St Lucian LGBT official blasts religious leaders

A Saint Lucia LGBT official has blasted Caribbean religious ministers who wrote a letter of concern to United States President, Donald Trump, urging the U.S to stop exporting its LGBT agenda.

The January 31, 2017 letter from religious officials in the Bahamas, Guyana, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago, asserted that the Obama administration’s State Department deployed coercive measures to normalize same-sex marriage and elevate LGBT issues at the expense of human rights.

However Bennet Charles of the LGBT organization here, United and Strong, has described the letter as being sad and almost hypocritical.

The United and Strong Communications and Advocacy Officer recalled that during the first week in February, religious leaders from several Caribbean countries met in Trinidad to discuss playing a greater role in advancing issues related to HIV and AIDS care in the region.

The LGBT official told the Times that the agenda item was a big issue because of the impact of HIV and AIDS within the LGBT population.

He also made reference to the issue of violence against women and girls.

“Religious leaders within the Caribbean region have recognized the fact that people are losing faith in their religious leaders,” Charles told the Times.

He asserted that the once dominant religious organisations in the Caribbean are losing their members.

“I think they are very scared that people are becoming a lot more liberal and more open-minded when it comes to understanding how we accept and in some areas tolerate people of different sexual orientations – people of different religious persuasions,” the United and Strong official explained.

He accused Caribbean religious leaders of having remained silent on a number of occasions when the human rights of individuals have been violated.

Charles told the Times that the very administration of President Donald Trump has threatened to stop support to the International Family Planning Association, an organization the LGBT official said has been doing ‘immense good’ for women of the Caribbean region.

“There are so many other issues that we wish the religious leaders in the Caribbean would have asked for support from the Trump administration, but they choose to single out one specific issue because they believe that they are being threatened and they know that they are being threatened,” he stated.

Charles said Caribbean religious officials believe that the issues related to same-sex marriages and discussion represent North American policy.

But he told the Times that religious leaders need to understand and face the fact of what members of their congregations are going through, including persecution from within the ranks of their own religious organisations.

“Why are persons moving faiths, becoming more evangelical rather than hard line Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists – why is this happening?” Charles said.

He declared that as the only LGBT organization in Saint Lucia, United and Strong will continue to be the voice of those who are persecuted and persons against whom religions have turned their backs, forgetting that ‘each and every one of these persons is a child of God.’

Charles said he hoped Caribbean religious leaders will be willing to sit down, have ‘meaningful’ conversation with LGBT and human rights organisations and stop remaining mute on issues affecting the region.

“Instead of hiding behind a letter and trying to get Trump to do your work for you, we need you to get out as religious leaders and start meeting the people and understanding and dealing with the issues they are facing because they are members of your flock,” he stated.

According to Charles, those members of the flock are the ones who go to church every day.

He said they are lost sometimes and are trying to seek God.

“They look to you religious leaders for guidance but sadly, this guidance comes in the form of prejudice – ‘ You cannot be a child of God and be LGBT Gay or lesbian’ we think this is hypocritical,” the United and Strong official told the Times.

Charles expressed the hope that when all is said and done, Caribbean people can live as one despite differences in race, culture or sexual orientation.

also see:
Being gay in St Lucia 

Homosexuality in schools in St. Lucia 2011 

Principal Association to address "lesbian issue" in prominent schools

International stars turn to gay bashing ......

This is not the first time although the article in the Star gave that impression, a simple Google check and voila! Missy Elliot for example in 2005 from the cookbook album where the record company was forced to pull the album from the shelves and re-release the set with other songs that were in the inventory, she then went on a media blitz to try to rectify the situation.

Dancehall music was once painted as hate music by the homosexual community due to the fact that artistes were known to release music denouncing the homosexual lifestyle. Following several appearance cancellations overseas, players in the local music industry began to feel the pressure in their pockets as a result of a strong gay lobby.

Tyga 

Ironically, the trend to lash out against the homosexual lifestyle is now the practice of some foreign artistes says the Star News but they are so off the mark on this one.

American rapper Tyga last year released a dancehall-influenced song titled 1 of 1 in which he denounced homosexuality in one specific line, stating that he was not into gay antics.

"Mi nuh love for dem b*&*y boy antics, gonna let me pull choppers (guns) out the attic," he said.

ENFORCE HIS MASCULINITY

Chris Brown 

Tyga's frequent collaborator, Chris Brown, also pulled a similar stunt in his verse on Konshens' Bruck Off Yu Back remix, where, he too, felt the need to enforce his masculinity. But Chris Brown seems to forget that he has done housemusic/EDM/Disco songs which is mostly targeting LGBTQ audiences and who follow him despite his antics and troubles; if he was so intent on 'burning out' gays he and or his team should not do other materials that are gay friendly, or maybe what the record company sometimes give artists from songwriters shopping materials he may be obligated to record them as contracts are in place.

"Mi nuh deal wid nuh ch*ch*man thing, gyal bruck off yu back mi wanna feel the ocean," he sang.

Outspoken member of the dancehall community Foota Hype says that foreign artistes pay attention to Jamaican music and know what it takes to gain respect from Jamaicans.

"They know wrong from right, and the labels will give them the green light because they know it's a song for the dancehall fanbase. Konshens song don't have nothing to do with that topic, but Chris Brown knows that it's a major topic in Jamaica, so that is why he did it. I am sure there won't be no backlash because it's Chris Brown. If it was a likkle Jamaican artiste who do that, it would have been a problem," he said.

RAW AND UNFILTERED STATE

The selector-producer said that Tyga and Chris Brown's actions is proof that dancehall in its most raw and unfiltered state can still break overseas.

Cobra the 'Flex Time To Have Sex' DJ

"Just mek music and release it. Look pon Press Trigger by Cobra and Gimmie Di Light by Sean Paul. They never made those songs to crossover, but they still did because foreign always a pay attention," he said.

For Hitmaker, "it's a way to fit in since dancehall is known as a genre that was homophobic."

