Anti gay Dancehall acts Sizzla & Capleton's shows cancelled in the US

So JAGLA, Jamaica Association of Gays and Lesbians living abroad got it right this time around and targeted the actual artists (Sizzla directly) due to his homophobic lyrics and refusal to even budge on his position, he has had problems in Europe for some time as well but in Africa it is smooth sailing as the LGBT groups there have not yet bought into the Stop murder music campaign not even from my tenure with JFLAG and Outrage or Tjenbre Red in France. Earlier this year during the Queen Ifrica fiasco he sided with the artist in claiming that the LGBT lobby was choking freedom of speech but while there may be some appearance of such as that particular case was overkill since Queen Ifrica said no words as inciteful as Sizzla has repeatedly he cannot be allowed to escape.

See previous Stop Murder Music posts on sister blog GLBTQJA on Wordpress: HERE

also see previous posts on his infractions etc:

Sizzla bats for Queen Ifrica as expected

Queen Ifrica's "Freedom of Speech" & advocacy found wanting

Sizzla Hits Back At Gay Rights Critics ..............

Say No To Hate Music Petition for anti gay artists slated for European shows

Zimbabweans love dancehall but not many there agree

Capleton protest in Sacramento makes Fox News (Video included)

Sizzla's concert cancelled (France), Montpellier's mayor re-affirms firm stand

Tjenbé Rèd defends its position on Stop Murder Music and Sizzla following damning French article

Sizzla Concert Cancelled in France .................

SMM protests Sizzla in Denmark

Locked out - Jamaican acts finding it more and more difficult to get into some countries

Reggaeville reported:

Sizzla's long awaited US-Tour, which was scheduled for November/December is off! The tourstart was postponed last week and dates have been re-scheduled for december very quick, but now the complete tour has been cancelled.

The US agency IAA issued the statement below to explain the cancellation and possible tour in 2014:

In 15 years of agenting and working with International artists from every area of the world, I have never seen anything so screwed up as this mess with Sizzla's immigration. Sizzla, Myself, His Lawyer were all promised the moon and the stars when we began booking this tour. We were so careful that we allowed a 3 month leeway to secure all the appropriate Visas beyond when the immigration attorney said she would have them. He was given his I129 and O1-B Status and all was presented as well. In short, the interview today did not go well and they denied his entry into America.

It is not a dead issue, but I am no longer comfortable waiting and seeing. What I would like to do is postpone the tour and look at rebooking it for February and March. In the meantime once he does gain entrance into the states, we will fly him over to do a national press release on the tour and explain how all of the promoters on this tour were so supportive and patient with the process.

I am deeply saddened by the news and I can say this is one of the worst weeks in my career. I would like to speak with each and every one of you and welcome a call. For the sake of alleviating some stress right now, I ask that we at least wait until monday to speak. I am at a loss for words and very upset. My company worked very very very hard and was given some unfair guidance and as a result we as you are left holding the bulk of this disaster. I am confident in Sizzla and I do really like he and his management team. They are good people and we expect that this will be a very lucrative tour in March and April. We are hoping to have his clearances overturned in the coming week or two. I really need to be extra careful and limit any more last minute cancellations. I hope you understand and we will be in touch next week.

Stephen Brush
INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS AGENCY
www.iaatalent.com

ENDS

TVJ's Entertainment Prime also touched the matter on November 19th:

More posts from sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica:

Sizzla Rejects J-FLAG Olive Branch .......... oh really?

Sizzla Concert Cancelled from Chiemsee Reggae & Austrian Sunsplash Shows

Sizzla shows cancelled in Denmark in European tour

Sizzla show stopped in Canada

London's Met Police defend decision not to ban homophobic performer

Stop Murder Music network in France Press Release 2008

Sizzla cancelled yet again in Belgium

Stop Murder Music France launches action to Sizzla's French tour

Peace and tolerance

H

Health Minister Ferguson on WAD '13 & FBOs fear of a Buggery repeal with future parachuted gay marriage rights

In an interview on local radio station Love 101FM on the upcoming World AIDS Day observance and the activities Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson used the opportunity to somewhat appeal to the faith based organizations to also participate in the response to HIV via the national program. The theme for this year is "Justice for All" and he mentioned the concern with the infections rates in certain groups such as men who have sex with men. He highlighted one of the issues with regards to the human rights aspects of the response that faith based organizations have concluded that it is an attempt to decriminalize buggery and somehow parachute same sex marriage as we have seen from voices such as Fellowship Tabernacle's Reverend Al Miller aligned to the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship and the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, JCHS.

