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March 10, 2008
JFLAG Co-Chair 'calls for love'
Gareth Henry, who was until January 2008, the co-chair for the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (JFLAG), filed a refugee claim in Canada recently.
Henry, who reported to Xtra that his memories of violence and brutality are too painful to dwell on, launched the 'Call For Love' campaign in Canada, on Valentines Day this year.
Calling for the protection of queers in Jamaica, the campaign mirrors like initiatives around the world and was introduced in Toronto, Canada by PRIDE, Egale Canada and the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto. A wreath was delivered to the Jamaican Consulate in Toronto as part of the launch activities; in memory of those queers murdered on the island.
"I came to Canada on January 26, basically fleeing for my life," Henry told Xtra. He was initially invited to be this year's international grand marshal for Toronto's Pride celebration in June, but intensified and increasing threats on his own life, forced him to leave Jamaica early.
Henry, 30, who had been at the lead of JFLAG for 10 years had grown accustomed to harassment and even beatings, often at the hands of police, but in November 2007 he became devastated as he received one more threat close to his gated community home.
"I was stopped in traffic when a man got out of his car and came over to me and said, 'Gareth, we know who you are and we're going to kill you and burn JFLAG down. "I was really devastated by that threat," he says.
"I went for the very first time to live with my partner. But I didn't want to get him in trouble so I was basically living in solitary confinement. I was living in fear. I was being totally crippled by fear. If I heard someone on the outside I could not sleep. I said to myself, "Nobody should live this way. I'm not in prison. I need to break free.' I had exhausted all possible options."
As part of the 'Call For Love' campaign launch, a letter was also delivered to the Jamaican Consulate in Toronto. It pleaded with the Jamaican Government to ensure police, "uphold their sworn duty to equally protect and serve all Jamaican citizens." Valentines day was selected for the launch, as it represents the anniversary of Henry nearly being beaten to death by a mob in Kingston, Jamaica.
Henry disclosed to Xtra, the reality in Jamaica that sees Homophobia being a deeply entrenched philosophy of hate that stems from encouragement of such by: the establishment; politicians, religious leaders, media, police and entertainers. Each one of these groups mentioned, fights against repealing Jamaica’s anti-sodomy laws that can send a gay man to jail for up to 10 years if convicted of having anal sex.
Horror stories of many vicious attacks carried out on queer people he was once acquainted with, were recounted by Henry to Xtra. And according to Human Rights Watch, on January 29 2008, the most recent acts of violence against queers saw a mob break into a home of four gay men in Jamaica, leaving three in hospital, one with severe wounds from a machete and a fourth man still missing and presumed dead as he is thought to have jumped off a cliff to escape the mob.
None of the perpetrators of any of these crimes have ever been brought to justice and Henry says Canadians can help to achieve change in Jamaica by pressuring their own government. He also works now with the Stop Murder Music Canada, a coalition of groups bent on stopping the distribution and display of homophobic dancehall music and artists in Canada.
"I remember in 2003 one of our friends was at this dance and this song was being played, 'Boom Bye Bye Inna Batty Bwoy Head,' by Buju Banton. When the song was finished playing our friend Kitty was lying on the ground with three shots to his head and that was the end of it. Nothing happened. Nobody knew who shot him."
Henry will use his position as international grand marshal at Pride, to persuade Canadians to join the fight against Jamaican homophobia.
"If I'm denied refugee status I'll call my mother and tell her, 'I'm coming home. I won't live long,'" he says.
Posted by yardFlex at March 10, 2008 10:57 AM
Comments
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Posted by: Saint
on March 10, 2008 11:42 AM
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It was mainly pressure from Gay Activists group that helped to declassify Homosexuality (in the USA) from a disorder to Sexual Disorders Not Otherwise Specified.[9]. No scientific study was done to state that homosexuality was not a disorder but scientific studies were done that were inclusive as to suggest whether it was a disorder but no follow up was done at the time it was declassified.
