The abomination of cowardice; The just and the unjust … John Maxwell’s 8y/o piece revisited

Some of you may know by now I have always liked this particular article from the late John Maxwell, in its original form it was one of those pieces that turned me on even more to advocacy and to think it came from a heterosexual at that in Jamaica is even more exceptional. His Maxwell House Blog is still up.

Here is the article in the form of an Observer Column published today:

The abomination of cowardice; The just and the unjust

Today marks the second anniversary of the passing of iconic journalist John Maxwell. In the following excerpts culled by his widow, Dr Marjan deBruin, from two of Maxwell’s columns (December 2004 and February 2007) published in the Sunday Observer, the journalist is at his trenchant best on issues over which the society continues to agonise.

SEVERAL years ago, various media outlets carried a rumour that homosexuals were planning a march on Jamaica House. I don’t remember anyone believing the story, but the media ran with it anyway. On the day appointed, dozens of idiots armed with cutlasses descended on Half-Way-Tree square prepared to teach the homosexuals a lesson. None, of course, appeared.

MAXWELL… if we do not ‘love’ one another, ie respecting the rights of all, if we destroy those who are different, we are sabotaging our own chances of survival by reducing the diversity and complexity of life, which is what enhances the odds that we will survive (Photo courtesy of Leah N Gold)

As I have said in an earlier column, it was a uniquely Jamaican occasion, because I don’t believe that anywhere else in the world would the press have been so willing to spread such a plainly ridiculous and dangerous story, given the homophobic environment; nor would there be, anywhere else in the world, people idle enough to assemble for a sporting massacre, as it were. It was a low point in Jamaican civilisation and none of our leaders said a word.

Unfortunately, on the question of homophobia and homosexuality, the press is at least as backward as the majority of Fundamentalist Jamaica. Reading the advice columns demonstrates just how ignorant and illiterate people — including some counsellors — are about anything concerning sex.

Betty Ann Blaine, a very nice lady who is also a well-known social worker, delivered herself of the dictum that homosexuality is ‘learned behaviour’… There is no authority anywhere for anyone to say that homosexual behaviour is learned.

On the contrary, controlled experiment with rats under environmental stress produced ‘homosexual’ intercourse which surprised the investigators because that was not what they were looking for. And homosexual pairing is well established among certain birds. There is also some evidence that there may be genetic predispositions which may or may not be reinforced by nurture. The fact is that no one really knows, which, I suppose, is as good a reason as any for murder.

Be fruitful and multiply…

 Diversity is the key to survival with species and among species. If we do not ‘love’ one another, ie respecting the rights of all, if we destroy those who are different, we are sabotaging our own chances of survival by reducing the diversity and complexity of life, which is what enhances the odds that we will survive.

To be fruitful and multiply is not, as some of us imagine, a prescription for uncontrolled breeding; it means that we should provide equal opportunity for the survival of all. Fitness arises from diversity, not the other way round.

The more diverse we are is the more likely that some of us will survive, which is directly opposite to the views of the sectarian bigots who now presume to lay down rules to decide who we should love and who we should allow to survive.

The prophet whose teachings they claim to follow, Jesus of Nazareth, was in fact a supremely practical philosopher whose teachings seem to contradict most of the stuff handed down by the new rule makers. When Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, it was clear that He was not discarding the Sabbath and what it stood for, but making the point that while ethics and principles and the rules derived from them were prerequisites for a healthy and productive life, they were designed to fulfil human purposes and not to frustrate human happiness.

They needed to be adjusted and fitted to serve human purposes from time to time, to advance the human. Our ethical principles needed to be developed out of experience to serve real needs and not to be accepted simply because they had existed for a very long time or because some old geezer claiming to be a prophet said so.

Our absolutists who want to burn homosexuals and other sinners appear to reject one of the most fundamental arguments advanced by Jesus: that while the law and the prophets were to be taken into account, he was promulgating a new principle in total defiance of Mosaic Law: a new commandment give I unto you, he said, “that ye love one another.”

…The Christian Taliban

 Much of the homophobic plague now disfiguring our society is incited by those I call the Christian Taliban, a gang of prideful know-nothings who come not to call sinners to repentance, but to deliver them into the hands of the vigilantes. Some have acquired their second rate theology for a couple of hundred US dollars from some self-styled Bible college.

What riles me is that, in the heat of their newly bought holiness, they want to crucify the rest of us, or more accurately, to stretch or cut us to fit their own Procrustean beds of sublime ignorance.

They depend on the Old Testament, a collection of some of the oral history of nomadic tribes wandering about the Middle East 4,000 years ago. This accumulated wisdom was life-preserving at that time, surrounded as they were by enemies and eating unreliable food, but as Jesus of Nazareth said, it isn’t what a man consumes that defiles him, but what comes out of him.

Because the Israelite nomads wanted to build up the numerical strength of their tribes they encouraged men to impregnate their sisters-in-law if their brothers died, and buggery — then and now the poorest but surest means of birth control — was an abomination as was, for the same reason, ‘Onanism’ or masturbation.

To their modern-day successors, like the Pharisees and Sadducees with their phylacteries and other tokens of holiness, what is good is not what one does but what one says, forgetting another apothegm from Jesus — that the Devil can quote scripture to his own purpose. As far as they are concerned, the idea that God is Love is nonsense: God is a terrible God, full of wrath, vengefulness and thunderbolts.

These whited sepulchres understand Jesus’ advice that we should be our brother’s keepers to mean that they should be their brother’s jailers. My old friend Peter Walker used to call these hypocrites “God-Botherers” because they seemed to have exclusive hotlines to their divinity.

Now they counsel us based on misinterpretations of 4,000-year-old ‘science’, that abortion is always wrong, that life begins at conception and a host of other nonsense, including the belief that sex education makes children pregnant.

The latest outrage is the idea of raising the age of consent, an idea some would interpret to authorise the jailing of anyone who had sexual intercourse before that age. Just say no, they blather — ignorance is literally bliss. I have news for them: if they really want to protect young people they should promote the raising of the age of consent to 24, because scientists have discovered that the brains of human children do not completely mature until about that age.

As I write this my friend Canute James has shown me a story from The Guardian (London) about a Jamaican who has, for the last 27 years, successfully pretended to be an expert forensic psychologist. This conman even had a motto which must have come straight from Jamaica: ‘Exposing Unrighteousness for the Sake of Righteousness’.

This man, one Gene Morrison, who didn’t even have a ‘genuine mail order’ degree, duped judges, barristers and their clients for almost three decades. He gave “expert evidence” in cases involving armed robbery, rape, death by dangerous driving, unexplained death and drug offences. Police are now having to re-assess about 700 cases looking for miscarriages of justice.