The producer said that the likes of Chris Brown and Tyga "are smart enough not to put violence towards gays, and they used words that are less harmful".

Hitmaker further said that Tyga and Chris Brown should try and help elevate dancehall instead of trying to be part of what is seen as negative in the international community.

A flashback from the aforementioned Missy 'battyman' issue, WHY MISSY CHANGED HER TUNE FOR US was sent to me some years ago by Angus Batey

the Cookbook CD cover

If Missy Elliott hadn’t met Angus Batey, the first lady of hip-hop’s latest album might have been her last.

At the age of 34, Missy Elliott has become the biggest female star in the macho world of rap. She has sold 12 million albums, written and .produced for Mariah Carey and Destiny’s Child and  has shared equal billing with Madonna on an advertising campaign for Gap. She's not the sort to change her tune for anyone. Except, it seems for The Knowledge.

“I'm glad you're telling me that”, says Elliott. I have just informed her that the phrase "batty boy", which appears on two tracks on her sixth album, The Cookbook, might not do her any favours with some of her fans.  “It's a good thing that I'm going to get a chance to go in there and correct this”, she says, eyes widening as the full implications of the homophobic expression sink in. 

She claims to be unaware of the phrase's meaning: “It's just something my Jamaican friends say to each other, and I was saying it imitate them”; nor does she know that several dancehall artists have been banned from performing for inciting violence against gays. “I would never want to offend anybody”, Elliott insists, vowing to remove the lyrics. “If that's the case, than I have to switch that up”.

We're talking in an upmarket hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where Elliott has been playing a work-in-progress version of the record to invited journalists. Several guest stars have yet to record their parts and, as our little chat has demonstrated, she may need to change some lyrics. The promotional cart seems to be running in front of the musical horse.

It is strange to hear someone at the sharp end of such a costly enterprise admitting that she doesn't know what some of her own lyrics mean. And if anyone should be sensitive to charges of homophobia it is Missy Elliott, whose sexuality has long been the subject of rumours - springing from the fact that she is single. She believes she has shied away from relationships because she saw her mother beaten by her father when she was a child.

“She was so dependent on my father and felt she could do nothing without him,” she recalls.  “But when she got up and left, she was stronger than ever before.  I leant from that.  I think I’m happiest by myself.  I know that’s crazy - people don’t wanna die alone!  But most of my friends are in relationships and they’re miserable!  They call me on the phone, like: ‘He did this!’ ‘She did that!’ I’m like ‘Wow!’ is anybody happy?’”

Another thing that makes Elliott an unlikely purveyor of hate rhymes is her status as a role model to another minority in her genre.  Women are still massively under-represented in all areas of hip-hop.  Until Elliott’s emergence in the late 1990s, women in rap videos were either groupies or pole-dancers.  Over night, Elliott made it hip to be a woman in control.

One of the few rappers to captivate an audience among the chattering classes, Elliott intrigued as much for how she looked as how she sounded.  Her 5ft 2in (1.52m) frame is now 5st (30kg) lighter than when she donned an inflatable black plastic suit and stuck herself in front of a fish-eye lens for the video to The Rain in 1997, but she’s still larger than life.  She’s an artist who has built a career on turning her idiosyncrasies into gold-dust.  “That gained me fans.  Especially women of that size.  They loved my confidence. It was like: ‘She’s big and she’s proud about it,’” says Elliott of the response to her early look.

She has played the men at their game, some of her lyrics rivalling her more ribald contemporaries for libidinous  content.  “People say: ‘You talk about sex a lot’,” she giggles.” and I reply: ‘Wow, I do, don’t I.’  You would think I’d been locked up in a cell!”

Elliott’s strongest suit has always been her creativity.  With her production partner, Tim “Timbaland Mosley, she is widely credited with re-invigorating hip-hop in the late 1990s.  The pair’s signature sound, memorably crystallised on the 2001 single Get Your Freak On, added samples from Asian music to wall-shaking beats, bring a space-age sheen to a genre that had lapsed into formula.

She won’t speculate on whether her slimmed-down image has had any effect on her music, yet on Under Construction (2003), her first album after shedding the pounds, she also trimmed her sound, reining in some of her excesses.  It’s her best work.  The Cookbook seems its closes relative, Elliott feeling the record returns her forcefully to her hip-hop roots. 

“We went so far left that I didn’t want to lose people,” she says.  “I look at Prince - a genius so far ahead that he started to make music that was too far left for us to understand”.

The Cookbook is designed to enrapture the hip-hop fan with paeans to old-school legends, while continuing to  challenge preconceptions.  She  has even fulfilled an ambition by working with the Neptunes’ Pharrell Williams, whose production on On & On works on both levels: a devastating hip-hop track which, unusually, was constructed without drum sounds.

But is this changeable artist consistent when it comes to her promises?  A month later a copy of the finished album arrives at The Knowledge: the offending lyrics have been removed.  “You bring it to my attention?  You’ll never hear it,” she had vowed, breaking into a cackle.  “Never.”  Missy Elliott’s word is clearly her bond.  The Cookbook is out now on Elektra.

ENDS

Peace & tolerance

H

Germany clears path to erase convictions of gay men

Paragraph 175

Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill that would annul the convictions of thousands of gay men under a law criminalizing homosexuality that was applied zealously in post-World War II West Germany.

also see: Historical gay sex convictions in New Zealand to be wiped

The decision also clears the way for compensation for those still alive who were convicted under the so-called Paragraph 175 outlawing sexual relations between men.

The legislation was introduced in the 19th century, toughened under Nazi rule and retained in that form by West Germany, which convicted some 50,000 men between 1949 and 1969.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1969 but the legislation wasn’t taken off the books entirely until 1994.

Wolfgang Lauinger, now 98, was persecuted first by the Nazis and then held in prison uncharged for several months in 1950 by the West German authorities.

“I still believe they used old Gestapo files,” he said of his post-war interrogators in a 2016 interview with the BBC.

