Former Guyanese President says the country is ready for gay marriage

By Devina Samaroo (Guyana newsroom) and others

Amid renewed calls for the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy, former President and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the country is not ready for such major changes.

Jagdeo reminded that during related consultations, the public expressed disapproving sentiments towards the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy.

“I don’t think the country, based on what our consultations show among large numbers of people, is ready for the same sex marriage and all of those things,” he posited during a press conference at his Office  on 24 May, 2017.

According to Jagdeo, there was a huge outcry about making same-sex intimacy a fundamental right.

“Because if it did, then the Marriage Act would have been illegal…and because of both sides – what the religious communities and NGOs came up with – we decided not to go to that level,” he stated.

However, he noted that Guyanese, based on feedback during those consultations, did not support discrimination on any grounds.

He also pointed out that the situation is similar to that of the death penalty matter.

“We’ve not had anyone executed since sometime in 1990s. So similarly, in the books, we have some of these provisions in place but people in practice, people have not been charged on the basis of these issues anymore,” he stated.

Nonetheless, Jagdeo said at some point in time, the laws must reflect the nation’ practices.

In this regard, he said he is prepared to engage in discussions with the government’s intention of ensuring persons are not discriminated against.

meanwhile another report from the Guyana Times said in part:

While the State has issued no official word on the issue, both Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams have publicly stated that Government will be moving to hold a referendum to determine whether same-sex intimacy should be decriminalised.

However, the local LGBT community has objected to such a move, and on Wednesday called on the coalition administration to fulfil its manifesto promise of ensuring that the LGBT community and other minority groups are not discriminated against.

In fact, Executive Director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Joel Simpson, told reporters at a press conference that this referendum will not be supported by the three local LGBT groups — Guyana LGBT Coalition (Guyana Trans United), Guyana Rainbow Foundation (GuyBow), and SASOD; nor will it be supported by the Guyana Equality Forum, because the rights of a minority group should not be subjected to a popular vote.

“This divisive referendum will deepen the marginalisation and isolation of LGBT persons, as right-wing groups will undoubtedly heighten their homophobic rhetoric, as is already happening on social media,” he said.

The SASOD Executive explained that the move to hold a referendum will only serve to stress out and burden the mental health of the local LGBT community, instead of strengthening social cohesion and building national unity.

Reactions on Facebook by Caribbean activists have come in:

Vidyaratha Kissoon
"lol i remember when he first said this and i wrote a thing about it seems the sex was okay, but marriage was not.."

Caleb Orozco of UNIBAM
"Who the hell is talking about marriage when basic protections don't exist" he continued "One of many silly politician feeding the masses foolery"

Guyana will not hold a referendum to decriminalise sodomy

Guyana, one of the former colonies like us that has been saddled with an age old 485 year old legislation of the United Kingdom under colonialism will not hold a referendum to give voters the choice to decriminalise homosexuality – despite media organisations claiming the opposite.

The news published by several Guyanese local media organisations was a result of a misunderstanding of the government’s official position on the matter.

The government had responded to a submission made by the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), its managing director Joe Simpson told PinkNews.

head of SASOD Joel Simpson earlier this year in the crossdressing court case, see: Trans woman barred from entering Georgetown Magistrate’s Court .... and Previously denied transgender claimant in Guyanese court case allowed in court

SASOD called for government action on youth LGBT discrimination with special regard to the fields of education, bullying, employment sexual and mental health.

It put forward its petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) following the 161st Ordinary Period of Session addressing young people’s rights.

The government’s response stated: “The issue of repeal was brought to the attention of the legislative arm of government on several occasions and it was deemed unfit for the legislature to decide on the matter.

“As such, it was recommended that the matter be taken to a vote, where the people of Guyana will decide by a referendum on these matters.”

SASOD sent this statement to several local media organisations who reported that the government would run a referendum in which the public would have had the chance to decide to decriminalise homosexuality (sodomy)

In 2016, Granger said: “I am prepared to respect the rights of any adult to indulge in any practice which is not harmful to others.”