Never underestimate the power of a righteous Jamaican, especially one armed with the Wrath of God.

also see:  John Maxwell’s “The Abomination of Cowardice” from Gay Jamaica Watch

and: Betty Ann Blaine & foreign religious zealots continue to mirespresent male  homosexuality from GLBTQJamaica

 

‘Taboo Yardies’ director wants conversation on homosexuality

by Geisha Kowlessar from the Trinidad Guardian

At the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival to be held in September the documentary Taboo Yardies will be shown. Although it was filmed in Jamaica, director Selena Blake is confident it would send a clear message to citizens of T&T. Blake was one of the hundreds of delegates manning information booths yesterday at the Washington Convention Centre during the 19th International Aids Conference.

 

“The documentary deals with homophobia in Jamaica and will be shown on September 23,” said Blake. “The documentary is like a cookie-cutter in that you can use and relate it to Trinidad and all the other Caribbean countries, because homophobia is homophobia…it is intolerance towards that someone that’s different.”

 

She added that while there may be Trinidadians and Tobagonians who may not agree with the documentary, she hoped the majority would stand up and applaud her work. “I don’t have any preconceived notions. I know there are going to be people who would say, ‘I hate this film,’ but I hope the majority of them stand up and applaud and understand …but whatever I get, I welcome it, because it is about bringing awareness and having a conversation. Homosexuality is there, but nobody talks about it, and this does not mean it is going to go away, because it’s not.”

 

Blake added that many of the other themes could also be related to T&T, as the documentary seeks to capture a wide audience. “Because even though Trinidad is less intolerant than Jamaica, there is still a level of hostility towards the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. It is a matter of educating people (to) understand we all have the right to exist on this planet, regardless of your sexual orientation, colour or religion,” Blake said.

 

Blake said the concept of Taboo Yardies gives a voice to those Jamaicans and by extension those in T&T who dare to speak up and out about the intolerance and violence towards LGBT people, particularly as they pertain to an individual’s human rights. In Jamaica as in T&T, Blake said, it was integral to find a “space where we respect each other.”

 

“We have to really think about…what if you were gay, black or white? How would you like to be treated? So it goes back to humans rights, racism and all of that. We really have to step back for a moment and ask ourselves if that was your child, or that was you, how you would like to be treated,” she added. Religion is also a key factor which has sparked heated debates on homosexuality, she said.

 

“We talk about religion and we base homosexuality as being an abomination, but at the end of the day God is love, and who gives you the right to judge? Who died and made you God?”

 

 

About Selena Blake

Selena Blake was born in Kingston, Jamaica. She grew up in Old Harbour, St Catherine, the youngest of six girls. In 1979, she migrated to New York with her mother, and finished her education there. Her first big break came as a model. Blake thereafter became interested in film, and had small roles in such films as Third Watch, Changing Lanes, and The Best Man.

 

“We hope Taboo Yardies becomes a vehicle that spurs an open an honest conversation that ultimately promotes respect and tolerance for all people regardless of sexual orientation,” Blake said.

 

St Thomas men relocate with police protection after they’re forced to move .

 

As members of the LGBT displaced and homeless communities continue to spiral and meet homo-negative with homophobic abuses/issues in Kingston mostly here comes some positive news of sorts to a case that has come to light and was hinted to in a previous audio post I did over the last two weeks in eastern Jamaica namely St Thomas where a brethren had tried to accommodate two displaced MSMs while they were seeking employment via sending out resumes. The man who had assisted another former member of the displaced community  and was asked by the same man to assist two others who he deemed not trouble makers related the issues to me. Thanks to him for sharing this as well.

The men who had been temporarily housed at the home of the St Thomas man for two weeks had settled in and remained low as per instruction of the man (from now on called the household head) offering temporary shelter.

However neighbours had become nosy and suspicious according to the man as he had been noticing persons passing more often than usual even as the men stayed in and use the internet and other diversionary entertainment such as cable TV to occupy their free time.

First signs of trouble came as one evening one of the men who travelled home from Kingston stopped at a nearby shop to purchase items when he noticed persons were making comments subjected with homosexual references, the man upon reaching home complained to the head of the household and he in turn reportedly asked the men to avoid using the town centre when travelling but come home directly. The helpful man had not had any run ins before with other community members and when I pressed to find out if any of the men he was assisting may have been the cause of the unneeded attention he said no or he would have evicted them as soon as he saw any signs of that as he was protective of his space while concerned about assisting those who may need it and show some sort of desire to improve themselves. Other one off skirmishes occurred with passers-by and persons farming on a plot of land some distance behind the home.

Days after however one of the men was taking a shower and singing when he reportedly heard movements outside the house and nearing the bathroom window, he looked out and saw 3 persons as if they were trying to pry into the home, the other two men were away at the time. He hailed the persons in the yard in a bid to let them know he saw them and they ran through the nearby bushes, bearing in mind neighbours are not nearby.

That afternoon the other men arrived and the lone man who saw the intruders alerted the household head, he said he became suspicious and nervous at the same time and decided to alert other friends while deciding whether to move from the area. The very afternoon being July 4th the three individuals returned with a small crowd introducing themselves as “concerned neighbours” introducing themselves and asking if the men lived alone etc? The household head who by this time was angry at the intrusion had a heated discussion with the prying concerned persons it was at this exchange the persons expressed that they knew the men were gay and that they should leave as soon as possible as they do not want any gays (battyman, fish) around.

The shouting match lasted for about more than half a hour and the ultimatum was issued repeatedly according to the man as I spoke to him, the men left the same night via a friend who came and picked them up and they slept elsewhere for the night. The house was under lock and key for several days and the landlord who was notified asked his tenant to stay low for a while and see if they persons would calm down. The men decided to move so as to avoid any unneeded violence and abuse so on July 11 they returned for the items and furniture, their first attempts to pack the items were interrupted by passers-by who snickered and later apparently returned with others some of whom were recognised at the set of “concerned neighbours” who lambasted the men with some of the usual anti gay rhetoric. The police were summoned and they already knew of the issue as the men had made a stop by the precinct without filing a report but alerted the cops. They did come and kept a safe distance between the jeering residents and the hastily packing men who moved items to the waiting truck, the driver of the truck was said to have made a comment that if he knew that was the situation he would not have taken the contract to move the men but since he was there they should hurry, the other side men were said to be snickering.

That they did and left with the persons described as “concerned neighbours” literally applauding as they drove away, the landlord was said to have expressed disappointment in the incident and the loss of a good tenant, the man was hailed as a reliable tenant and well paying one as well.