He said ".....that is not the intent why there is the need to review these laws many of them appear to be punitive; there is also the fact that we now need to get to faith based leaders and others to say this is not about Buggery, this not about same sex marriage, this is about how do you as a Christian see, uhm, persons who need care having access to that care; once you shut them out as a group because you might have certain moral views about them then what you are now doing is spreading, setting up the possibility with that high prevalence setting up the possibility for spread of HIV"

He also mentioned that the rate was 32% in MSM but my last workshop with the national program some time ago the 2010 study has moved that to near 34% but the silence is deafening in as far as the new figures as 32% is from the 2007 study. Political bi-partisan support has helped the response to become so robust and he mentioned civil society and the country program under global fund is led by same. 

The last grant from GF of some forty million US dollars ended in July 2013 with ten million dollars from the world bank which ended in March of this year. Therefore the thrust in as far as the millennium development goals due 2015 as HIV is goal number six strategies must be found to push ahead to achieve the target and a partnership with FBOs. 

How does this new thrust however plays into the recent change in direction by the administration on the suggested (turned promise) conscience vote on buggery to now having a debate/possible amendment to the Sexual Offences Bill even as the upcoming case in the constitutional court by Javed Jaghai slated for November 2014 is unclear. Is the amendment a pre-cursor to the case so as to nullify the trial?

Here is the audio from the interview:

This interview also comes on the heels of news that:

 

World Council of Churches Supports Gay and Intersex People

Peace and tolerance

H

Promised Conscience Vote on Buggery in Jamaica was a fluke, Sexual Offences Bill to be updated 2014 says justice minister

(Please also see the Sexual Offences Bill Tab/Label immediately below this post for previous entries on the long debate and amendments in 2009 and before)

So the suggestion of a conscience vote on the buggery law as espoused by Prime Minister (then opposition leader) in the 2011 leadership debate preceding the last national elections was a dangling carrot for a dumb donkey to follow, many advocates and individuals interpreted Mrs Simpson Miller's pronouncements as a promise or a commitment to repeal or at least look at the archaic buggery law but I and a few others who spoke openly dismissed it all from day one as nothing more than hot air especially soon after in February member of parliament Damian Crawford poured cold water on the suggestion/promise and said it was not a priority as that time. and who seems to always open his mouth these days and revealing his thoughts that sometimes go against the administration's path. I knew from then that as existed before even under the previous PM P. J. Patterson (often thought to be gay by the public) also danced around the issue as this could mean votes and loss of political power. Mrs Simpson Miller in the meantime was awarded a political consultants' democracy medal as their conference concludes in Antigua, more HERE

additional comments via podcast recorded 23 November 2012:

also see the Chairman Bobby Pickersgill on the PNP's stance earlier this year, was this a hint of the change or rescinding of the proposed conscience vote being neatly announced?:

PNP’s Bobby Pickersgill differs on Conscience Vote route to decide on Buggery Law

 and this older entry after the PNP win in 2011

also recall the press release the PNP penned on Dec 22, 2011:

Bear this in mind as well, after digging my archives I found the presentation by Mrs Simpson Miller in 2009 (poor audio though) where she sided wholeheartedly with the then Prime Minster Bruce Golding(his speech linked) on the banning of gay marriage, gay marriage rights by the way was never asked for by the LGBT advocacy structure at that time but it was dishonestly pushed on the agenda during the Charter of Rights debate then as a smoke screen to deny us recognition in the Charter. 

The clause that had discrimination as an infraction then was also removed from the draft prior to this speech after successful lobbying by none other than the Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship with support from none other than reverend Al Miller.

She said on October 20th 2009 - "Mr Speaker when we accepted the final report from the joint select committee that were looking at the bill we were completely satisfied with their recommendation of a provision to restrict marriage and like relationships to one man and one woman within Jamaica and that the provision should be specifically spelt out so that there could be no ambiguity ………. yes one man one woman (laughter in the house) and if you are Jamaican and go overseas the same applies ……….." 

So the feeling remains here or what?

"I told you so" comes to mind when stuff like this plays out but I am amazed at how naive sometimes our leading spokespersons seem or is it just to meet public relations requirements and inform public discourse I guess. A report came on yesterday's forum hosted by the Jamaicans for Justice group, unfortunately I missed the radio discourse on Nationwide which I gather was to the point on the matter,

the public forum held on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013, to discuss the J'can govt.'s implementation of the 2011 Recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee, the J'can Minister of Justice, Senator the Honourable Mark Golding (photo) announced yet another delay in ending the country's discriminatory laws against same gender loving Jamaicans.