However, his government has been criticised by the SASOD for not having implemented any changes.

Joel Simpson, SASOD managing director told Stabroek News: “I am glad the government remembers and they should be reminded that they haven’t delivered [their promises] two years later.”

In 2012, Guyana’s parliament set up a special select committee to hold consultations on a number of human rights issues.

However, the committee’s life was cut short before it could examine the country’s anti-gay laws when then President Ramotar prorogued parliament in December 2014 and held early elections in May 2015.

Meanwhile here in Jamaica the referendum on buggery has become a dangling political carrot used by the Jamaica Labour Party now in office to sure up support, especially from the religious right who makes the rest of a oh too quiet church collective.

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H

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

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.

T & T Gay activist files lawsuit challenging Sexual Offences Act

 Jason Jones (from internet)

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) 

— A Trinidad-born gay rights activist has filed a lawsuit challenging Sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalises buggery and serious indecency even between consenting adults in Trinidad and Tobago.

In his lawsuit filed in the High Court on Thursday, Jason Jones claims that the “very existence of these sections continuously and directly affects the claimant’s private life by forcing him to either respect the law and refrain from engaging – even in private with consenting male partners – in prohibited sexual acts to which he is disposed by reason of his homosexual orientation, or to commit the prohibited acts and thereby become liable to criminal prosecution”.

The United Kingdom-based Jones is also claiming that the legislation contravenes his constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of thought and expression in addition to being in direct contradiction to this country’s international human rights obligation.

He is also contending that the legislation opens him up to public prejudice and ridicule as it labels him and other homosexuals as criminals.

“He is accordingly the subject of extensive societal prejudice, persecution, marginalisation, a lifelong entrenched stigma that he is an ‘unapprehended’ criminal by virtue of being homosexual and he experiences the lifelong fear of being punished for expressing his sexuality through consensual conduct with another adult,” the lawsuit notes.

Jones is seeking to side step the “saving clause” feature of the Constitution which precludes a court from striking down and reviewing legislation which were in existence when the Constitution was drafted and that have been marginally changed since.

The lawsuit claims that the legislation amended in 1986 and 2000 repealed and replaced pre-Independence sexual offences legislation, covered by the savings clause, and thus is open to review. A date for the hearing of the constitutional motion lawsuit is yet to be set.

Jones told reporters that he took the decision to file the lawsuit due to his personal experience as a homosexual in Trinidad and Tobago including him being disowned by his family forcing him to migrate to the United Kingdom.

“I don’t wish to shove a gay agenda down you (the public) throat or attack your morals, religion or spirituality, I am doing this for the betterment of our nation, and for our feature generations,” Jones said.

Jones said in Trinidad and Tobago, members of the Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) community face high levels of discrimination and for this to change, the law must be changed.

He added that the laws were originally British colonial laws, but Britain had removed the laws and is this year celebrating 50 years since de-criminalising homosexuality.

Belizean Government Will Not Appeal Section 53 Decision on Decriminalizing Buggery

The Government of Belize has announced that it will not appeal the landmark decision of the Supreme Court in respect of Section Fifty-three of the Criminal Code. That statement comes one week after Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled in favor of gay rights activist Caleb Orozco who successfully challenged the constitutionality of that piece of legislation, which criminalized same sex intercourse between consenting adults. 

During a press conference this afternoon, Attorney General Vanessa Retreage conceded that the Barrow administration will not pursue the matter before the appellate court, much to the chagrin of the churches. Prior to today’s announcement, the National Evangelical Association of Belize, along with the Roman Catholic Church, in separate letters written to Prime Minister Dean Barrow, urged government to appeal the decision for several reasons. Despite those points, Attorney General Retreage says that government is satisfied having consulted further legal advice and will not venture beyond the CJ’s judgment.