The bill approved Wednesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet of conservatives and center-left Social Democrats still requires parliamentary approval. It foresees compensation of $3,230 for each conviction, plus $1,619 for every year of jail time that convicted men started.

“The rehabilitation of men who ended up in court purely because of their homosexuality is long overdue,” Justice Minister Heiko Maas said. “They were persecuted, punished and ostracized by the German state just because of their love for men, because of their sexual identity.”

“The strength of a state of law is reflected in having the strength to correct its own mistakes,” he said. “We have not just the right but the obligation to act.”

In 2000, Germany’s parliament approved a resolution regretting the fact that Paragraph 175 was retained after the war. Two years later, it annulled the convictions of gay men under Nazi rule, but not post-war convictions.

The Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany “welcomes the fact that, after long decades of ignorance, legal consequences are being drawn from the serious mass human rights violations that were committed against homosexual people by the democratic state,” spokesman Helmut Metzner said.

The planned legal rehabilitation will be automatic and won’t require applications, though people will have to apply to prosecutors if they want formal certification. It will exclude men who were convicted for homosexual activities with children or for acts that involved violence or threats.

It also will apply to men convicted in communist East Germany, which had a milder version of Paragraph 175 on the books and decriminalized homosexuality in 1968.

About 4,300 men are believed to have been convicted there. In all, some 68,300 people were convicted under various forms of Paragraph 175 in both German states before it was scrapped in 1994.

In addition to individual compensation, the government plans to give an annual $539,825 in funding to the Magnus Hirschfeld Foundation, named after a pioneering German sex researcher and gay-rights activist of the post-World War I period.

The foundation is working on documenting the stories of men convicted under Paragraph 175.

In October, the British government announced that thousands of men convicted under now-abolished laws outlawing homosexuality would receive posthumous pardons, while those still alive will be eligible to have their criminal records wiped clean. But none received compensation.

That action followed the enactment of the Turing law, which was the result of the 2013 pardon of codebreaker Alan Turing. The renowned mathematician was convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with another man. He was fired and was chemically castrated; two years later, he took his life at the age of 42.

A few other countries, including Canada and New Zealand, are considering pardons for people convicted under now-repealed laws against gay sex.

Dawn Ennis contributed to this story.

Gully queens' 'recruit' young boy ...father tries to rescue 14-y-o living among gays

So our homeless brothers are back on the menu again and no real serious help coming their way despite promises made and online fund raising attempts (see GoFundMe account launched to help 'gully queens'), it could also be a function of the increased case load of forced evictions especially from western Jamaica due to the lotto scamming unraveling as others who would use them for errands or even making calls to scam persons overseas.

courtesy of the Star News

from the Gleaner

Detective Inspector at the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Claudette Hepburn (above), has confirmed that at least a handful of minors are living among homosexuals in gullies in the Corporate Area.

Hepburn says although CISOCA has received reports and acted on them, the minors always manage to elude the police.

She noted that the police are wary about how they approach retrieving the minors.

“These are children that we are dealing with. I can't send officers to run in the gully along with these men, these men are quite dangerous. Also, we don't want it to be said that the police are using force on them because they are of a different 'lifestyle'. That suggests so many things including that they are sexually abused and as for the word 'lifestyle' someone please help the dear lady to recognise sexual orientation. At least her predecessor was a little more enlightened.

CISOCA never discriminates,” she continued. Ooops it seems the CISOCA head needs an intervention, one wonders if the goodly JFLAG as reached out to her yet or are they business with the sleek social media campaigns as homeless are not on the agenda right now? maybe it could be the present legal mess one of the Associate Director one Latoya Nugent has found herself in, in misguided set of actions that had her arrested for breaching the Cybercrimes act of 2015, they may have to be helping to put out fires and finding funding for the legal fees. 

The latest documentary involving some of the homeless gully queens

Unneeded heat and diversions from what ought to be more pertinent matters and the homeless get left out in the cold once again; save and except for the usual using them to shoot documentaries, pawns in the HIV prevention chess game and to a certain extent crisis communication.

She mentioned an incident where a father journeyed from Clarendon to retrieve his son who was lured to the gully by an individual he contacted online.

The police, along with the father, tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the youngster. Sadly we do not know what 'retrieved' mean in this instance, is this with a view for genuine reintegration or for further abuse and homophobia as I suspect caused him to run from home in the first place

“The police assisted the father down there on two occasions. The last occasion, when the police was there, the little boy came out of the gully and said 'Daddy', and by the time the father said 'Son, why yu do that to me', the little boy ran right back into the gully,” Hepburn said. That says alot about this case without saying much, if things were right at home why would he run when his father came? Unless he is so unruly which is highly unlikely I think.

She is concerned that if parents are not more vigilant about how they allow their kids to surf the web, it could lead to dire consequences.

She acknowledged that it would take a collaborative effort between CISOCA, parents and corporate groups for children to be removed from the gully and adults who are sex offenders to be brought to justice.

“If we get the minors who are willing to give statements, we will take action. And if they are not willing to give the statements, I am going to put them before the Family Court as children in need of care and protection,” she said.

Hope remains while company is true even as more elite activists continue to ignore the homeless, there is a thinking by some that they did not get their degrees and Ph.D to simply end up working with scruffy smelly gays, sad that the NGOs tagline is equality but the glaring inequality is staring us all in the face; the virtuous ideal advocated for is missing and not demonstrably clear in our own backyard.

A Gleaner Editorial said:

We may have missed it, but we haven't seen or heard of a declaration of embarrassment and regret from Enid Ross-Stewart, head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA). That action would have been expected in response to the scandalous ambivalence, surrender even, of police personnel with regard to the recent revelation, in our sister publication, THE STAR, of a 14-year-old boy living in Kingston's gullies with putative criminals.

What is particularly galling is that the boy is suspected of being sexually groomed, or worse, by homeless gay and transgender men living in grimy gullies, some of them emerging at night as thieves and societal misfits.

