Gordon Robinson on Hide Sex Kids Will Find It

I so agree with Gordon Robinson as the main reason why we are having so many challenges today with HIV in teens and children under the age of consent is due to the lack of the issues being discussed especially sex and sexuality and not just reproduction and hence why the adults that are engaged in the mass hysteria over the Bain and JFJ manual are so paranoid as as well as just two pages of a 150 paged document spoke to anal sex and not in a bad light.

Here is Mr Robinson's piece from the Gleaner

Irony had a good month in June with the forced firing and rehiring of Brendan Bain followed by the mental picture of Carolyn Gomes, hoisted on her own petard, flouncing out of a Jamaicans for Justice for Some (JFJFS) boardroom having not got her own way for the first time at last.

So, what goes around does eventually come around.

The sun comes up; the sun goes down.

The hands on the clock go round and round.

I just got up now I gotta lay down.

Life gets tee-jus don't it?

In her new incarnation as executive director of equally shadowy Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), she tried her standard holier-than-thou attitude and sneering tone on senior Jamaican journalists, insulting Gary Spaulding and Karyl Walker, both outstanding professionals tested by the fires of many public events. Understandably, both, no doubt reflecting on their long and faithful service to Jamaica from less lofty and less lucrative posts than the one enjoyed by Mrs Gomes, intemperately stormed out of the farce.

These seasoned professionals were greeted with open hostility from an obviously piqued Gomes who actually said journalists should "listen" and "not talk" during press conferences. Shades of Milton Samuda!

Hound dawg howlin' all forlorn.

Laziest dawg that ever was born.

He's howlin 'cause he's sitting on a thorn and he's too durn lazy to move over.

Mrs Gomes was quoted as saying: "CVC is founded on the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. We [are] fighting for the rights of ... vulnerable groups to be heard, to participate as full citizens and to be treated with dignity and respect ... ." Unless, of course, one gives independent expert evidence which offends one of these 'vulnerable groups' for whom CVC is fighting. That human being does NOT appear 'born free'; has NO RIGHT 'to be heard'; or 'to participate as [a} full citizen'.

Old brown mule she must be sick.

Stuck her in the rump with a pin on a stick.

Humped her back but she sure didn't kick.

Something's cockeyed somewhere.

Tolerance = progress

All sides to this silly 'gay-rights' squabble must understand the key to progress is tolerance. It's not enough for so-called gay lobbyists to ask for tolerance, they must be equally tolerant of opposing viewpoints, especially those entrenched views known to have been handed down from generation to generation over millennia. These antiquated beliefs won't be easily changed and 'progressive' supporters of the principle 'all human rights must be enjoyed by all humans' need to appreciate and tolerate the difficulty conservatives are having grasping new trends.

I open the door and the flies swarm in.

I shut the door and I'm sweating again.

I move too fast and I bruise my shin.

It's just one darn thing after another.

Despite the Nixonian denial, "We are not a gay lobby", it's clear that CVC is very much a gay lobby (among other things). The word 'lobby' isn't a dirty word; it only means fighting for the rights of your constituents, including gays, by any means necessary and legitimate, including networking with powerful possible change agents. Too much political correctness usually forces one to constantly defend irrelevances. Life's tedious enough already.Water in the well's getting lower and lower.

Ain't had a bath in (whoo) six months or more.

But I've heard it said (and it's true I'm sure)too much bathing weakens ya.

Another thing: This hackneyed phrase, 'gay rights', is a misnomer. What we should all be fighting for is human rights for all humans, including gays. Only those prepared to publicly admit they don't consider gays to be 'human' in the same way the Ku Klux Klan doesn't consider 'niggers' to be humans will get my attention when they otherwise incongruously submit that only heterosexuals have the right to love; marry; adopt children or become parents by modern scientific means, including surrogacy; own community property; and be treated as next of kin in appropriate circumstances.

Gays are human

Once you admit that gays are human, all else falls into place. You mightn't like the idea of gay marriage; it might fill you with revulsion. In that case (which is your entitlement), may I suggest you don't get married to any homosexual. However, if two homosexuals want to marry each other, please stay out of their way.

Homosexuality has existed in the world as an alternative attraction (NOT 'lifestyle') since the dawn of time. It's been with us as long as heterosexuality and will be with us until the hyped Second Coming. Those members of the holier-than-thou clan who don't want this reality explained to children of all ages in a controlled educational, scientific environment are so full of it that they don't even realise that sticking their heads in the sand leaves their respective rear ends exposed and primed for a homosexual assault. It leaves their children similarly exposed.

Learn this. If 10 per cent of the general population (a conservative number) are homosexual, 10 per cent of children of all ages, in all schools, are homosexual. Are they to grow up without their strange (according to society) attraction being explained to them in an environment in which they can't be singled out for ridicule and can actually learn something about themselves?

What about heterosexual children? Are they to continue the 'bun byman' tradition taught on Jamaica's street corners without even knowing what it means? Or should they also be instructed about homosexuality in a controlled environment by trained professionals in circumstances where they don't have to feel embarrassed or be called 'queer' for wanting the information?

All members of the holier-than-thou sect still believing that homosexuality shouldn't be in the school sex-education syllabus because children need to be 'protected' from the truth, I hope you're equally earnest in your campaign to protect these children from information disseminated on the Internet, etc., not in quite as professional a manner as it would be in school. Be careful what you ask for.

Rat's gnawing on the cupboard door.

Fool's been at it for a month or more.

When he gets in he's gonna to be awful sore.

There ain't a dang thing in there.

To those who use the silly term 'age-appropriate', that might've been useful when I was a boy with no TV. Then, one TV station in black and white; no Internet; no cable; no global information technology. Today, it's just plain stupidity. Let me guarantee these religion-based nuts that, in Jamaican schools today, boys are having sex with girls; boys are having sex with boys; girls are having sex with girls; girls are inserting sex toys in their female friends' vaginas; every trick in the book seen on cable TV; the Internet; and smartphones are being tried in school from as early as five years old. Ignore THAT at your peril.

