Challenges for homo/bisexual males continue for December 2012

November 20, 2012 was the last time I looked at some challenges facing gay and bisexual men in Jamaica especially the homeless group via a lengthy podcast while also recognising Transgender Remembrance Day, where I selected murder victim Mi’Que once again as the diva to remember and the invisibility of the transgender community while advocates conveniently use the LGBT call letters in their agitation for “buggery” rights when transgender rights and recognition call for more than that. Unfortunately before I had a chance to post this entry which was scheduled for December 13, 2012 news came via Twitter update followed by a series of phone calls from other community members that a gruesome find was made of a partially burnt body of a well respected and awarded JP. 

Becky as he is affectionately known aged 67 according to media reports was of one of our longest standing personalities in the community with his trademark cold crown decorated smile and silver jewellery and a helpful Justice of The Peace, engaged by gay and heterosexual persons as his personality superseded his perceived sexuality by a few (and there are always those speculators) a fierce advocate in his own right, in fact he was also one of those persons who would assist homeless and displaced persons too, I will nominate the late Steve Harvey who in his earlier years and difficulty was assisted by “Becky” he was also integrally involved in early days of Jamaica AIDS Support (for Life) and was a fixture at their offices for any assistance in signing documents or any other informal crisis intervention matters.

He was found by fire fighters with his throat cut, apparently his house was set on fire after the fact to supposedly destroy evidence and the body. Shock and horror are the natural responses from those who are close to him.

It is not clear the motive for the murder at this time (THIS POST MAYBE UPDATED OR A NEW ONE CREATED AS IS REQUIRED)

Rest in Peace dear Becky ............ see below for the other murder victim’s news who met his demise on November 17^th.

Previous happenings to now:

I highlighted another murder that occurred a week before, November 17^th to be precise on another podcast of a member of the cruising community in Kingston named Donald Liscombe popularly known as Eric, his funeral will be December 15, 2012, he was shot some 11 times according to reports though not carried on mainstream media at all and all shots were said to be from behind so he didn’t either see his attackers in time or was able to flee, it is reported that he may have trailed from the Half Way Tree area where he often meets his friends or conquests as long-standing problems in his community with allegations of him having too much “traffic” and or parties at his home where he entertained young men and teens occasionally some of whom it is said he has no sexual relations but socialize with as his daughter also stays at the home sometimes but the profiling continued so much so that alleged gangsters made their plans and carried them out. It was also reported that he was the recipient of warnings from thugs in and around the area. Repeated heckling and rumours while he traversed his community to a local wholesale where he is well liked as he was friendly and interacted with persons well. He would be often seen walking on or near the Molynes or Waltham Park Roads area at time as well to show how comfortable things were until the downturn. His masculine demeanour seemed to have helped deflect some of the unwanted profiling that took place but something else must have gone wrong as many are surmising at his surprise murder.

Certainly this year has been a bloody one for the gay/bi male community as by June we had gone 11 or so murders and then came the others with half of them being directly homophobic while the others were community or groups dynamic related, especially the homeless double murder in the Trafalgar/Lady Musgrave Rd open lands where it was internal conflicts in that group. Speaking of homelessness we saw the December 6 story on both television stations of another major eviction again despite previous ones including the very public August 28 episode from the Cargill Avenue lot, plus a disturbing clash at the Jamaica AIDS Support grounds with staff on December 3 which has many speculating that it was a call from them that led to the aforementioned eviction three days later, the intended shelter as marketed by JFLAG scheduled for opening on December 1 but after a hastily planned town hall meeting the deal has fallen through as the proper talks were not done before the announcement was paraded, the J seems to be operating like Jamaican governments lately announcements and promises without any serious follow-up. As for follow-ups those of us who attended that town hall meeting were promised a correspondence with the assessments of the men after a series of questions I posed to the Executive Director of the J on the psycho social/sexual interventions for the group, those correspondences have not arrived to date and I do not expect them to arrive anymore. The communication with the community has always been poor we often have to hear or read our won supposed LGBT happenings from foreign entities.