The boy's father has appealed to the police force on numerous occasions to rescue his son, who was reportedly lured by a person with whom he made contact online. The police admitted to having gone to find the teenager but failed to secure his return, even after locating him.

"These are children that we are dealing with. I can't send officers to go in the gully along with these men. These men are quite dangerous," Detective Inspector Claudette Hepburn. "Also, we don't want it to be said that the police are using force on them because they are of a different lifestyle. CISOCA never discriminates."

Perhaps CISOCA never discriminates! But it sometimes does worse!

Inspector Hepburn, in a stunning admission of incompetence and apathy, said the police personnel under her charge were more concerned about perceived criticism that may follow from hostile interaction with a gay gang and chose, instead, to leave him in the arms of these "quite dangerous" men.

The boy's father is distraught and desperate. But the police, it seems, believe that the boy's sexual orientation makes him less worthy of salvation.

Inspector Hepburn's cavalier approach to this matter underlines the chilling effect of homophobia among the police and how even arms of the State created specifically to protect children from sexual and other abuse have decided to fold their arms. It cannot be right that children - for we understand that this 14-year-old's is not the only case - are left to fend for themselves amid sexual predators.

That sort of abandonment by the State may validate the misconception that the lives of boys, particularly those who indulge in at-risk behaviour, are of less worth and importance than others'. The police, therefore, would be complicit in class and gender discrimination, and play a not-insignificant role in the hardening of stigmas against sexual minorities.

That the boy may be gay or bisexual makes him just as, if not more, vulnerable to abuse as any other child. In fact, this newspaper posits that were the father's appeal about a girl living with men in a gully, CISOCA's reaction may have been more strong-willed and definitive; it would not have responded so limply and shrugged its shoulders.

The fact that Superintendent Ross-Stewart hasn't, at least publicly, reprimanded Inspector Hepburn and disavowed her views as anathema to the philosophy and policy of that sensitive agency, contributes to a deficit in trust and damages CISOCA's credibility.

Should Supt Ross-Stewart want to repair the damage done to CISOCA's image, this newspaper implores that she and her middle-tier leadership be more objective, sensitive and compassionate in the pursuit of the organisation's remit.

ENDS

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H

Caribbean pastors ask U.S. to stop promoting LGBT rights overseas

Source: Washington Blade as more misguided hatred filled so called Christians continue using piety deceptively.

Nearly 300 religious officials from the Caribbean and Guyana have urged the U.S. to no longer promote LGBT and intersex rights abroad.

The 289 ministers who are from the Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana made the request in a letter they sent to President Trump on Jan. 31.

“We write to you as concerned Christian ministers and churches from the Caribbean region (including the Bahamas) who hope and pray that the United States, under your leadership, will once again cast a light from ‘The City upon a Hill’ of which your American forefathers and President Ronald Reagan so frequently spoke,” reads the letter. “Sadly, during recent years, that City has too often cast shadows instead of light.”

“We refer specifically to the policies of the U.S. State Department and other government agencies involved in foreign policy that have undertaken to coerce our countries into accepting a mistaken version of marriage,” it continues.

The letter specifically notes the appointment of Randy Berry as the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBT and intersex rights in 2015 was central to “the promotion of same-sex marriage” in American foreign policy. It also questions then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2011 speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council in which she said “gay rights are human rights.”

“We have our rights by virtue of being human beings and not by anything else — not our ethnicity, not our religion, not our race, not our tribe and certainly not our sexual orientation,” reads the letter.

The letter also points out to Trump that “several of your government agencies” are “using executive orders to foist transgender confusion through the bathroom issue on your public schools by threatening the loss of federal funds.”

“Please understand that this same kind of coercion is being used against our countries to force us to fall in line with the entire same-sex agenda,” it reads.

The Obama administration last year advised public schools that Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 requires them to allow trans students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Trump rescinded this guidance on Feb. 22.
Guyanese group receives grants through Global Equality Fund

The promotion of LGBT and intersex rights abroad was a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy during Obama’s second term. The promotion of marriage rights for same-sex couples internationally was never a publicly articulated part of this strategy.

The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination, a Guyanese advocacy group known by the acronym SASOD, has received grants through the Global Equality Fund, a public-private partnership the State Department manages with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in the Guyanese capital of Georgetown also meet with SASOD staffers and support their efforts.

Dennis and Judy Shepard met with LGBT rights advocates, parents and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago in 2014. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has also supported HIV/AIDS programs in the country.

Consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. St. Maarten recognizes same-sex marriages that are performed in the Netherlands.
Ministers’ letter is ‘appalling’

Steven Anderson, who was deported from Botswana last September, traveled to Guyana earlier this year. The anti-LGBT pastor from Arizona who has said gays and lesbians should be killed and described the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., as “disgusting homosexuals,” claims a hotel in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, cancelled his reservation earlier this month.

Activists in the region with whom the Washington Blade spoke on Wednesday criticized the pastors who wrote to Trump.

“It’s appalling that they are pandering to President Trump — a head of state who has demonstrated nothing but prejudice and intolerance towards entire communities, immigrants and Muslims especially,” said SASOD Managing Director Joel Simpson.

Erin Greene, an LGBT and intersex rights advocate in the Bahamas, agreed.

“The statement and petition is a desperate move by a once powerful structure in Caribbean societies,” she told the Blade. “The Christian church was once the center of Caribbean societies, and now, these pastors are grasping to retain power and relevance as they are being stripped of their influence in policy making and national development.”

“In fact, they would be fulfilling their Christian mandate by denouncing the exportation of anti-LGBTI hate speech to the region, and asking President Trump to focus on foreign policy initiatives that prevent the spread the of U.S.-based religious terrorism in the Caribbean, Latin America and the Global South,” added Greene.

Bahamas Transgender Intersex United President Alexus D’Marco echoed Greene’s criticism while defending Obama, Clinton and Berry’s appointment.

