More on ‘Can you be a gay Christian?’ or so minded

In a previous post (Impossible to be gay & Christian?) I had attempt to deal with this question using my own experiences despite being openly gay but so Christian minded and drawing on my time at Sunshine Cathedral Jamaica, SCJ, the usual responses that followed then included prayer being offered to me or for me to get reparative or restorative therapy suggestions to sheer condemnation and ‘fire bun’ as usual, as if that is to scare persons straight. While we believe God’s power is unexplainable I do not see where I would have been created in his image and gay he would want to ‘change’ me when I am what I am. Why would I simply choose something or sexual orientation that could land me in problems, especially when so many species of animals display homosexual characteristics? Why can’t I and other homosexuals be who we are without to confirm to a hetero-normative expectation in order to be seen as Christian? Sections of fanatics in the faith (or pretentiously so) are aggressively on an exclusionist advocacy in a bid to ‘normalise’ living even as the bigger issues for God’s work are forgiveness or inclusivity and winning souls for the kingdom no matter who or what or the condition that that soul may be in.

What explains the person who enters the church to escape so called dirty feelings based on ignorance and a lack of self acceptance?

The usual Levitical response is a feature when this question comes up with Sodom & Gomorrah as the justified reason for condemnation when it is well known that homosexuality in and of itself is not the reason why the city was said to be destroyed; while totally ignoring the fact that Leviticus were a set of holiness codes for temporary use for a particular people at a particular time in lieu of instructions and rules for Hebrews moving from repeated slavery and oppression towards freedom and the promise of a new life. A people and a culture where open displays of same gender love, coupled with the silence and near invisibility of women, who are often seen as just incubators for sperm and children one would expect some resistance to any other way of existence.

The zeal at which so called Christians go after homosexual(s)(ity) is still baffling to me yet the other societal atrocities they do not do so, even when they participate in symbolic protests on abuse of children and so on but are near silent when one of their own as men of the cloth fall down and even sexually abuse children or vulnerable church sisters and brothers sometimes.

The disturbing thing lately is the open support of erratic and divisive Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump by some Christian fanatics namely Dr Wayne West of Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS despite Trump himself tacitly support LGBT matters as he has relatives who are such. Groups and individuals are quite prepared to give their anti gay stance steam in the name of God while accepting implicitly racist stances, conservatism, underhandedness and a candidate who made disparaging remarks about women on tape, mocking persons with disabilities and one who while expressing blocking immigration is quite prepared to allegedly use undocumented immigrants as construction workers on his hotels’ construction in order to pay them less than market value yet this is the man some want to support!

A recent vox pop and discussion on the issue came up for mention and yet again the aforementioned expected responses came through.

LET’S face the facts — God’s love knows no bounds, and we are often told that Christ hates the sin and not the sinner. But when it comes to homosexuals, is there an exception to the rule? Can they rightfully proclaim that they are Christians, since Christ loves all?

It is often said that the litmus test with all things is scripture, and how one rightly interprets the word of God. As a result, scripture is clear that you cannot comfortably and habitually engage in sin and call yourself a Christian. This simply means that whether you are a fornicator, adulterer, homosexual, thief, liar, idolater — and the list goes on and on — it is still the same thing — sin.

Moreover, the Bible presents a lifelong marriage between a man and a woman as normal, and anything that deviates from that as reprobate. Two out of many passages of scripture see homosexual practices as a crime punishable by death — Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. However, in the New Testament, Paul indicates that the Gospel provided salvation to homosexuals and other sinners so that they don’t practise it any more, but live a life pleasing to God.

According to Reverend Karl Johnson, general secretary of the Jamaica Baptist Union, the issue of homosexuality has become increasingly visible in our generation for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to, acceptance of the practice by the media/movie/television industry; viewing the practice as a human rights issue and not a moral issue; legislative support by many countries and not just by the so-called ‘developed’ ones, and greater acceptance of the practice by some churches.

“All of the above has served to make a practice/behaviour/issue that was once viewed as taboo, vulgar, unnatural, abnormal by most societies, appear more acceptable. Clearly, from the above, the church, which is a part of society, and which is still seen by many as having the responsibility of being the ‘moral’ voice and authority, has contributed wittingly/unwittingly to both the increased visibility of the practice and the confusion/debate surrounding its acceptability,” Johnson said.