Vanessa Retreage, Attorney General

“The decision to amend Section Fifty-three of the Criminal Code to decriminalize consensual sexual acts between adults in private has generated much controversy; however, the government must accept, as the court has stated, that public opinion cannot be allowed to shift the court from performing its solemn duty to interpret the constitution and would add or the government from its duty to respect the decision of the court. 

 In this regard, it is of utmost importance that the public understands the findings of the Honorable Chief Justice in their barest form without the bias of either opposing view. The government, in considering whether it would appeal, embarked on this sober exercise for itself and found the following to be the findings of the Honorable Chief Justice: one, that consensual sexual acts between adults in private is no longer a crime; and two, that the constitution as it now reads, without any amendment, should be interpreted so as to prevent discrimination against any person as a result of that person’s sexual orientation. 

Those are the very narrow and limited findings of the Chief Justice. The government has closely considered the option of appealing and has sought legal advice as to the possible merits and benefits of appealing. In this regard, it is noted that there were seven interested organizations which argued the case apart from the claimant and the government with no less than fifteen attorneys representing them. 

Government is therefore satisfied that the case was properly argued and does not see any aspect of the decision that would benefit from further argument and as such, has taken the decision not to appeal. It is also conscious that the option of appealing is open to one or more of the interested parties and it is not the government’s intent to influence or in any way preclude any legal steps which others may consider that they wish to pursue. 

The government is however satisfied that it must not appeal simply for the sake of appealing but must ensure that its actions best serves the interests of the Belizean people.”

also see from Belize 5:

Caleb Orozco Warns Churches Over Morality 

Peace & tolerance

H

Gay Marriage Coming? ......... Belizean P.M. Says Section 53 Decision Won’t Cause It

Does the reading down of Section Fifty-three open the figurative door to gay marriage? 

It’s a widely held belief among many, including the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, its premise for seeking an appeal of the controversial Supreme Court decision is hinged on that very notion. Government, on the other hand, does not believe that the effect of the judgment will necessarily result in a move toward gay marriage. Here’s how PM Barrow responds to the church’s concern.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“They are saying that it is imperative that an appeal be lodged. Why? Because in every part of the world where criminalization has been successfully challenged it has been swiftly followed by the passing of gay marriage laws that seriously violate a child’s right to a mother and father, restrict freedom of conscience and religion and impose a Draconian gender agenda in the school system. Now, I don’t agree that that’s an inevitable or even necessary consequence of the Chief Justice’s ruling. 

In fact, I hold the opposite view and Cabinet is also so convinced that this does not open the door to gay marriage. Nothing can stop the people who believe in that from agitating, from taking legal action, but it is not fair to the Chief Justice’s ruling, in my view, to suggest that that ruling in any way opens the door to that. This was a matter of striking or reading down a section of the Criminal Code that imposed criminal sanctions on what was even if, on actions that were consensual. 

 That’s a far cry, it’s a huge leap to go from there to suggest that somehow the door is open to gay marriage and I will tell you that Cabinet is absolutely clear, based on the advice from the lawyers, that that is not the case. But because the gentlemen of the cloth feel so strongly that that is what the ruling does, please by all means go ahead and appeal and seek to vindicate your position.”

In case you missed the written judgement download it here:

go HERE

also see:
Justice Minister says Belizean buggery law ruling a possible game changer

Jamaica Council of Churches response to the Belize Supreme Court buggery law decision

Suggestions that court victory in Belize could set precedent for decriminalisation in region

Belize Supreme Court overturns sodomy law for consenting adults 

Let's watch this one folks

Peace & tolerance

H

Foreign same-sex partners of Bermudians get equal rights

Foreign same-sex partners of Bermudians will get the same right to live and seek work as spouses of Bermudians in less than three months after Chief Justice Ian Kawaley turned down the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) Government’s application for the declaration to be suspended for a parliamentary year.