“It is inconceivable that these ‘Christian’ reverend gentlemen and gentle ladies could not find the love of Christ in the hearts,” D’Marco told the Blade.

A State Department spokesperson on Friday said “protecting universal human rights is at the core of U.S. foreign policy.”

“All people should be protected from discrimination and violence, and must be allowed to exercise their human rights, including their rights to the freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly, and religion or belief,” the spokesperson told the Blade.

The White House did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment.

Remembering Mama Kirk Lester ten years later

An old brethren reminded me of the unfortunate passing of Kirk Lester some time ago and even in death problems flowed. It was his funeral service in Manchester that made international news after his funeral was marred by members of the public with a homophobic intent. The profiling of persons by some in a rural part of the country who were not used to seeing gender non conforming persons up close and personal was too much to bear by some who felt justified in the mobbing. 

Kirk was loved by many including me as one of the resident DJs at the legendary Club Heavens in Discovery Bay; we worked for some 4 plus years up to his murder. The mobbing exercise at the church service was one of those pivotal moments in my life when I felt anything goes and if that day was the day then so be it.

Most persons ran out of the church especially after the shots were heard which was supposedly fired by copes in the air to disperse the crowd even as an officer’s gun fell to the floor and missing for a time I am told afterwards; myself and few others were still inside the church singing and the pastor rightfully condemned the desecration of God’s house after a earlier stone throwing disruption while precipitated the attack; he defended to decision to host the funeral. Thankfully the undertaker who was there was armed.

I ended up becoming an impromptu bearer of the casket alongside veterans such as Nurse Bleary as the edited version of the processional hymn was sung; frankly I came to a funeral not a fracas.

Here is the deacon in question who condemned the desecration of the church speaking in an interview on the matter from CVM TV, he still believed homosexuality is a sin but the bigger picture is that we must not judge or the physical building of the church being attacked in anyway, principle is principle I guess. Pay particular attention to the use of ‘lifestyle’ (1:30) by one of the pastors interviewed yet no addressing the persons who attacked the church which is very telling.

The bus from Kingston was stoned as the driver tried to negotiate a turn and the back glass door was hit, there no physical injuries. I stepped out into the melee looking for my ride who had parked far up the road to avoid damage but strangely I guess to my mode of dress which was the formal shirt and tie & such I was not profiled so I made my way to the vehicle; as far as the eyes could see persons were coming with a vengeance looking for ‘battyman’ others who stayed to either defend the situation as some did pulling machetes from their motor vehicles and soon ran off as the crowd was too overwhelming.

Pink News UK had carried this:

A funeral service in the Carribean island of Jamaica has been disrupted by a mob attempting to attack a group of mourners.

The Easter Sunday funeral of Kirk Wayne Lester, a Jamaican businessman, was attended by “gay cross-dressers,” reports Real Jamaica Radio.

A mob surrounded the church and attacked people thought to be gay with knives, stones and bottles.

Missiles where thrown through the windows.

The island’s gay rights movement, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (J-Flag), is forced to operate underground and anonymously.

It called on police to find the people who attacked the church in Mandeville.

Pressure group Jamaicans for Justice agreed that a urgent police investigation is needed.

JFJ said it is deeply disturbed by yet another incident involving mob violence against gay people latest incident is particularly daring because it occurred during a church service.

ENDS

Helping the homeless

Kirk was known to offer shelter assistance in the permission of the owners of the Heavens Club at the time mostly for young drag queens and transpersons, in other words what was a shelter during the week became club central on a weekend and a church for the then Sunshine Cathedral Jamaica, SCJ where the paraphernalia would simply be brought out from a box and it’s halleluHER! He deliberately hosted drag shows for those inclined in that population as a form of escape from the challenges and his own drag character a knock off of Tina Turner was hilarious and the infamous wig throwing drama. He hosted several local, Caribbean and international drag divas at Club Heavens and was instrumental in keeping that tradition of LGBT entertainment relevant for the younger generations at the time.

He particularly liked Shirley Bassey’s ‘Hey Big Spender’ and Tina Turner’s ‘Simply The Best’ with his own animated take on it that often left us in stitches after the performance; sadly due to the no camera taking policy at LGBT events in those years, a carryover from the problems at the present mainstay Club Entourage in Kingston so I have no material to give you an idea of the good times that were had. It seems these days however we don’t have that kind of energy with the younger generations but life goes on. Kirk volunteered for several NGOs and operated a business apart from the Club and often provided temporary job opportunities for some of the housed persons and others who asked for help.

Time flies eh

Good people dat

Rest Mama Kirk you did what you could.

Peace & tolerance

H

More JCHS HIV is a Gay Disease Nonsense & Gay Themed TV Content

What was supposed to be a discussion on gay content on free-to-air on television and the blocking of some of it nearly descended into something else. Guests on the show was Diana McCaulay more known as an Environmentalist, Kay Osbourne former Television Jamaica station manager (the same who featured in the gay ad/PSA fiasco and the JFJ Sex Ed course drama) and the star of the hour Dr Wayne West of the antigay Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS. Thanks to the host of Beyond the Headlines on RJR Dionne Jackson Miller the veering off into the realm of paranoia was averted as she sought to reign in Dr Wayne West from making his HIV is gay disease case. The matter was also dealt with in the Star News publication as to the reaction to gay themes on the Disney Channel; given that Disney is a cable channel and not free-to-air so persons have a choice and can tailor their consumption by deciding which channels they want, unlike the old days of cable when cable operators offered a list of channels without an option to tailor it.

Meanwhile Dr Wayne West in his opening salvo went down the road of lung cancer instead of sticking to the script, as he tried to do a health risk comparison that nearly went off the rails, I was in stitches as he continued claiming that smoking caused cancer but people still smoke and so on and that they are 23 times likely to get it. Then came this:

“But the fact of the matter is if you are male who has intimate relationships with other males, your risk of HIV and syphilis for example in New York as studies have shown can be as high as 140 to 1 ............”