He said this background may be helpful in reflecting on the question of whether there can be a gay Christian or a Christian who is gay.

“Is the question an expedition of ‘oxymoronic’ proportions? With several biblical texts mired in debate over their meaning, for example, the Genesis 18/19 story of Sodom and Gomorrah; Leviticus 18’s pronouncement of death for those who practise such things; Paul’s words in Romans about ‘unnatural acts’, among others, I believe we have to develop an understanding of God’s intention for the relationship between the sexes. In doing so we have to tread carefully in selecting ‘proof texts’ and develop a wider understanding from the whole counsel of scripture,” Johnson explained.

He added: “Based on that, I submit that any attempt to portray homosexual activity and behaviour as normal and therefore as an acceptable equivalent of heterosexual activity and behaviour should be rejected. People with a homosexual orientation who profess the Christian faith should strive for celibacy, with complete dependence on the transforming, enabling and sufficient grace of God.”Johnson said perhaps the question should be rephrased, “Not... can there be a Christian who is gay, but can a professing Christian be a practising homosexual? And the answer is to let the jury decide.”

Below All Woman asked a few people whether they believe someone could be gay and proclaim themselves as a fellow believer.

Joshua:

I don’t think so. Many people like to say the love is universal and God loves everyone. He does, but what separates us is our sinful versus righteous living. If we are Christians we will go by the holy book, which is the Bible, and it specifically speaks about this. Even if we don’t want to look there, look at the animals. There is one male and one female. That’s the order of things. Sin is sin, they sin differently from a fornicator, but it’s still sin. So no, a homosexual, fornicator or anyone living in sin can’t be a Christian. You may believe in God, yes, but you can’t say you’re His follower if you’re going against what He teaches.

Ashley:

I’m agnostic, and I really think that people can identify religiously with whatever they feel, regardless of their lifestyle.

Chris:

Honestly, I’m God-fearing and I know the Bible says those who live a sinful life can’t enter God’s kingdom and the kingdom is for Christians. I know that homosexuality is not Christ-like, so no, you can’t be gay and be Christian.

Paula:

For me, coming completely out of a sinful life takes time. Today you accept Christ, tomorrow you won’t be perfect or even close to it. You take time to rid yourself of habits, but you consciously know that you can’t do certain things anymore. So if someone is gay and decides they want to be a Christian, I won’t judge them and say no, you aren’t. Temptations for that person will be greater. What matters is that they are taking steps to turn around their life. Saints are all sinners who fell down and got up.

Martin:

No. There is no explanation needed either. Same way if you see Jane stealing but is singing on the choir you’re going say she is no Christian, it’s the same way I’m going to look and say John who’s lying down with Tom is sullying God’s house.

We certainly have a long way to go on just basic understanding and misconstrued thoughts on what the teachings of Christ actually mean; which is definitely not exclusion, judgements and indeed selfishness. Paul’s own take on the issue of homosexuality is an opinion lest we forget whilst he and others were seeking to spread the church in new places, namely Corinth, a highly sexualised part of Rome at the time. A question I have often asked is according to Paul why would God give us over to sin when it is the very sin he was to redeem us from by way or his death and resurrection? I often reflect on this and await the answer(s) spiritually and otherwise. We must also not forget Paul himself by way of his writings has contradicted himself especially on women in the church and their leadership roles and voices obviously in the search and settling of the early movement as far as we know now, there are always new findings and writings out there, the recent 2000 year old papyrus that was found in the hands of thieves of precious artefacts which shows writings mentioning Jerusalem, I have no doubt that are lots of missing pieces out there.

In almost one breath Paul raises effectively to the peerage if you will the prophetess Julia for example who was also in Corinth and nearby areas teaching and leading the early church’s development, Paul encouraged persons to attend on her outfit but later the same Paul declares that women basically had no place in leadership and should remain silent for that matter. There is so much more to unpack on this but let us rest here for now.

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H

also see:

Slippery slope deception & conflation of incest with buggery’s decriminalization

No gay leaders in Jamaica's churches ......

