Well I for one have been the lone voice in the wilderness in a sense in as far as a gay man IN Jamaica who has asked for clear and open operations of allied or sister brother groups and agencies for so many years instead I have been viewed as taking nonsense, being alarmist and even ostracised in some instances, now we see the chickens coming home to roost in just over a month years of work by respective volunteers, allies and advocates wiped out.
I and others who just want transparency, timely and proper advocacy have had to watch and endure the eating away of what credibility that was left in public advocacy, then to see ethics alongside truth thrown under the bus and the innards of them dragged for a stretch and now one of today's lead stories is declaring CVC is NOT A GAY LOBBY!?, lest we forget it was founded and mostly staffed by powerful gay persons integral in its formation was the late Dr Robert Carr, so let us just be open and honest about it, if we really think that agencies and their boards can continue to mask or assume multiple identities and not run into problems then think again as the present set of circumstances clearly show.
A group or NGO should not have to be defending itself like this if it were at all operating on a principled and open basis in the first place. Fine that the CVCC has gotten what ought to have been a neutral head in the person of Miss Gomes but I was one of the first persons to share my concern that she was damaged goods from her stint at Jamaicans for Justice and the perception of her being arrogant, anti-police and such following her, now she is being twinned with the now termed deceptive gay lobbyists of which I am NOT.
Today's Lasmay cartoon just adds fuel to the fire:
speaking of manual grab the actual manual here:
Clovis of the Observer takes a jab at Miss Gomes public image please note the intended cohort were 13 to 18 year olds not the young kids shown above, clear deception eh?
one of the pages in the 148 paged/slides presentation that has everyone in a tizzy, does anyone remember the HFLE fiasco? (click the HFLE tab immediately below for previous entries)
The Gleaner story today read in part:
"The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) is denying it is a gay-rights lobby pushing a gay agenda.
The declaration follows reports in the media that an inappropriate sex-education course, implemented in six private children's homes by Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), was hijacked by funders of the gay-rights lobby.
It was revealed in those reports that the CVC was the source of funding for the programme.
However, during a press conference yesterday, the CVC said there have been many misconceptions regarding the group, which describes itself as a broad union of organisations.
Ivan Cruickshank, programme manager at the CVC, contended that the group was a human-rights and public-health organisation committed to helping vulnerable groups, including sex workers, marginalised youth, men who have sex with men and people living with HIV/AIDS.
NO APOLOGY
Dr Carolyn Gomes, co-chairman of the CVC, said the coalition would make no apology for defending the rights of the vulnerable.
"CVC is founded on the principle that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. We make no apology for fighting for the rights of minority populations and vulnerable groups to be heard, to participate as full citizens and to be treated with dignity and respect," said Gomes.
Meanwhile, the CVC said there was a misconception that the organisation was highly funded by private sources.
The coalition explained that it responds to calls for proposals for grants to support interventions with the vulnerable groups it serves.
The CVC said at present, it has three main donors, with a majority of the funds allocated from the Global Fund.
In the wake of the controversy surrounding the sex-education course, the Ministry of Youth has sought legal advice on what action can be taken against JFJ and the administrators of the children's home in which the course was implemented."
ENDS
Excuse me!
One of the other "journalists" Karyl Walker who was at yesterday's near ill-fated press conference wrote this piece "Sex education row grows", yesterday:
" ............Some civil society groups have described JFJ's move as an attempt by gay activists to sneak the tenets of their lifestyle into the curriculum of the manuals in order to penetrate the vulnerable minds of the children.
The JFJ implemented the programme, in partnership with Jamaica Family Planning Association (FAMPLAN), which it said was unaware of the inclusion of the controversial material.
FAMPLAN, in a release, expressed its regret at the revelation that wards of the state were exposed to age-inappropriate sexual and reproductive health and rights information.
"This situation has understandably caused much concern in our society because of the firm endorsement of Christian family values. FAMPLAN Jamaica believes that the national development and strategic agenda must reflect the values of the Jamaican people and the traditions that they embrace. Further, we believe that all supportive stakeholders should execute their work with full respect for those values," a release from the association stated.
Also, the National Family Planning Board has distanced itself from the manual as well as FAMPLAN.
"The National Family Planning Board (NFPB) unequivocally and categorically states that our organisation is not associated in any way with a sexuality programme reportedly being piloted by Jamaicans For Justice in some of the country's children's homes. The NFPB was not involved in the development of this curriculum, neither was our organisation consulted in the process. In fact, the issue came to our attention only through media reports," a release from the board said.
The infiltration of the content of the manual is reportedly the work of Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVCC) — a group which provides services to homosexuals, sex workers, people who use drugs, orphans, and other children made vulnerable by HIV, migrant populations and
ex-prisoners.
The CVCC was the object of the anger of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, which described the move by JFJ and the coalition as evidently targeting children to indoctrinate them about behaviour that are both harmful to the individual and society, and are incapable of promoting healthy lifestyles.