TVJ News carried the Minister's remarks at the JFJ session:

plus this ...................

 
Instead of the Parliamentary Conscience Vote on the archaic anti-sodomy law that the Minister of Information advised would happen before the end of this year, the Justice Minister indicated that there will be a review of the Sexual Offences Act in 2014 to POSSIBLY address the laws which criminalizes private same-gender intimacy.


Legal Advisor to AIDSFREEWORLD Maurice Tomlinson who also has a case with the Caribbean Court of Justice as this progresses said that relying on public disapproval of gays (instead of basic human rights principle requiring protection of sexual minorities against oppressive majority views), the government has taken the cowardly decision to keep delaying the repeal of anti-gay laws. 

The Immediate Past Special Rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Committee, Mr. Krister Thelin (third from left), stated clearly that these laws were in violation of Jamaica's international commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Meanwhile the tolerance ad case also brought by Maurice Tomlinson judgement is scheduled for release from the Supreme Court on November 15th. 

also see: Caribbean Court of Justice reserves judgement on Maurice Tomlinson case on barred entry due to sexual orientation

I surmise that the change of mind by the present PNP government on the conscience vote is due to to the public's feeling of the Prime Minister's lousiness and non communicative style on matters of national importance added to that are the slow austerity measures being pursued to include job cuts, repeated trips abroad with no serious reporting on developments, the goat island fiasco and silence there as well with the Chinese and so on. This time of year also is not a good time to do any political moves as Jamaicans take their holiday season seriously as a tradition, lest we forget it was the reason why the opposition Jamaica Labour Party lost the election in 2011 when they called it in December a first in our political history. The administration also may fear that a vote in the non-affirmative may lead to undo pressure from more powerful LGBT friendly states such as the US, pressure we do not need at this time and a PNP that wants to return to power and not fall in the trap of being a one term administration as the JLP became.

also see: The Jamaican Government schizophrenic on human rights ?

and hear an interview with IJCHR's head Arlene Harrison Henry:

Not to be outdone is the powerful lobby of the religious movements who have mobilised themselves in recent years and their vote is as real as they come (or go for that matter) also see: Church Stands Resolute Against Buggery Backers says Al Miller ………… Love March Movement Lacks Moral Compass says LGBT voice and as the to and fro continues the groups still believe a false dichotomy that the LGBT lobby is about to silence them, see more HERE and HERE. Plus this older entry: Betty Ann Blaine & foreign religious zealots continue their paranoia & misrepresentations of male homosexuality
So it's official we were duped and it was so neatly done at a JFJ meeting yet JFJ has not said a word just yet, it is not yet known if JFLAG was present at the session either but who cares these days as they have made themselves so lame in the eyes of some local LGBT people. None the less here is there position on the law:

Sad that it has taken JFLAG some 13 1/2 years to accept the lesser of the two options that were available at the time post the parliamentary submission in 1998. Suggestions were made from then that decriminalization was the route to take but their management had other plans and now they are left with no choice, hence my criticism after many suggestions to them that there is too much dithering when it is time act and when they act sometimes they end up shooting themselves in the foot.

Well I am not surprised by Mr Golding's announcement just strange how the PNP administration has now gone the Sexual Offences Bill Route. 

Also see these previous posts: 
Mark Wignall on Buggery law review promise was a political sham

On Buggery and gays in cabinets with politics ............ some responses ............

The Line in the Sand for the JLP Part 14 ...... but vote ☐ PNP ☐ JLP ☑ Legalize Buggery/Anal Sex in private ........

JFLAG Position Statement on Upcoming Conscience Vote on Jamaica’s Buggery Law earlier released before the change of direction by the PNP.

Interesting times lie ahead.

Peace and tolerance

H

Tolerant Taxi driver complains of pressure from counterparts on transporting "gays"

Over the weekend I was out and about in Kingston when I ran into an old taxi colleague who once transported myself and other party patrons in the days of the entourage and other clubs back then, taxi drivers then preferred to take LGBT patrons from parties knowing they could charge double or triple scale as they know such patrons want to be safe and sound from profiling and abuse. The driver I will call him "Glen" for this post was well known but went off the scene for a while due to ill health however he was forced to return to driving his own vehicle as most owners of hackney carriage do to earn a better profit. Since his return he has been making inroads it seems in the community as old faces remember his services and are re-engaging him but this has not gone down well with rival drivers who operate from the parking area they "shoot" from i.e. answer central radio call while customers are on hold to the main switchboard of the respective taxi service agency.