Government wanted the delay to allow wide-ranging legislative changes. But Kawaley said the ruling would come into effect on February 29, 2016.

The decision comes less than two weeks after the chief justice ruled in favour of the Bermuda Bred Company — a group of bi-national same-sex couples — in a civil case against the Minister of Home Affairs and the Attorney General’s Department.

The court found that the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act had to be read in conjunction with the Human Rights Act, which forbids the denial of services based on marital status or sexual orientation.

The Government subsequently sought to have the courts suspend the declaration from coming into effect for 12 months, arguing that a broad range of legislation would have to be amended in order for government to comply.

During a court hearing on Monday, attorney Phil Perinchief said a suspension of at least four months was needed, stating that both the approaching Christmas season and budget period would impact progress.

Giving his decision, Justice Kawaley found that only administrative changes were required to give the Bermuda Bred Company the relief it was entitled to, but he noted the “human impact” that implementing administrative changes would have on the staff of the Immigration Department.

As a result, he found that it was appropriate to suspend the declaration for a “short time” to ensure that the minister at a minimum can put the administrative changes in place, even if there is not enough time to make the desired legislative amendments.

Same-sex marriages are not permitted in Bermuda but some gay couples here go abroad to get married.

Bermudians remain “split” on same-sex marriage, according to Minister of Community, Culture and Sport Patricia Gordon-Pamplin.

I had signed a petition some months ago as well on this, it is good to see some movement on it so quickly but more is needed:

"Legalize Same Sex Marriage" and implement complete and full Human Rights for all Bermuda citizens & visitors.

Peace & tolerance

H

Miss US Virgin Islands wins Miss Gay Caribbean USA 2015

So one more year has come and gone and the show was a purrrfect success once again, here is our gurl Mimi Mancini

Mimi Mancini of Jamaica does Lady Saw's Sweet for my Sweet in true yaad style

The winner's presentation ......... congratulations are in order

Miss Jamaica MiMi Mancini second from right strikes a pose, all the gurlz really looked good this year

see more photos from Loud Impressions HERE from FB

CARICOM warned of JCHS Morality Petition Backfiring & Stifle HIV Funding

Leaders of a regional coalition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations sent a letter to CARICOM’s leadership, urging them not to fall prey to a regional panic in response to equal marriage. CariFLAGS likened calls in a 33,000+ signature evangelical petition to CARICOM that targets LGBT people to the Dominican Republic’s treatment of people of Haitian descent, urging the regional body to oppose both. Using a multilingual social media platform that also mobilized international support for Russia’s anti-homosexual propaganda law and the death-penalty anti-homosexuality law in Uganda, a Jamaican evangelical Christian group, the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS), has collected thousands of private signatures globally for a “civil society declaration” to CARICOM. 

They plan to deliver it to the regional organ at its Barbados Heads of Government meeting this week on sustainable development that the secretary general of the United Nations (which is targeted in the online petition) will attend. Evoking faith, family and Caribbean freedom struggles, the JCHS e-petition calls on CARICOM to adopt policies that deny rights recognition to people who engage in what they call unnatural and unhealthy sexual behaviours. 

Though the “declaration” also mentions euthanasia and abortion, it grounds its concerns and fears in six examples, all of them recent efforts in the region to promote sexual health and protect rights of LGBT Caribbean people. JCHS has in the past successfully targeted CARICOM’s HIV policy making and programmes, and weakened CARICOM leadership commitment to creating an enabling environment for reversing the Caribbean’s role as the second most affected in the world by the epidemic, which is a key threat to the region’s development. Last year, in the wake of JCHS’s mobilisation in support for Brendan Bain, the University of the West Indies lost significant international funding for HIV. Retired Prof. Bain was relieved of roles as a regional policymaker with CARICOM and UWI and censured because of conflicts of interest in court testimony solicited by religious groups opposed to CARICOM policy. 