The household head is now at a friend’s home, the two others he was trying to assist are now re-displaced but some inquiries are being done to see how they can be accommodated. Meanwhile in Kingston two separate stabbings incidents took place in the business district both linked to homelessness and homophobic abuse. Another displaced man was run over deliberately on Knutsford Boulevard almost two weeks ago after dancing to music audible from  the street emanating from a popular nightclub which did not sit kindly to the men’s outward effeminate displays.

The recent murders as well is still fresh in the minds of some and all the other ones we might be aware of and those we may never hear of as well, the downtown populations as well have been going through stuff as well.

Meanwhile here is an audio post on recent killings and so on:

Big Lies, Crisis Archiving & More MSM Homlessness Issues 12.07.12

The Club Matter – Unprofessional Police Behaviour Must Stop

The following appeared in the Gleaner recently and I am not comfortable with the editor’s decision to call the writer a disappointed scammer as if to suggest the persons held at the recent raid in St Ann at a birthday event were all scammers in attendance. This has the looks of a certain Superintendent last year who castigated the gay community as scammers hence leading to an apology that came from the police high command.

Aren’t persons innocent until proven guilty?

Why did an entire event had to be shut down just to find supposed scammers?

Do the cops have a clear idea of who they are actually looking for? it doesnt seem so to me

I feel that the community is being used as scapegoats as well in a vieled homophobic move, yes there maybe guilty parties amongst the LGBT community but why broad brush an entire set of patrons at an event?

Here is the letter to the paper non the less, see what you make of it.

The Editor Sir:

I FEEL moved to give a detainee’s response to your article of Sunday, July 8, 2012 titled ‘Scammers party in drag’. It certainly appeared to have been an intelligence-driven operation as the raid was conducted with the support of the army. Further, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Leon Clunis came and hand-picked the persons who, in my view, he came for in the first place. For the record, this numbered fewer than 10 and all other persons were released. If this was in fact intelligence-driven, why then were all the 100-plus persons detained and transported to the station for “processing”? Was it a ‘name-and-shame’ moment? SSP Clunis did instruct persons not to hide from the cameras.

I find that rather interesting as the senior superintendent was the one insisting that persons should not hide and, in fact, instructed persons to stand up and remove the covering from their heads. I recall him saying, “Why unu a hide, unu fi proud a weh unu be.” Ok, so he is not interested; for what purpose then was he facilitating the photographing and videotaping of the individuals to the extent that he was using/abusing his authority to instruct persons not to hide from the camera? Why then were the officers asking individuals questions like, what role do you play? Do your parents know that you are gay?

Operational protocol

Mr Commissioner, does operational protocol allow for aspects of operations to be videotaped by police personnel? I ask this because, according to SSP Clunis, the police is not interested in one’s sexuality or sexual preference, yet an officer armed with a camcorder and flashlight took video footage of the persons lying on the ground in the building.

I must commend the few officers (from both the JDF and the JCF) who acted in a professional manner throughout the operation. I recall seeing the disgust on one officer’s face at the manner in which another officer was behaving. It would appear, though, that the senior superintendent and his team need to better review operational procedures and ensure that all members of the team understand what these are, as well as what their individual roles are in the process.

Our police force needs to move away from media hypes and focus on real crime fighting.

DISAPPOINTED SCAMMER

Jaysean97@hotmail.com

Editor’s Note: The pen name, “Disappointed Scammer” was inserted by the editor because the letter writer requested anonymity.

Meanwhile

A proprietor of a nightclub in St Ann who was hauled before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on Friday for fraud was granted $150,000 bail.

He is Lorindo Powell from Kingston 13, who has been charged with conspiracy to defraud, obtaining money by means of false defence, conspiracy to defraud, possession of criminal property and involving in transaction that includes criminal property.

Powell is to return to court on September 6, when the matter will be mentioned for plea and case management hearing.

Allegations are that the accused conspired with other persons and defrauded a 75-year-old woman in the United States of several thousand dollars.

The court heard that the accused told the victim that she won US$5 million and she was to send money to him to process her winnings.

Sexual orientation

In applying for bail, Powell’s attorney told the court that his client desperately needs bail as he was beaten by other inmates while being detained because of his sexual orientation.

“Your Honour, I went to look for the accused while he was detained and the amount of “blanks” that were fired at me, if those were live rounds I would have been a dead man today,” the attorney told the court jokingly.

As a condition of Powell’s bail, he is to surrender his travel documents and report to the Hunts Bay Police Station on Mondays and Thursdays between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

CARICOM heads of government urged to strengthen sexual rights

CARICOM heads of government urged to strengthen sexual rights

Regional civil society organizations have called on the Caribbean Community heads of government at their July 4-6 summit in St Lucia to implement an Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) that every state supported last month.

They were also urged to fully join the Inter-American human rights system, according to a press release from the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC) yesterday.

CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action), CariFLAGS (Caribbean Forum for Liberation and Acceptance of Genders and Sexualities) and the CVC were joined by NGOs, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) in Guyana, and United and Strong in St. Lucia, where the meeting is being held.

The annual OAS SOGI resolution has been supported by every Caribbean state for the past five years, the release stated.

Among several other actions, this year’s text calls on member states to “consider, within the parameters of the legal institutions of their domestic systems, adopting public policies against discrimination by reason of sexual orientation and gender identity” and to “consider signing, ratifying, or acceding to, as the case may be, the inter-American human rights instruments”. “Other citizens in the Americas have all these human rights protections guaranteed by Inter-American regional instruments and mechanisms that millions of CARICOM citizens simply do not enjoy,” SASOD’s Joel Simpson noted.

The release said further that SASOD helped to pressure the Guyana government through the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process to undertake a national consultation on whether the state should continue to criminalize cross-dressing, and same-sex intimacy between consulting adult men in private.

“One has to wonder how committed our leaders are when the region is so underdeveloped in terms of human rights. Human rights protections are part of citizen security. We live in countries in the hemisphere where the state’s local protective mechanisms are the weakest and indicators of inequality, like access to justice and HIV rates, are the worst. And our citizens don’t enjoy recourse to regional bodies when our local protections fail,” Simpson stated.

Meanwhile, the advocates also protested CARICOM’s marginalization of civil society participation in regional governance and demanded a greater voice in contributing to the future of the Caribbean.

“CARICOM doesn’t yet have the simplest structures for routine civil society participation, unlike most other regional institutions,” said Trinidad-based Colin Robinson, who is leading the private-public partnership to develop a region-wide human rights advocacy network CariFLAGS.