I really hope a non-bias study is done to once and for all decide if homosexuality is a disorder.
It is such a nasty, reprehensible and deviant behaviour that if it was the only sexual orientation that was practised by the world we would only survive extinction by making babies in test tubes.
In 1992, the World Health Organization replaced its categorization of homosexuality as a mental illness with the diagnosis of ego-dystonic homosexuality, which is either the lack of arousal in wanted heterosexual relationships, or distress from unwanted homosexual arousal.[6] The UK Government followed suit in 1994, followed by the Ministry of Health in Russian Federation in 1999 and the Chinese Society of Psychiatry in 2001.[7] The trustees of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) had previously voted unanimously to remove homosexuality as a disorder from the Sexual Deviancy section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM-II in 1973.[8] This decision was officially confirmed by a small majority (58%) of the general APA membership in 1974, who voted to replace the diagnosis with a milder category of "sexual orientation disturbance", which was then replaced in the DSM-III with "ego-dystonic homosexuality" which, in 1986, was deleted from the DSM-III-R. The APA now classifies persistent and marked distress about one's sexual orientation under Sexual Disorders Not Otherwise Specified.[9]
There was much controversy regarding the reason for the change. Critics assert this declassification was brought about solely as a result of political pressure applied by activist gay groups, not as the product of scientific research. They cite a series of incidents, the first taking place in 1970 when members of the Gay Liberation Front disrupted a San Francisco APA conference, shouting down speakers and jeering psychiatrists who viewed homosexuality as a disorder. These activists drew on the works of Alfred Kinsey and Evelyn Hooker as well as other empirical studies. These studies, provided support that the psychiatric profession had accepted untested assumptions about the necessary connection of homosexuality to certain forms of psychological maladjustment; or, that homosexuality was necessarily a symptom of mental pathology.[10] Evelyn Hooker's studies demonstrated that there was no inherent difference in mental functioning between homosexually oriented and heterosexually oriented individuals. Also, prior to the declassification some research on homosexuality was done on homosexuals that were either already mentally ill with some other illness or in prison, or even in some cases on people who were not even truly homosexual, which biased the results in ways that made it appear that homosexuality was pathological.[11] Joseph Merlino, M.D., co-editor of the book American Psychiatry & Homosexuality, and psychiatry adviser to the New York Daily News, said in an interview
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Posted by: pe
on March 10, 2008 12:21 PM
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are you sure queers is the correct terminology?
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Posted by: AlLiAnCe
on March 10, 2008 12:36 PM
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a dead uno fi b*mboclate dead keep uno f**king nastyness a f**king a foring, BA**Y MUST NOT BE F**KED uno too f**king nasty man, Wat the f**k can u get out of ass f**king (SH*T) and that no good (GO LOOK TOO SEXY B*MBOCLATE GAL WITH A FAT PU**Y AND F**K)
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Posted by: PinkCattie
on March 10, 2008 01:59 PM
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So wait wi muss protect dem speacially???? WHAT HAPPEN TO DI BABY MADDA DAT GET SHOT WHA DA A SPANISH TOWN??? We no fi protect she or so...We no want NO SPECIAL CLASS A YAWD. We should protect all people too much Baby Madda & Baby a get murder.... We no have time fi unno, UNNNo fi get a REAL FLAGGING with a belt.
Mi vex fi hear people say dem dead because dem dis sexual or what. So what dat baby madda dead wha day cause she a baby Madda??? Baby a dead cause dem a baby?? People dat straight a dead cause dem straight???
A so life go PEOPLE DEAD EVERYDAY it no matta wedda u Straight or G*Y. DEAD A DEAD
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Posted by: Nicky
on March 10, 2008 02:32 PM
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While I agree that there is a strong degree of homophobicity in J'ca, I also have to say that many of the violence that are committed against homosexuals in J'ca are done by their own, mostly because of jealousy. Besides, there is homophobicity in every country. I strongly believe that this guy is highlighting his plight to escape from J'ca because him foreign mind, nothing else.