CariFLAGS, the region’s 18-year-old coalition of leading LGBT organizations, says the impact of JCHS’s current petition, and any CARICOM embrace of it, may be similar. They believe it will likely result in the transfer of millions of dollars in funds from global HIV donors, which is earmarked for addressing policy, stigma and discrimination, from CARICOM to civil society groups like theirs. An initial CARICOM application for such funds was turned down on its first round. They believe CARICOM must stand up for principle if it wants to continue to lead the region’s response to HIV. They urged CARICOM leaders to ensure neither Dominicans of Haitian descent nor Caribbean LGBT people are cast out of justice, citizenship or the nation. CariFLAGS’s mission is to build Caribbean nations where LGBT people enjoy full fruits of citizenship, and to build cultural understanding, policy, litigation and domestic movements that enable that. CariFLAGS serves on the regional coordinating mechanism for the Caribbean HIV response. 

-###-  

The actual letter

Dear CARICOM Heads of Government, CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque, and CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Douglas Slater Ensure Leadership & Funding to Preserve Healthy, Just Caribbean Societies Caribbean peoples dearly treasure freedoms that our fore-fathers and mothers valiantly fought and died for. Freedom for our bodies, and for our ability as individual Caribbean people to self determine, no matter our gender, race, faith or social station. 

We, their descendants, must routinely and soundly reject new forms of colonialism and injustice, and any attempts at re-interpretation of international human rights that in their very definition deny such rights to particular groups of people whom others define as undesirables or unholy because of their aspirations and desires. In the twenty-first century, we cannot be writing people out of justice, citizenship or the nation, whether they are of Haitian descent or lesbian and gay. 

We especially cannot engage in such social violence through a rhetoric of faith and family. Single people in our families, people in non-marital unions, and family forms that have disobeyed those seen as “decent” by our dominators are among the most Caribbean forms of kinship—ones that buttressed our collective resilience and dignity. Many in our region are in a panic over a court decision in the United States, which has joined 20 countries, with a combined population of over a billion people, where civil marriage to someone of the same sex is an option. 

This panic builds on earlier anxieties some have been stirring up in the region that Caribbean citizens using our post-Independence institutions of justice (including international conventions to which our nations have voluntarily committed) to achieve bodily autonomy and dignity they have been denied since colonialism will prevent the efforts of some faiths to ensure that a specific “moral” order holds dominion over the region. 

The Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society (JCHS) has made CARICOM’s HIV response a special target of their dominionist advocacy and agenda of faith-based social injustice. They have appointed themselves as “cultural watchmen” in preserving an old order they see under threat. They promote collaboration between churches and public health officials to keep legal regimes of sexuality-based stigma and discrimination firmly in place. 

Their destruction of PANCAP’s hard effort and consensus-building around Justice for All, a bold initiative to address health justice issues that drive HIV, is well known. Their advocacy and the ambivalence of regional political leadership has cost us important gains in a critical area of Caribbean human development—as our regional institutions have failed to engage us in an expansion of sexual and reproductive rights that would lead to improved health and prosperity. 

Instead, we remain the second leader in the world in the harmful impact of HIV, and our region’s best collective intelligence about how to end that is under consistent assault by a forceful minority seeking to deny rights to other minorities more vulnerable than they. Soon these forces’ skillful advocacy will also cost us key resources that support HIV infrastructure, personnel and services. JCHS has placed a petition on an international internet platform that also campaigned for the Russian “anti-propaganda” law that forbids public promotion of the rights of LGBT people, and for Scott Lively, the American evangelist being sued in US court there over his role in promoting the Uganda death-sentence homosexuality law that punished people for not turning in homosexual family members. 

The petition, in English, French and Spanish, and open to anyone with internet access in the world, encourages “allies from around the world” to sign; but names are kept from public view. Some 35,000 such “signatures” will be presented to you when you meet in Barbados this week, at the very moment when the region’s HIV response is also under critical scrutiny, and close to $12 million in global funding for this threat to the region’s health, economy and sustainable development hangs in the balance. 

