NGLTF Slams Sully;
Silent on NYT Gay Iraqis Story

The New York Times today prints a front-page above-the-fold story about the deadly problems facing Iraq's gays, as they struggle to survive against horrific odds and fatalism. High up in the piece is the statistic that gay murders are in the solid double-digits:

The relative freedom of a newly democratic Iraq and the recent improvement in security have allowed a gay subculture to flourish here. The response has been swift and deadly.

In the past two months, the bodies of as many as 25 boys and men suspected of being gay have turned up in the huge Shiite enclave of Sadr City, the police and friends of the dead say. Most have been shot, some multiple times. Several have been found with the word “pervert” in Arabic on notes attached to their bodies, the police said.

“Three of my closest friends have been killed during the past two weeks alone,” said Basim, 23, a hairdresser. “They had been planning to go to a cafe away from Sadr City because we don’t feel safe here, but they killed them on the way. I had planned to go with them, but fortunately I didn’t.”

There once was a time when professional gay advocacy organizations in the USA would read a terrifying story like this, and at minimum, put out a statement condemning the killings of gays.

Now, such a story warrants no comment whatsoever from the Human Rights Campaign and the allegedly progressive National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Both multimillion dollars organizations are too busy fighting for sugary wedding cakes and bridal showers to give a damn about dead fags in Baghdad, still under occupation by American armed forces.

On the other hand, NGLTF, a few years ago, did devote organizational staff time and resources to inveigh against gay conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, over the, ahem, war in Iraq and the community's approaches to the invasion:

What isn't reasonable is when Andrew Sullivan attempts to bolster his argument not by articulating a rationale for why GLBT organizations should be silent on issues like the war, but by writing a scattered diatribe against NGLTF that promotes blatant falsehoods about what we are and what we do. It is interesting that Sullivan didn't write his piece about the Log Cabin Republicans, who came out in favor of the war long before NGLTF took a position, or about the numerous other national GLBT organizations that came out against the war before NGLTF did. Instead, he waited for NGLTF to take a position and attacked NGLTF alone.

To those who know Sullivan's right wing political perspective (e.g., opposing abortion rights and civil rights legislation) and long-standing bias against NGLTF, this is no surprise. To those who are just learning about Sullivan and NGLTF, here are the facts: ...

Sullivan's inaccurate, misplaced and conservative harrumphing to the contrary, NGLTF has an unprecedented and indisputable record of accomplishment on behalf of GLBT freedom, justice and equality--a thirty-year record of doing work that is relevant to the lives of millions of GLBT people and our families and which continues today. ...

Hundreds and hundreds of words trashing Sullivan, and not one word from NGLTF expressing outrage and concerns for gay Iraqis. This tells me, yet again, that the task force is rancid and has no reason for existing, other than to raise funds to keep its offices open, staff paid nicely, and put on an annual conference that gets more gay people laid than actually doing any hard organizing.

Creating change? Not for gay Iraqis or any gays beyond the USA's borders from this formerly politically vanguard group. The NGLTF leaders are too busy maintaining the all-glam all-glitz party circuit fundraisers they hold every month around the country.

How many dead fags have to turn up on the streets of Baghdad before NGLTF raises a peep?

Gay Iraq Vigils: NYC on Friday,
London Next Thursday

Two international actions are planned over the coming two week because of the murder of gay Iraqis in the slums of Baghdad.

Activists will gather in New York City this week, and in London next week, to protest the deaths of gay Iraqis, the continuing American occupation of the country, and to express strong solidarity with the LGBT people of Iraq.

Big thanks to Brendan and Ali for organizing the vigils.

Here are the details for each action that I've received from the organizers. If you're near these cities, please try and get to the actions.

NEW YORK CITY ACTION

Contact: Brendan Fay
E: brendan@stpatsforall.com
P: 718-721-2780

We will gather later this week to remember our murdered brothers in Iraq, at a vigil in front of the Iraqi mission to the United Nations. We will light candles, lay a wreathe with rainbow ribbons, and also speak out against homophobic violence everywhere. A letter of protest will be delivered to the mission.

Please join us!