Praise homes

Instead of praising children's homes for initiatives (including independent fundraising) establishing compassion for their children and reality recognition, everybody has withered like 'shame old lady' under the public's backward backlash. Public authorities are scurrying about pointing fingers at each other. Irrelevant regulations are being deliberately misinterpreted or selectively relied on to crucify children's homes for teaching sex in sex-education classes.

Lisa, I expect better (and braver) from you. Homes must seek ministry approval for curriculum changes. There's been no change. 'Curriculum', in my dictionary, is "the subjects that are included in a course of study or taught in a school ...", for example, sex education.

What might have changed is the sex education 'syllabus', which, according to my dictionary, is "a list of the topics, books, etc., that students should study in a particular subject ... ." No ministry can vet every syllabus change. But, a recent youth ministry press release was pellucid that the hullabaloo was raised because "the children received training in the areas relating to homosexuality and anal sex".

Well, shiver me timbers. How dare anybody teach 'anal sex' as if it were sex? Keep this up and children might find out 'anal sex' actually exists; comes with health risks; and ought to be avoided, if possible. Some might even believe sex isn't dirty and needn't be secret. OMG!

Grief and misery, pain and woe;

debts and taxes and so it goes.

Now it seems I'm getting a cold in the nose.

Life gets tee-jus don't it?

Life Gets Tee-jus (Tedious), Don't It? was written and first recorded in the 1920s by forgotten but influential early country/western recording artiste Carson Robison. It's a song about the futility of trying to change the world. The world is what it is. It's been so for millennia. It won't change. Will you?

Peace and love.

ENDS

Problem with the tolerance bit though Mr Robinson is that such calls have to have credibility behind it and what little of that that was left has been trampled on alongside any ethical base as the CVCC's own conflict of interest shows up here and the bypassing of the CDA by JFJ is another issue too, owing to the fact that their reputation has been built on public advocacy led by the very present Executive Director of the CVCC Ms Gomes on transparency, good governance and vigilance but those seem to have been thrown through the window in regards to the roll out of this pilot project.

The very early initiation or experimentation of sex by some young teens is also all the more reason why this material is so needed although I am having some second thoughts about the methodolgy used to get the sex ed course to children's homes as maybe it would have been better done on a one on one level seeing some of those wards have already been sadly exposed to sexual abuse, but how this has played out with the CDA on a witchhunt the method used originally and the subsequent unfortunate fallout has certainly opened our eyes to the lack of knowledge and fear out there even by so called experts where even one "psychologist" Leachim Semaj is calling for JFJ to pay for the treatment of the children to repair the "damage" done to the 'children" when the vast majority of them though under the age of consent were 13 and over.

Let us bear in mind too that the last reproductive health survey found that 54.8% of girls at 13 years of age have had two or more sex partners at the time of the survey in the schools that were engaged. So we better wake up and stop this madness and hysteria out there as was done yesterday by so called concerned groups as Jamaica CAUSE.

also see:
Hypocrites riding on Kids back

Peace and tolerance

H

Jamaica CAUSE issues Veiled threat to Govt to not Repeal The Buggery Law

So so called Christian groups who are more interested in maintaining old laws from our former colonial masters while having emancipation as part of their acronym  have issued a veiled threat that if the law be changed or repealed they will vote against that party, I wonder if he realises that Jamaica has taken so many years to come out of the political tribalism we were once in? .......  where if one wore the wrong colour one could be dead, the political parties in Jamaica do not take kindly to being dictated to at this level and these persons better be careful what they are up to.

The paranoia crew that is Jamaica CAUSE's real intention is reparative therapy and theocracy as is it abundantly clear via a myriad of media interviews under the guise of public good or descendent while driving a wedge in the society on the selective issue of homosexuality whilst other societal ills they have been and still are silent on especially the welfare matters that require hands on attention, homelessness and the indigent comes to mind. We have seen so many stories within the last few months on television of persons living alone and starving in some instances yet these church groups were no where to be seen yet they organise demonstrations every three days at the gate of the University even as a court injunction is in effect to keep Professor Bain at CHART while not allowing the Supreme Court to rule on the issue.

JFLAG's late change in their stance on the law from repeal to decriminalization (when from 1999 they were advised to go that route) has gone nowhere it seems save and except the Justice Minister agrees with them in principle but it has been drowned out by all this mass hysteria over two issues that can be resolved quietly, frankly Professor Bain had several avenues including meetings and correspondences to address his issues and he allowed bad advice to get the best of him and now the nation is in a topsy turvy by persons who ought to know better.

for references see:
Justice Minister reiterates his personal position on the Buggery Law, Anal Intercourse, Consent & Privacy, government position

J-FLAG now advocating for decriminalisation of same-sex acts

my podcast on religious hypocrisy and selectivity on societal ills:

The Hypocrisy of Jamaican Anti Gay Groups & Selective Actions of Societal Ills 

Sad Sad Sad that the poor credibility of our lobby collectively at this juncture cannot stand on one leg to this avalanche of homophobia, where are the spin doctors now eh? now we see and are learning why ethics in advocacy is so crucial and just open truth telling, all this mistrust would not have backed up on us now.

Today's sensational headline from the Gleaner who seem to be enjoying this while selling loads of copies said "No Gay Rule" in part it read:

Gladwyn Kiddoe (with placard), evangelist of Bull Savannah Church of Christ, participating in a protest at the gate of the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.

A SENIOR member of the clergy and chief advocate for the recently established lobby group Jamaica Churches Action Uniting Society for Emancipation (CAUSE) has signalled that the church would not be shy in rallying massive support from its flock to use the ballot to punish any political organisation that rushes to repeal the buggery laws.

"We are saying to the Government of Jamaica, through our mass rally and motorcade on Sunday (today) at 5 o'clock, that we would like the buggery law to be retained. We are clear on that," declared the Reverend Dr Stevenson Samuels, chairman of CAUSE.

At a CARICOM meeting to be held in Antigua this week, heads of government from across the region will discuss, among other things, recommendations on eliminating HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

The recommendations include repealing laws criminalising consensual sexual acts between adults and making sexual orientation a protected category for non-discrimination.