The murder case of the naked man found in the Gordon Pen area of St. Catherine in July is still a mystery to many it seems as the even the newsclip for the item has gone offline, the man was found naked in his house with stab wounds, house undisturbed except for an open door and rumours in the community of his uncertainty sexual orientation abound. My own beat/foot patrol in the area as I am familiar with the terrain has revealed that there are some circumstances that are yet to be properly explained and understood. The alleged graffiti subsequently sprayed on the house hinting an antigay message has been painted out quickly by others. Meanwhile in South central Jamaica one of the two doctor’s killed in Manchester is also a cause for concern whether it was homophobic or not as he too was found naked in his bathroom, a feature of suspicious murders with msm victims and a reality we have to accept is that victims are found nude, his Lexxus motor vehicle was found burnt out in East Kingston some 70 or so miles away. The arson that occurred in Waterhouse in November has had obvious fallout where displacements have come with assistance from other community influentials chipping in and taking up the slack for those involved while the household head has since relocated elsewhere. The matter I am told is still being investigated, no photos have come to hand this time around if we can recall the Clarendon matter some years ago where the victims took photos of the damage as evidence.

Some homeless men were chased and their belongings destroyed on December 14^th by men allegedly who gather on the hip strip in New Kingston, phones and other personal belongings were said to be stolen but others accuse this set of creating mischief as an old feud between the two parties reignites as the publicised December 3 eviction activity has left a bitter taste in the mouths of the men who blame insiders for causing their untimely removal. The men are still struggling to find shelter and JFLAG is said to be trying to find a space for the men much to the anger of some in the community who say that they are insincere in their pronouncements as the shelter that was proposed to be opened on December 1 as mentioned above did not materialise. Some community influentials and long-timers have assisted by providing food, phone cards and clothes but are not willing to go any further following problems before with aiding some of the men and mistrust issues. 

An eighteen year old is the newest on the lost according to reports as his perceived sexuality caused great unease in his community leading to rejection from family members, how many stories like this are we going to continue to hear without the necessary rehabilitation and stabilization interventions in place to help them recover I ask again? The aforementioned arson attack on a popular house mother as well on December 1 has left some of her roommates struggling for permanent shelter even as they are unemployed or unemployable and are not doing any extra schooling so as to upgrade their qualifications, the buggery review is not the only things that matters of challenges to travel laws elsewhere or the narcissism that attends to advocacy these days but the loves of the least amongst us who ought to be allowed second third or sometimes fourth chances to be on the road to normalcy.

Out of town homeless challenges:

In that same town hall meeting I posed a question about a possible street based intervention for those persons outside of Kingston who are teetering on or are homeless, there was no definitive plan for same it seems based on the roundabout response and now comes news of another challenge with two young men by Williams Street in Spanish Town where an attempt was made to attack the young men after they were profiled as gay due to their aesthetics, mode of dress - very tight pencil feet jeans and lightened skin despite Jamaica’s metrosexual revolution but it was their effeminate stance that was the added factor that seemed to have triggered the public’s negative response, however cops and soldiers on patrol seeing it’s the holiday season ended the impending doom but one of the men was said to have complained of some of the soldiers whispering behind the scenes. The men who were evicted from Syndenham Villas from a house they had illegally occupied are not in another section of the parish and have somehow raised money to purchase small items to sell for the holiday season to make some cash.

Montego Bay proper and other related areas are continuing to see challenges of the men there and the commercial sex workers have been seeing a downturn in their trade as cops clamp down on most forms of loitering and the traffic issue as was made public recently, see HERE for an earlier entry in response to some readers from that side of the rock, the lotto scamming crackdown by the authorities is also still proving problematic for some as the money and associated lifestyle splurge is not longer sustainable and those from the gay community involved are falling through the cracks. Without the necessary catchment social programs to effectively rescue the young persons involved (although HEART Academy is not so attractive to some) the men just linger with some consequences. It was made known to me that three men were verbally abused by persons in that side of town a week ago while going about their business. They were cursed out and describe in essence as boy rapists and what would happen to them if they or anyone accused of being gay touched their children or kids overall. The public agitations by a gay lawyer who hails from that side of Jamaica has not gone unnoticed as well and they blamed his actions as one of the reasons why gays feel they can wave their lifestyle in public or justify their sexuality while upsetting everyone else.