Thankfully Dionne Jackson Miller intervened most appropriately redeeming the going off the deep end journey when she asked:

“Tell me the point you’re making on this one though Dr Wayne West.” (She repeated)

But Dr Wayne West was not deterred by her efforts for a moment as he continued his clear strategy; leaving many of us by virtue of the comments that flowed on Twitter and asking what the hell does that has to do with the topic of discussion? Alternative facts I suppose.

“I think it is irresponsible to argue that there is a right to behaviour that has some high risk with disease,” he continued and tried to out shout the host but Mrs Miller as experienced as is yet again was forced to pull on the reigns.

“Hold on, I do beg your pardon ....... in relation to the specific issues though how do you balance the [West tries to interrupt] the specific issue we are talking about, about content?”

West replies:

“............Because we are showing cartoons to children and suggesting that same sex behaviour is a variant of normal like heterosexual behaviour when the health risk of same sex behaviour are so staggering.”

I don’t know how the angels in heaven did hear me laughing; Dr West continued the nonsense as Mrs Miller asked:

“When you say ‘we are showing’ though meaning what?”

He said such as Disney and he then went on to suggest someone should take a lawsuit against them although this is supposed to be a cable channel that persons can choose not to engage and also conveniently overlooking the right of freedom of choice and speech, virtues held dear by Americans. The shock of the comment was palpable as the short silence or dead airtime suggested.

The Mrs Miller intervened nicely:

“This is a cable channel, you have to choose to accept it [West says in America] no, no in Jamaica as well. It’s cable you have to choose to have it in your house.”

Even though the point was driven home so forcefully the man still insists, you could hear the pity in Mrs Miller’s cadence of speech almost to suggest why did I invite this idiot to my show?

West continued:

“I gather that our local stations FLOW did not show some series which had some same sex thing in it and I think that is a wise decision. I wish someone in the United States will take a class action suit against Disney for ...........” [Audio got muffled but the giggling was audible]

Poor Mrs Miller tried her best as before as she intervened to redeem the obviously appearing descent into madness:

“Dr West, Dr West, Dr West its cable channel, you don’t have to have it in your house; you choose to have it .............. What I’m trying to get from you Dr West in a society like ours then especially with different channels, how do you balance it because I hear your concerns about the type of content full stop, right, but given the fact that we do live in a pluralistic society and we live in a society with different kinds of channels so for example I have friends who say they don’t have cable at all in their house, it’s just free-to-air, so what do you think we need to start with?”

Bizarrely this is the same man who suggested a class action lawsuit to supposedly stop Disney just moments before he then says:

“I don’t like censoring I think it’s dangerous for a democratic society ....”

Mrs Miller’s reaction represented the rest of us I imagine as I did die with laughter and some pity when she asked:

“You don’t like censoring!”

West responded:

“I don’t like to censor .... I think it’s a dangerous path to take, I think you can show various shows one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning accordingly to protect children but I really disagree with censoring information, I think it is a dangerous path follow.

What I would argue is that we must discuss these things in a sensible manner [Mrs Miller asked meaning what?] there are no rights to disease producing behaviour, that is ridiculous.”

Mrs Miller’s audible exhale was enough even as Kay Osbourne and Diana McCaulay tried to get a word in and as my laughter and no doubt others in earshot of this must have been loud at this point. Mrs Miller tried to bring some sense back into the exchange. She sought to reiterate the parameters of the discussion.

“Let me just say one thing I don’t want to spend time on this issue of men having sex with men and AIDS because Dr West I am sure you know it and it has been said to you many times it is a very nuanced discussion, it relates to access to care and discrimination and many other issues that I don’t have time to discuss in this context.”

Diana McCaulay opened with:

“I too don’t want to discuss the HIV question, that’s not what I was asked to talk about.”

She continued that it was hilarious to hear Dr West say he does not support censorship when he wants to decide what is suitable for audiences, even in a situation where persons will drive to a movie and pay to see a film. Meanwhile Miss Kay Osbourne’s remarks were not convincing to me at all, she seemed to dancing between the raindrops given her history and previous comments on homosexuality and the aforementioned hint to the gay ad/PSA court case and her decision not to air the clip which eventually led to a lawsuit. She attempted to try to strike a balance on tolerance but struggled somewhat on how it should be. She then went on to link heterosexual sex with also a disease components, that of cervical cancer and HPV. She tried to make the point that not only gay men who supposed are ‘harmed’ by disease through sexual activity.

Mrs Miller yet again had to intervene:

“Before the discussion goes entirely off the rail [laughter as Miss Osbourne tries to balance her point as she puts it] and I am now shutting the door on STDs and AIDS [laughter] let me try and get ....... we do have plenty of those discussion but in the context of what we are talking about here let me go back to Diana McCaulay”

She said she was offended by the materialism as a new religion, reality television but said her offendedness does not go to the realm of pure censorship. The point was made by Mrs Miller on the Broadcasting Commission’s guidelines as to content for free-to-air television and of course radio. Miss Osbourne said that managers of content have an enormous task to act as gatekeepers to filter some of the materials; frankly it was a laborious listening experience as she sounded as if she was searching for the words.

Then Dr Wayne West jumped off into the nihilistic arguments as usual, claiming Americans have come to accept an anything goes or no absolute morality. He claimed that if we are prepared to accept nihilism then we must be prepared to accept anything in the public square. He said that the filter therefore is up to the individual in their private space to determine what comes in a bid “protect our children from this ethos of nihilism.”

He continued that if the public square is nihilistic then the law is or will become nihilistic (the usual moral panic strategy) and it will be imposed upon children through the education curricula (referencing the HFLE fiasco and Sex Ed course uproar in 2013/4/5).