To out someone because of no sex!

I can’t tell how many times I have heard this nonsense happen and even witnessed one situation at my former residence several years ago while having my own run in subsequently, if someone is not interested in one or in sex for that matter at the time it is requested or being pursued then for God’s sake leave it alone I say, consent is all. Some men especially some ‘thuggy’ or hyper-masculine types feel they can operate on a sex on demand mantra, I must get it when I want it no matter what, even to the point of sexual assault, they call repeatedly with so called ‘lyrics’ similar to how a heterosexual would go after a woman to get her interested and even suggest that he likes men more than women in a bisexual ethos so as to get his intended target’s cooperation.

A St Catherine residence was where this latest episode went down last evening where a young clerk in his mid twenties who lived alone but occasionally entertain buddies and the usual one night stand naughtiness found himself the subject of a ‘loud up’ by a thug who hailed originally from a Kingston address. The man’s claim to fame is supposedly his endowment and he has been praised by many due to its size and look with online photos to boot; he has taken this praise to mean he can now be the cock of the walk it seems and make demands on weaker or softer gay men, especially semi effeminate or effeminate ones, he wants money or to be continuously gifted (need to be mined or financially taken care of) and in return one must pay for the access to the dick.

The impacted man was introduced to the culprit popularly known as ‘Cleveland’ while being tall, muscular and handsome with a deep strong baritone speaking voice his attitude is another matter altogether. How many times have I seen types like this who meet ones approval aesthetically but is rotten to the core behaviourally; one is just not able to find the right mix so easily these days. After the introduction at a party some time before he eventually developed some familiarity over time but started to ask for money and phone credit at first, not a good sign with these hyper-masculine types especially when they are unemployed. They get complacent and once they are entrenched in ones familiarity they stick and stay like a tick hanging on for dear life with expectations that must be met sometimes complete with bravado and embellished bragging rights to colleagues.

Duppy know who fi frighten (Ghosts know who to scare)

‘Cleveland’ who by now had been making visits to the home with another friend by car decided to turn up unannounced at the St Catherine residence, despite he was told and the other friend operates on a prior contact approval protocol as his schedule does not allow for unplanned visits. He turned up none the less and while speaking to the resident gay man as he looked out from his window’s flat ‘Cleveland’ was not pleased with the response he got; the resident while flattered by the attention from ‘Cleveland’ to a certain extent made it clear no intimacy was to be had that night and he should leave, Cleveland in turn accused him of having another man inside the house and that he was being dissed; the man chased him away outlining his prerogative as to who he can allow and not allow in his own house. The culprit did not take kindly to the rebuff and decided to create a scene in the car park of the residence which was met by an almost equally loud and visibly upset resident which lasted for some twenty or so minutes.

Other residents on the block by this time had come out of their homes and both men had an audience; a few of whom hurled the usual homophobic nonsense while others were more concerned with who the man was and were they safe. There were no security guards around but a few residents had remote security services in place by way of panic buttons etc. Others threaten to call the police, ‘Cleveland’ in the meantime sought to use the opportunity to list all the things he knew or suspected of the resident in colourful Jamaican language while seeking to present himself as heterosexual, using the very homophobic terms at his target but the cowering response he expected out of embarrassment was not forthcoming; a part of this report that pleases me most, one has to stand up to some of this nonsense. The young man decided that things had already gone out of whack and he can always relocate if needs be so he in turn made all in earshot that ‘Cleveland’ was also gay and that he wanted money also highlighting that the one time he refused to entertain him he was trying to embarrass him. Some laughter came from the audience section and some reported comments as to how manly the culprit looked with no sign of obvious gayness.

That was when things got more caustic to involve two other males who came out of their houses, one with a machete at one point. ‘Cleveland’ eventually retreated as he soon realised he was fighting a losing battle but left with a threat to the gay resident, claiming he will see him elsewhere to which the man reportedly replied I have nothing to hide. Connected problems on the social front from closeted or behaviourally bisexual men or ‘gay for pay’ types can lead to all kinds of unintended consequences as this matter showed in some respect. I for one made up my mind about those types years ago as hinted in the introduction in dealing with some men who seem to think one is some property or a waling ABM where cash or phones or such must come upon demand or button press, my own case flashed before me when I was residing at Gore Terrace without the gate and security features then but myself and another roommate stood up to a thug who thought he could scare us by outing methods tempered on a homophobic tinge as most of the culprits who try this method seem to think they can get away with it being masculine acting, preying on a perception that most or all gay men are effeminate; that is still scene as a marker for perceived male homosexuals.