But Samuels is adamant that if the Government should hold a referendum on whether provisions in the Offences Against the Person Act dealing with buggery should be repealed, the church would strongly advocate for Jamaicans to vote for the retention of the law.

The opposition Jamaica Labour Party has called for a referendum on the vexed issue.

RISKY ROAD

However, Samuels warned that if any administration take steps to change the law on buggery, that policy move would form part of a mix of issues that would influence the powerful church community as members vote in the next general elections.

"As it relates to an election, I can say that would be one of the considerations. As the church and citizens go to vote, that would certainly be one of the issues that would be considered, but obviously, an election is more than a buggery law," said Samuels.

He was supported by Dr Doreen Brady-West, spokesperson for Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), who told The Sunday Gleanerthat the time has come for Jamaica to decide how it is going to be ordered.

She contended that such a critical decision should not be imposed on a country by external influences, but should be determined by its citizens.

"Everybody deserves to have a say in what is going to form the foundations on which public policy and laws of Jamaica are going to be made," Brady-West remarked.

The JCHS spokesperson outlined that laws do not come out of a vacuum but are grounded in some kind of philosophy and world view. Consequently, she argued that the nation must decide what is the proper moral view or philosophy upon which its laws and public policies is going to be grounded.

"If it is left on its own, we are going to see things that we don't want, like what happened in the children's homes," she added.

Addressing the political directorate, Brady-West urged them to consider the world views and the philosophies which they think would be applicable for Jamaica. She implored the leadership of Jamaica to "listen to the people of the country and not to be pressured by external forces, either international or regional".

SPURRED BY BAIN'S SACKING

Today's planned mass rally by CAUSE was initially triggered by the sacking of Professor Brendan Bain as director of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART) Network.

The university said that it had become increasingly evident that Bain had lost the confidence and support of a significant sector of the community which the CHART programme has targeted.

However, organisers of the rally said the issue has become much wider than the Bain sacking.

"We are standing up for the establish-ment of our laws on the basis of truth and rights. We are opposing injustice wherever it is, and we are asking that the nation rise up for truth and rights in this nation and that our laws be based on these premises," said Samuels.

He said a festival atmosphere is expected in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, this evening as hundreds of churches islandwide will be closing their doors to support the rally.

The clergyman pointed out that with the New Testament Church of God, the second largest denomination in Jamaica with more than 350 churches, throwing its support behind the CAUSE, buses are expected to take people from as far as Westmoreland, Hanover and Portland.

"I would say it is the first in our recent history that we have come together to support a civil issue as a church in such a sustained manner," he said.

"We have put together a specialised team just to look at our message to make sure it is properly researched and crafted to ensure that we are speaking accurately to the issue and that we are educating the public on this matter," he added.

The church protest comes despite calls from a little-known organisation - Citizens Advocacy Group International Support Initiative (CAGI) - for the revocation of United States visas issued to Jamaican government officials and citizens who violate the rights of homosexuals.

The group, which says it is affiliated with international gay-rights organisations, also wants aid supplied by the United States and Europe to Jamaica withdrawn.

According to CAGI, it will not allow members of the religious community to dictate the rights that members of the gay community are entitled to.

ENDS

CAGI intervention is so counter-productive at this time, do this fly by night group really believe that an eye for eye or other more drastic calls is going make the opposing sides slow down? Reactions to such public advocacy have to be tempered with reason not emotional outbursts and hardlined action demands, it's no wonder why the stop murder music campaign and its mishandling in recent times have only added more fury to the war.

also see
More Overreaction to the Jamaicans for Justice Sex Education Course & Media Senationalism

Hardened Positions by Religious Fanatics & Their LGBT Detractors Will Only Leave More Blood on the Floor

Anti Gay Voice & 'Child Rights' Advocate Betty-Ann Blaine Taken to Task on Public Advocacy

Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco that now obtains?

Peace and tolerance

UPDATE June 30 2014

The "journalist" Gary Spaulding who walked out on the CVCC press conference last week wrote his first short piece back in the Gleaner after being reprimanded allegedly for his unprofessional conduct I am told, he carried the Jamaica CAUSE march yesterday:

Backlash On Buggery: Church Leads Anti-Sodomy Rally

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

The church will not be tricked or coerced into making impulsive or emotive pronouncements in the ongoing public debate that has been sparked by the dismissal of Brendan Bain, the retired University of the West Indies professor who lost his job as the director of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (CHART).

This sentiment was conveyed to a massive throng of flag-waving Jamaicans, clad, for the most part, in the national colours, which assembled in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, by pastor of the Calvary Gospel Assembly, Donovan Cole, last evening.

"We will not be silent when we should speak boldly, nor will we be drawn in premature speaking through clever attempts to put the Church on the defensive," asserted Cole.

It was a Sunday evening when Cole was among scores of other well-known church leaders who closed the doors of their sanctuaries to venture out with their membership into the popular public square to flex their collective muscles as debate over a possible repeal of the buggery law takes root on the island.

Hate the lifestyle

The church leaders were quick to reassert that they did not hate homosexuals but abhorred the lifestyle, in clear reference to a raging debate that has erupted after Bain got the boot from the administration of the UWI.

The profession of love, notwithstanding, Maria Harbajan, an evangelist stressed that Christians would remain steadfast and militant against what was wrong in society.

Much emphasis was clearly being placed on the value of family, as scores of men and women with small children started the motorcade from the spot where the Church had been protesting for four weeks - at the entrance to the UWI, Mona, campus to Half-Way Tree.

As the Christians leaders spoke, a group of Rastafarians, bedecked in religious paraphernalia with their own flags, were vociferous in their support of what is dubbed Jamaica CAUSE (Church Action Uniting Society for Emancipation).