Mrs Miller brought back the Broadcasting Commission’s regulations on the table and reminded everyone that free-to-air already has strong filters. West linked the Judaeo-Christian framework to the reasons why those regulations are there and sought to suggest that the whittling away of that by itself will lead to moral decay. He claims that the framework has been rejected by the USA & Canada (homosexuality is foreign import ploy) which what causes the nihilism but Mrs Macaulay nailed it when she said that if we are to follow that framework women would be stoned for adultery and she continued that framing that there is no right or wrong in North American countries that are tolerant of diversity is simply not true. West went into the whole bit on the theocracy of Israel while leaving out the Levitical imperative and the holiness codes for a short period of time; finally he seems to have come to some enlightenment however small. He continued that a Christian world view informed those preparations of regulations.

When asked about where we are today and sections of the public objecting to gay content West said that he still does not agree with censorship in terms of speech and that it would be difficult to restrict content in other areas and then he went back on the education curricula and that perception of sneaky methods to bring in homosexuality through the back door. He claimed yet again that if society is nihilistic then homosexuality will work its way in (more moral panic drama). The usual conflation of freedom to be homosexual is directly correlated to nihilism is just plain worn out. It came up in the recent sexual offences bill debate submissions and hinted to in the affidavit in the pending constitutional challenge of the buggery law.

Television Jamaica of which RJR – Radio Jamaica Radio is a part of the recent communications group 1834 Limited already blocks and censor certain content, including some gay themes. The American series Empire continue to have its gay scenes especially those of an intimate nature blocked, despite it appears at 10pm. The daytime South African soap opera import Generations (I am a big fan) also has a gay couple but the screenplay deliberately avoid kissing scenes even after a near successful vigorous campaign to block such and demands of writing out of the story line gay themes. The show then went the route of opposite sex cheating by one of the parties in a bid to bisexualize the character but it seems not to have worked well. The gay couple still remains.

I find it ridiculous frankly that some persons are so still so fearful of just gay themes on a screen as if to suggest there is some invisible gamma ray that is going to ‘homosexualise’ all those who come into view of those themes on screen. A good question to ask of Dr West is if both parties (MSM) are HIV negative and they have anal sex without a condom or a condom but it broke what will they pass? It would be good to get the answer to that one.

Finally

Diana McCaulay ended the interview by redeeming the situation, she suggested that the fearmongering has to stop and while the speech may not be violent it can push physical violence.

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H

Gay scenes in Disney show gets angry reactions

So the Star news carried this one today and it has hit a nerve once again as to the rejection of LGBT matters in the mainstream while not inappropriately encouraging questionable behaviour. 

 The actual gay kiss that ignited the furore

The child-focused Disney channel has been facing heated backlash in Jamaica recently, with many claiming that it is pushing a gay agenda.

This, after it aired a same-sex scene in a TV show, and announced plans to feature a lead gay character in an upcoming film.

Among those calling for the channel to be banned from the air in the country is popular dancehall producer and selector Foota Hype.

He reposted a screenshot of Disney Channel's first same-sex kiss, featured on one of its most popular shows, Star vs The Forces of Evil.

Originally shared by popular online media platform, The Shade Room, the image shows two male cartoon characters sharing a compassionate embrace, much to the chagrin of the selector.

UNFIT FOR CHILDREN

Foota's Instagram post read in its caption: 

"Well, let's see if [Lisa Hanna] and the Prime Minister gonna move to ban Disney channel off every cable provider in Jamaica as it's unfit for kids and will corrupt their minds. Most important, being gay is illegal by law in Jamaica so I'll wait patiently for their input, hope it will be speedy and widely spoken like when they discriminate against my dancehall."

Yesterday, Foota said the country's leaders, using moral equivalence regardless of political affiliation, must understand they "cannot crucify dancehall music and leave everything else open."

 Hero Blair Jr (Star News) 

But prominent minister of religion Reverend Herro Blair Jr is calling on the family to protect children from the normalisation of homosexuality that has been permeating the media.

"It's going to be difficult to cry for censorship now when we have not cried for censorship with shows such as Empire and everyone of these shows that have a homosexual character. The kids are already being told that this is an alright way of life," Blair reasoned.

He said families must do their own censorship.

"We have to decide from the homes what we want for our families. The parents must say if Disney is going to be showing these things, let us put the pressure on them by not watching or not accepting it as a cable channel for our children," he said

I cannot understand why some persons believe that a kiss on screen in a fictional piece is going to somehow emit some radio active gamma rays to zap all in view towards a homosexual orientation is just pitiful and almost laughable to me.

Meanwhile, Latoya Nugent, associate director at the JFLAG, told THE STAR that she is aware of the discussion that has been taking place regarding the Disney content, but the organisation is focusing its energies on pertinent issues.

"We are concerned about the violence against women and children, and while we are in fact an advocacy organisation, we have to be strategic about how we engage the media and about what kind of issues," Nugent said.

That to me sounds like a load of nonsesne when it is in fact the same JFLAG that proports itself to be the foremost NGO for LGBT matters and here comes a reaction that is directly linked to the work. Also given the homo-paedophile  links over the years that is often part of the sub-text of denial of any considerations for 'LGBT rights'

Oh boi

Peace & tolerance

H

Gay lover beheading case judgement of life imprisonment & co-acussed get 22 years before parole

In a previous post where indications suggested a December 9, 2016 judgement has now yielded results as the court has made a ruling.

A man, who was convicted of participating in the murder of his male ex-lover, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Friday, March 3.

The convict, Howard Ricketts, will serve 22 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

The disclosure was made by deputy director of public prosecutions, Maxine Jackson to The Times last Friday. Ms Jackson was the lead prosecutor at Ricketts’ trial last year.

The sentencing was handed down by High Court Judge, Justice Viviene Harris.

It was one of those murder cases that would cause anyone to shudder.

It involved a man murdering his male ex-lover. And there was a third male involved – a younger man who came into the relationship and the house shared by the two male lovers.

TVJ March 25th Headless Man Story & Suspicions from GLBTQJA on Vimeo.

It was a case that dominated the 2016 Michaelmas session of the Circuit Court where the court heard about homosexuality, HIV/AIDS, jealousy and hurt as well as graphic violence but it turns out it was about the deceased being accused of deliberately infecting the accused.