JCHS would love to see this funding and the human rights work and accountability it is intended to support go away. Their petition pointedly labels scientific knowledge on sexuality “false”, and appeals for you to protect them in spreading junk science and other misinformation . Do not give in to panic. Hold fast to the collective principles of our regional HIV response: an evidence-basis for our understanding and interventions; creation of an enabling environment and mitigation of stigma and discrimination; and an inclusion of affected communities in charting the response. Remember that human rights is grounded on equality for all and non-discrimination. Your steadfastness and leadership are needed now more than ever. 

Do not give in to the mob. Ensure CARICOM is in the best position to secure global AIDS funding for the region we are urgently at risk of seeing go to other grantees. As you meet in Barbados to plan for Vibrant Societies and Resilient Economies, please send a clear message that neither can be achieved through discrimination, and that a post-2015 sustainable development agenda must expand sexual and reproductive rights and health across the region and include a robust, human rights- and evidence-based HIV response. Discrimination and casting people out can no more be tools for addressing HIV, sexual diversity, development and building families in our 21st century Caribbean than they can for our brothers and sisters of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic who are victims of the same human rights niggling and narrow mindedness our JCHS colleagues encourage you to adopt. 

We welcome other civil society groups and regional leaders to join our call. 

Signatories:

Dane Lewis JFLAG

Colin Robinson CAISO

Tieneke Sumter 

Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities

Christian Youth Group against Alkaline Performing in Guyana

So the fanaticism that we saw from Jamaica CAUSE here in June is spreading Caribbean wide it seems as church groups decide what persons are free to see or not, Alkaline as covered on this blog has done some songs that are controversial indeed including the one liner in "F*** You" that encourages anal oral sex and so on. The show was scheduled for last evening and no news has come of any cancellation. IRIE FM spoke to the artist's manager HERE

Why does the "majority" feel they must impose their will on the minority, his shows are deemed for adults only I have gathered and as such people should be free to attend despite the content so long as others who are not so in tune with his or others style are not exposed to the event. One cannot be forced to come to Christ neither must one be forced to stop their actions (when not in harming the majority) and in this case persons are prepared to spend their money to see an act

He is well liked here in Jamaica despite the anal controversy and has since released other songs with a more vaginal tinge that has gained him some success despite the fallout with himself and other artistes such as Gage and such who constantly accuse him of being gay under the quiet or promoting homosexual sex.

Youth group against Alkaline performing in Guyana

He is set to make his first appearance in Guyana over the weekend, but his imminent performance in the country has been met by heavy resistance by at least one outreach organisation.

Joshua Generation, the Youth Arm of Love and Faith World Outreach Ministries, have made it clear that they do not support the move by Hits and Jams Entertainment to have dancehall artiste Alkaline perform at their Jamzone Summer Break.

The youth outreach group is hoping the organisers will think twice about the artiste's appearance. In their letter to the country's national newspaper, Starbroeke, the group gave reasons why they oppose Alkaline's performance.

"We've decided that we will take a stand and make it known that we do not appreciate and will not condone Hits and Jams bringing artistes like Alkaline to our land. This is a position we maintain in relation to this particular artiste and any others whose music and lifestyle do nothing to positively uplift our youth," they said.

The youth group used the artiste's ban in other countries to support their stance. "It has been made public that Alkaline, Tommy Lee and other artistes of similar nature have been barred from performing in some countries, therefore, begging the question as to why we should expose our youth to this level of vulgarity."

The letter goes on to state that Alkaline and other dancehall artistes, including Tommy Lee, play an important part in the deterioration of the society's moral standings. Not only is the group asking that the artiste's performance be cancelled, but they are also calling on the nation's president to act on getting local radio stations to stop playing the artiste's music.

Despite the opinions of the youth organisation, it seems to be all systems go for the young artiste. The Weekend STAR was told by a member of Alkaline's management team that the artiste will be performing as scheduled.

