Gay man strips naked at courthouse - Didn't want cops to restrain him

So a section of our homeless men and their friends have made news again this time not in a positive light following a patrol by the police in New Kingston even as the men being made nomads due to the demolition earlier last month of the Barbican house that was captured by some of them and the conjoining of others from rural parts coupled with the later displacees who have joined the populations some as young as 15 years old. With more coming in as well from the lotto scam clampdown as well in western Jamaica and in Kingston there has been a fall from grace as it were of many previously monied persons who were alleged to be in the illegal activity. The arrest and charge of a major player in  Miami has not gone down well either as local links allegedly have gotten nervous and have been shedding some of the connections locally to avoid suspicion it is surmised. The Statistical Institute's report on the unemployment figures also is cause for concern as more and more qualified persons are finding themselves on the frontline exposed with little or no income so rental payments become a challenge or carrying their share of the bills with other family members is diminished hence a case of displacement from a home by parents in which they used this to justify the separation of a 21 year old added to their supposed unease with his sexual orientation. 

Other challenges regarding homelessness are just increasing at every turn with the in fighting spilling for example over in Old Harbour recently as well where one member of the St Catherine displaced MSM had an altercation with a vendor as she accused him of stealing from her stall on the road when it turned out it was another member of the group which led to a near beat down of the latter by the other men. Now comes this story from the Star News with the uncontrollable behaviour presenting itself in the walls of a courtroom.

Three homosexuals, including a 16-year-old boy, were ordered to be gagged after their boisterous behaviour almost prevented the normal proceedings at the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

One of the men who was forcefully removed from the courtroom reportedly stripped himself naked to prevent the cops from restraining him.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey said she was not having any of what she described as lawless behaviour in her court.

All three men were allegedly a part of a group of about 50 men who stoned a police service vehicle and injured the police in New Kingston recently.

disorderly conduct

Samuel Martin, otherwise called 'Gabrielle', Omar Shaw, otherwise called 'Tite-Ma', and the 16-year-old boy were remanded after they appeared on several charges including stone throwing, disorderly conduct, and malicious destruction of property. Martin, 26, and Shaw, 27, are both unemployed, and, of unknown addresses.

All three pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct but contested the other charges. They return to court on September 23, as the medical report in the matter is outstanding.

Allegations are that on the day in question, cops got a distressed call from a group of their colleagues patrolling New Kingston that they were being attacked by a group of about 50 men, who hurled stones at their service vehicle.

It is alleged that five cops were injured in the attack and the accused men were apprehended.

"Lock wi up a Half-Way Tree, and see if wi nuh bun dung the&%$ court," one of the accused men reportedly said while being arrested.

Yesterday, the accused men were removed from the court to be gagged, however, the police had great difficulty restraining them and seemingly didn't have anything to gag the men.

ENDS

It is just so heart rending for me these days to watch all the bullshit go down and knowing we had a start to address this matter of displacements and homelessness when the signs were evident, it still begs the questions:

Where is the proactive leadership from the LGBT lobby for the least amongst us welfare issues?

Do we really care about them?

Are they waiting for more to die again so they can be used to lubricate the anti gay public relations?

Community based assisted living avenues seems to be slowly diminishing as persons consolidate their expenses given the austerity period we find ourselves in and with another report as the aforementioned the trust factor needed to extend such a hand dies with thunderous applause of serve them right for all the stuff that they got coming to them, then there is a cry for tolerance. The St Catherine bunch are still holding on but for how long one does not know as impatience sets in due to the slowness of business in the weed whacking trade as more home owners manicure their own lawns either by hand or purchasing their own machines. Recent robberies (not by the men) in residential areas also has residents deeply mistrusting of new faces offering such services hence the reticence. I hope some major breakthrough comes through while we wait for the political directorate to address the economic issues urgently but our prime minister seems more interested in making appearances at function and travelling overseas than tending to the nation's business. 

I have been spending a lot of time on the road lately and the view is not pleasant at all, to encounter the pleas for some money or place to rest for the night even from persons I do not know but apparently I am pointed out to them by those who do. I am praying for a change in the conditions, other persons have expressed similar concerns as well but I guess we got to hang in there until. 

Peace and tolerance 

H