The St Catherine man has been advised to relocate eventually just to avoid anything unexpected event from ‘Cleveland’ and possible company.

Peace & tolerance

H

US embassy promises to reveal information on artistes' visa denials ...

In a follow up to a previous entry the US embassy now says it promises to reveal information on artistes' visa denials ...Says entertainers must waive privacy rights ...... frankly I do not see why the US has to be explaining anything or entering into debates to justify their actions not granting visas. If one simply does not qualify then one just does not qualify.

The United States Embassy in Kingston has said that it will release information on specific visa denial cases involving several Jamaican artistes if the entertainers waive their privacy rights.

Waiving these rights would make the information regarding the denial of their visas available to the public.

However, attorney-at-law Delano Franklyn explained that although the US Embassy made that announcement, it is the US authorities that will ultimately decide whether the information will be released.

"Because the embassy has said it would make the information available, then one would have to take their word for it. But the United States Embassy, like any other embassy, owes no one an explanation as to why a visa has, in fact, been denied," Franklyn said.

"If the artiste says to the embassy, I waive my right, please explain to the public why I was denied my visa, the US does not have to comply," Franklyn said.

Joshua Polacheck, public affairs officer at the US Embassy, said at a Gleaner Editor's Forum earlier this week that Jamaican entertainers have "never" been denied visas, or had them taken away over matters such as as anti-gay lyrics.

"No artiste has ever been refused a visa for artistic reasons, and that includes promoting views that are either loving or repelling. The market may not choose to employ them," Polacheck said.

However, veteran producer Gussie Clarke, in a story carried in yesterday's STAR, said Polacheck was not being entirely truthful with statements made regarding anti-gay lyrics, and how they affect the visa adjudication process.

The US Embassy responded on Twitter saying it is prepared to reveal reasons behind artistes visa denials if entertainers would waive their privacy rights.

But Franklyn, who practises entertainment law, said it would be interesting to know if any artiste had been denied entry to the US based on their lyrics, but said the latter would be hard to prove.

"If there are artistes who can prove this, then it is important for that artiste to say whether or not they would wish for that (privacy) right to be waived," Franklyn reasoned.

"What I believe would bring a different light to the whole issue is if the United States were to say that they have not denied an artiste a visa because of their anti-gay lyrics, and an artiste can show definitively and prove that they were in fact denied because of their anti-gay lyrics, then it would show that one party initially was not telling the truth."

Meanwhile, Clarke, in response to the embassy's Tweet, said that making the information available to the public would be of little value because people have already formed their views on the matter.

"I cannot encourage any artiste to make that decision as that is their private information. But understanding our culture and how it operates, I don't think people care what anybody say," he said.

"I wouldn't' recommend anybody to or not waive their rights because even if some do, people are still going to have their views and opinions on this issue," Clarke said.

Let us see where this one goes but frankly as espoused previously on this blog artists who run amok and think that they cab spew anything that comes to their lips or pens must understand the responsibility that comes with free speech.

Peace & tolerance

H

Mystery surrounds killing of doctor ..... suspects held

Jamaica is now one pair of gifted hands shorter in its hospitals. Dr Martin Garwood, whose job included tending to persons who suffered major trauma inflicted by gunshots, knives, machete, and motor vehicle accidents, died after being stabbed multiple times at his home.

"It is a horrible day," Mark Newnham, president of the Association of Surgeons in Jamaica, told THE STAR.

Garwood, who would have achieved full qualification to be a practising surgeon in Jamaica next year, was a member of the Kingston Public Hospital staff.

Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, head of the Corporate Communications Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, told THE STAR yesterday that investigators believed that Garwood was murdered between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., at his King's Avenue home near Barbican in St Andrew, yesterday.

no forced entry

"We are looking into whether he was killed by someone who has access to his space as there were no signs of forced entry," Lindsay said.

