Espeut's Cloudy Judgement

Was published in Today's Gleaner in response to this article.

Espeut's Cloudy Judgement

The Editor Sir:

Peter Espeut's column on Friday, April 8, titled 'The right to discriminate', was a success in so far as revealing his own latent prejudices as a clergyman, and the danger of a narrow theocratic system of governance to those most in need of state protection.

The glaring failure was his apparent inability to critically analyse the impact of the inclusion of constitutionally entrenched protection of individuals on the grounds of sexual orientation. His religious beliefs apparently preclude him from engaging with such matters lest he be smitten by a deity.

That is seemingly the only explanation for his hellish extremism in describing the twilight zone Jamaica would enter should sexual orientation be included as grounds for discrimination. Paraphrasing, he says he has no problem with those whose sexuality does not conform to the binary prescription of the majority, but that if you give them rights, they're going to continue asking for them until they are equal!

In Espeut's mind, the sodomites can remain on the periphery, do our nails and our make-up and entertain us on stage, and sometimes bless our communions, but they better not get too uppity!

Next thing, they're going to ask the police to protect them when the righteous mobs try to bless their hides with their sacred rods of correction!

Bless you, Peter Espeut. You have certainly illuminated the minds of those, like me, who were unaware of the meaning of true Christian love.

I am, etc.,

BRIAN-PAUL N. WELSH

brianpaul.welsh@gmail.com

Kingston

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Why I've not been posting as much as in the past

Lots of shit going on in my life at the moment....le sigh

An interview with The Pink Report about this bullshit story in the Jamaica Star and its impact on my business venture, an LGBT entertainment space.

Interview with Management of the Loft by shane-mccarthy

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Equal Rights and Justice for all?

The editorial cartoon published today in The Sunday Gleaner of April 3, 2010 makes a silent yet salient statement about Jamaica's social and political attitude toward gays. This is so especially in light of the fact that this newspaper has now emerged as one of very few public allies for JFLAG's campaign for the inclusion of sexual orientation in the soon-to-be-passed Charter of Rights. Such a public statement ought to be lauded and seen as an indication that at least some Jamaicans are fed up with the nonsense of blind homophobia in this modern world that we wish to inhabit.

This attitude is not novel. The vitriolic murder campaigns that overseas-based activists love to cite as well as the pathological disdain for homosexuality that every Jamaican is supposed to espouse have been dispelled as cultural myths despite the persistence of this stigma. Perhaps there is a sort of patriotism at play where Jamaica's hetero-normative hegemony sees the stain of homophobia as a badge of honour or moral righteousness. A signal to the world that Jamaica will not fall like Babylon. The hypocrisy of it is obvious for all to see but it is an open secret draped in patriotic bravado. Very much like the "machismo" of our clandestinely bisexual latin neighbours for whom sex is often less binary and more fluid. Though this is often difficult to manage given their own Spanish-Colonial-Roman-Catholic hegemony which is at conflict with the underlying culture of their tribal ancestors.

Yes, there is intense homophobia in Jamaica that often rears its ignorant head, but this is largely confined to instances of mania in a usually tepid environment. The heteros would much rather scorn the sodomites from a distance or bemoan the levels of depravity, iniquity, and sexual immorality Jamaica has attained now that these uppity homosexuals are now so brazen...but rarely is a blow ever delivered.

The challenge that exists is that privately the social leaders agree with JFLAG and its vision of a true ONE LOVE paradise not unlike the idyllic destination the Tourist Board is surprisingly good at selling. The reality however, that is much more difficult and complicated to change, is that any public embrace of JFLAG and its ideals is political and social suicide. Which is exactly why despite having so many identifiable allies JFLAG and the Jamaican Gay Rights Movement in general (because it would be an injustice to believe that it started with JFLAG or that JFLAG encapsulates all points of view of the community) has been stymied because no seemingly sensible organization, entity, or politician is willing to endorse the mission. That isolation makes it easy for the zealots to make the movement appear to be the fantasies of a bunch of morally bankrupt lunatics.

Now that the movement has received a rare public endorsement how do we capitalize on it?

Times are changing and now is when strategies ought to be devised.

Militancy will never work so we must appeal to the concept of universal human dignity and hope that good sense will prevail.

ONE LOVE

The pondering cynic

Today a surprisingly balanced editorial was published in the daily Gleaner that was progressive in two aspects:

1/ It referred to the Executive Director of JFLAG by his Government name, thus retiring the pseudonym "Jason McFarlane" .

&

2/ It took the Government to task for its insistence on expediting the passing of the decade delayed Charter of Rights bill despite the absence of any reference to "sexual orientation" and the removal of "sex" as a basis for discrimination and its subsequent replacement with "gender".

Many have criticized JFLAG for their seemingly tame approach to this critical issue and their lack of a meaningful presence within the community at its most accessible fora in order to drum up support. For many JFLAG is an invisible, inaccessible enclave of well-to-do gay men whose agenda is more in line with advancing middle-class principles of equality through litigation than protecting ordinary battymen from being harassed in the streets in mob scenes such as this:

I don't agree with this line of reasoning but I can see how they could take hold especially among those for whom JFLAG is a foreign concept that is alien to their daily existence.

Some would wish for JFLAG to be a sort of fairy godmother (pun intended) for disenfranchised gay men and women. Somewhere one can go for a hug, a cup of tea, and words of encouragement when things go wrong. Others see JFLAG as a sort of phantom lobby group that speaks for those without a voice but that does not need to have a substantive presence within the community for which it advocates.

Some will argue that since JFLAG has failed to fulfill either of these roles that it is therefore redundant and should make room for other more competent advocates to come to the fore.

Despite my own cynicism about how advocacy for sexual minorities has been demonstrated in the Jamaican context, I cannot deny the critical role JFLAG plays, in theory. There is however a huge chasm between JFLAG and its constituents in terms of the definition of roles and expectations. Perception has been allowed to substitute for reality and in the absence of facts, it is this perception that has taken root.

JFLAG has a lot of work to do within the community to foster support for its initiatives, lest it continues to be seen as a group of self-interested zealots and sycophants.

Importantly, one wonders whether they are interested in initiating the damage control campaign that is so important for it to undertake.

Only time will tell.

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