By the way I hope his idea of 'Canadians can help to achieve changes in J'ca' don't mean legalising gay marriage. While, I must confess that I don't agree with people physically attacking others because of their sexuality, I strongly oppose gay marriage. Then again, it's not up to me = to each his own. Let's see what the future holds?
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Posted by: DIAMOND
on March 10, 2008 04:13 PM
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BL**DCLOT!!!!!!!! ALL YAH FISH BWOI HAFFI DEAD. A DAT ME A SAY. THAT SH*T IS NASTY WHA YAH A DO. SH*T. ITS SO DISGUSTING TO SEE BL**DCLOT UNNO KISSIN & FROCKIN A NEXT BL**DRAS MAN. BULLET! BULLET! -- HEAR ME NOW! ALL YAH FISH QUEERS HAFFI DEAD--- COM TO JAMAICA & SEE IF YAH FASSYCL*TS NA GO DEAD. YOU WILL BE DENIED REFUGE LOL & THEN YOU HAFFI BRIN BACK YAH DIRTY, STINKIN, INFECTED BL**DCL*T *SS BACK SONNER OR LATA. WATCH ALL YAH INFECTED FROCKERS ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!!
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Posted by: I-Storm
on March 10, 2008 10:16 PM
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Yo wedda we like it or not, gay people cant walk free, di JFLAG ago get bun dung and di people dem ago get a beating, this is why violence cant stop and i hope dem kll dey boy dey en him come bak a yard. THAT HOW REAL JAMAICANS ROLL, B*N A F*G STRAIGHT!! UP TO DI TIME
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Posted by: imani
on March 10, 2008 11:32 PM
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I don't believe any of what Mr. Gareth Henry said. He is simply not credible. His story that someone was shot because of Buju Banton's song is incredible to say the least. Such fantastic stories only discredit an already tenuous gay movement. It does nothing to help their cause. As Mr. Marley said you can fool some people all the time etc. Jamaicans cannot be fooled we know that gays are not mostly killed by rampant heterosexuals because of Buju's lyrics but by their lovers as. The full has not been told.
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Posted by: ot
on March 11, 2008 12:44 AM
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YO, BA**YBWOYS AND L*SBIANS MUST STAY AWAY. OR ELSE.
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Posted by: eyesys
on March 11, 2008 02:32 AM
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This is y jamaica is in the same state its been in for many many years. you will never progress until you learn to accept.
Dont jamaicans have more important things to deal with rather than incite violence on gays/lesbians?
PATRIARCHY IS DYING, THE WORLD KNOWS IT...DOES JAMAICA KNOW IT?
obviously not.
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Posted by: Reasonings
on March 11, 2008 07:28 AM
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On a real....jamaicans dont commit wicked crimes to homosexuals in jamaica ....mi hear of a case hear inna farrin dat dem all burn an hang this batty man a texas.....mi neva hear bout dat a yawd yet.
wi jus known fi talk bout it openly wid no regrad to wah anybady else inna di world think.
cause if yuh research it
most a di crimes commited in the gay community are done to dem one a nedda.....if a nex man a f*ck yuh inna yuh batty dats a rasss crime fi real lolol but fi real most a dem either kill dem one anneda or wadeva.
peter king man fren dem kill him...him likkle gal man dem murda him...based on the investigation it come to light seh dem find shit stain pan him hood at the time a him death an buddy residue inna him mouth lololol (any relatives or boyfriends of peter king nuh tek wah mi seh serious lol)
cause if jamaicans really were hunting and killing gays....dem wouldn a pose up a new king an all dem places a mobay an a sell dem ass!!....dem one CYAAAAN brave suh.