What: Vigil of Remembrance & Solidarity With LGBT Iraqis

When: Friday, April 10

Time: 12 Noon

Where: Iraq Mission to the UN
14 E 79th St
New York, NY 10075

LONDON ACTION:

Contact: Ali Hili
Email: iraqilgbt@yahoo.co.uk
Web: http://iraqilgbtuk.blogspot.com/

What: Protest and Support Iraqi LGBT - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgendered

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009

Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Location: Home Office Direct Communications Unit
2 Marsham Street
London, United Kingdom

SF Wants State Dept Action for Iraqi Gays;
KGO, KTVU Videos Show Protest

Here's a mighty big shout-out to all the friends, community activists, politicians, reporters, news crews and every passerby who helped make yesterday's consecration of the Tomb of the Unknown Gay at Harvey Milk Plaza the success that it was.

We're now calling our small handful of homosexual human rights activists Gays Without Borders/SF, and we're committed to bringing visibility, attention and action to global gay issues, starting with the Jamaica boycott and the murders of gays in Baghdad. I'll let you know about upcoming planning meetings and demonstrations when plans are finalized.

Here's some follow up to yesterday's action.

The local ABC outlet, KGO TV, aired a fine lengthy story last night about the murders, the SF protest and gay Iraqis. They also published a text story about all of this on their site, separate from the newscast below:



Our local Fox affiliate, KTVU, also aired a terrific piece on problems faced by gay Iraqis and the concerns of San Francisco gays for them. Click here to see the story.

At the Board of Supervisors' weekly meeting at City Hall, Supervisor Bevan Dufty introduced this resolution for full board approval. Here's the full text of it:

Resolution calling on the US Department of State to use all diplomatic channels to work with the Iraqi Government to stop the persecution of Iraqi LGBT citizens and immediately stop the murders of Iraqi LGBT citizens.

WHEREAS, Over the past two weeks, 6 men have been murdered in Iraq for being Gay; and

WHEREAS, In the most recent attack, two men were killed in Sadr City area of Baghdad after they were disowned by relatives; and,

WHEREAS, Residents of Sadr City reported that the bodies of the two men aged 16 and 18 were found on waste ground on the outskirts of Sadr City, and that several days previously the two men had been dumped in the street with their arms and legs broken; and

WHEREAS, The shootings came after a tribal meeting was held and the tribal members decided to go kill the victims; and,

WHEREAS, On March 26, four additional men were fatally shot in Sadr city after the victims had also been disowned by their relatives; and,

WHEREAS, Two of the bodies, found on Thursday, had pieces of paper attached to them on which was written the word ‘Pervert;’ and

WHEREAS, In addition to the murders, A cafe frequented by Iraqi LGBT citizens was firebombed in hopes of intimidating Iraqi LGBT citizens; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That San Francisco Board of Supervisors call on the US Department of State to use all diplomatic channels to stop the persecution of Iraqi LGBT citizens and immediately stop the murders of Iraqi LGBT citizens ; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors forwards this resolution to the US Secretary of State and the State Department’s Iraq Desk and the Congressional Delegation that represents the City and County of San Francisco.

Again, many big thanks to all who made the action at Milk Plaza worthwhile and the local media outlets for recognizing the news value of reporting on gay Iraqis.

Iraq's Gay Killings Condemned in San Francisco;
Fox, CBS Locals Send Crews

San Francisco's newly formed Gays Without Borders chapter, which is affiliated with the Gays Without Borders group on Yahoo, earlier this evening gathered 15 concerned gay and straight Americans to consecrate the base of the rainbow flag pole at Harvey Milk Plaza as the symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Gay.

We took this action because of wire reports from Baghdad about the murder of at least six gay men in the last two weeks, killed because of their homosexuality and repugnant religious hatred stirred up by Muslim clerics. The names of the dead have not been reported in any news accounts, hence, the designating of the area for unknown and unnamed gays.

We also condemned the murders, the firebombing of a local hangout for gays, and called on President Obama to bring the US troops home.

Media good fortune smiled upon us today. Cameramen and reporters from the local Fox and CBS affiliates, KTVU and KPIX, showed up for our memorializing and promised they'd have reports aired on TV tonight.

