also looked at the issue during the Live at 7 program:

The only difficulty I have with this discourse is at the end where my friend Javed allowed his personal opinion as he being an atheist called the Bible "that book" one should never touch that realm when agitating publicly on LGBT issues as I suspect here viewers may have forgotten everything else that was said before.

UPDATE Sept 7th:

The September 6th appearance of representatives from The National Council of Drug Abuse and AIDSFREEWORLD's Maurice Tomlinson to address the recent public eviction of homeless MSM from Cargill Avenue was at best damage control to another embarrassment regarding the poor response from the relevant LGBT agencies. JFLAG WAS NOT PRESENT AT THIS CVM TV LIVE @ SEVEN Program

The attempt to use old programmatic language by Maurice Tomlison to suggest MSMs have no access to condoms while the CVM newscast itself (see above) showed the movers holding the condoms in their hands they found on the site and saying the men were practicing safer sex should be instructive to ALL in view, the very early solution that was opened three and half years ago is the very one that has to be drawn upon now to solve a problem that has gotten way out of control.

download the PDF HERE

Peace and tolerance

H

click the "Homeless MSM in Jamaica" tab immediately below for previous entries on the subject