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Posted by: stacy ann
on March 11, 2008 07:41 AM
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in my opinion, homosexuality in a mental and sexual disorder, there's nothing "normal" about the behavior. to the ladies, mind how u a kill ba**y mon, u just might be deh with an undercover ba**ymon LOL....
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Posted by: trini
on March 11, 2008 07:50 AM
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yo...waht d f@#*k is dis f*@#&ry is dis?
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Posted by: Vennie
on March 11, 2008 07:57 AM
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Nicky u need a f**kin box inna u face wat yu mean by u hope Canada can help change the way Jamaican thinks about Guys. We do not tolerate it and will never do so. In my own opinion i think that all those g*y people out there in Jamaica is to try and get out of the country or keep that yourself.
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Posted by: man dem
on March 11, 2008 10:00 AM
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yo this story is a digrace! the over use of the word queer is like smaddi getin a thrill out of writting it,bl*dkl**rt imature an perfetic!
so if we bun all gay,will that stop people being baan gay? no! an yo this termanology sayin gay is a 'disorder'? wot da r***s is that,some people need to check them selves.people need to stop living in the past,this is 2008 not 1908,is it not time we dropped this hater shit,dont people have nuthin better to do than bun gays,dont people have lifes of there own instead of constantly gettin in other peoples?
i guess not,but yo its time break the myth that every g*y man have aids an shit like that,time the education changed towards accepting people for there differences an not try make us all the same, parents bringin up there pickney tellin them gays r to be hated are a digrace and dont deserve pickney!,narrow minded,un-educated sheep who ago follow anyting
..homophoabia..phoabia means ur scared,so why such big badman gansta scared of a gay man?
like i said its a disgrace and a embaresment,get up to bl*dk*rt date an leave your medevil opinions in the past!
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Posted by: muffy
on March 11, 2008 11:26 AM
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"Saint" Your point is? I say protection for all. Jamaicans plain and straight do not condone with homosexuality. Why force it upon us? I think Gareth needs to ensure that he gets refugee status, he's already a walking dead because he has "outed" hisself. Now all Jamaicans know where he is. Think about it he may just not be save in Canada again.
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Posted by: slim d
on March 11, 2008 11:33 AM
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henry u dont learn fr the beating dem, leave jamaica people alone ,we dont support gay, if u should force things, u might not b so lucky next time, if could b ur life,
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Posted by: hits
on March 11, 2008 11:58 AM
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here we go again. protect who? and why? and by whom?
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Posted by: Not a hater
on March 11, 2008 01:21 PM
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Saint, I personally think that Homosexuality is a disorder (probably as a result of genetics or the physical environment). Genetics, because I personally believe that some of them were just born with those effeminate trait (in the case of males and as a result are attracted to other males). While there are others who develop the trait as a result of lifestyle, opportunity or greed.
For the ones who are born gay naturally, I genuinely know that they cannot help it. Take for example alot of them have very poor muscle development and act like females. I know this because alot of time I talk to them and ask them about it, I even feel their muscles. The thing is I won't ostracize them because I don't agree with their lifestyle. They are very nice people to talk to and in the UK, I find that alot of them are caring too.
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Posted by: Dugu Dugu
on March 11, 2008 03:10 PM
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eyesys shut yu mouth progress has been done to exterminate these ba**y f**kers and pu**y sockers
other countries especially muslim ones agree homosexuality is a nousence and should be dealt with jamaica is the only christian country that uphold the law and beliefs that queers cannot will not be accepted in society they want a special day of remeberence for those queers that died what about those that are dying everyday of the week all around jamaica and the world what do they get other than reath and rose
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Posted by: majorie
on March 11, 2008 08:50 PM
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Jamaican homosexuals a work dem brain on foreign countries u don't see it a so some of dem deceitful. dem a look refuge for free in the US, Canada, UK, etc. so dem have to paint JA as this horible place, where ppl just a kill gays for fun. when we know nuff gays down there a incite violence towards themselves by parading themselves where they know it's going to cause a problem, look de other day one dash liquid pon one women, when de disruption started sure enough, this bwoy have one of his friends taking pictures before him go a station fe try seek help. mi a tell u the bwoy dem a look an easy way out of the country and this is their free ticket. the truth will soon prevail. and when these european gay activist groups ill find out that they are being taking for fools....