ENDS

Meanwhile in case you missed it as the furore raged member of parliament Raymond Pryce spoke to the Buggery Law at the Jamaica Observer's forum last week

meanwhile their headline for June 30, 2014

As they also continue relish the hysteria as it sells papers yes! and the conflation of abuse with same gender sex was well engrained in the speeches as the deceptive Betty Ann Blaine continues her skewed public advocacy using children as bait. Thankfully the Gleaner has redeemed itself in a sense via the Gavel on: "Hypocrites riding on kid's back" article which read in part: 

"THE HYPOCRISY which has characterised the discussions about the treatment of children in state care is nauseating.

Like scorpions on the frog's back, holier-than-thou members of the society have seized the opportunity of the unauthorised and reprehensible introduction of sex education in some children's homes to proclaim love and care for these wards.

But truth be told, many of the crusaders do not love these children as much as they pretend they do.

In fact, they are the same ones who beg the police daily to do something about the boys at the stoplight or at the street corners. They are the same ones who refuse to take public transport because of the behaviour of some children, or rush out of the transport centres because they don't want to be around them.

If we think carefully, the children in state care fit the description of those at the stoplights, in the buses, at transport centres and street corners. They are the children many who are now preaching the 'love our children' doctrine would not have a meal with, or worse yet, invite to their homes.

But as was with the case of the Armadale fire, the current situation provides a platform for the nation to self-aggrandise. These children, who many of us are happy we don't have to associate with, easily become political and social ammunition. Suddenly, their human rights are of concern to us.

Ministers of government and employees of entities such as the Child Development Agency are required to be model parents, being called on to ensure that these children are properly fed, housed and educated. But one wonders, is it really that the society wants the best for these children? Could it be the case that we are happy we don't have to deal with them, and that institutionalising allows us breathing room since we don't have to encounter them as we go about our business?"

ENDS

meanwhile, As the church rallies Jamaicans against what they describe as a "homosexual agenda" yesterday, it has come in for criticism by convenor of Campaign for Social and Economic Justice, Lloyd D'aguilar. 

In an email to media houses, D'aguilar criticised the church for what he says has been its failure to fight institutional corruption and champion other human rights issues, including the State's offence against Tivoli Gardens in west Kingston in 2010 to capture then fugitive, Christopher Coke.

According to D'aguilar, there is no gay agenda in Jamaica except for a call for homosexuals to be accorded the basic human rights entrenched in the Constitution. He says the buggery law must be repealed and the lesbian gay, bi-sexual and transgender community protected from violence and bigotry.

Sadly the language or the call for a "repeal" has changed as JFLAG has espoused to "decriminalization" someone needs to inform Mass Lloyd of it so that his support does not lend to the fury with the wrong concept.

H

The Hunt for Blood Continues ..... JFJ/CVCC Children’s Homes Sex-Ed Programme Under Police Investigation part 2

More hunting for blood to nail someone for just simply educating teenagers and indeed some under the age of consent of what types of sex leads to HIV transmission. Remember folks the pages that carry this a few while the rest of the 150 paged document is actually complimentary to the Child Development Agency (although they were mistakenly overlooked by JFJ in rolling out the course) and the Office of the Children's Advocate, OCA.

Yet so much effort is not spent on finding sex offenders who actually offend and those offenders are finding cloud cover under all this mass hysteria created by so called child rights activists and concerned Christians. Sensible folks do not fan these flames but instead look out and are vigilant where they ought to be. And to think other societal ills as I pointed out in my last podcast do not get the kind of hype and attention but touch homosexuality and they are all out in sheer paranoia.

Given what we now know of the last reproductive health survey and that many school goers surveyed in the schools targeted many female students have had up to two partners within the last year or up to 54.8% of those who were polled and remember anal sex is not only practised by homosexual men but also heterosexual couples and teens with older men who use this method as a contraceptive to avoid pregnancy while not implicating the male partner as a homosexual. 

Now the Gleaner just is enjoying the ride with the their sad descent into tabloid journalism Cops Check For Charges - JFJ And Operators Of Children's Homes Under Investigation where it read in part:

"Criminal charges could be laid against officials of human-rights group Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) and the operators of six private children's homes in the aftermath of the implementation of a controversial sex education course.

The Police High Command has announced that it is currently carrying out investigations, and noted attorney-at-law Bert Samuels believes both parties could be charged.

"The person liable is established not only by the principal, but persons who are specific principal offenders," explained Samuels.

"So it could be that the persons who gave the material could face criminal liability, and those who distribute it - or cause it to be given - could themselves also be held liable."

Last Friday, the police issued a media release in which it sought to assure the public that the matter, which has sparked public outcry, has not gone unnoticed.

"The Police High Command is, therefore, advising members of the public that an investigation has been launched into the matter, but it remains at a sensitive stage, and given the nature of the allegations, not much can be said at this time.

"The police can also confirm that they are looking into breaches of the Child Care and Protection Act and the Offences Against the Person Act."

The controversial sexual education programme was undertaken without the relevant ministries or the regulatory body for childcare facilities, the Child Development Agency (CDA), being informed.

This was in contravention of regulation 15(1) and 15(2) of the Child Care and Protection (Children's Home) regulations 2007, which makes provisions for all licensees operating children's homes to seek approval for their educational curricula from the ministry with responsibility for children if there is any deviation from the approved curriculum.

The training programme 'Realising Sexual and Reproductive Health Responsibly: JFJ's Pilot Intervention in Children's Homes' was held at the Alpha Boys' Home, St John Bosco, Jamaica National Children's Home, Sunbeam Children's Home for Boys, Elsie Bemand Home for Girls, and Best Care Foundation.

Preliminary investigations by the CDA have found that 135 children across the six childcare facilities participated in the course.

MAJORITY UNDER 16

The majority of the participants were below the age of 16, with the group including one child aged 11 years old, a 12-year-old, and 10 children who were 13.

The youngsters were exposed to modules that dealt with the normalisation of oral sex, anal sex and homosexuality.

But with buggery still illegal in Jamaica, the teachings could be deemed to be in contravention of Sections 76 and 79 of the Offences Against the Person Act, and Samuels believes there is definitely a case for persons to answer to.

"Anal sex is described as buggery, and you cannot consent to an act of buggery under our current laws," Samuels shared. "You are dealing with minors, and if you incite or encourage a minor to engage in criminal conduct, that is definitely punishable under the Child Care and Protection Act."