However, they did not know if the stories would also make their stations' cut of what gets posted to their web sites. If you're tech savvy, please watch the KTVU and KPIX news tonight, capture the airing of the murdered gay Iraqis stories, and share it on YouTube. Don't forget to send me the URLs for the clips.

We have to show the global gay community and the world that Gays Without Borders in San Francisco will not be silent as fags are slaughtered in Baghdad.

Here are a few photos from the vigil and press conference:

The plaque on the base of the rainbow flag's pole,
surrounded by signs, flowers and candles, constitute our
Tomb of the Unknown Gay.

Gary Virginia, far right, speaking to the crowd,
Bevan Dufty, center, and me, far left.

A cameraman films gay community members laying flowers.

The reporter from KTVU interviewing Bevan after the event.

NGLTF: Silent on Iraqi Gay Murders;

Party Tonight, Money Before Advocacy

(Rea Carey, executive director of NGLTF.)

For the longest time the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force had a reputation as more progressive and activist-oriented than their counterparts at the Human Rights Campaign, which has long been known for accomplishing little, but putting on pricey galas for A-gays in cities across the country.

NGLTF's progressive reputation is very undeserved these days, indeed, I can't think of any accomplishments of the organization in the past few years, other than putting on the Creating Change conference.

Once upon a time, the community could count on NGLTF to make statements on lots of gay issues of the days, you know, things like the murder of homosexuals in the slums of the capital city of a nation invaded by US armed forces. Not anymore.

These days, when I think of NGLTF I think of party time, and time to raise funds to keep the group in business and pay the executives good salaries, so they can keep putting on fundraisers and hobnobbing with the gay elite and their supporters. NGLTF is really giving HRC a run for its money, in terms of staging expensive events like the Winter Party in Miami.

I've checked the task force's web site all day, hoping, in vain, that they would say something about the various news accounts about the murder of six gay men in the slums of Baghdad in the past two weeks. The murders occurred in a climate of homo-hate being stirred up by Muslim clerics, and based on the silence from NGLTF's web site, seem to be of no concern to the group.

Maybe the task force many executives and staffers haven't Googled "gays, Iraq," so that could be the reason they're not aware of the killings and condemning them.

However, tonight in Manhattan, the task force is holding a deluxe party for the New York Leadership Awards they will bestow on two honorees, one of whom is San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom. Tickets cost $250 each.

According to the party's web page, "All ticket purchases are a contribution to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund."

Hmmm, action fund, you say? When was the last time NGLTF staged a visibility action, say, at a embassy or UN mission, or, heck, put out a release about anything to do with global gay atrocities?

The task force has dozens of staffers listed on their site, including four in the communications department. Are they all incapable of saying a few remarks about the murders?

If only there were gay money to be made off of speaking out against the murder of gay men in Baghdad's slums. We would then see NGLTF and HRC knocking themselves to address the foreign abuses of gay people.

The silence of NGLTF and HRC over the Iraqi gay murders should be a nasty blot on their claims to be human rights advocates for gay rights and safety everywhere.

San Francisco Gays Protest 6 Gay Iraqi Murders;
April 6, 5 PM, Harvey Milk Plaza

Over the weekend, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters news wires, along with CNN, have reported on the murders of six gay men in the slums of Baghdad in recent weeks.

This is one news account of the anti-gay violence:

Residents told AFP that the bodies of two men aged 16 and 18 were found on waste ground on the outskirts of Sadr City, and that several days previously two homosexuals had been dumped in the street with their arms and legs broken.

During Friday prayers in Sadr City, a poor district of Baghdad where some two million Iraqis live, Sheikh Jassem al-Mutairi slammed what he called "new private practices by some men who dress like women, who are effeminate.

And this round-up of bad news is from the ThinkProgress site:

An Iraqi defense ministry official reports that at least six gay men have been shot dead in two separate incidents during the past 10 days in a Shia-controlled part of Baghdad. The official said today that three bullet-riddled bodies of gay individuals have been identified in Sadr City:

“Three corpses of homosexuals have been recovered in Sadr City. Two of the bodies, found on Thursday, had pieces of paper attached on which was written the word ‘Pervert.’ The third body was retrieved on Friday,” the official said.