"The promoters have assured us that he will be performing as scheduled, nothing has changed," the representative said. The 19-year-old entertainer, who has been booked for the show since June, is set to perform on Saturday.

also see:
Alkaline Comes Under More Pressure for his Controversial Lyrics & Image

Alkaline (Rimming DJ) gets a homophobic response from newcomer Dwayno's track "Mr Faggoty"

Additionally his song "My Life" has been used similarly to a Vybz Kartel track to a recent documentary on the homeless LGBT youth in New Kingston:

By the way today is the third anniversary of the civil disobedience some of them took against JASL/JFLAG post the closure of the Safe House project in February 2010 and the deteriorating relationship with the group and the NGOs, to date as we have seen the numbers have grown so much and they have been made to or are being used as said by some for gay right while their situation has not improved. The latest article on the group is 

See: 

Ist Anniversary of the 2nd Homeless MSM Civil disobedience .... and the men are still homeless

Rowdy Gays Strike - J-FLAG Abandons Raucous Homosexuals Misbehaving In New Kingston

MSM employ Civil Disobedience to get Board's Attention ....

Rowdy gays banned by J-FLAG, JASL .......... (Jamaica Observer)

SASOD Guyana Reports Homophobic Government Minister to the United Nations

On Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at a press conference held in the Burbon Room at the Sidewall Café, the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) launched a damning 11-page report on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) human rights in Guyana.

(l-r) Mr. Joel Simpson, Managing Director, SASOD; Ms. Tiffany Barry, Social Change Consultant, SASOD and Ms. Schemel Patrick, Advocacy and Communications Officer, SASOD.

SASOD, submitting the report along with the Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI), reported homophobic Government Minister Juan Edghill to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council for hate speech, as a violation of the Guyana Constitution and international human rights law, and called for his removal. SASOD also presented a 15-point list of recommendations to the Government of Guyana.

Ms. Tiffany Barry, Social Change Consultant, SASOD giving a brief synopsis of the UPR report

In giving a synopsis of the report, SASOD’s Social Change Consultant, Ms. Tiffany Barry outlined the 15 recommendations posited by SASOD. 

The recommendations include educating members of the uniformed forces and evaluating their performances based on their obligations in terms of non-discriminatory treatment towards marginalized groups; repeal sections 351 to 353 of the Criminal Law Offences Act Chapter 8:01 and 153 (1) (xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act Chapter 8:02 which criminalise same-sex/gender intimacy between consenting adult men in private and cross-dressing, respectively; amend section 4 of the Prevention of Discrimination Act, Chapter 99:09, to include sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for discrimination in employment, training and recruitment; among others.

The report titled “On Devil’s Island: A UPR Submission on LGBT Human Rights in Guyana” was submitted a month ago on June 15, the same day that Minister within the Ministry of Finance Juan Edghill made hate-inciting comments on Hard Talk – a local radio programme on iRadio - describing homosexuality as “destructive, unwholesome and unhealthy” saying it should not be tolerated in the Guyanese society.

Mr. Joel Simpson, Managing Director of SASOD, answering questions from the media.

In his remarks, Managing Director of SASOD, Mr. Joel Simpson said that “Edghill’s inflammatory edict amounts to hate speech as described by Article 146 (3) of the Guyana constitution as “speeches or other expressions, in whatever form, capable of exciting hostility or ill-will against any person or class of persons.” He further went on to say, “We are therefore calling for his removal as a Government Minister and Member of Parliament as this is a blatant violation of the fundamental rights and freedoms under the Guyana constitution.”
Others government representatives who have made comments on LGBT issues over the past month were PPP/C’s Member of Parliament Manzoor Nadir stating that the outcry to scrap anti–LGBT laws is a “storm in a teacup” issue; and Presidential Adviser on Governance, Gail Teixeira’s recent remarks that “there is no fast track… to see change and support new rights.” 