Similar comments have been made repeatedly on media radio on television especially the call in segments of talk shows, yesterday a caller for example on Newstalk93 FM’s Straight-Up hosted by Jerry Small openly called for an execution chamber for gays but the skilful way Mr Small has been handling his show lately he quickly got the caller to in essence retract the offending remark others continue to confuse “lifestyle” as opposed to orientation and dishonestly linking both to auto-paedophilia by such persons.

Same Gender Loving women too are facing some challenges:

Our biologically born female counterparts are also facing some challenges navigating or nation daily a recent forced eviction of sorts in Portmore nearing the Christian Pen, Gregory Park area (St Catherine again) as a lesbian couple took evasive action after learning of growing unease with their presence despite one half of the couple being an “area born” resident and is known. Ever since her partner had to relocate from another parish in order to seek employment in the nearby call centre business the couple has seen some unkind responses to their cohabitation. Thankfully they avoided any serious outcomes.

While all these and more occur religious antigay/abortion groups push their agenda:

Anti gay Christian groups such as the JCHS continue to push this line of argument to bolster their agenda with persons like the group’s head Dr Wayne West (not a Jamaican) push lines that tolerance is equal to fisting and felching or persons who agitate for tolerance are asking to legalize those activities. He continues to push that the LGBT lobby wants to seize the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to allow depravity and illegal acts. Such practices are not popular here in Jamaica and are more seen in sub-groups in Europe such as the biker, leather or skinhead gay communities, he also went on in a recent radio interview that the philosophical end to the agitation for the repealing of buggery is to make all sexual practice normative whether they be right or not as imposed by aetheists with a worldview where no design is the mantra. Interesting he does not agitate this much in his country of birth Trinidad. Yet we also do not see the groups agitating for the least amongst us, the homeless and children in state care, the work by Jamaicans for Justice and Civil Society Coalition to publicise that perennial problem and the steps taken or that ought to be taken to do so these religious groups abstain or are silent from those actions which in essence directly impact a healthy society’s development.

Dr Wayne West for example recently equated the thrust for the buggery law repeal as well by saying the following:

“....the argument that you need to remove your buggery law to reduce HIV rates is eminently not true ............... the epidemiological data removing your buggery law is not necessarily nor is it sufficient to decrease HIV, what is important is behaviour.” He believes that the Jamaican people must be made to understand that the gay lobby, us, are intent on making deviant sexual practices normative as if all we are defined as is who and how we have sex and nothing else, so the likes of Mr West do not place any value of our orientation, choices, freedoms alienable or properly created and having a plural society where all persons can co-exist as long as their actions do not impede others. It is consensual sex in a private space is all we are asking for outward displays of affections are not culturally palatable here overall."

He concludes:

“ .....when persons come and say you need to remove the law to decrease HIV what you are actually hearing is you need to remove your law so we can modify the society and integrate all types of sexual orientations as the same and equivalent, that’s what that statement .... every time a Jamaican citizen hears that statement you need to remove your buggery laws to decrease HIV they should be hearing we want you to remove the buggery law so we can integrate all sexual orientations, all sexual behaviours into your activities and into your school curriculums....”

Now he dishonestly equates the recent Home and Family Life Fiasco, HFLE matter to join the chorus that there was motive for the questions posed in the manual as I had agreed it may have been age appropriate but is needed to discuss sex and sexuality. Then it is no wonder why we are having the challenges in our society of homophobia and homo-negativity while LGBT people continue to suffer from these kinds of institutional bigotry from the religious impositions by their supposed noveau intelligentsia or theological communities aided and abetted by other religious groups who by the way cannot do this kind of activity in their own jurisdictions so they export their hate with millions of dollars to boot for full paged ads and more.