Other dead bodies had the word “puppies” written on their chests. Puppy is a derogatory word used by residents in Sadr City to refer to gays. Witnesses told CNN that a Sadr City cafe, which was a popular gathering spot for gays, was also set on fire.

In response to the gay murders, longtime affordable housing and queer community organizer Tommi Avicolli Mecca, gay Board of Supervisors' member Bevan Dufty and myself will be holding a speak out against the killings, and the U.S. occupation of Iraq, on Monday.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Rally and speak out over gay murders in Iraq

WHEN April 6

TIME: 5 PM

WHERE: Harvey Milk Plaza, Castro and Market Streets

Please join us for this important early evening street visibility action to call attention and object to the homo-hatred in Iraq. More details on the action to follow later today and tomorrow.

Gay Jamaican Exile Endorsed Boycott in 2008

There was much talk last year in the USA and Canada about boycotting Jamaica because of the atrocities committed against gay Jamaican in 2008, but the boycott call fizzled.

One gay Jamaican, Gareth Henry, who was forced to flee Jamaica and now lives in Canada, told Xtra! newspaper why he supports a boycott, and understands the reasons Jamaica's only gay advocacy group must oppose it:

But Gareth Henry, the cochair of JFLAG until he was forced to flee the country for Canada last year, says he supports the boycott. He says JFLAG can't be seen to publicly support a boycott.

"They can't be the ones to call for the boycott," he says. "They can't be that voice. But the gays, lesbians and queers on the ground are supportive of a boycott."

Henry says he's tried talking to the government.

"We have tried numerous approaches, numerous dialogues with government officials," he says. "They have been nonresponsive to the call. We have to hit people where it's going to hurt, where they'll feel it. In the Jamaican context talk is cheap. After 10 years of JFLAG's existence what else can we do?"

This heroic gay Jamaican was profiled last year in the Toronto Globe and Mail because of his high prominence in the city's gay pride event. The paper gave a succinct introduction to this young man and the violence he's seen take the life of friends, and strike at his own safety:

On June 19, 2004, Gareth Henry - the man I'm talking to in the easy safety of the more or less 100-per-cent gay Church Street Starbucks, the man who will be grand marshal at this weekend's Gay Pride Parade in Toronto - stood with a handful of friends mere metres away from a crowd in Montego Bay, Jamaica and watched that crowd "beat and chop and stone to death" a friend of theirs, a gay man called Victor.

They had first watched Victor being beaten by three Jamaican police officers. They saw a crowd gather. They saw the cops tire and turn Victor over to the mob. They watched the crowd kill him.

"It hurts," he says. "We couldn't do anything. We were helpless."...

This past January, he fled to Canada. He is only 30, but 13 of his friends in Jamaica had been murdered. He is awaiting a decision on his application for refugee status.

He is not an effeminate man and he does not dress extravagantly. It may seem Jamaican thugs must have a more highly developed gaydar than most gay men, but it's more likely that it isn't easy to keep secrets in a small island society. ...

In his teens he befriended an older man who turned out to be gay, who became something of a mentor, and then, Mr. Henry remembers, the rumours started. It was whispered that the older gentleman was a "batty man" (a patois insult for gay). The whispers began to mention Mr. Henry, too. Though his family was far from supportive at the time, they decided, for his own safety, he should move to Kingston. He was 15.

He continued his schooling, got a college degree in social work, slowly discovered the underground that is gay life in Jamaica and saw the birth, in 1998, of J-FLAG, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays. He began volunteering for the organization; would eventually become its co-chair (after the 2004 murder of its first public figure). ...

Over all, Mr. Henry says, life in Jamaica was "miserable, with happy times, until the end of 2006. Then, in 2007, it became miserable with the absence of happy times. The worst I've ever seen homophobia in Jamaica. There were over 10 gay murders. Over 43 mob attacks. I received 8 to 10 threats from the police, turning up at my apartment and threatening me. Four lesbians raped that year alone. It was a total nightmare." ...

How many such reports must we read before full gay economic pressure is brought to bear on Jamaica, and the country's leaders and business learn there is a price to pay for homophobic laws and mob attacks on gay persons?