The competition can and has led to riffs with drivers on similar agencies or rival ones and with violent outcomes or stealing or under pricing so as to cut into the others business. The rival drivers have now become vitriolic towards the tolerant taxi driver (not the same one who intervened in a case I blogged about in 2010 - Homeless MSM/CSWs in New Kingston rescued by taxi driver) they are now jealous of the continuous patronage this man is now enjoying, some would say in Jamaican style "bad mind" that even if Glen is spotted on a duty in traffic by other drivers it becomes source for snide remarks over the short wave radio between duty announcements or when he returns to the terminus/stand he is ridiculed that he carries his "battyman fren dem" (gay friends). As of lately thought it has gotten really caustic and Glen is contemplating going solo and leaving the taxi company so as to avoid the taunts and remarks. 

It is not the first time I and others have received such complaints from taxi drivers who routinely carry members of the community and who sometimes develop long term business and platonic friendships for years as when the drivers realise we are no different that they are save and except  our sexual orientation and they in turn sometimes become inadvertent advocates for the cause as they live the experience in socializing with us as homosexuals. I asked Glen if he was threatened in anyway to discontinue using the terminus from his detractors he said no not really but he is not comfortable sometimes when the argument comes up and it could affect business as he drew an inference for being pointed out by others in order to also turn away would be passengers who happen to walk up to the stand for services or sharing his car number with others to cause call in customers not to want to use his car if his number is named as an option.

Real life engagement is the best way to teach persons over time and they in turn realise that there is no social constructionism at work to supposedly recruit persons into homosexuality or some other biological essentialism in the clouds to achieve some down low imperative. Even as Glen is living tolerance by demonstrably showing it he is vilified for being too supportive, what better way to break down the barriers indeed and not just mainstream advocacy stuck in HIV Prevention and rights based legalise. 

One by one persons can change their minds with just a little exposure but with reports coming in recent days of two sets of double murders with unclear motives a this time has left sections of the populations stunned at first but it turned out one was an attempted suicide hence poking another credibility hole in the the crisis reporting/communication while other lesser atrocities are out there alongside our homeless brethren who have been neglected by the more privileged LGBT advocates who offer mere tokenism, more mainstream advocacies and national systems and programs not to mention insensitive parents and public towards LGBT youth in particular.

Glen and I spoke over some beers and he is seriously considering going private and offering services outside the glare of the prying drivers and he is even thinking of changing his car so he cannot be identified as he wants to satisfy his customers while meeting his bottom line whosoever has a problem with gays as it were. I say go Glen you do you and I will gladly support when I can and share his digits with the populations who need such services as I have done for years with other drivers as well.

Peace and tolerance

H

Outcomes when offering community based shelter for displaced gay/bi brethren

November is seen in some parts as Homeless Awareness Month and also Parents month in Jamaica.

also see: Homeless Awareness Month: Flashback to New Kingston's Displaced MSM

 

Regular readers would know by now I have been trying to cover some of the homeless MSM matters on the rock since 2008/9 and they have exploded once again in our faces with almost no immediate solution or interest from those who ought to be so yet with the urgency required. The informal response from community influentials or ordinary persons has been a constant for many years but not nearly enough to meet the challenges and psycho social issues that attend to someone who is told or forced to leave their homes/village/town due to hate and profiling of their sexuality.

also see from 2009: Insensitive parents & Displaced MSM

In 2011 I produced an audio entry asking the question and appealing to the minds of readers to open their homes to assist where so moved and to date there has been some limited response but the lack of the expertise to guide or intervene in such recovery efforts has led to many persons simply not wanting to do so anymore with some disastrous outcomes as well. Persons have had to actually evict the displacee that is being reached out to due to 

1) indiscipline
2) non observance of the rules
3) inappropriate behaviour 
4) abuse of the privilege 
5) pilferage
6) other illegal activities while housed
7) over consumption of food items in the home
8) breaking of curfews (if set)
9) parading causing unneeded eyes and scrutiny from neighbours

and the list goes on, although I have general counseling skills it is definitely not enough to sit and talk in an ad hoc fashion and a more formalized and structured set of interventions must come into play to address these issues once and for all. I cannot be just merely collecting incident reports from the men and doing interviews for LGBT crisis reporting and a few dollars and very little afterwards where the men simply fall back on hard times. I have seen too many regression cases after the fact of limited interventions by even formal NGOs. I am aware of JFLAG's rental/sharing stipend system that I had tweaked while I was there to make it more workable since there was little funding available for such an activity to go on for an extended period and such an avenue is only extended to serious cases these days but the vast majority of persons who are displaced have not reported their cases to any agency for that matter. They find individuals who they think they can trust mostly due to embarrassment so they withhold seeking redress.