She said too that the police are on the lookout for Garwood's black Honda CRV motor vehicle, which they believe was the getaway vehicle.

Newnham, who is also the programme director for surgeries at the University of the West Indies, Mona, said that Garwood's murder is a major blow to not only this family and the profession but also to the country.

"Surgeons, in particular, are at the forefront in the treatment of trauma, and trauma is one of our biggest problems in Jamaica," Newnham said.

He noted that trauma is the leading cause of deaths in Jamaica among persons up to 40 years old.

"We are always understaffed and underserved in terms of surgery in Jamaica. His contribution would have been tremendous," said Newnham.

"It is going to be a big loss to the people of Jamaica," he added.

UPDATE November 3:

The St Andrew North Police have now charged three males including a juvenile in connection with the October 26 murder of 41-year-old medical doctor Martin Garwood at his home in Barbican, St Andrew.

Eighteen-year-old Ashanti Barrett otherwise called 'Ash' of Kenhill Drive, Kingston 19; and a 17-year-old boy also of a Kingston 19 address have been charged with murder.

The third person, 21-year-old Chevanne Sterling, otherwise called 'Chev', of Braeton, St Catherine has been charged with misprision of a felony.

The police say their court date will be announced after investigators complete the requirements for committal proceedings.

Rest in Peace Dr Martin he was good man and helped in some respects to persons who could not afford treatment costs.

A file has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn for her to provide guidance in the case of the three men who have been taken into custody in relation to the murder of medical doctor, Martin Garwood.

The 40-year-old doctor was stabbed to death on Wednesday, October 26 at his home on Halifax Avenue in Barbican, Kingston 7.

Communications officer for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay, says investigators in the case are awaiting the DPP’s decision before charging the men.

Their identities are being withheld pending further investigations.

Peace & tolerance

H

Murder music lyrics don't affect visas ...US Embassy official claims entertainers lying ............

Public affairs officer at the United States Embassy in Kingston, Joshua Polacheck, is suggesting that some Jamaican entertainers who say they are being kept out of the United States because of homophobic lyrics are not telling the truth.

Polacheck said yesterday that Jamaican entertainers have "never" been denied visas or had them taken away over matters such as as anti-gay lyrics.

"No artiste has ever been refused a visa for artistic reasons, and that includes promoting views that are either loving or repelling. The market may not choose to employ them," Polacheck said.

"Sometimes no one wants to hire them and they are using that as an excuse," he added.

Several Jamaican entertainers have claimed that their visas were revoked by the United States in recent years but Polacheck said if that were so, it had nothing to do with their music.

He said that for a person to get a performer's visa, a US promoter must petition for the artiste to enter that country for a show or to do a tour. He surmised that Jamaican artistes may be peddling lies about being denied US visas because of homophobic lyrics when in reality it does not make economic sense for promoters to seek to bring them to the US to perform.

"If they believe, for their own market reasons, or their own reputation as a promoter, that the lyrics or your ideology would be damaging in the market place, they are not going to invite you," Polacheck said.

been disqualified

The US spokesman said that it is important to determine whether artistes who do not have performer visa have visitors visa. According to Polacheck, the entertainers may well have been disqualified from getting US visas because of their involvement or association with criminality.

"We do not look at the content of an artiste's work unless they are a member of the Nazi Party ... . Whatever ideology, whether hateful of loving, that they chose to promote doesn't matter in the visa adjudication process," Polacheck said.

In a bid to support his argument that the US has not been hostile to entertainers who say unfavourable things about public officials or espouse a particular ideology, Polacheck pointed to reggae artiste Chronixx who continues to enjoy a US visa despite insulting US President Barack Obama.

At the time of Obama's historic visit to Jamaica, Chronixx referred to him as a "waste man" but recanted after public backlash.

committed crimes

"He has said things that are a direct insult to the President of the United States. ... If Chronixx had insulted the president of the PRC (People's Republic of China) he would never be allowed in China again," Polacheck said.

He said that persons like artiste Jah Cure, who served time in prison on a rape conviction, will never be granted a US visa.