SF Chron, SoVo: Jamaican Boycott Reports

From the first word in the headline, I knew I would like the article from Marisa Lagos of the SF Chronicle's City Insider news note about the boycott. Violence, and the escalation of the brutality of it, against gay Jamaicans and our State Department's concerns about it are the key motivations driving the boycott.

This piece on San Francisco's top daily newspaper's site, along with the coverage in this week's Bay Area Reporter and Bay Times, our two gay publications, will greatly expand awareness of the boycott.

And it's totally terrific that Bevan Dufty and I have patched up our differences over the months-long inability of Prop 8 leaders to hold a town hall in San Francisco, and that he's pushing himself and his City Hall staff to affect change through diplomacy with the Jamaican government's representative here, and in getting Jamaican products out of the local gay bars.

Hey, Bevan, keep up the pressure and good work.

Excepted from the Chronicle:

Violence against gays spurs Jamaican boycott

A call by San Francisco gay activists for a boycott of travel to Jamaica, and of some of the island nation's most well known brands, is gaining some ground -- it's even received attention in Jamaica.

The boycott, initiated by advocate Michael Petrelis, stems from a recent State Department report that found high levels of violence against gays in Jamaica in 2008, including "arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents," the report concluded. ...

Gay advocates, including Supervisor Bevan Dufty, held a kick-off event in the Castro last weekend. Dufty, who is calling local gay bars to urge them to pull Myers Rum and Red Stripe beer from their shelves, also reached out to Jamaican Consul General Newton Gordon, who agreed to come to a meeting with Dufty at others at City Hall next week.

Dufty, who has traveled to the island nation six times, said the violence against gays in Jamaica -- and the fact that authorities appear to condone it -- is "unconscionable" and that he hopes a stand in San Francisco will have an effect. ...

Down in Atlanta, the Southern Voice's editor Laura Douglas-Brown is the author of an editorial that looks at some of the downsides to our boycott launch, boycotts in general and other gay-specific consumer-led boycotts, and her very limited involvement, if you can call it that, with the boycott of Cracker Barrel restaurants.

I sure hope Douglas-Brown's well-considered think-piece is the first of a few more such essays from gay editors and bloggers. All in all, in less than a week's time since the official launch happened, the coverage has been widespread and done much to educate the public about boycott, and the antigay violence in Jamaica. Expect more of the same in the coming months.

From today's Southern Voice:

THIS WEEK, A SMALL GROUP OF ACTIVISTS launched Boycott Jamaica, an effort to bring tourist dollars to bear against the Caribbean island’s long history of virulent homophobia. While the effort is still fledgling, it has the potential to have lasting impact — if not directly on the island’s government, then on boycott participants and those they educate. ...

At press time, a list of “endorsements” on the site included only eight participating bars and restaurants (all but one in San Francisco); a dozen activists; and two relatively unknown “civic organizations,” the South African Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and the Alexander Hamilton GLBT Veteran’s Post in San Francisco.

Pictures of the March 29 “Campaign Kick Off Rum Dump in the Castro” were similarly underwhelming, showing fewer than a dozen participants. ...

Jim Burroway is editor of the Box Turtle Bulletin, a website known for exhaustively debunking anti-gay talking points. Wayne Besen, a former spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, founded Truth Wins Out dedicated to countering the ex-gay movement. And Michael Petrelis is a consummate rabble-rouser with a skilled eye for uncovering scandal through public documents. ...

Most more-recent gay boycotts have been neither as quick nor as effective. Perhaps the most prominent of the 1990s was the battle against Cracker Barrel, the folksy restaurant chain that unapologetically fired gay workers.

Although sit-ins and a boycott in the months following the 1991 firings drew media headlines and helped educate the American public on the discrimination faced by gay workers, the company did not rescind its policy until 2003. The change came more from pressure from inside, as shareholders repeatedly filed resolutions forcing the company to take up the issue. ...

Yet boycotts can create lasting change in their participants, helping them “get together and feel alright,” regardless of whether they succeed in changing their targets. While for too many of us, signing an internet petition is what constitutes activism these days, boycotts require us to actually do something — even if it is as simple as not ordering our favorite beer or re-routing a vacation.