Samuels added: "Teaching minors about healthy sex is admissible, however, because the sexual activity they are describing is not permitted with or without consent, whether or not you are an adult. It is a criminal offence to encourage or to tell a child that it is his right to break the criminal code of Jamaica."

ENDS

the pages in the instructor's version of the manual that mentioned buggery and that anal sex is actually illegal

Yet no one can find the actual page of sentences that do incite or instruct or imply the cohort are to practice anal sex but are quick to make judgements without the actual material and locating the offending sections.

I guess JFJ is made to pay the price for their advocacy over the years in embarrassing successive administrations on their record of childcare especially in state run institutions and this faux pas on their part has created the perfect opportunity for the crows to pounce; not to mention the churches who are riding high for now on their campaign driving a wedge in society in God's name.

Sad times

Peace and tolerance

H

The Hunt for Blood Continues ..... JFJ/CVCC Children’s Homes Sex-Ed Programme Under Police Investigation

So the hysteria and over reactions continue from a state perspective now as the Gleaner reported this morning, obviously those who are now crying foul where waiting to pounce on JFJ I fear as since they have been at the forefront of pointing out the flaws in governance over the years from government agencies and indeed child care facilities. It was the JFJ's public advocacy that brought to everyone's attention on the mixed populations of children in state institutions and maximum security lock-ups with adults at the same time which left successive administrations embarrassed, so what an opportune moment to capitalise on the one time the JFJ slips up on not getting the go ahead from the CDA regarding the sex ed course and to think there is hardly any damaging material contained therein as most of the 150 paged instructor's version is complementary to the very CDA and Office of the Children's Advocate:

for e. g. pages 124/5 is clear as to Sexual Offences Act et

page 109 appropriately deals with norms and attitudes"

Yet lies are told by persons like Betty Ann Blaine on television that the manual said anal sex is ok as she did on morning time on TVJ recently to push her own maligning agenda.

Now the Gleaner said:

The Police High Command has disclosed that an investigation has been launched into the allegations of unapproved sexual material being taught in some privately owned children’s homes.

The Police says among the issues being looked at into are reports of breaches of the Child Care and Protection Act and the Offences Against the Person Act.

However, the police say the matter is at a sensitive stage and that given the nature of the allegations not much can be said at this time.

The sex education programme was implemented by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) in six privately-run children’s homes without the permission of the youth minister, Lisa Hanna.

She has referred the manuals used by the group in its programme to the Children’s Advocate and the Attorney General to determine whether the Government can take any legal action.

An interim report from the Child Development Agency has found that there were several breaches of Jamaican regulations when the controversial sex education programme was implemented.

ENDS

The CDA interim report claims breaches were done but the hype and alarm that is being created here is totally unnecessary as far as I am concerned, sensational headlines such as those from the Gleaner have been fast and furious imputing all kinds of motives as fear takes over where good sense should prevail, homophobia indeed, stories such as "JFJ Sex-Ed Controversy Deepens … Children’s Homes Received Money For Training" suggests someone was paid to do some coercion to get the homes to accept the course when all that it was is the typical logistical costs involved in such project delivery. Yet the story did not actually have the dollar value of the "monetary contribution" which shows the tabloid journalistic nature the story has taken by the old lady from North Street.

The CDA interim report claims:

And the hypocrisy continues out there all predicated on misunderstanding, misuse and misinformation alongside clever deception in the very religious anti gay groups themselves. 

Check out my extended podcast on this matter in great detail as I pull together some of the discourse on radio and otherwise to show the clear deceptive agenda of these so called Christian groups.

also see 

More Overreaction to the Jamaicans for Justice Sex Education Course & Media Senationalism 

Hardened Positions by Religious Fanatics & Their LGBT Detractors Will Only Leave More Blood on the Floor

Anti Gay Voice & 'Child Rights' Advocate Betty-Ann Blaine Taken to Task on Public Advocacy

Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco that now obtains?

Peace and tolerance

H

Anti gay religious voices where are they? .... Pastor charged with sexual assault

As usual deafening silence! on such matters.

How many times are to see stories such as this?

So it was just yesterday I had a discussion with my Seventh Day Adventist neighbour of mine where I lamented where are the church groups and so called child rights groups who are up in arms over Professor Bain's conflict of interest/ UWI contract saga and who like to use deliberately homo-paedophile conflation to justify their anti gay positions; yet they are quite when one of their own is caught red handed and is brought before the courts.

Strange that they deceptively use terms such as sexual grooming to cast aspersions on the Jamaicans for Justice sex education manual course that is now the centre of controversy yet it is this very close contact to would be sexually abused victims by persons like pastors that allow such grooming to become active as persons in positions of trust use that trust to prey on weaker persons and their issues.

Now comes this case today via the Star News

Pastor Daniel Findlay, charged under the Sexual Offenses Act with three counts of sexual assault with a person under 16 years and one count of grievous sexual assault, was told his case will be tried soon.

Findlay, 36, from Lower York in St Thomas, appeared in the Morant Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. His lawyer was absent and so was the complainant. After exploring the possibility of sending a taxi for the complainant, the magistrate advised the accused to make his attorney aware of the next court date.

"Your case will start soon, as the complainant is not here. You should return to court on August 7," the magistrate advised. She also told the mother of the child to ensure that her daughter is present at the next hearing.

Findlay's bail conditions of $250,000 with stringent measure remains. The bail conditions include two sureties, reporting to the police six times each week and residing with his father. The accused has also been ordered to have no contact with persons under the age of 16 years old.

Finday was identified as a person of interest by the Morant Bay police earlier this year, and was picked up in Kingston after he made arrangement with the police to hand himself in.

ENDS

I am sure we are not going to hear a word on this yet newly formed groups such as Jamaica CAUSE are intent on pushing their anti gay agenda and the dangerous reparative therapy as outlined in a recent press conference yet their own who are abusing persons not a public sound if made while they want information on sex and sexuality to be withheld from teens as the JFJ course sought to do; JFJ however should not have bypassed the Child Development Agency, CDA hence the mess they now find themselves in.