CariFLAGS leaders include NGOs in Antigua, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The advocates noted, however, that PANCAP (the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS), is one of the few regional mechanisms that has genuinely sought to include civil society in its governance.

CARICOM’s Head for Human Resources, Health and HIV/AIDS, St. Kitts-Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas just last week “endorsed a new complementarity in mission between the new Caribbean Public Health Agency and PANCAP, with the latter sharpening its focus on human rights, vulnerability and social justice, the release added.

“If we’re serious about PANCAP’s commitment to human rights, what we are asking are these two concrete steps by Heads of Government to express that,” said St. Flavia Cherry of the St. Lucia-based CAFRA, which is also campaigning to strengthen protection of sexual and reproductive rights regionally.

See more Here:

COALITION OF LGBTTTI ORGANIZATIONS WORKING IN THE OAS CELEBRATE THE APPROVAL OF THE FIFTH RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY

The Coalition of LGBTTTI Latin American and Caribbean organizations, formed by groups belonging to more than 23 countries expresses in this communiqué its assessment of the activities of the 42nd General Assembly of the Organization of American States, which took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia on June 3^rd-5^th, 2012.

Lesbianism in Schools talk continues …….

So recently two main articles have appeared in the Gleaner firstly since the original lesbian coercers issue raised its head again, here is a caption on Dr Heather Little White’s take on the issue albeit here article was only available in hard copy in the Outlook Magazine on March 25 entitled: Lesbianism among schoolgirls ..

She wrote in part: RECENT REPORTS of aggressive lesbian students terrorising younger girls in some Corporate Area high schools have shocked parents and school officials. One may ask why parents and school officials should be distraught when the provision of sexuality education is limited in the home and school. Sex education for girls tends to warn mainly against pregnancy and to a lesser extent sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and often ignores the wider issues such as same-sex relationships, incest, sexual slavery, child prostitution and gender identity, among others. 

THE LESBIAN TERM 

The term ‘lesbian’ dates back to ancient Greece through a tragic story of an early Greek female poet Sappho who supervised a school for girls on the island of Lesbos in 600 BC. Sappho fell in love with one of the girls who did not respond to her romantic advances. Sappho took the rejection badly and drowned herself at sea.Sappho’s legacy was a rich collection of love poems written to women as well as men, thus making her an early example of bisexuality. The term lesbian evolved in reference to the island of Lesbos where Sappho was born. It has been suggested that Sappho’s relationships did not include any overt sexual relations and that female homosexuality was common on the island of Lesbos.

CONTINUE HERE 

Now in Sundays Edition of the same paper comes another article using the same photo of the women that is seen in the scanned caption above in a piece entitiled: “Sexual-Bullying Policy Needed In Schools” disturbingly the caption someone at the Gleaner decided to use under the photo was “Children in schools are being bullied for their homosexual orientation, as depicted in this photograph of a lesbian couple.” The article also seeks to evoke reparative therapy as well as a way to treat or in effect punish the so called perpetrators or coercers while unethically making the link to the widely held belive that homosexuals try to homosexualize others so to speak.

The article reads: 

JUST WHEN one thought all the factors negatively affecting and impacting Jamaica’s education system have been analysed, another form of impediment has reared its ugly head, that of sexual bullying. Sexual bullying involves comments, jokes, actions, or attention that is intended to hurt, offend, or intimidate another person. It is more common than we think, and it affects pupils in both single-sex high schools and co-educational high schools alike.

As with any form of bullying, the perpetrator seeks out that individual who is considered the weakest among the pack. Sexually bullying is no different. This form of harassment is usually seen more often in high schools as against primary schools. The focus of sexual bullying is on body parts, as well as the victim’s appearance and or perceived sexual orientation. Boys can harass members of the opposite sex as well as members of their same sex. Girls can harass members of their same sex and even members of the opposite sex, although I suspect the later is not as common as the others in our society. Adults can sexually harass children also.

Sexual orientation has to do with whom one mostly finds sexually and romantically attractive. A girl who gets crushes or who is sexually attracted to a member of the same sex may consider herself lesbian.

As a society, we have always operated in a hypocritical and paradoxical nature regarding sexual orientation. We have always viewed lesbians more favourably than gays, despite the fact that Jamaica is seen and considered by the outside world as a highly homophobic society.

As a nation we have failed our young people in terms of providing good role models. Our parenting skills leave much to be desired. A significant number of our children live in dysfunctional family units. Single-family female-headed households are now the norm. This, in itself, is the genesis of most of the problems/issues affecting the Jamaican family today. A working single female cannot adequately supervise her children, especially if she does not have the financial resources to employ a helper to assist her. The breakdown of the concept of the extended family is quickly disappearing from the Jamaican family. Many fathers’ names do not appear on the birth certificate of their children. The absence of our fathers in the rearing of our children, especially our boys, continue to add stress to the family structure. Our children no longer attend Sunday and or Sabbath schools. The moral teachings the church provides is, therefore, absent. The teaching of religious education as subject is quickly dying; this was also another avenue for moral teachings in our schools. Sunday is now a day for horse racing and other forms of entertainment. Additionally, our crude and sexually-laced popular culture, namely dancehall music, also adds to the destruction path we are on.

abandonment of values

Our proximity to North America and the influx and influence of subscriber television (cable television) are all factors which have greatly contributed to the abandonment of old values and good family life practices to that of new questionable values. As we become more sophisticated and modern, pornography has become more rampant in the society. Sexting” is now the norm rather than the exception for many teenagers. This is one way in which gossip, and sexually laced comments may be spread to destroy people’s self-esteem and character, especially in a relatively small space such of that of a school.

Therefore, we should not be surprised that our children are now experimenting with sexual diversity in this digital era we now live in. Children receive formal and informal messages about their gender identity from a multitude of sources. Some of which are families, peers, communities and, of course, the media. Your gender identity is who you feel as if you are on the inside (male, female, both, neither, flexible) While your gender expression has to do with how your act on the outside, that is, how you walk, talk, sit, dress and so on. Both gender identity and gender expression impact whether one sees him/herself as more masculine than feminine or vice versa. This always impacts how other individuals see and respond to you.

We can almost be sure that the problem highlighted at the specific Corporate Area all-girls school is not unique to that institution. All our educational institutions, co-educational and same-sex, are dealing with similar issues.