I harbor no illusions that my steadfast refusal to eat at Cracker Barrel had any impact on the company dumping its anti-gay policy. But it impacted me, and everyone who had to listen while I explained why I wouldn’t eat there and they shouldn’t either.

These small acts of refusing to comply in our own community’s oppression sow the seeds that can blossom into larger change — whether in our families, the streets, the voting booth, or even entire governments.

For the sake of the LGBT residents of Jamaica, let’s hope it works.

The Gleaner: Gays in US 'Boycott Jamaica'

Given the salacious and derogatory coverage overall by the Jamaica Gleaner, the nation's largest and most influential newspaper, when reporting on gay issues, I expected more of a sensationalistic piece today. The paper has broken standard practice, and in this singular story, written something factual and basically balanced.

I wish to point out that it is nice of a Red Stripe spokesperson to offer a general condemnation against violence of all kinds, but notice that the word "gay" is missing from the quote. It's not enough for the beer company to occasionally cancel sponsorship of a music festival featuring singers who advocate murder of homosexuals, as it did last year. Red Stripe officials must start issuing statements opposing violence and stigma against gay Jamaicans that actually say "gay" or homosexual.

Even though this is the Gleaner's first story on the Boycott Jamaica campaign, they've already received a letter opposing the boycott in today's edition. The letter follows the excerpted news article below.

From the Gleaner's news pages:

A gay-rights lobby last week launched a Boycott Jamaica campaign in the United States city of San Francisco, discouraging patronage of the island's exports - particularly Red Stripe - to put pressure on government and private-sector interests to rein in a perceived rise in attacks on sex minorities.

The move was launched in the Harvey Milk Plaza - named after a gay-rights activist whose characterisation won Sean Penn the Best Actor Oscar in February.

Michael Petrelis, campaign organiser, told The Gleaner Monday that the catalyst for the campaign was a US State Department report, published in February, citing an escalation of violent attacks against homosexuals in Jamaica.

Petrelis said neither the Government of Jamaica nor the police had exhibited a commitment to protect gays or encourage tolerance of sex minorities. ...

The boycott has targeted Red Stripe beer, mainly because of the product's international prominence, Petrelis said. The group is bidding to cut sales of Red Stripe beer in gay bars and restaurants in San Francisco within 30 days. Twelve such establishments have assented to the boycott, Petrelis said. The Gleaner could not immediately verify if Red Stripe products had indeed been pulled.

Petrelis said his group would also dissuade Americans from holidaying in Jamaica. Tourism is one of the island's foreign-exchange gold mines.

A meeting between the lobbyists and Dr Newton Gordon, honorary consul of Jamaica for San Francisco, has been scheduled for next Tuesday. ...

However, Jason McFarlane, programmes manager at the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG), said it deplored the boycott, particularly because Red Stripe had withdrawn support from entertainers - particularly of the dancehall genre - who promoted violence against gays.

"We had spoken to them not to go ahead with the boycott when they first contacted us last week, but they went ahead despite our response," McFarlane told The Gleaner.

Meanwhile, Maxine Whittingham- Osborne, head of corporate relations at Red Stripe, said the company was surprised by the gay advocates' apparent random targeting.

"Over the years, by our actions and our policies, we have demonstrated that we do not advocate any bias or prejudice against any individual or group(s)," she said yesterday. ...

And here is the letter that appeared today. Dig that crazy and confusing headline:

Silence threats from gay community

The Editor, Sir:

Gay activists are targeting Jamaica because it is an easy target - plain and simple. Many US states have a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

I'm amazed at how time and time again those promoting the virtues of tolerance and diversity are the least tolerant (and the least diverse) of all.

Just recently, the gay rights group in San Francisco refused to accept the passage of Proposition 8, the traditional marriage initiative. Decisions by voters in Florida, Arizona and California to join residents of 27 other states with constitutional protections for traditional marriage have prompted threats of violence against Christians and their churches.

I think that violence against anyone is wrong, no one should have to suffer. I'm really tired of the gay community trying to silence anyone who happens to have a different (moral) opinion on things. They do this every time. It's time to stand up.

The main thing that angers me about the Jamaica boycott site is how the gay and lesbian lobby thinks it can dictate the policy and laws of another sovereign nation.