The CVCC has called a press conference, to be held today at the Four Seasons Hotel in Kingston, to outline its role in the sex education programme
ENDS
Of note the FAMPLAN representative some days ago had a strong rebuke for the JCHS describing as attempting to discredit the work of older agencies as a new kid on the block.
Here is a newsclip of the exchange between Carolyn Gomes and Gary Spaulding of the Gleaner and a Jamaica Obsersver "journalist" as well:
It is not lost to our enemies and such that the same folks who sit on or in the CVC are same folks who either have a seat in Jamaica AIDS Support for Life or Jamaica Forum for Lesbians Allsexuals and Gays JFLAG and all this cross sitting incestuous mess has repeated caused problems so the latest public relations nightmare is nothing new for me what surprises me is the press conference yesterday and the subsequent remarks by one of the "journalists" who stormed out of the session is telling of the mistrust out there.
"This is the first time I am experiencing journalists being invited to a press conference ad then being insulted, another indication that homosexuals and the wider gay community are trying to "rest" from others who are not so like minded, it is a press conference hosted by a non-aligned group CVCC yet JFLAG's leaders were prominent in attendance. Another reporter sought to clarify a misrepresentation being perpetrated by a member on the panel of gay lobbyists when Carolyn Gomes still smarting from being separated from JFJ described his statement as a soliloquy with JFLAG leaders and the distinguished panel smarting; I need no further "urge" to walk out of their public relations seminar, there they were disseminating the plethora of false information while staring clear of the real issues that triggered this controversy which included the nastiness published in the booklet to children's homes as we have the Bain issue.
As we in the media remain silent to their propensities they are lamenting with righteous indignation that they were being maligned even as they brought a multiplicity of lofty quotes then they have the gall to be calling the editor in chief to complain about me ...... I bow to no one but God almighty."
So apart from breaching journalistic principles and a clear lack of professionalism Mr Spaulding has in my view made himself a former employee of the Gleaner since he "bows to no one" but let us see if the Gleaner will do what is right but the mistrust rings loudly and the likes on the post were numerous with disparaging remarks to follow.
THE ALL IMPORTANT CREDIBILITY AND CRISIS COMMUNICATION arm of public advocacy has been hit yet again, the hint to the other journalists who have asked about misconceptions by gay lobbyists was a Karyl Walker from the Jamaica Observer that in recent weeks seems to be on a gay baiting binge to rack of sales in aftermath of the Gore-Stew matter that ended in court and allegations of poor coverage by the paper owned by one the principals of that entity, in recent days the credibility of the paper has also taken another set of hits in the male jogger mystery rape in Queenhill and its truthfulness and that fact that Danville Walker Managing Director of the paper is to be tried as well, RJR reported that Following several failed attempts to challenge the powers of the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) to bring charges against him, former Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker, is to stand trial for breaches of the Contractor-General Act.
The date of September 9 was set on Thursday when Walker appeared before the Corporate Area Criminal Court.
The former Customs boss is accused of failing to supply information to the OCG and obstructing the Contractor General in his investigation of breaches of the 2011 scrap metal ban, by customs officials.
Walker filed an application in the Supreme Court, challenging the jurisdiction of the OCG to charge him, but the court rejected his case.
The Contractor General had ordered him to submit documents regarding the shipment of scrap metal during the 2011 ban on the trade.
But Walker claimed he was not given enough time to respond to the OCG when allegations began floating that Customs had breached the ban. The former Customs head came under fire after it was revealed that more than 90 shipments left the island during the ban.
ENDS
There needs to be some serious overhaul of how agencies are set up (how many times am I going to say this yet we fall in a trap then we are collectively labelled as lairs and on some dark agenda) and to think the CVCC pointed out and rightly so the conflict of interest regarding Professor Bain's testimony and only to see days later after he got the court to grant an ex-parte injunction against UWI's decision to end his contract that this sex-ed course "conflict of interest" matter now lay before us. There ought to be either a steering committee type structure or some other type in the arrangements of non-governmental organizations and not the repeated overlapping of same persons running, deciding or managing programs it has gotten us nowhere.
We have been set back some ten or twenty years and the religious fanatics are rejoicing all the more for it all due to poor management, lack of monitoring and evaluation ad plainly operating on an ethical playing field, why wasn't the Child Development Agency consulted prior to rolling out this pilot project in private children's homes? On one hand agencies cannot be standing on principle for a point and then seemingly deceptively bypassing the relevant authorities to do their own bidding, I am sorry by that as we have now seen is counter-productive and not even the spin doctors could fix this one this time as they did in the explain-away and smooth over of the safe house project 2009 closure.
Sadly I feel defeated and some other older advocates and now wondering what else can go wrong in all this? Years of dialogue and work gone down the drain due to self-absorbed "leaders" who are more about their careers and self aggrandizement than true work and struggle for all.