What can and should be done? The first line of defence against sexually bullying is the Ministry of Education, and as such, the Ministry of Education needs to take the lead in setting policies to address the issue of sexual bullying. A sexual-harassment policy or a bullying policy should be put in place to clearly inform all stakeholders that this type of behaviour is unacceptable. This policy should also outline the sanctions and penalties that will be applied if anyone decides to go ahead and bully another person. Clearly, we need to address the wider issue which presents itself. The wider issue here is our unwillingness to have a mature and frank discussion with all stakeholders regarding sexual orientation as a human-rights issue. By now, we should realise that by by ignoring or wishing the problem to go away has not worked and will not work.

therapy to change

Clearly, these students are in need of much therapy and counselling. Many experts believe one can change one’s sexual orientation through therapy. Our guidance counsellors are well-trained professionals and, therefore, their services should be made available to those troubled students as well as their parents. The perpetrators of the lesbian attacks should be asked to withdraw from school until they have sought counselling. By allowing them to remain at the school, we are sending the wrong message, not only to the victims of their attack, but the wider school community.

Counselling should also be provided to the victims of such sexual attacks. Maybe a change of school would also be in the best interest of those students. To remain at the school may only serve as a reminder of the horrible and horrific ordeal they experienced.

Additionally, administrators must be more vigilant in terms of what takes place at their school. After all these incidents occurred at the school. Measures must be put in place to have some sort of supervision and monitoring of what takes place on school grounds, regardless of the time of the day.

We should also encourage our children to speak out whenever they have been abused and or threatened.

Schools could and should create bathroom messages that emphasise that no one has the right to abuse and or invade another person space, this by itself will not prevent some students, so a list of teachers to contact would have be most useful also.

The Ministry of Education could also have workshops for teachers to remind and expose them to the rights of children. By so doing, teachers will be better able to assist wherever the need presents itself. We could and should incorporate all the agencies of the state that work with children, as well, in this fight.

preventative measures

It is quite possible the events of recent times can serve to strengthen our Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) and provide avenues for them to find creative measures to improve the security of schools in which they operate, such as investing in high-tech security measures. Maybe more PTAs could install surveillance cameras at central points to ensure that their children, especially those in the lower grades, are adequately supervised after hours. Maybe they could employ additional security guards to bolster the existing security; this may just serve as a deterrent to the predators. The truth is these older girls have become predators.

Our schools should be a safe place for teaching and learning. No one should be bullied, preyed upon, whether sexually and or physically. Our schools must reclaim what they once were; a clean and protected environment for all to fully maximise their potential.

Wayne Campbell is an educator and gender-rights advocate waykam@yahoo.com. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.

ENDS

I tend to agree with the first comment made on the newspaper’s site which read as follows:

It’s as if this article was written to create more confusion and to further cloud readers’ judgement. 

The caption on the picture says “Children in school are being bullied for their sexual orientation, as depicted in this photo of a lesbian couple”. Now, it really says a lot about the quality of the newstaff at this newspaper that a person can look at a picture of two hands entwined and SEE children being bullied.Then, a so-called “gender-rights advocate” can call for children to be sent to counseling so that their sexual orientation can be changed:Many experts believe one can change one’s sexual orientation through therapy. Our guidance counsellors are well-trained professionals and, therefore, their services should be made available to those troubled students as well as their parents. The perpetrators of the lesbian attacks should be asked to withdraw from school until they have sought counselling” Apparently those “well-trained” counselors were not doing their jobs properly to have let these “troubled” students get to the point of harassing their fellow students.

Something really has got to be done about how much prejudice and selective misreading of research is allowed to pass for informed critique in this newspaper. 

Brother pleads with UK Government to halt lesbian sister’s deportation …………..

According to the voice in the UK a Jamaican woman is to face deportation but she is a member of the same gender loving community women seem to have had issues in gaining asylum overall although we cannot judge so easily as each case has to be taken on its own merit but seeing that men who have sex with men are more vulnerable to homophobic violence in Jamaica they have far more cases pending, successful and deportations than the women do.

However as I have tried to point out before there has been a sharp increase in lesbophobic violence to include the previously thought African phenomenon of corrective rape, forced evictions and displacements.

Have a read of the item from the Voice first excerpted below:

‘My Sister Will Be Killed If She Is Sent Back To Jamaica’

A WEST YORKSHIRE man says his lesbian sister will be killed if she is sent back to Jamaica and is urging immigration officials to reconsider a decision to deport her.

Nestfield Lopez, 24, from Leeds, told The Voice that homophobia in the Caribbean country is rife and claims that his sibling will be targeted because of her sexuality.

He said: ”We all know what Jamaicans think of gays.”

“We’ve got terrorists here that are making suicide bombs. They’ve been in prison, they come out and they can’t deport them because of human rights. What about her human rights? That’s the frustrating thing about it,” he continued.

His sister, 22-year-old, Coletane Lopez, was detained by the UK Border Agency on March 20 after her human rights application was denied.

Acting on legal advice, she had gone to Lunar House in Croydon, Surrey, where immigration claims are processed, to seek asylum for protection, but was handcuffed and transferred to Yarl’s Wood Detention Centre in Bedfordshire, where she is currently awaiting deportation.

Mr Lopez, who was unaware that his sister was gay until last December, has begun a petition to stop the process but claims her health is deteriorating day by day.

“We had a visit with her and she’s lost loads of weight. She hasn’t been eating.

She’s been worried. At one point she wanted to commit suicide. She said I’m going to kill myself because if I get sent home, I’m going to get killed anyway.”

Her deportation has been placed in the fast track system, which means she can be removed from the country within four to seven days of her case being decided.

The siblings first came to the UK with their family in 2000. Last year their parents were removed and sent back to Jamaica, but Mr Lopez, who is married with two young children, has been granted the right to remain because his partner is a British national.

Mr Lopez says that his sister will have nowhere to go if she is returned to Jamaica because even his parents refuse to accept his sister because of her sexuality.

He said: “Every time I speak to my dad, we have an argument. He says, ‘have you not thrown her out yet? Don’t give her any money and don’t look after her. You should choke her and kill her’. That’s what he’s saying to me. I’m like, ‘that’s your daughter!’ But he says, ‘Oh no. I don’t have no daughter anymore. That’s what I have to deal with!”

The Voice contacted the UK Border Agency for their response. A spokesperson said: “We do not routinely comment on individual cases.”

ENDS

In continuing on the issue of displacements for SGL women due to lesbophobia women by virtue of being more social creatures in the Jamaican context easily find informal hosting services within the community or with family members as some cases have shown as lesbianism is tolerated locally than male homosexuality. Sadly in this case as excerpted above shows there maybe a serious cause for concerns and as I said above each case has to be taken on its own merit but we must also remember the reputation Jamaica on a whole has in places like the United Kingdom where we have flouted rules, committed crimes and so on.