The Hypocrisy from churches on abuse within their own walls is annoying yet they are quite to point out everyone else's "sins" and are selective about societal ills.

Where is the help for the thousands of homeless folks?

Where is the concern about the corruption in government?

Why do they only have strength for homosexual issues?

To think folks such as Betty Ann Blaine are on a roll on talkshows and television lambasting the CVCC/JFJ sex education course and the Bain matter as uninformed as she proved herself to be on TVJ's Smile Jamaica show some days ago yet she and others like her are quiet on church sexual abuse.

Such hypocrites and the things that need unity and protests these voices are numb.

also see:
Hypocrites riding on Kids back

Anti Gay Voice & 'Child Rights' Advocate Betty-Ann Blaine Taken to Task on Public Advocacy

Hardened Positions by Religious Fanatics & Their LGBT Detractors Will Only Leave More Blood on the Floor

The Bible, As It Turns Out, Isn't Really Hostile to Gays

Think on these things

Peace and tolerance

H

Why did CVCC & JFJ not Fund a Project/Home for Homeless LGBT Youth in New Kingston instead of the Children’s Home Fiasco that now obtains?

To think that the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, CVCC was founded by powerful LGBT voices and other advocates back in the day in 2004 but as it turns out it is just another feeding tree it seems to “experts” in the HIV/LGBT field towards HIV more so than welfare and rehabilitation work for lives interrupted. 

It cannot be just about capacity building for NGOs and civil society and the holy grail of Global Fund that leads to persons with/groups improved capacity going to nowhere while the very groups/affected populations that they serve sit in extended crisis with very little action to address some of the challenges in a real way.

The recent JFJ Sex Ed fiasco and the Professor Bain conflict of interest/affidavit UWI contract matter has lifted the lid for some persons as to what it is all about but deep mistrust now surrounds what was a well intentioned entity that has been turned into something completely different. Now we see the very own conflict of interest within the CVCC/JFJ themselves making the LGBT struggle look so discoloured and setting us back immensely, while they rightfully pointed out the conflict that obtained in Bain's testimony and his heading the CHART program.

Trouble is as part of the mistrust now emanating especially from the antigay voices is the fact that many of the board members also sit on other boards of LGBT groups thus role separation is impaired and decision making especially when it comes to frontline work is just not forthcoming as more political matters supersede those. The CVCC's own governance page tells it all, see HERE also see: Incestuous messes, poor NGO monitoring & ever deepening mistrust about "gay rights"

LGBT agencies/NGOs seem to be always shooting themselves in the foot.

It took years to get the JFJ, Jamaicans for Justice to be even on the same page in terms on dialogue on LGBT matters as its board back in the day was afraid of being labelled as a gay organization or supporting homosexuality not when several of its board members then were prominent church folk. Now that both organizations have managed to come together on such matters I would have thought with such a stronger alliance more could be done than just the typical public advocacy and more active frontline work outside of the remote assistance to displaced or homeless persons, instead JFJ seems to have been morphed into yet another press release factory with very esoteric narratives; if we notice carefully how the present Executive Director of CVCC (founder and former board member of JFJ) Ms Carolyn Gomes she has learnt the style quite quickly, the press conference recently where two “journalists” clashed with her and then walked out it was clear the prodding been done by Ivan Cruickshank (present Programs Manager & JFLAG Chairman) as what she ought to say as she spoke.

I find it remarkable and many other persons are now asking as the present impasse unfolding has opened the eyes of such and raised the spectre of the anti gay groups who are now resolved to block any moves on a supposed gay agenda why did the CVCC address homelessness all these years? ..... since they have so much money to be taking risks to bypass the Child Development Agency, CDA,and the ministry of youth & culture seeing that the relevant legislation asks for such engagement; then to allegedly pay the six private run children’s homes as reported in the Jamaica Observer June 26 2014 while the Kingston homeless LGBT population issues scream for attention especially since a Channel 4 UK documentary has exposed the issue worldwide, so much so that the Member of parliament for the area Julian Robinson has come out in some supposed call for help obviously due to embarrassment since the film’s airing.

And to think the issue of LGBT homelessness was in fact addressed only by reference by one of the CVCC’s own videos on its website with none other than the former Executive Director of Jamaica AIDS Support Miss Stacy Ann Jarrett under whose tenure prior to her forced resignation by the Jamaica AIDS Support for Life’s Board that also had key CVCC management and board members sitting on it the Safe House Pilot Project for homeless MSM/Trans youth was launched but abruptly closed prior to its three month tenure in the pilot phase. See her take on the matter HERE

Taking A Stand! from CVC 

Talk about only lip service and crisis advocacy but nothing more, a criticism I have had for some time yet we see the evidence presenting itself at every turn. The CVCC's own wording on MSM implies the violent situations leading to homelessness yet no answer from them on that just HIV prevention based activity, why so comfortable?

Pay close attention to the list of organizations @ 5:50 yet we have so much homeless LGBT youth out there and all that is done is nice public relations. Talk Talk Talk!

The organization's take on MSM:

MSM

"The Caribbean is well known for its homophobia but remains the home to a large community of men who have sex with men, some of whom identify as gay, others who identify as bisexual, and still others who accept neither label. Countries such as the Dominican Republic, Curaçao and Trinidad and Tobago are home to standing gay bars and clubs as well as NGOs serving the gay and bisexual populations.

Other countries, such as the smaller island-states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have smaller and more underground groups. In recent years, however, there has been increasing mobilisation of men who have sex with men in these territories.

Jamaica by far has earned a reputation for being the most violently homophobic country in the region. Its Dancehall music came in for much scrutiny during an international campaign in which the lyrics of some entertainers who promoted homophobic violence, including murder, was sanctioned. While many in Jamaica denied the claims of the activists throughout the Americas, Europe and the UK that the calls for the killing of gay men were intentional, the publication in 2004 of Human Rights Watch report, “Hated to Death”, laid bare the violent exclusion and extreme vulnerability faced by gay and bisexual men in Jamaica, often with the support of the judicial system, especially the police. Defenders of Jamaica’s record point to a broad culture of violence, arguing that gay men are not singled out but are caught up the waves of violence that typify Jamaican life, especially in its capital, Kingston.