Since this year I have opened my own home to assist three persons over a period with the last one reluctantly so as I sensed something was not right although he came quite innocently referred to me be another friend but ended up in the third week of this stay with one week to go allowing a stranger in my home for sexual reasons; and I happen to arrive and caught the act in play, so both men were evicted. 

also see: Community based crisis sheltering is still an option for the displaced

For community based assisted sheltering to work for those who are willing to extend it there MUST be an accompanying support system to offer monitoring, counseling for both the sheltered and the donor, necessary financial assistance in the case of an advocacy agency's involvement. The old tokenism of just tin or canned items collection, second hand clothes and shoes disbursements and so on cannot do as those usually die down after a major crisis situation that is brought to the attention of many; then it's business as usual.

I hope persons do not shut the door altogether but choose wisely as best as possible persons who can be helped for such temporary arrangements. I have stopped for now as many others due to economic reasons as well, many are consolidating and becoming frugal in spending for that matter so the help is limited for some such as remote assistance by purchasing pre-cooked meals and delivering them to the persons are various safe spaces. Others do allow some limited visits to selected persons only to deposit them back unto the streets when the period ends.

Let us keep this avenue of help open, it has helped many for decades from the days of persons dying from AIDS related illness in the eighties to present. I remember well how I was helped by a dear friend some 17 years ago so I know all too well how it feels to be out of kilter and an outcast but I can't imagine the horror of being actually homeless or hungry for extended periods.

Think on these things.

Peace and tolerance

H

Another female impersonator murdered ..................

With regret I have to post this but it is overwhelming the crap that is going on especially in my home parish in St Catherine with almost weekly reports some confirmed some not of forced evictions  chasings and other stuff now comes this ............ The body of 19-year-old Britney Ebanks o/c "Luke" was found on Thursday, October 31 in the community of Central Village, St. Catherine. 

The former winner of a "Miss World 2012" contest was reported missing on Sunday October 27, 2013 after failing to arrive at the home of friends that night. Residents stumbled upon the body on October 31 and summoned the police. The scene processed before the body was removed to the morgue.

No one can say if he died because he was gay or if he was being robbed and killed but we may never know as only he can tell what happen. RIP Britney. Your journey as ended but your memories live on.

A claim on How to help homeless LGBT Jamaicans ......

also see: More snags for the cruising community in 2013

As cynical as I ever be I'll take this one with a grain of salt as we have seen so called assistance come before and a so called can drive where tinned items were collected and after persons got patted on their backs with thank yous it died and it was business as before, the tokenism pity for the homeless MSM while only where it gets really bad then there is another outcry and alarmist LGBT crisis reorting supposedly in a bid to save them.

Now comes a post on 76crimes on the issue but do not forget the historical context of all this and that MSM homelessness is not only a New Kingston problem but is islandwide and has always been there from ever since the district was built. The very title of the post suggest a filthy disposition of the men and also referring to "informed activist" as if to suggest that those who openly criticise the failure over the years of groups such as JFLAG and the very suspicious way this new thrust suddenly appears are not in the know when persons like myself are on the road almost every night seeing the sights and the sounds of the men in various parts while foreigners blog about it from more privileged activists who do not go on the road themselves but expect the poor overburdened crisis intervention folks to do the dirty work.

Jamaican-style ‘Les Mis’: Help for LGBTs forced into the sewers?

Homeless LGBT men whom Jamaican police burned out of their shelter in a drainage ditch have relocated to the sewers, according to an informed activist.

The men’s plight — evicted from their homes by family, chased out of abandoned houses by police, forced out of a ditch where they huddled, now hiding in the sewers — has touched the hearts of a few charitable souls, who have provided a little food and financial assistance. See the bottom of this post for information about how you can help too.

The men are typically referred to as “unruly gays,” because their behavior is sometimes obnoxious or abusive.

But the police strategy of driving them out of wherever they live is short-sighted. At this point, a comprehensive, longer-term solution is under discussion, but remains far from reality.

Here’s the latest on the homeless MSM (men who have sex with men):

UPDATE ON HOMELESS MSM BURNED OUT BY JAMAICAN POLICE

A female Jamaican senior citizen and mother was so moved by the plight of these young men who were burned out by the police on Oct. 15 that she started providing them with non-perishable food items and cooking utensils from her own meager resources. Since a plea went out for assistance last week, several persons have agreed to help her defray some of the costs associated with this venture.