Our cases are treated with far more scrutiny based on my limited experience with the border agency in times gone by but how do we assist persons who legitimately need to leave the island due to threats against their person?

We have seen successful cases on the other hand such as a sister who was bipolar some years ago who was brutally raped several times over by thugs (including a cousin allegedly) in her inner city community with what seemed to be tacit support from other thugs in the area at the time, she was successful however in gaining asylum in the UK in 2010, another sister who was threatened with arson of her flat in another area due to her butch mystique as it were as she wore masculine clothes and was clearly a gender non conformist given the scheme of things.

And as for advocacy for same gender loving women in Jamaica well that is much to be desired with groups such as JFLAG and a smaller outfit known as Women for Women (WFW) but since male homosexuality and the attendant issues are engaged far more with a view to repealing the buggery law which is understandable women’s issues get glossed over even in the face of the aforementioned increases in violence and stigma to sgl women especially the members or self identified butches who are seen as a threat to men in Jamaica as they are accused of taking away women from over machismo worshipping men.

We hope there is a follow up on this story so we can know the outcome of this case and how the sister is fearing out.

Additional reading from a previous post on sister blog GLBTQJA on Blogger:
Jamaica lesbians suffer from under-reported violence but whose fault is that ???

here are two pieces of audio commentary I had done in 2011 also expressing concerns about the inequality in the handling of same gender loving women’s issues versus msms and the murder of two lesbians late last year as well:

Lesbian issues left out of the Jamaican advocacy thrust until now? 

plus

2 SGL WOMEN LOST, CORRECTIVE RAPE & VIRTUAL SILENCE FROM THE MALE DOMINATED ADVOCACY STRUCTURE

Peace and tolerance

H

More Homo Negative News: Gay Tenants anger neighbours ………….

Following on the recent problems at the new Mass Camp venue and the current carnival/soca season with supposed unruly gay men allegedly gyrating on each other in public and dancing the latest feminine dancehall moves has come news of cohabitation issues which after some research has included members of the displaced populations that I have repeatedly on this blog and others expressed concerns about, the fallout has become public yet again.

Also see from GLBTQJA on Blogger:  Homo-negativity in public: So called Unruly gays chased from party (as captioned in the cartoon)

First take a look at the comprehensive report by the Star News (far more detailed and seemingly well written than previous gay themed entries from the tabloid) as published March 22, 2012:

A group of tenants who reside at an apartment complex in upper St Andrew are hoping to be rescued from the presence of a group of homosexual occupants who they say are menacing.

“Everybody in yah a complain,” an exasperated tenant explained to THE STAR.

The residents, who were evidently frustrated, told our news team that they have reached boiling point, and can no longer live among the six effeminate males who they say reside in an apartment which is designated to accommodate only two persons.

Furthermore, the tenant’s point of the number of occupants living in an apartment at any given time limited to two persons was substantiated by a clause in a document which illustrates the rules of living in the apartment complex, titled , The Rules of the Proprietors’ Strata Plan.

THE STAR was issued a copy of the document which outlined in Clause No. Nine that studio apartments are not to be occupied by more than two persons on a permanent basis.

Meanwhile, tenants say they want something to be done immediately because they can no longer stomach the distasteful activities of the six.

“Dem(JPS) cut off them light and NWC cut off dem water so a inna the washroom them a bathe and a carry back water to dem apartment,” one resident explained.

He added how upset he is with the practice of his neighbours using the washroom as a makeshift bathroom because it is a central point for laundry for all occupants of the apartment.

” From dem start bathe in deh … nobody no go back in deh go wash cause we no know weh dem have ” he added.

Additionally, THE STAR was told that the men walk about throughout the apartment dressed in female underwear having no consideration for others who may find the sight disturbing.

contraband

Furthermore, the tenants allege that the six are also frequent smokers of marijuana and continue to use the contraband even though it is a health hazard to non-smokers.

“Is just ganja dem smoke, ganja, ganja, ganja and we can’t take it,” another annoyed resident outlined.

Interestingly, the document also clearly states in Clause No. Three that the apartment is to be used for residential purposes only and should not be used for any purpose which may be illegal or injurious to the reputation of the complex.

The residents told THE STAR that they have written several letters documenting their concerns to the landlady but nothing has been done to date to address the matter even though Clause No. 18 supports their right to illustrate their grouses.

The clause reads, landlords to whom malpractice’s of tenants are reported by management are expected to take disciplinary action, including dismissal of the tenants if the offence warrants this.

All attempts to contact the landlady proved futile.

Meanwhile, THE STAR sought legal advice from attorney-at-law Marjorie Shaw about the actions, if any, that could be taken by the tenants against their neighbours.

Shaw explained that under the Rent Restriction Act, the annoyed occupants could not take action without the cooperation of the landlady.

“In order for the landlord to remove the tenants,they would have to issue them with a notice to quit the property, and issue them one month’s rental notice,” she said. Nonetheless, she outlined that the distraught tenants would have to seek abatement by putting forward a claim of nuisance before the court. “It will fall upon the occupants of the apartment to get relief on a basis of nuisance,” she said.

ENDS

There is some truth to this one this time around as some of the occupants of the apartment as indicated in my introduction were aligned to and were a part of the displaced and homeless msm communities who have since found some hosting assistance from friends, this set of problems could very well be attributed to the disturbing and continued lack of concern for solutions by the lgbt advocacy structures around this section of our population. This is not the first time we have had incidents and newspaper/tabloid reports of behavioural issues by msms in residential areas leading to fallout. Just some months ago we saw the public detention on television on men in a St Catherine scheme and another incident just under a month now in the Syndenham area where some men who shared a house and who also hosted friends were forcibly evicted by the owner and other neighbours as complaints came of noise, ganja smoking and what was described other anti social behaviour.

Certainly we have to take a serious look at this recurring decimal especially when it involves more street savy members of our community who are used to a certain modus operandi versus those who host them at rented flats and houses, the combination is not working out well in our favour in the long run as it gives license I believe to anti gay action, homo-negativity and subsequently homophobia. Also the problem of profiling is well established here just by the report, how do we know that all the alleged gays are indeed gay, we have had instances where heterosexual friends or even family members also share living space with gay persons and are quite tolerant but they get grouped as gay when trouble hits. The issue of other tenants refusing to use the wash-room albeit if the allegations are true that the men use the area as a make shift bathroom suggesting the men have HIV hence the scorn element comes in.

Talk on the street is the men should be evicted as they are nasty and the usual anti gay sentiments, here is another example of where we need to improve living conditions for lgbt people and execising proper restraint or decorum in order to exist peacefully. Sometimes we make it bad for ourselves too I must admit. Some influentials are trying to see what they can do with regards to this situation.