The rest of the Caribbean has a much better track record in regards to homophobia, although discrimination is commonplace. Calypso music, traditionally the music of Carnival fun, has also seen its fair share of homophobic music, including a track produced by veteran Trinidadian music producer Alvin Daniel chanting “we don’t want no chi-chi man in di fete” and taken up by Barbados super group Square One. The Dutch and French Caribbean are far more tolerant that their Spanish and English counterparts.

The situation for young men who have sex with other men is particularly dangerous because of the pressure to conform to heterosexuality often combined with isolation from family and community."

I am not surprised as even when some of the men who were housed at the now defunct Safe House under JASL were evicted from Cargill Avenue in front the Green Gables theatre by the police and truck man from instructions from the land owner in 2012 the CVCC which is located just yards from the lot said nothing in regards to the issues surrounding the men, when TVJ’s All Angles shot a full length feature on the men at the same location and further northwards no word came from the CVCC. The closure of the Green Gables bar for example after several squabbles with some of the homeless men and the men crediting drinks without payment and other matters including a homophobic attack in front the building which is located beside the CVCC rented offices and ASHE yet not a word came from them or any public concern shown in addressing the challenges over the many years.

As the eviction notice came into effect in 2009 of the original residence of the Safe House Pilot located at 4 Upper Musgrave Avenue the CVCC said nothing due to the fact that its management are also on the board of Jamaica AIDS Support who eventually kicked out the men due to “rowdy behaviour” when the psycho-social component written into the project were not activated as its lifespan was shortened. Lest we forget JFLAG was also quiet and watched the very forced eviction activity that caused many of the men to be on the road in the first place actually carried out without any moral outcry from within to the men simply because of indiscipline from some of them, what is greater behaviour change by their own recognizance or proper psycho-social interventions with self efficacious activity towards the very behaviour change?

Yvonne Sobers with a hands on approach to the homeless teens in New Kingston by the Shoemaker Gully

The present Dwayne’s House proposal that is only doing remote assistance work under the chairmanship of Yvonne McCallah Sobers of Families Against State Terrorism, FAST and some other pretentious Reverend folks could have done well with some of that funding that went to JFJ and the children’s homes and for all intents and purposes has gone down the drain while damaging the hard fought gains made in the LGBT struggle over these past forty years, psychologically it feels like we are regressed some twelve years as old dormant anti gay sentiments have been reawakened as all kinds of motives are being promulgated by the way the sex education course delivery was handled yet our own (and the numbers are growing) suffer daily right before our eyes as powerful more privileged advocates as it were do work in irrelevant spheres. When the Couture Elements team and the Underlined Response outfit where launched the CVCC and JFLAG were invited to which they never came, the subsequent short lived drop in feeding program also never got any support from the more powerful and monied types such as CVCC/COIN yet they say they represent vulnerable groups.

I know the response in part will be it depends on the availability of funding and that the CVCC is a more NGO strengthening entity than a frontline intervention one or funding is based on what the funder is interested in supporting but it also is possible to create letters of intent or proposals that will ring far louder from larger agencies and these powerful groups and individuals who control the cogs of HIV/LGBT lines than new smaller LGBT entities will ever do but I guess it depends on interest and what they feel comfortable in, it cannot be this continued parading of homeless or referencing them in studies and press releases in public advocacy and no further to open some door to recovery while agencies are nearing thirty years of existence and it’s the same thing since they have been formed. More and more I am seeing on social media LGBT persons expressing deep disappointment since the CVCC/JFJ sex education fiasco and the Professor Bain UWI contract conflict of interest matter as persons question the competence of our LGBTQ leaders and the causation of these two major controversies excluding the many before.

I also found it funny today in re-watching a video with anti gay activist Betty Ann Blaine who said in all her 30 years in the NGO community she was not aware of the CVCC yet they were around working mostly in HIV when Dr Robert Carr was active prior to his death. So many others are now mistrusting the actual motive of the CVCC since its name implies it works with vulnerable persons and is a front for a gay agenda; I say play into it and help the homeless whilst showing that it really care about the genuinely vulnerable instead of lip service.

It was only yesterday I got a call from a couple of the persons in the Shoemaker Gully in New Kingston requesting phone credit and sharing some other challenges they have been going through and the whole pain of the Safe House closure and the deceptive covering up of the issue just came before me all over again.

Priorities anyone?

Either we deal with our own or the numbers will continue to spiral out of control but it seems the strategy is to pass it on to government yet they now are having fiscal challenges that even parliamentarians are complaining of short pay and wages freezes while taxes are creatively increased or snuck in to meet International Monetary Fund, IMF stipulations yet funds are found by groups such as CVCC for external population activity.

What is next?

Are more proposals being written or conceptualised towards real LGBT community development? (been asking this one for so long)

If we are to win the fight in the long run why there isn’t interest from powerful LGBT allied, managed or funded agencies in population preparation?

Why is the focus still more so on HIV prevention in vulnerable groups more so than personhood development for Jamaican LGBT people?

What does the CVCC’s “Vulnerable Community” description in their name actually means and who does it cover? (a question actually posed by anti gay voice Betty Ann Blaine as well sadly. It seems everyone else are now putting the CVCC to severe scrutiny)

Will more money be thrown at places and activities that really do not need it?

When will the hypocrisy and overlooking of the least amongst us finally stop?

Will the LGBT groups and populations who really need work done be finally looked at and not just spoken of or referred to for crisis incident reporting sake?

where the homeless LGBT populations explosion/issues all began: Homeless MSM to feel the pinch as JASL issues ultimatum in 2009 the in 2013 On homelessness, evictions, hypocrisy & now JFLAG's own displacement ..
Also see a flashback to some of the issues with the populations and the descending relationships between JASL, JFLAG and the displaced/homeless LGBT youth in New Kingston: Rowdy Gays Strike - J-FLAG Abandons Raucous Homosexuals Misbehaving In New Kingston and also see all the posts in chronological order by date from Gay Jamaica Watch HERE and GLBTQ Jamaica HERE

Think on these things.