At the time, Howard Ricketts, who was a security guard at the York Castle High School, had been in a ten-year relationship with his ex-lover, Burnett Thomas, who was also a watchman at the school at the time of his death.

However, the relationship turned deadly after a third man, Neville Lewis, alias Garnett, accused Thomas of infecting him with HIV.

The headless body of Thomas was found partially burnt at a house in the community of Lincoln, near Brown’s Town, St Ann where he had lived with Ricketts. The body was found on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at about 8:30 a.m.

The discovery was made after residents reportedly saw smoke coming from a back room in the house and went to investigate.

Thomas’ decomposing head was found on March 29, 2012, about two miles from the Lincoln community in a yard, in a community known as Cockpit.

Howard Ricketts was charged on April 2, 2012 with the murder of Burnett Thomas and under caution he said, “Offica a di bwoy Garnett cause dis pon me. Him say mi fi help him and look wha’ happen.”

‘Garnett’ was a reference to Neville Garnett Lewis, who has already been convicted for his part in the murder after he pleaded guilty on May 24, 2014. He is serving 25 years in prison.

RICKETTS TESIMONY

In an unsworn statement from the dock, Ricketts had told the court that on the morning of the incident, he observed Thomas and Lewis arguing and this took them from the bedroom to the living room.

Rickets said he saw Lewis use a machete to chop Thomas in the left side of his neck. He said Lewis told him that he had to take part in the act, because Thomas infected them both with HIV.

At that time, Rickets said he was crying, but he assisted Lewis to pull Thomas to the bedroom and placed him on the bed on his back. Ricketts said that Lewis forced him to participate in the murder. He said Lewis threatened that if he did not he (Lewis) would turn on him next.

Ricketts then inflicted stab wounds to chest and intestinal area with a machete, but at the time, Thomas was already dead.

He had contended that Lewis had used the machete to sever Thomas’ head before he (Ricketts) inflicted the stab wounds.

The head was then placed in a rice bag.

However, medical evidence also indicated that, contrary to the claim by the defense, Thomas was alive at the time he was stabbed by Ricketts.

A pathologist with the Ministry of National Security testified that Thomas did not die because of the severing of the head, but because of the stab wounds that were inflicted to him.

The prosecution’s case also relied heavily on answers Ricketts had given to nearly 100 questions by police at the time of his arrest.

The jurors on Thursday, November 3, 2016 returned a six to one verdict of guilty against Ricketts.

His sentencing had been delayed on two occasions since that time.

Peace & tolerance

H

Zero Discrimination Day 2017 ........

Zero Discrimination Day

1 March 2017

On 1 March, people around the world join together to celebrate Zero Discrimination Day.

The UN first celebrated Zero Discrimination Day on March 1, 2014, after UNAIDS, a UN program on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), launched its Zero Discrimination Campaign on World AIDS Day in December 2013.

Discrimination remains widespread—gender, nationality, age, ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion can all unfortunately be the basis for some form of discrimination. In only four out of 10 countries worldwide do equal numbers of girls and boys attend secondary school and 75 countries have laws that criminalize same-sex sexual relations.

“When the most marginalized and vulnerable face discrimination and abuse, all of us are diminished,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The United Nations is strongly committed to upholding human rights and dignity for all.”

Discrimination in health-care settings also continues to be widely reported. Imagine a young woman newly diagnosed with HIV being told by her doctor that she must be sterilized, a sex worker facing violence or abuse from a nurse, a disabled person denied access to proper advice about their sexual health, a gay man frightened of disclosing his sexuality to medical staff, a person who injects drugs dying after being refused treatment or a transgender person attempting suicide after being turned away from a clinic.

Health-care settings should be considered as safe and caring environments, however, such cases are happening too frequently throughout the world. Any obstacles that inhibit access to health-care facilities, including to testing, treatment and care services, must be removed. Access to health must be open to everyone.

also:

PRESS RELEASE

UNAIDS URGES EVERYONE TO MAKE SOME NOISE FOR ZERO DISCRIMINATION

GENEVA, 23 February 2017—Everyone will have experienced discrimination of some kind during their lives; however, non-discrimination is a human right. Equally, states and individuals have a legal obligation not to discriminate. This year, on 1 March, Zero Discrimination Day, UNAIDS is urging people to make some noise around zero discrimination, to speak up and prevent discrimination from standing in the way of achieving ambitions, goals and dreams.

Discrimination has many forms, from racial or religious discrimination to discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or age, and to bullying at school or at work. In only three out of 10 countries worldwide do equal numbers of girls and boys attend upper secondary school, and people living with disabilities are nearly three times more likely to be denied health care than other people.

“Everyone has the right to be treated with respect, to live free from discrimination, coercion and abuse,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “Discrimination doesn’t just hurt individuals, it hurts everyone, whereas welcoming and embracing diversity in all its forms brings benefits for all.”

Zero discrimination is an integral part of UNAIDS’ vision and for this year’s Zero Discrimination Day UNAIDS is calling for zero discrimination in health-care settings. The right to health is a fundamental human right that includes access to affordable, timely and quality health-care services for all, yet discrimination remains widespread in health-care settings, creating a serious barrier to access to HIV services.

“Health-care settings should be safe and supportive environments. It is unacceptable that discrimination is inhibiting access to care today,” said Mr Sidibé. “Eliminating discrimination in health-care settings is critical, and we must demand that it become a reality.”

Data from 50 countries from the People Living with HIV Stigma Index show that one in eight people living with HIV report being denied health care. Around 60% of European Union/European Economic Area countries report that stigma and discrimination among health-care professionals remains a barrier to the provision of adequate HIV prevention services for men who have sex with men and people who inject drugs.

This year, UNAIDS is calling on everyone to make some noise for #zerodiscrimination. Zero Discrimination Day is an opportunity to highlight how everyone can be part of the transformation and take a stand for a fair and just society.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

ENDS

Peace & tolerance

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