Peace and tolerance

H

Alleged Lesbian Coercers in school – Should Get Proper Help – Expert ………

In a follow up to an explosive story being pushed as if the teenaged same sex active females are predators by a previous Gleaner story at a prominent high school has come a response by the paper quoting some suggestions by experts on how to handle the perceived problem, what is instructive is the seeming panic and paranoia setting in yet when initiation and perceived abuses happens in coed institutions and in full view of the public as we see everyday the experts, school and principal bodies and administrations were quiet all these years as they continued but as soon as the “homosexual problem’ turns up everyone cries wolf.

What hypocrisy, one wonders if it weren’t a prominent high school we would be having this fear masked as concern? look through the smoke people and decide for yourselves. Isolated incidents should not be presented as a wide practice by same gender loving people.

Here is the article from today’s Gleaner:

Girls Should Get Proper Help – Expert

Nadisha Hunter, Gleaner Staff Reporter

At least one expert is advising that professional help should be given to the younger girls who were victims of sexual attacks by their older schoolmates at some schools as the issue could have a major psychological impact on the students’ lives.

Psychologist Dr Karen Richards told The Gleaner yesterday that action should also be taken against the perpetrators highlighted last week at an all-girls school in the Corporate Area, as the attacks should not be taken lightly.

“Counselling and some form of professional intervention should be made available should the child be willing to engage. The parents may need some input, helping them to know how best to deal with it and the individual child might need some support,” Richard said.

“We can’t excuse these practices as just kids together establishing their boundaries, having fun. No, these are assaults and these are things that you could never do in a workplace, you could never do out there on the streets without finding yourself in trouble with the law and the law therefore must reflect that to these children,” she argued.

Rite of passage

In explaining the behaviour of the students involved in the act, Richards said the youths are at an age where there is often a rite of passage.

“The students use the activity to prove themselves as worthy by submitting the most to this abuse. It is really a rite of passage to belong to the group. You have got to suffer and those in the group determine what kind of suffering those out of the group must go through in order to be a part of the group,” she said.

Richards said she has had cases where children have been sexually assaulted by older children but the cases had to be examined carefully as oftentimes the perpetrators have themselves been victims of sexual abuse.

In the meantime, the Paediatric Association of Jamaica said assistance must be provided for the students involved because, as adolescents make the often difficult transition into adulthood, they have many developmental issues to face, one of which is developing their sexual identity and learning how to have age-appropriate relationships.

Experimental behaviours

“During middle adolescence (approximately 14-16 years of age) in particular, many adolescents as they try to understand themselves, may become involved in experimental behaviours with either the opposite or the same sex.

“During this time, adolescents can benefit tremendously from the presence of understanding adults who can appropriately guide them as they make choices, and help them to learn from their decisions,” the association said.

The group recommended the creation of an open forum to foster useful discussion and solutions for the students.

“This may benefit adolescents who find themselves uncertain with respect to their sexuality and earnestly seeking some kind of guidance in what can be a really difficult time,” the group added.

The association said it was the responsibility of the state, school and parent-teachers association when they accept the care of the children to provide a safe environment.

“This would allow our children to mature, and achieve their full potential to the benefit of themselves, their families and the nation. The vulnerable must be protected and the perpetrators counselled and healed,” the group added.

nadisha.hunter@gleanerjm.com

ENDS

I am pleased however someone mentioned the experimental stage and rites of passage as I hinted to in layman’s terms in my previous posts since the story broke both HERE and on my sister blog GLBTQ Jamaica on Blogger, see
Principal Association to address “lesbian issue” in prominent high school.

In talks with a qualified psychologist in the community yesterday she suggested that she was concerned the girls were being placed in a light of being predators she also said “  ……if you’re trying to fuel and poison the environment against lesbians, then suggesting that they’re abnormal, freakish and need to be punished via the law or even kicked out of school is the way to go.”

She proposed that  what needs to happen “is a very frank conversation with girls about their sexualities. Children are not taught about why coercion and violence is not ok in the first place. They learn that it is thru how they see adults interacting. So there’s no reason for most to see that “holding someone down” is not fun and games, but violence. They also don’t know how to respect and protect themselves at the same time. 

So when a topic is made taboo, it means that the obnoxious kids get even more power from rebelling and from making everyone afraid. 

I think the situation is somewhat exaggerated but also complicated. I suspect that some of the girls are afraid of “lesbians” because of what they hear around them. And some of the girls who are not lesbians but who are harassing the others are just bullies. The way people tell stories is very confused and you have to ask the right questions to get at what really happened. For the principals to call in the authorities shows how stupid and prejudiced they are; they want to punish the girls for being “out of order” ie. homoreotic behaviour. Look how long it takes for any principal to act on the boys feeling up and being inappropriate with girls!!!

It’s just amazing to me how students AND staff at a school can be so clueless about adolescent development and how to solve conflicts. Tells me that the content of education is definitely lacking all around.”

A similar suggestion I had questioned in my blogger post linked above.  I think this issue and sexuality in general needs to be looked at squarely at the Ministry of Education policy level devoid of panic and fear but while cognisant of the possibility of sexual abuse indeed.

 Children’s advocate Diane Gordon Harrison

Meanwhile the Office of the Children’s Advocate OCA in a release said they have grave concerns about younger girls being preyed upon by older ones, the prevalence of homosexuality has serious implications, they continued that while the newspaper article spoke to the problem in all girls schools it is concerned about anecdotal mention of homosexual activity in all boys schools such sexual behaviours exposes children to serious implications which they may not be aware of, the Children’s advocate Diane Gordon Harrison says there needs to be a public education campaign to sensitize children to these risks, there are legal implications and consequences that can flow when students engage other students in sexual activity.

They also are recommending an open discussion on sexual activity in schools by stakeholders and some form of policy imperative to follow.

Way back in 2006 allegations were that adult lesbians were visiting schools and at that time the JFLAG representative was reported to have said that no disciplinary action should be taken against the gay girls. “They should counsel them if this is what they are, but advise them that certain things are prohibited.”

However, the JFLAG repre-sentative condemned the actions of lesbians who are allegedly visiting the campuses and openly displaying their orientation.

“No one should do that. You can’t stay on the premises and do that. I don’t agree with older women going onto the campus to entice girls to do whatever with them.”

However, she said that if that is being allowed to happen on campus, school security is not performing up to par.