Thanks to this generosity we have been able to provide the youngsters with very basic sustenance and we also collected clothes which we will be sending to replace some of what they lost.

These youngsters (some of whom are just teenagers) have to be very mobile as they have been chased out of every home they occupied. Some of their previous residences were actually torn down after the boys were evicted by armed police. Now they live in sewers and even there they are not safe from police attack.

The gully in New Kingston, Jamaica, where the homeless men lived.

While we work on meeting their immediate needs, we are also collecting and documenting their stories so we can decide which course of action to pursue in order to provide them with long-term assistance.

It is clear these boys need a dedicated facility as they are harassed and abused when they use the government shelters. This is not surprising as our national revulsion against homosexuality makes homeless LGBT the lowest on the national totem pole of poverty. Any facility for these damaged youth will need to address their physical and emotional needs caused by crushing societal and family rejection.

Jamaicans should care about this issue because “the measure of a nation is how it treats its weakest members.”

Anyone who wants to help these homeless young men should leave a message in the comments section below this post or on the Erasing 76 Crimes page on Facebook.

also 

Some money and plenty of encouragement have flowed in for Jamaicans who are seeking to help a group of homeless LGBT men and boys who have been hounded out of their homes and temporary shelters by family, police and homophobic attackers.

One activist reports, “We are now beginning to think medium-term for the funds. Some of the homeless youngsters have expressed a desire to continue their schooling. We want to help but they need to be in a home so they can actually focus, so we are looking at boarding facilities.”

A planning meeting is scheduled for next week.

Meanwhile, a tax-deductible method of contributing to the cause has been set up in the United States.  Similar arrangements are in the planning stages in Canada and the United Kingdom.

For people in the United States, tax-deductible contributions can be made via PayPal at the website of the Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church in Rochester, N.Y.  To make sure the contribution goes where you want it to, add a notation that the donation is for  “Homeless LGBT Jamaicans.”

ENDS

We shall be keeping a close eye as we always do on matters like this as I said above we have had pretentious interventions before from various quarters and it dies mid or after the fact leaving the men needy or in a worse state as before, while a few influentials burned out are still trying with mixed results due to the sheer numbers. The deceptive crisis reporting strategy is also on in earnest and merely using the men for data collection especially since the upcoming buggery challenge in our local Supreme Court slated for November 21, 2014, also check out this entry on Facebook:

The Jamaica Observer Clovis cartoon depiction of the problematic homeless MSM scenario relocated to the Barbican area, the online version from their website was removed following some complaints but I managed to get it scanned from my hardcopy edition of May 31, 2013, the paper has been in love hate relationship sorts ever since their first coverage of the matter when the men launched an attack at the former JASL/JFLAG offices August 23/4, 2011: MORE HERE and HERE

Peace and tolerance

H

Homelessness, rape and HIV (Observer)

Never forget this: JFLAG Excludes Homeless MSM from IDAHOT Symposium on Homelessness 2013

Another nice damage control article on MSM homelessness in Jamaica yet JFLAG (ED quoted below) had abandoned the then populations in 2009 and new displacees have joined the group and with the dubious closure of a pilot project prior to that while ignoring the monster that was creeping up the hill now they talk as if they are concerned when this problem existed all this time in New Kingston albeit island wide yet they and their parent agency Jamaica AIDS Support choose to turn their heads away until the very paper where this excerpted article below was published started to track this issue way back in 2011. Notice that Mr Lewis of JFLAG starts his recount of the issue from 2011 deceptively ignoring the previous woes and the existence of the defunct Safe House Project and the eviction by the then landlord from 4 Upper Musgrave Avenue. This matter need not have reached the peak that is has within the last four years especially.

What hypocrisy is this?

Have a read of the piece by Ingrid Brown but those of us who are used to the foolishness are not daunted, pity the problem is so unmanageable now that the tokenism presents itself, not to mention it was November 7th last year we were told of a coming shelter yet no follow up as to why it never came to pass as it turns out the zoning laws did not allow it.

Ingrid Brown wrote:

ABANDONED by their families, gay Jamaican teens -- some as young as 13 years old -- end up on the gritty streets of the capital city where they are sexually abused by older men who expose them to various sexually transmitted diseases.

A group of young gay men who recently spoke with the Jamaica Observer painted a horrific picture of the physical and sexual abuse they face on the streets and the emotional scars they still bear from those experiences.