Priorities please religious friends.

download it here

Frankly the proposed buggery review is in effect in my view a shortcut for the government to avoid the brave constitutional changes and removing that savings clause, what if the conscience vote comes out in the affirmative? A plus for the gay community, the debate will have to continue anyway in terms of how the legislation would look. With legal gymnastics by these same religious/legal pundits with simple use of language to divert protection under the Charter of Rights and The Sexual Offences Bill when they were debated what other obfuscations will be employed to further derail or stop dead the process post the conscience vote? Does anyone remember the invented gay marriage debate used to also help remove the discrimination due to sexual orientation protection clause though limited but essential? No such rights were asked for by JFLAG or any other group when we can't even get passed just basic tolerance, respect and privacy.

Here in part is what the committee recommended at the time:

"Discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation Another issue raised was whether the Constitution should also guarantee freedom from discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation. This issue was raised, in written presentation and by oral address to the Committee, by a group called the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J. Flag). The written presentation is attached as Appendix 

Representatives of J. Flag quoted what was said to be a statement by Professor Edwin Cameron, now a Judge of the South African Constitutional Court, at page 450 of the 1993 volume of the South African Law Times, that “sexual orientation is defined by reference to erotic attraction: in the case of heterosexuals, to members of the opposite sex; in the case of gays and lesbians, to members of the same sex”. 

They argued that the Constitutional Bill of Rights and Freedoms should seek to protect the inherent human identity from abuse and that what was included in human identity were those features of a person, or characteristics, that that person was born with. Sexual orientation, they said, was one of those features or characteristics of human identity, in the sense that everyone has a sexual orientation and that that sexual orientation was largely, if not entirely, outside the individual’s control. Homosexuality, they said, was, to the homosexual, as natural and unchangeable as heterosexuality was to the heterosexual. The balance of scientific opinion, they argued, was weighted in favour of the view that sexuality, including sexual expression, was indivisible from individual identity, and was in the same category as race, gender, or brown or blue eyes. Furthermore, they said, there was no credible evidence or convincing argument that sexual orientation could be changed. 

On that basis, the representatives of J. Flag argued that sexual orientation should not form the basis of discrimination against, or abuse of, any human being and proposed that the best way to achieve this was to include, in the Constitution, provision for protection against discrimination on that ground. That proposal, they added, was consistent with current international trends. The Constitution of South Africa, it is to be noted, includes sexual orientation among the grounds on which the state and persons are prohibited from unfairly discriminating directly or indirectly against anyone. The Committee is concerned, however, as to the effect which implementation of that proposal would have in relation to the Marriage Act and the institution of marriage and on parenting. The representatives of J. Flag had themselves conceded that the Marriage Act would be inconsistent with such a constitutional provision. 

Other matters which the Committee has taken into account include the view of some of its members that the proposal by J. Flag challenges Christian society, and that, as heterosexuality is what assures the perpetuation of the human race, homosexuality could be regarded as a challenge to the existence of the human race. These views, of course, are not shared by the representatives of J. Flag. It is important to record that the representatives of J. Flag have stated that they regard the legislation which criminalizes buggery between persons as the essence of discrimination against homosexuals, particularly in relation to its enforcement against male homosexuals, and, therefore, that if a recommendation for the repeal of that legislation in relation to consenting adults in private is as far as the Committee would be prepared to go, they would be grateful for that concession. 

The Committee urges J. Flag to carry out further research as to 

(i) the Constitutions which guarantee protection against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation; 

(ii) the laws which would be inconsistent with such a constitutional provision; 

(iii) scientific data as to the causes of homosexuality; and 

(iv) whether there has been an increase in homosexuality following on such a liberalization of the law in other countries. 

The Committee is not at present disposed, however, to include in the Charter of Rights a guarantee of protection from discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, because of the implications which this would have, in particular, its implications in relation to the institution of marriage and questions of parenting. It would, however, bring to the attention of the Government, as a matter for consideration, the issue of the repeal of the provisions of the Offences Against the Person Act in so far as it relates to the offence of buggery between consenting adults in private."

Alot to ponder this season and as we turn towards a new year.

Let us stay strong

Peace and tolerance

H