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Posted by: Nick
on March 11, 2008 08:54 PM
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Big up yard... never sell out...
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Posted by: Saint
on March 12, 2008 08:22 AM
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Not A Hater - I really want a study to be done to finally conclude whether Homosexuality is a disorder or not (had to repeat).
I just don't indulge in this incorrect type of sexual behaviour.
A study might reduce abuse and discrimination that gays endure.
I don't condone the abuse of anyone regardless of gender, creed, race, sexual orientation, color, physical attributes, age, religion, national origin, political affiliation, economic status or marital status etc.
Finally though, in my personal opinion I think homosexuality is a mental disorder (but I am no doctor so I cannot prove this) and should be treated as such but if it is not, then I will just have to ignore them, since I cannot accept them.
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Posted by: Nicky
on March 12, 2008 02:09 PM
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Stinking Vennie on March 11, 2008 07:57 AM a so ppl fail english/ other exam. Mi never say Canadians must change the way J'cans think about gays. Go read it again, yu damn dunce. I stated that I hope he didn't meant introducing gay marriage in J'ca because while I do not agree with ppl physically beating them I disapprove of their lifestyle.
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Posted by: Dre
on March 12, 2008 03:48 PM
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Panty Man Island - JamRock
I'm currently attending University in Ja. Dammm a great place to live, great people I might add.. but people here don't worry about employment, morals, or social issues. All them worry about is who is a fa**ot and who isn't. The ruff necks boys wear tight up pants and white belts and plenty lip gloss on there lips.. the gays do the same thing. Its hard to tell who is straight and who isn't.
What is scary how come its okay for a Jamaican woman to have a children 8-9 men.. different fathers.. and its okay to have 900 murders unsolved per year in one small island and its okay for young girls to be blowing tom, dick and harry all over in car parks and don't give a shit but it isn't okay for two ppl who love each other express themselves..
Jamrock.. Welcome to the Land Of Wood, Water, And Fa**ots.
wat da F*** is wrong dit uno how di fk** uno ago legalize ba**yzm? man nuffi a teck buddy dem fi a gi buddy to gyal. a wah di r*ss do dem pu*** whole ya and dem yankee styl tell dem fi guh back a r*ss cl**t forein wit dat shyt man. rite now man get mad cuz mi nuh like si dem ting ya enuh. how a nother man fi ago lay dung wit another man??? hey but probly even the prime minister a walla walla ina man shyt pit<<. dis shyt aint funny it is serious. yall better wat ur kids wit. bruce golding and porcia simpson, why da f**k jamaica do anythin to get a lickle recognition???? holla at ya boi ya dig...
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Posted by: Ryan
on March 13, 2008 07:25 AM
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You are so right Dre, apparently Jamaica has no social and economical issues ! All Jamaicans worry about what people do behind closed doors. U hear it on the street and in the music and its grinded in the culture.....Yet there there is so much faggots living in Hannah Town, Trench Town, Tivoli Gardens, Lucea, Seaview Gardens.. Should I go on. There are toooonnnnnsss of Jamaican men and women who are gay and a lot of them live in Jamaica. I go to Jamaica 10 times for the year.
Check this out a lot of straight Jamaicans go to the USA and England and claim asylum and say that they are gay and they are fearing for their lives. Just to stay in that country..becasue there are no good paying jobs in Jamaica..Yet ! There bashing g*ys....??? How messed up is this..
Im striaght by the way -Ryan
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Posted by: Nicky
on March 14, 2008 04:23 PM
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Ryan you are talking sh*t
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