With no other means of survival, some have turned to prostitution, either by selling sex on the streets or soliciting clients on gay websites, despite being infected with HIV.

Life on the streets, the young gay men say, is not an option they willingly chose, but one they were forced into after family members turned them out of their homes when they suspected them of being gay.

One of several gay teens who spoke with the Sunday Observer said some of the younger boys who hang out in New Kingston have either ran away from boys' homes or were chased from their family homes.

"Some of the boys are as young as 13 and 14 years old and when you call the CDA (Child Development Agency) to get them somewhere to stay, them don't come, so there is nowhere else for them to go," he explained.

Many of these young boys, the gay teen said, are themselves abused by older men who have sex with men (MSM) who often rape them on the streets.

He recounted an incident in which a 13-year-old, who recently showed up at the hangout spot in New Kingston, was brutally raped by two older boys because he was too timid to defend himself.

"Him was very quiet and so him just come and stand up there and two big youth just come and carry him go weh to a corner; when him come back him couldn't even walk," said the teen, whose story was corroborated by his peers.

Meanwhile, the young men to whom the Sunday Observer spoke said Jamaicans would be alarmed to know just how many schoolboys have been engaging in a homosexual lifestyle without anyone giving them the necessary guidance on how to protect themselves against contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

"When you go on the gay websites you see the whole heap ah 12- and 14-year-old schoolboys who are trying to hook up with somebody, and many of their parents don't even know that they are gay," one young gay man said, arguing that there is the need to have this sort of discussion in the schools.

"I never talk to any guidance counsellors while in school because they were just terrible, and so I didn't even know I was to use a condom when I had my first 'real' sexual experience with an older man at age 14," said Sam, a young gay man who revealed he knew from age four that his sexual orientation was different from that of his cousins as they grew up in a tough inner-city community.

"When me deh basic school me had a friend and mi remember how ah use to think how him brown and thick and so one day we go to the bathroom and start play with one another," he said.

His next sexual experience would be at age nine when he again experimented with a boy who lived in the same tenement yard, he said.

He recalled that in his community an adult relative would entice him with all sorts of treats if only he would act more masculine around his cousins.

But it was in the same inner city where young men are expected to be "rough and tough" that he had his first real sexual encounter with a man who seemed the least likely to be engaging in this act.

"Him offer me some money fi do it and me tek it and dem time dere me neva know bout AIDS or condom," he recalled.

However, after he refused to engage in sex with the man, given his terrifying ordeal the first time around, the young man said he was brutally buggered. He, however, remained silent as the man began supplementing the meagre lunch money his mother was giving him.

He only found the strength to break away from his plight after he discovered that the man was engaging in similar acts with his younger brother.

History then repeated itself as Sam himself began a relationship with a schoolboy when he was 19 years old.

"He was 15 and I was 19 and one day him tell me that him have a burning and he was afraid to go to the school nurse; me tell him to go to the hospital but them tell him he need an adult to come with him and me was afraid to go and him never had nobody fi tek him," he recalled.

Dr Sharlene Jarrett of the National Family Planning Board said the constraints in providing direct sexual and reproductive health service to gay teens is the same as reaching the wider adolescent population because of the clash between existing policies and the law.

"There is a serious barrier in terms of what we can provide to MSMs," she told the Sunday Observer.

As such, she said these gay teens have to be reached at the treatment sites, albeit that this is usually after they have become infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

"For MSMs our national HIV programme doesn't have data in terms of the age range of these teens coming to the workshops which we have been having for the past three years to link them to support services," she said, noting however, that what is being done to reach these gay teens is just not enough.

"There are limits to where you can carry a group of young men to give them a service which will help them," she said.

Chief executive officer of the Jamaica Family Planning Association, St Rachel Ustanny, also agreed that services for gay teens are limited.

With the conflict between law and policy preventing the wider youth population from accessing contraceptive services such as condoms, Ustanny said the problem must be large within the sub-population group of MSMs.

Ruth Chisholm, country programme manager for Population Services International/Caribbean, said the current environment makes it very difficult to provide information and counselling to these gay teens.

"There would be less demonisation if dialogue started in the home as this is a key solution to some of the challenges," she said.

But this dialogue has not started in the homes for gay teens, as the Jamaica Forum for all Sexuals Lesbians and Gays (J-FLAG) Executive Director Dane Lewis said it is becoming an increasingly common practice for some parents to turn out their children when they self-affirm or are suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).