She disclosed that her organisation approached several schools “to give information and seminars, but they wouldn’t have it.” She believes that if permission were granted to stage the seminars, the girls would be better able to deal with the uncomfortable situation.

see: Lesbians in schools – Growing number of homosexuals in Corporate Area all girls’ high schools  

and also see High school girls gone gay!   

also see a previous post on Homosexuality in schools in St Lucia where a similar set or circumstances presented themselves with lesbian activity in a high school and how mature the response was: Homosexuality in schools in St. Lucia

Peace and tolerance

H

Dr. Orville Taylor on “The Gays Already Won”

The following is an “In Focus” contributed piece to the Gleaner by talk show host and UWI lecturer Dr Orville Taylor

Hello, JFJ! The Gays Already Won

I am not a betting man, but I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that my friend Damion Crawford will be flabbergasted to know that Parliament that he has now joined has already done what he thinks it won’t. Never mind the Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) activists who are still so deafened by their own clarion that they don’t recognise what is in front of them. Well, let me release the puss from the bag right now. Parliament has already agreed to decriminalise buggery.

At a recent event, Crawford, speaking with his usual youthful candour, suggested that despite the statistical likelihood that Parliament, based on a normal distribution, should have gay parliamentarians, it would not anytime soon move to legalise homosexual behaviour. Carefully toeing the line given that his locks are not simply fashion and Rastafari ‘fire bun’ on that ‘livity’ from Sodom and Gomorrah, he made it clear that there are many other things to preoccupy ourselves about than other persons’ sexuality. Good answer.

Let’s make it clear, however, that there is a difference between decriminalising and endorsing it. Decriminalisation would merely mean that consenting adults, Adam and Steve, can do whatever they please behind doors. It absolutely doesn’t mean that they can parade on the beach naked or have the homosexual equivalent of sex outdoors. There is an ‘L’ of a difference between pubic and public.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, in 2008, made the bold statement on BBC that he would not have known homosexuals in his Cabinet, with the now-famous “not in my Cabinet” comment. His Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has not wavered. Since he stepped away from the party, stalwart Member of Parliament (MP) Daryl Vaz more than hinted that he was not in support of having practising gays in his party or government. Furthermore, flash-in-the-pan Prime Minister Andrew Holness did nothing to demonstrate a movement away from the Golding doctrine.

pinocchio test failed

However, we must be mindful that much of what the JLP’s officers have spoken about has failed the Pinocchio test. Indeed, the same party hired a law firm which acts on behalf of governments and denied the existence and usage of an American aircraft, even though it was in plain sight, and then did an about-face within 24 hours, to the chagrin of former Security Minister Dwight Nelson.

In 2009, MP Ernest Smith blurted out in Parliament, “I am very concerned that homosexuals in Jamaica have become so brazen, they’ve formed themselves into organisations and are abusive, violent and … [what the] Ministry of National Security must look into is why is it that so many homosexuals are licensed firearm holders?”

Yet, just weeks later, he was defending a client charged with buggery and managed to secure for him a non-custodial sentence. But then again, he already has a lengthy proboscis like the puppet boy. Thus, like his client, honesty and truth also escaped without being made to spend a night in in the ‘Jail P’.

On the other hand, perhaps demonstrating why the seven-day rule is now being enforced, then leader of the Opposition, People’s National Party (PNP) President Portia Simpson Miller, unequivocally said she would appoint persons on the basis of ability, even if they were gay. Furthermore, while declaring that she had no interest in the bedrooms of her ministers, she felt that the buggery laws should be reviewed. Nevertheless, she would leave it up to Parliament to make the vote.

The $222-million question is: who will bell the cat? Crawford doesn’t think any one of the 63, including himself, would be so bold as to bring the motion to Parliament. And PNP officers and Portiapologists tried to make the case that she did not say she would change the law.

Nonsense! Having declared that she would appoint gays to her Cabinet, she already has implied that she believes that the behaviour should no longer be criminal, given that no person who is guilty of a felony can sit in Parliament. Therefore, the only way she could honestly appoint a known gay to her Cabinet is if she is committed to change the law.

But guess what? She doesn’t have to.

Eleven months ago, Parliament unanimously agreed on the Charter of Rights which now replaces Chapter III of the Constitution. All 51 persons present in Parliament in April 2011, including the vociferous Vaz, who shouted “unity is strength”, voted to insert the charter. Previously, under Section 24, there was freedom from discrimination on a number of grounds, such as: “respective descriptions by race, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed … “.

Sex not included

Notice! Sex is not one of the characteristics which protected a person against discriminatory treatment. And by sex is meant the physical characteristics that distinguish between males and females, not behaviour, and certainly not the choice of partner.

Feminists might have had issues with this exclusion, but there were a number of positive biases towards women. These included the burden of maintenance and primary custody of children, and in the workplace, a protective law, still on the books today, which prevents women from being subject to the hazards of working at night. Incredibly, the prime minister is working illegally under the Women (Employment of) Act of 1956, which outlaws women working more than 10 hours in any one day.

Now, the Charter of Rights, in Section 13 (3) (i), guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination on the grounds of “being male or female“, and Section 13 (2) (b) states, “Parliament shall pass no law and no organ of the State shall take any action which abrogates, abridges or infringes those rights.“

Committees comprising some of the most brilliant legal minds, K.D. Knight, Delroy Chuck, Ronnie Thwaites, Ossie Harding, A.J. Nicholson and Dorothy Lightbourne, as well as non-lawyers, began the work in 1999 which led to the final charter being passed.

Now the cover is blown. Buggery, which is ‘anuphile’ penile penetration, is addressed by Section 76 of the Offences against the Person Act, which is still on the books. It states, “Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal, shall be liable to be imprisoned … .” Thus, only men can be ‘buggers’, although women, men and even animals can be ‘buggees’. Furthermore, nothing criminalises female-to-female sexual contact.

unconstitutional

So, since only male homosexuality is criminal, Section 76 is unconstitutional and, if taken to court, will be struck out. Maybe my non-legal mind might have misunderstood the lessons I learned from my law lecturer in Cave Hill, but did I notice something that the above-mentioned legal geniuses missed? No chance, I am not that brilliant. The gentlemen and ladies in Parliament and the Senate knew exactly what they were doing. A Parliament which housed other lawyers knew about the impact of constitutional changes and existing legislation. This is taught in the first year of the law programme.

So, dear readers, whatever might have been the religious orientation of the Parliament in 2011, they knew what they were doing but acted like Pontius Pilate. But, of course, the easy way is to allow someone from J-FLAG or JFJ to challenge the act as being contrary to the Constitution, which they might have already started

Thus, Damion may flash his locks in astonishment, but as Grammada used to say in her colourful Patois, “Di ass dun gaan choo di gate aready.”

Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in sociology at the UWI and a radio talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com