Peace and tolerance

H

The Bible, As It Turns Out, Isn't Really Hostile to Gays

Prepared by Reverend Durell Watkins of Sunshine Cathedral Miami (LGBT open church)

Scriptures to discuss/ponder:

Genesis 2-3 - a myth of origins, no wedding, no instruction of what romance must look like
Adam and Eve actually mean “soil and life”
They are metaphors, not historic persons, and certainly not an argument against same-gender love and attraction!

Genesis 19 – a myth of origins for the Moabites and Ammonites (an ethnic slur…the story is racist, not homophobic!). Love or attraction is never even mentioned in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Judges 19 – almost identical to Gen 19 with its violence and disregard for women

Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13 discourage male to male copulation, but it is in the context of prohibitions to keep the Jewish community from mimicking or being assimilated by Egyptian and Canaanite cultures. Are the two and only two (and only related to men) prohibitions against same-sex activity actually calling on people to not rape those they defeat in battle, or not use slaves as sex objects, or not have any kind of sex that couldn’t help in nation building (that is, producing future farmers, caregivers, parents, and warriors)?

There are many possibilities but what is clear is that they aren’t being told to not be gay, they are being told to not engage in practices common to larger geographic neighbours. The prohibitions fall among many other prohibitions that people who invoke Leviticus to justify homophobia routinely ignore, e.g.:

18.19 – Don’t sleep with a menstruating woman
19.19 – Don’t cross breed animals (which would make mules sinful!)
19.20 – Don’t have sex with another man’s slave (not a rejection of slavery, but don’t “trespass” on another man’s “property”…this fits nowhere in our 21st century western ethics!)
19.26 – Do not eat rare meat (sorry red, cool center steak lovers)
19.27 – Do not trim your beard (and presumably, that certainly includes don’t shave it completely off…sorry smooth skinned fellows)
19.28 – Do not get tattoos (body art enthusiasts that’s bad news for you)
19.31 – Do not consult fortune tellers (Long Island Medium? Newspaper Horoscope? Prophets of Doom predicting the end of the world?)
19.33 – Do not be unkind or unwelcoming to foreigners (Almost no one quotes Leviticus to combat xenophobia)
20.9 – Do no curse your parents (under penalty of DEATH!)

Before these prohibitions there are others (often ignored by those quoting Leviticus to feel good about their homophobia):
You may eat beef (11.3), but you may not eat
Camel (11.4), Badger (11.5), Rabbit (11.6), PORK (11.6)…not only are you forbidden from having rabbit stew or a ham sandwich, but you can’t even touch these animals once they are dead.

Also, you may eat fish with scales and fins (11.9), but you may not eat
Seafood that lacks scales or fin (no crab, no lobster, no shrimp, etc., 11.12).
Long John Silvers may be okay, but Red Lobster poses a real problem!

And, just in case you are wondering, crows, sea gulls, vultures, eagles, falcons, ostriches, hawks, owls, storks, and bats are also on the forbidden menu (small sacrifice for most of us).

BUT…what you may eat if you are hankering for a snack includes locusts and grasshoppers (yum, 11.22).

Beyond diet and grooming and body art and animal breeding, there is also behavioral rules about women who have recently had children. If a woman gives birth to a boy, she can’t show up for worship for 33 days, and if she gives birth to a girl she can’t show up for worship for 66 days. Anyone coming to church less than two months after having a baby girl is not Leviticus compliant! (12.2-5).

And, amid the prohibitions, there are also commands, like the one outlining the Scape Goat ritual that the community is meant to observe!

With so much of Leviticus being ignored, it is disingenuous to pretend that Lev. 18.22 and 20.13 are authoritative for 21st century dwellers!

1 & 2 Samuel show a warrior love story between Jonathan and David
Isaiah 56 advocates for people who are sexually different
Jeremiah 38 has a sexually ambiguous person as an unlikely hero

Jesus never condemns same-gender love or attraction

Romans 1 – has God making people gay for committing idolatry (what?!)…what a strange understanding of how sexuality works (Paul had issues). But love and caring relationships are not condemned (in fact, Paul in the same passage argues against judging people). And Paul talks about the sex acts as going against their natures…with that logic, it is unhealthy for gay people to go against their natures to try to be heterosexual!

I Corinthians 6.9 and 1 Timothy 1.10 (Paul didn’t actually write the letters to Timothy) forbid exploitation, not love or mutual attraction.

Luke 7 and Matthew 8 show Jesus affirming a same-sex couple (without condemning slavery, that’s one that Jesus and Paul both dropped the ball on!).
Matthew 19 has Jesus saying that some people are born different and that’s OK.

Mark 14 shows Jesus alone with a naked man after dark (and earlier in Mark, Jesus looks on a young man and “loves” him)

Paul prays for a “thorn” to be removed from his “flesh” but it never is (some believe he is referring to same-sex attraction)

Acts 8 shows a sexually different person asking what should keep him from being baptized, and the answer is NOTHING.

Jesus’ overwhelming love for Lazarus suggests a special, possibly romantic bond.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus could well have been a “family of choice” or “alternative family”…a gay man and a lesbian couple choosing to live together as a family for safety.

Paul visited Lesbos! (Acts 20) and was friends with a woman who led a women’s community (Acts 16)

So, not only can the few verses that have been used to terrorize LesBiGay people be de-constructed and understood in positive ways, but there are more than a few hints that same-gender love was known and in some instances even embraced in biblical communities of faith.

And we know what no one in the bible did anyway…Since the 40s we’ve known scientists have been saying that same-gender love and attraction are normative for a significant minority of people in every culture and society. Since the 70s homosexuality has been removed from mental illness diagnoses. The word “homosexual” was coined in Europe in the 19th century (it was never used in bible days). And, as the bible does say very clearly, “God is love and WHOEVER lives in love lives in God and God lives in them.” Love, not body parts, is what makes life holy. This is the good news!