"Every month we intervene in about 10 cases involving young persons, most of whom are young male adolescents, whose families have put them out because of their real or perceived sexual or gender identity," Lewis said, adding that J-FLAG's crisis intervention officer reports that there has been a significant increase in the number of cases since 2011.

He noted that a child's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression should never be used as an excuse for parents or guardians to abandon them, as that is child endangerment, according to the law.

The situation, he noted, also serves as further evidence of the reality that Jamaica is experiencing a crisis in parenting.

"The abandonment of children is having adverse repercussions on the lives of many young people whose dreams of completing their high school education and making a meaningful professional life while contributing to Jamaica's development are shattered," he said.

According to Lewis, J-FLAG has been successful in reintegrating children in their homes and preventing these evictions in a few cases. However, the organisation does not have the human or technical resources to always respond effectively.

"We are therefore calling on the Ministry of Youth, Child Development Agency, Office of the Children's Advocate and other relevant State agencies to intervene. This is a recurring issue and we strongly encourage the development of evidence-based interventions to address this grave problem which contributes to the increasing number of youth who have no family, little or no access to education, nowhere to sleep, and no food to eat," he argued.

"We have witnessed this in and around the Corporate Area where groups of gay and transgender youth are forced to fend for themselves in harsh and unforgiving environments because they have been made homeless or abandoned by their parents and families," Lewis said.

He further noted that the Child Care and Protection Act places as paramount, the interests, safety and well-being of the child and makes it a criminal offence for parents or other caregivers to wilfully abandon or endanger children by evicting them from their homes.

"If parents need help or advice because their children are LGBT, we urge them to seek it from sensitised and qualified people or entities, rather than push them onto the streets," he said, adding that J-FLAG stands prepared to offer such assistance to parents in collaboration with the local, regional, and international partners in youth development.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Homelessness--rape-and-HIV_15363127#ixzz2jiJF19r2

ENDS

Also see:

On homelessness, evictions, hypocrisy & now JFLAG's own displacement ...............

The Safe House Project background from the conceptualizer …………………

The old Jamaica AIDS Support for Life office site now demolished in 2013, see Poor leadership & dithering are reasons for JFLAG & Jamaica AIDS Support’s temporary homelessness May 2013 more HERE

Let us not forget JFLAG was silent when the ultimatum was given in 2009 by JASL via a board decision to the 12 residents then of the now defunct Safe House Pilot then of the impending doom in 2009/10 hence the men were sent back on the streets and the problems followed from then to now. They never found it necessary to intervene or could not intervene as some persons who sit on JASL’s board then also sat on JFLAG’s Mgmt Cmt as well hence the then Programs Manager turned ED could not and dare not stand up to the authority as he would have probably found himself without a contract. The Executive Director of JASL at the time under whose watch the house was started also resigned or was forced to do so as there were no known infractions against her stewardship hence my reference to the bizarre or dubious decision shrouded in secrecy in previous posts/entries. The very space from which JFLAG was evicted lately was in fact the Safe House Pilot’s residence for the 12+ men and a woman who stayed by another space, the former spaces was taken over no sooner the men had moved.

The J had moved from a previous location due to some funding challenges and was storing some of its items at JASL with some limited operation there. Strange, was their acquiring office space more important than dealing with lives interrupted in a project already in motion? A question I have been asking for years and it seems the answer is coming but in a round-about way as speculation is rife that there may be a lawsuit slapped against JASL by the former owners of the property as there was an alleged breach of the rental agreement where JASL should not have housed or sublet JFLAG space under its confines so hence the thrust to possibly move the shelter in order to get the space in 2010.

Also see:

The Quietus ……… The Safe House Project Closes

The Ultimatum on December 30, 2009

And MSM continue to be ready material for data collection
Street MSM Stone J-FLAG – After Being Cleared From Gov’t Property

Kingston’s Homeless MSM challenges scream for proper attention

And we continue to reap the world-wind for not addressing homelessness when it was manageable 

Utmost hypocrisy , J-FLAG

This so called concern is a smoke screen to avoid the scrutiny of agencies like JFLAG and individual activists who have failed the populations over the decades and who are more about attracting attention to themselves than really genuinely concerned and want to pass the buck to other agencies knowing fully well they are not either equipped or concerned about LGBT homelessness, it is only LGBT people who have to assist others. Let us see how long this facade will last, let us not forget it was the same Jamaica Observer who accused JFLAG of abandoning the homeless MSM specifically in New Kingston in an older editorial: 

Marauding homosexuals and J-FLAG (Observer Editorial) ……………………

Peace and tolerance

H