Mark my words: The gay movement is doing far more harm to its cause than good with this bullying approach. It won't work.

I can't help but believe that for every one person who joins in this wrong-headed boycott, there will be two others who will make an extra effort to support Jamaica.

Jamaica is a Christian nation. Christians are not required by faith to support anyone who supports what God has deemed immoral.

A Christian will stand by higher moral convictions by not contributing in any way, shape or form, to those who wilfully defy God's decrees, especially where morality is concerned. Jamaica simply will not compromise where the word of God is concerned.

I am coming to visit Jamaica and I am going to plan a long vacation there, and encourage all others who stand against immorality to do the same.

I am, etc.,
Neville Carnegie
United States

Tie US Aid to Jamaica to Gay Rights Improvements

In response to the latest US State Department human rights report released in late February, openly gay former ambassador to Romania Michael Guest, on behalf of the new international gay advoccacy organization Council for Global Equality, penned a thought-provoking column for the Bilerico.com site.

Guest offered diplomatic reactions to the gay references, and proposed solutions from our federal government to address the human rights violations our brothers and sisters face around the planet:

Where this year's report mentions either LGBT abuses by government security forces, or legal discrimination against LGBT individuals, I want our embassies to be instructed to engage immediately with host foreign officials, at senior levels, to seek recourse.

I want each of those embassies to be instructed by Washington to draft country strategies aimed at strengthening LGBT groups as part of civil society, repealing or revising discriminatory laws, and reducing societal discrimination.

I want USAID to consider augmenting or redirecting program funds for countries that are willing to make equality a real priority. And for countries that refuse this goal, I want our bilateral assistance levels to be reviewed.

Those sound like highly reasonable ideas to me, to use US ambassadors to be more active in addressing the local gay abuses, and to look at if and how foriegn aid can be tied to how a country treats its gay citizens.

But given the slow nature of the State Department on any matter, much less a gay one, I'm not convinced Guest's ideas will be considered by the department this year, and I'd be delighted if the department proved me wrong with at least publicly responding to his proposals.

An optimist might believe that after the Obama administration directed our representatives at the United Nations to support the gay declaration addressing our human rights needs, that the State Department would be more open to combating and preventing antigay abuses, and that Guest's plans have merit. I'll monitor the Council for Global Equality's site and see if they share an update of any sort on Guest's ideas.

The council issued a critique of the 2008 State Department human rights report and made suggestions to improve the situation in Jamaica for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons.

From the council's top-ten list of countries where the US should do more:

The 2008 report cites credible claims of harassment and arbitrary detention of homosexuals by public employees, with little if any investigation by police. There also have been numerous anti-gay mob attacks, at times apparently with direct police complicity; some of these attacks have resulted in murder. In December, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a statement “....strongly condemn(ing) the high level of homophobia that prevails throughout Jamaican society (which) has resulted in violent killings of persons thought to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual, as well as stabbings, mob attacks, arbitrary detention and police harassment.” Referring to four murders in the past year and a half – including the firebombing of the home of a person believed to be gay, and the chopping to death by machete of another individual who was gay – the statement further notes that “Defenders of the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals have been murdered, beaten and threatened, and the police have been criticized for failing in many instances to prevent or respond to reports of such violence.”

What can the U.S. do?

Senior U.S. officials should urge Jamaica’s Prime Minister to show leadership by condemning this violence and instituting measures to bring these and any future perpetrators to justice. U.S. police assistance should be targeted toward programs that promote tolerance and the defense of vulnerable groups against mob violence.

It's been a few weeks since the council made this recommendation, which I hope was shared with the appropriate senior officials, and I'd like to know if the State Department has replied to the council. I'll get in touch with Guest and his group this week to what advances they've made with their Jamaican concerns.

What I like about Guest's foreign aid review tied to a country's gay human rights record is that it's another stick with which to leverage some change with the Jamaican government. Such a review, coupled with our ambassador in Kingston exerting more pressure on the government to protect the lives of gays, are other avenues along with Boycott Jamaica campaign, that will show the Jamaican government and people the rules of engagement on homosexuals are changing.

No more anti-gay Jamaican business as usual. And be sure to visit the fabulous boycottjamaica.org site.