"There are persons like Jah Cure, who committed crimes of moral turpitude who will never get visas because they have committed crimes of moral turpitude or connections to narcotics trafficking. Many artistes, I am sorry to say, who are connected to Vybz Kartel ... . Many of the people that he worked with were not only musicians but were involved in the narcotics business," Polacheck said.

The US embassy official suggested that many entertainers may have an elevated sense of importance by believing that counsel officers have time to be combing through the lyrics of their songs to determine whether they are offensive.

"There are counsel officers who don't even know who these people are who are coming in front of the window and having a O1 petition (performer visa application) much less saying, 'Oh my gosh, I better Google to see if they have pro or anti-gay lyrics," Polacheck said.

French study reveals the growing complexity of medical needs as people with HIV age

Keith Alcorn (aidsmap)
Published: 25 October 2016

The complexity of the needs of people living with HIV will continue to increase as the population ages, and clinicians need to go beyond thinking about co-morbidities to consider multi-morbidities – clusters of medical conditions which complicate one another – when caring for these people, Dr Edouard Battegay of University Hospital Zurich told the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection (HIV Glasgow) on Tuesday.

Following analysis of multi-morbidity in the general population, University of Zurich researchers found that medical conditions tended to cluster into eight groups, and that individuals tended to fall into one of these clusters. For example, they found a strong relationship between dementia, depression and hip fracture, but much less frequent overlap between coronary heart disease and hip fracture and depression. Instead, people suffering from cardiovascular problems tended also to suffer frequently from thyroid dysfunction and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

These patterns of clustering indicate which groups of specialists might need to work together more frequently, and who needs to be involved in the care of people with HIV.

Dr Battegay suggested that among people living with HIV, a number of clusters of multi-morbidity present with greater frequency, such as HIV infection, depression and pain, or HIV, depression and non-adherence. HIV and hypertension overlap with cardiovascular disease, and may also overlap with pain. Further research is needed to examine these clusters of multiple morbidity, so as to help in the development of algorithms for the management of multiple morbidity, such as those recently issued by the European AIDS Clinical Society.

Research from France also presented at the conference showed that by the time people living with HIV reach middle age, a high proportion already have complex medical problems requiring multidisciplinary management. The study found that just over half were at high risk for serious kidney disease, 46% were at high or very high risk of a cardiovascular event in the next five years and 56% had hypertension.

Investigators from the Aquitaine regional cohort wanted to establish a clear understanding of the evolving medical needs of HIV-positive patients in the modern antiretroviral therapy era. They therefore analysed cross-sectional data gathered from patients enrolled in the prospective ANRS CO3 Aquitaine cohort to see how the spectrum of health problems observed in HIV-positive patients changed between 2004 and 2014.

A total of 2138 patients had study visits in both 2004 and 2014. Most (71%) were male, 40% were men who have sex with men and the median age in 2014 was 52 years. Sixty-two per cent of the cohort was over 50 years of age in 2014.

HIV markers improved over the ten years of the study. The proportion of patients with an undetectable viral load increased from 51% in 2004 to 91% in 2014 (p < 0.0001). This was accompanied by a significant increase in the proportion of patients with a CD4 cell count above 500 cells/mm3, from 44% in 2004 to 72% in 2014.

However, there was a significant increase in the proportion of patients diagnosed with age-related co-morbidities and taking therapy for these ailments.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease increased from 4% to 18%; fractures from 1% to 7%; cardiovascular disease events from 4% to 14%; use of blood thinning agents from 1% to 8%; therapy with aspirin from 1% to 8%; hypertension from 19% to 56%; diabetes from 8% to 19%; use of anti-diabetic therapy from 2% to 6%; prevalence of elevated lipids from 14% to 54% and use of statins from 9% to 24% (all comparisons, p < 0.0001).

Of particular concern, the proportion of patients with a Framingham High Risk score (5-10%) for cardiovascular disease increased from 13.1% to 26.5%, while the proportion with a Framingham score above 10%, indicating a risk of one in ten or more of having a cardiovascular event – either stroke or heart attack – in the next five years had jumped from 5.3% to 19.9%. In other words, one in five of the cohort are now at very high risk of a cardiovascular event, compared to one in twenty ten years ago.

