Star News sensationalizes male commercial sex worker issues .............

So with the other boring headlines of the tabloid in recent times they have returned to the gay community to rake in readers and sell papers as per usual, the commercial sex worker community is supposedly now their target and those of us who have been in the trenches long enough know this ploy all too well as the silly seasons for embellished stories come and go here it has recommenced just before year end. 

They report today that Trafalgar Park residents are fed up with men who supposedly solicit school boys when schools long rapped up for the Christmas holidays from the second week in December, also the shrubbery as fencing surrounding the park had been removed since the last major incident there some four months ago with a drag queen and others taken into custody at the Half Way Tree police station so one can see CLEARLY through the park to the otherside and the possible occupants of the two park benches residing therein. 

The park as it looks these days without the high shrubbery around it that once acted as a fence/boundary, this photo taken from the National Commercial Bank side, west of the park, the old Super Plus Store is to the right, across Trafalgar Road. One can see right through the park so where do the men hide then with the so called penis showing activities? 

Furthermore the actual houses/homes are some many chains away (go left in the photo above) from the actual park itself and for persons to supposedly see individuals in the park itself one has to navigate a corner to get to the side of the National Commercial Bank's property. Persons would have to exit their homes and walk down to the park to view any activity inside its confines.

Can persons see around a corner?

Who is the Star News fooling?

There was also an alleged shooting incident of some of the men who used to gather just across the street at the old Super Plus Store which is now refurbished as a new entertainment facility and the workmen there along with canine security teams at the insurance company directly adjacent to the site see to it the men do not congregate there or nearby hence the men stay on the hip strip away from any trouble, coupled with that are the alleged ongoing problems with the staff of a popular New Kingston supermarket who have had run ins with the homeless msm/commercial sex workers or their friends who spend time with them as company  I too visit the men at times so I know the areas where they gather and this Star News story CANNOT be true, I find this hard to believe when the evidence points otherwise. 

also see the December 6th eviction news story of some of those homeless men by the authorities: Kingston Homeless MSM Evicted (yet again) also my then podcast:

Here is the Star News piece firstly then I will continue my commentary below:

Residents fed up with homosexuals soliciting sex

Residents in communities located in New Kingston said they are fed up with homosexuals soliciting sex in the Trafalgar Park which is close to their homes.

THE WEEKEND STAR understands that homosexuals continue to congregate in the park with their penises in their hands and have been using their privates as a pull factor to lure schoolboys.

The residents admitted that while the presence of the homosexuals in that location is nothing new, it seems as if their cries for their removal continue to fall on deaf ears.

"Dem get disgusting. Right now, dem a meet and greet the boys dem wit dem penis in dem hand. It's a disgrace," a disgruntled resident told THE WEEKEND STAR.

exhausted options

The residents express that they have exhausted their options of notifying the police about the actions of the gays but it seems their actions will remain perpetual.

In September, a meeting was convened in New Kingston with members of the gay community, stakeholders, the police and the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals & Gays.

The meeting was called by city officials concerned about the action of homosexuals behaving badly and selling sexual services on the streets of New Kingston but it seems since then nothing has changed.

THE WEEKEND STAR was unable to make contact with head of the New Kingston police, Commander Christopher Murdock.

ENDS

Some other questions come to mind:

What time or when do these so called meetings with schoolers are held? - seeing that the park can be viewed from all points across the street as the shrubbery as I mentioned before have been chopped down and the area is well lit with the two bus stop shelter hosting ads and the adjacent revolving advertising board to the west of the park which has a bright light that reflects from the slides into the park itself.

Did the Star see the last removal exercise by the local authorities from another open lot where some of the men gathered?

Doesn't the Star News know that there are patrols by the New Kingston police that monitor the men and female commercials sex workers in New Kingston in particular especially since the onset of the holiday season from November?

Have we all forgotten the Trafalgar double murder in June of this year? see:  Murder, Homelessness and fallouts …………….

Old Super Plus Store before its refurbishing and the adjacent Rent-a-car company wall, the gully seen is used sometimes by substance users who are homeless, hence overlapping, this is directly across from the Trafalgar park that is complained about, the homeless/CSW MSM used to congregate here years gone by at the old guard house (right of the photo where the chain is) but repeated incidents force them to relocate plus the security at the rent-a-car agency is outside as well with guard dogs these days so the men do not gather here, also the workmen at the refurbished building also taunt the men sometimes.

also see: Men rushed in New Kingston .... police hold 4

Yes the men have attracted some unneeded attention to themselves and the residents complained a year or so before when the park was more enshrined in shrubbery as fencing so activities could be hidden (if such occurred), the old Superplus Store lands were empty at that time so the men used it as refuge or for gathering but all that changed with the repeated negative instances over time including reported beatings, chasings and stonings some of which are carried on this and my other blogs plus increased police patrols. 

The attacks by the problematic bikers who also hang out in New Kingston have also forced the men to remain in certain "safe zones" and the Trafalgar Park is NOT one such zone, the police have before had their hands full with these same bikers for other alleged criminality by their members.

This shooting incident in the Upper Montrose area also caused the men to be circumspect about the very park they are now accused or luring schoolers, please see: Shots fired at homeless gays in Kingston, homeless situation spiraling out of control

This beating incident also makes them retreat in a sense over time: Men rushed and beaten in New Kingston

This attempted mobbing of two cross dressers in the same area in 2010 just after the Independence celebrations which I covered via an on the street investigation: Homeless MSM/CSWs in New Kingston rescued by taxi driver

The residents have complained before:  Complaint of "Freaky Gays" Harassing New Kingston Residents ........

Furthermore school boys are off limits for most of the men I know in the group are not interested in them and go for adults and where such interest is spotted in the membership they are removed or warned not to carry out such actions so how can schoolboys pay for sex and again who is the Star News fooling?

The problem is the public is so used to the steady garbage from the tabloids whether defunct as the XNews or still in vogue being the Star News and people believe it readily without questioning the validity of the story, the proper rebuttals from the advocacy structures in outlining the issues with the homeless, displaced or male CSWs these are the results of that failure.

This is the same paper that carried the increase in male hookers as it were in a previous story which I also blogged about juxtaposing homelessness, advocacy and fallouts.

See: INCREASE IN MALE HOOKERS - More men doing 'business' in New Kingston says the Star ............ but

Doing 'business' in New Kingston

Male Hookers Not a Threat says the Star News 

Just those stories as the other links shows the inconsistency with the tabloid and where their agenda lies. The spaces in New Kingston where the men gather now are limited due to their own shenanigans for the most part and the vigilance of the police plus the pressure brought to bear by the New Kingston Civic Association and other business interests, so for a report such as this to come from the Star to me is a blatant LIE!
All of this negative press towards possible homeless and displaced MSM while a fault of their own doing in some respects also needs to be placed at the feet of the responsible agencies who have failed to properly respond to the pyscho-social & rehabilitation needs of this overlooked section of the LGBT community.

So we continue to reap the world-wind.

Here was the last major discourse in the mainstream on the issue:

Problem is the shelter idea glanced at in the program that was to address the issue has been put back until January 2013 as a pilot project which has its own set of issues. It was only 7 days ago I posted on my Wordpress blog the impatience of some of the men for the promised shelter: Homeless impatient with agencies over slow progress of promised shelter

Peace and tolerance

H

additional reading for behavioural background issues: 

The Problematic “Battyman Entitlement” phenom, homelessness & LGBT safe spaces