Simpson questioned “which rock Nadir is living under” citing monthly media reports of violence, discrimination and injustice against LGBT Guyanese and multiple reports from the University of the West Indies’ Faculty of Law, SASOD and other groups. Simpson also responded to Teixeira declaring “yes, there is a fast track way. It’s political leadership and our government sorely lacks this when it comes to human rights issues.” He reiterated the call for better protection of existing human rights for LGBT people, rebuffing Teixeira’s salvo that these are “new rights.”

The full report can be found here.

Anglican Church in the Caribbean: No to Same Sex Marriage

Source

Archdeacon Valentine Hodge

St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN): The Head f the Anglican Church in St. Kitts and Nevis Archdeacon Valentine Hodge is making it clear that the Church does not support gay marriage, or condone a homosexual lifestyle.

"I can only speak...on the behalf of the Anglican Church which is the church in the province of the West Indies…um at the moment we cannot marry in church two people of the same sex...We believe in indissoluble monogamous marriage that is something which should last for life.. indissoluble.. and, we also believe that it is something between a man and a woman," the Archdeacon said, speaking on WINN FM's Breakfast Show Thursday.

"We are not into same sex union in the province in the Caribbean, although we find that the Episcopal and the Church of Canada have been very much into that, but we haven’t reached that stage as yet and I think that we [aren't] going to in the foreseeable future given our constitution of the province of the West Indies. We are really holding on to the biblical tradition and there are certain passages of scripture like Romans Chapter One...that very clearly [says] what’s enunciated in terms of marriage."

The Archdeacon said that the issue of the rights’ of homosexuals and lesbians was one of the law and theology.

"The legal arguments knock out the theological ones almost immediately. If it becomes gay rights or it becomes a justice issue then of course that is a situation with its own stamp its own character and it own thought patterns and everybody wishes to have people feel free, free to be able to do the things that they want to do within limits and so from a legal position where going to find that if it becomes a justice issue we don’t have a leg to stand on with respect to the church’s position because that takes it immediately out of our theological perspective," the Archdeacon said.

"Yes people should have the right to do whatever, the right to freedom to engage in whatever activity they wish to engage in but we in the church bring our people back to the point of doing God’s will and that ‘s the big thing. I know that in other parts of the Caribbean you’ve had the decriminalization of homosexuality and that’s consenting adults, it’s not a crime, but that doesn't mean it’s not a sin."

The Archdeacon was commenting in the wake of a recent statement by the Prime Minister, who responding to a caller to his radio programme, said that the introduction of same sex marriage legislation is St. Kitts and Nevis was something that should be debated nationally.

At his monthly press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Dr. Denzil reiterated his position.

"Let us be open minded about this matter, let this matter be discussed um among our people among the stakeholders . The government is not saying what its own views are at this time because the time has not yet come but we are saying we support the fact that there should be open frank and honest discussions, because homosexuality is taking place. People of St Kitts and Nevis of the same sex are getting married in North America and in Europe, they are getting married. I can point to at least two to three people of this country who we all know who have been so called married. So I think let us not get away from this, this is already happening here in our country."

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas

The Prime Minister said his recent comments had caught the attention of UNAIDS and he believed funding would be made available to facilitate a debate on issues related to the rights of homosexuals.

"To a large extent, it gets down to also involving the attorneys general from the Caribbean region, can we look at the present legislation with regard to buggery or homosexuality… the buggery law as people call it. Prostitution laws. How can you engage your own communities before it gets to the parliamentarians… engage them in discussing these matters as a human rights issue, because people have the right to determine their own sexual preferences and sexual orientation."

Dr. Douglas has been at the forefront of the advocacy in the Caribbean for ending discrimination against gays and lesbians.

- See more at: http://www.winnfm.com/news/local/5420-anglican-church-in-the-caribbean-no-to-same-sex-marriage#sthash.nR2kgcT5.dpuf