Similarly, the proportion of patients with the highest risk of kidney disease, as measured on the D:A:D renal risk score had risen from 29.9% in 2004 to 50.5% in 2014, indicating the importance of selecting antiretroviral regimens that minimise the risk of further loss of kidney function.

Reference

Bonnet F et al. HIV patients today and 10 years ago: do they have the same needs? Results from cross-sectional analysis of ANRS CO3 Aquitaine cohort. HIV Glasgow, abstract 0212, 2016.

Coming Out Day 2016 .........

Today is coming out day mostly in the US but the recognition of the day has spread worldwide and certainly this blog has been carrying this for some years now. In light of recent accidents on social media as reported of persons being outed on social media I decided to take a different stance this year. As social media is being embraced more and more complete with online campaigns some persons may inadvertently out themselves with some unintended consequences.

We continue to see challenges from reported cases of persons being outed unintentionally by (mis)use of social media accounts, memes, tweets and likes that ae spotted by antigay persons and who in turn use said online footprints to justify forced evictions, threats and so on. 

I will attempt at offering some suggestions by drawing from some previous posts as well involving elated cases and reports, also see my post on tips from sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica for this year: Coming Out Day 2016 ........ some tips 

plus:

Facebook & unintentional outings to family members ..... 

some tips on editing your personal settings
Go to: 

Apps and Websites
Control what gets shared with apps, games and websites........ then select Edit Settings

then go to:

How people bring your info to apps they use
People who can see your info can bring it with them when they use apps. Use this setting to control the categories of information people can bring with them......then edit settings .... the following should appear 

Then deselect the persons or relationships etc you want to be seen or not to be seen, the groups etc you are in. That is of course if you had set up a family and relationship group apart from your friends list.

Also on ones profile one can customize the viewers of posts at any given time, it might take a few more seconds to do so but it is worth the wait, that is also of course if you are willing to go through all that.

some control can also be here as well:

select the last option and you can literally type a name or names of persons who may want to block generally while using the above to control what goes fully public or to friends only etc.

Some previous safety suggestions that appeared on that June 2011 entry on hookups are posted are below:

Please bear in mind the following if you or someone you know is planning a face to face meeting following an continued e-lationship

1. Make sure the profiler has a real photo or photos of themselves
2. Ask questions about them, get to know as much as possible as timely as possible
3. Establish telephone contact as early as you see fit
4. Listen for any change in mood, tone or information shared over time
5. Keep the e-lationship going with regular interactions to pick up any changes as well
6. Archive or save suspicious exchanges as you see fit
7. Avoid instant hook-ups without first developing some rapport in the e-lationship
8. Tell a close friend where and when you are going to meet an online friend for the first time
9. Develop a trend in communicating for e.g same times if possible per day for chatting
10. If you decide to meet find an open public area as best as possible, and decide how to behave in that space to avoid any unsuspecting onlookers who may deduce it's a gay link up
11. Decide on clothing and colour or change colours previously agreed to if you are not sure of the individual
12. Study your surroundings when there and get there early (as this young man did)
13. Plan your possible route(s) of escape if necessary
14. Have a weapon of some sort or maze that can create a distraction then escape as quickly as possible
15. Have a trusted friend accompany you if possible and have them away from the actual meeting spot but make sure they can see you
16. Make a call if needed to the person(s) who followed you and keep the line open so they can hear your conversation and call for help elsewhere if needed
17. Set your Facebook profile to "Friends Only" as under "Friends of Friends" all other persons can see you
18. If you are in a group and are active you may turn off the feature where non friends can send you a message or see you photos
19. Use only a sensible face picture as your profile thumbnail so as to avoid stalking

The problematic adding of persons to groups without any restrictive action or vetting that action is also of concern as that has also caused some accidents for persons as sometimes especially if the group is an open one ones activity may appear on their wall viewable by all on their friend's list.

Tinker with the settings and see the ones that suit you best if you do not want to be exposed. Just some suggestions friends.

If all else fails just open another account that they do not know of and do your business.

Peace & tolerance

H