The perception is clear in the minds of many Jamaicans as old or dormant feelings re-awaken and unknown religious groups jump on the bandwagon. How can the lost ground be re-gained?
Just recently we had the integrity of one overseas based student loan owing advocate questioned: Integrity of Jamaican LGBT Advocate Questioned, named as student loan delinquent it seems some of us do not understand the importance of operating above ground, all these things add up and to think Gareth Henry's own words have come back to haunt him in a recent Observer rehash of the Brian Williamson murder case: Jamaica Observer deliberately aiding the further discrediting of the remaining LGBTQ credibility in public advocacy & gay baiting?
But it seems both sides LGBT and the religious hysterics are employing deception for to strengthen their respective voices, where will this end?
also see
Minister of Education says no to condoms in schools & grooming of children to see homosexuality as accepted
Insensitive parents & Displaced MSM part 2
Talk 'bout what you love (Observer) 2011
Gay Parenting (a view on the ground) Functional Bisexuality, family units & the discourse
Gay Parenting (a view on the ground) (repost from 09) ........ International Family Day
Paedophilia, the predominant sexual aberration says Psychiatrist and the church’s response.
And to think in April of this year the Observer carried this: What would you do if your child was gay? now hysteria as of late. A church march is planned for June 29 in Half Way Tree Square supposedly in opposition to the "homosexual agenda"
Mi gone fi now yah
UPDATE June 23 2014
Now comes more attempts to destroy collectively the credibility of the lobby altogether thanks more poor dubious advocacy by CVCC et al as in yesterday's Gleaner headline blares: Duppies dupe UWI? (Ghosts dupe UWI) as if to suggest the groups named in the no confidence letter on his leadership of CHART actually do not exist.
The article read in part:
"CVC rejects claims that ghost groups helped to oust Bain
The human-rights group Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) Coalition is scoffing at questions about the authenticity of some of the 35 groups whose combined pressure forced the University of the West Indies (UWI) to oust Professor Brendan Bain as head of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training (CHART) Network.
"They are all real. They all exist and they are all operating," Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of CVC, told The Sunday Gleaner.
"If you check the media across the region, you will see a lot of these groups mentioned as having received government funds and participating in government programmes in their own particular regions," added Gomes, as she responded to questions from our news team, which was having difficulties finding some of the groups.
Gomes provided email and telephone contacts for all 35 groups, but even then, there was difficulty in reaching some of the less prominent ones.
BLAINE NOT SURPRISED
Children-rights activist Betty Ann Blaine is not surprised at the difficulty in finding some of the groups, as she declared that she was hearing of some of the groups for the first time.
"As a 32-year-plus member of the non-governmental organisation community, there are organisations listed that I have never heard about," declared Blaine.
"It appears as if one-third of the organisations don't really exist and are not registered or staffed. If the basis and premise for the dismissal of Professor Bain is faulty, then the conclusion must be faulty. It appears as if much of this was trumped up," added Blaine."
The comments such as the one above also reflect the continued disbelief of actual homophobic incidents and the credibility problem that has dogged the public advocacy component of the struggle for decades. Meanwhile Bruce "Not in My Cabinet" Golding has come back with his gay marriage fear again in his piece excerpted below:
Yield No Ground To Gays
Jamaica at a crossroadsJamaica finds itself at a crossroads, some may even say tipping point. The pressure to repeal the buggery law will intensify. The pressure to go much further to legalise same-sex unions, including marriage, is emerging, as evidenced from the Gleaner editorial of June 4. The major countries of the world will continue to seek by example and persuasion to nudge us in that direction.
Times have indeed changed. Libertarian permissiveness, 'live and let live', has taken hold. Who would have thought it possible in England for the current leaders of both the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats to proclaim themselves to be atheists without suicidal political consequences? Barney Frank declared his homosexuality in 1987 and proceeded to win re-election to the US Congress 12 times. Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the province of Ontario have all elected openly gay heads of government.
The Jamaican people cannot allow themselves to be forced into submission either out of fear or ambivalence. That fear is real. Many business owners and professionals are afraid to speak out because it could mean loss of business. Some pastors and church leaders are afraid because it could mean loss of membership or throw the church into controversy. No one really knows the reach and clout of the gay movement, despite all the anecdotal stuff I hear, but it is human nature to be fearful of the unknown." His previous piece also had a similar fear and to think the divorce rates for heterosexual marriages are alarming (see captioned below) yet here he and others are defending an institution that they themselves are not making good of
Here is an older podcast from one year ago when I expressed by disgust at the state of our affairs and the missing or ignored interventions by these powerful groups:
also see the latest credibility smash attempt of the lobby thanks to the CVCC's performance:
The gay agenda is to muzzle the press
On hubris and the rights of the child
Peace and tolerance
H
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