January 13, 2010

We Can’t Afford It, But We Still Managed $50. How About You?

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December 10, 2009

Protest Buju Banton’s Grammy Nomination

or, Start a Petition

Change.org

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August 1, 2009

Elephant Man, Still Inciting Torture & Murder of Gays, Bounced from Toronto Show

Good:

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July 12, 2009

South Korean News Reports Kim Jong-Il Has Pancreatic Cancer

Honestly (and all perfunctory “wouldn’t wish it on anybody” statements aside), I don’t know if the presumably imminent departure of Kim Jong-Il (the five-year survival rate of people with pancreatic cancer is a mere 4%) and the rise of his son, Kim Jong Un (whom Kim Jong-Il named as his successor last month — which is no secret to anyone but the North Korean people, who apparently haven’t yet been told) is a good thing, or a bad thing.

What I do remember are the warnings we heard when Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il’s father, was dying, and Kim Jong-Il was poised to assume power — which can be boiled down to: “If you think the father is crazy, wait ’til you get a load of the son.”

What do we know about Kim Jong Un, and what can we expect — or fear?

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June 23, 2009

Two Giants Call Out Obama: Helen Thomas and Bob Herbert

There is a very small cadre of mainstream journalists who have more than earned the highest level of respect and deserve the undivided attention of every American who cares about truth over spin, and substance over style. They’ll never lie to you, or tell you what they think you want to hear. (I said it was a very small cadre.) Paul Krugman is one. Molly Ivins was another.

Two of this exclusive group, writing about two separate issues, ask the same essential question about Barack Obama: Why such unwillingness — or cowardice — to do the job the people hired him to do: reverse the offenses of his predecessor, and work for the best interests of the American people?

When Helen Thomas and Bob Herbert speak, I listen. If only Obama would too:

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May 12, 2009

Jamaica: Actually, the Music is Only a Reflection of the Beatings and Murders

Expressions in Words, on the Jamaica Boycott:

Jamaica has long been known as a homophobic society - though granted we don’t have a poster at our international airports! More publicly, it is reflected in the music. Comparable to the spate of ‘daggering’ songs, local dancehall kings and queens vie for who can best describe with what should be done to homosexuals, often times in the most graphic of ways.

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April 2, 2009

Boycott Jamaica

About damned time:

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January 12, 2009

Leading Rights Groups Urge Obama to Stop Guantánamo Proceedings Against Child Soldiers

Remember the child detainees of Gitmo? No? Well, it has been a while — long enough for these boys to grow into adults while awaiting trial (any trial, even the kangarro court otherwise known as a “secret military tribunal”). Here’s our coverage of the child detainees when we first leaned about them… nearly six years ago:

If This Doesn’t Outrage You, You’re Not Human
April 24, 2003

Children held at Camp Xray, US admits …

And think about this: If there is even one child under the age of 16 now, it means he was captured, transported to Cuba, and has been rotting in a cage at Gitmo for nearly a year and a half — or since he was between 13 and 14 years old. …

AI Weighs in on Gitmo Children
April 24, 2003

Most of the 600-plus detainees in Guantanamo are confined to tiny cells for virtually 24 hours a day and reportedly allowed to exercise in shackles for only 15 minutes twice a week…

Gitmo Update: Rummy, Myers Dis Concerns
for Child Welfare
April 27, 2003

A senior United Nations envoy has called on the United States to take prompt action over the fate of three teenage boys being held with other terror suspects in its prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. …

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has defended the detention of the boys — aged between 13 and 15 — at Camp Delta, saying they are “enemy combatants”, captured while fighting for the Taleban or al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. …

One of the youths has been identified by Canadian media reports as a Canadian citizen wanted by the US over a grenade attack in Afghanistan which killed a US soldier. …

Which brings us to a long-awaited update about that very Canadian, Omar Khadr:

Leading Rights Groups Urge Obama to Stop Guantánamo Proceedings Against Child Soldiers

WASHINGTON, D.C. — January 12, 2009 — Five leading human rights and civil liberties groups sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama today, urging him to suspend the Guantánamo Bay military commissions and to ensure that the upcoming trial of Omar Khadr, a 22-year-old Canadian, does not proceed. The trial is scheduled to begin on January 26, six days after the presidential inauguration.

Khadr is slated to be tried before the widely discredited military commissions for war crimes he is alleged to have committed when he was 15. There is broad global recognition that the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict is a serious abuse in itself. This is reflected in the fact that no existing international tribunal has ever prosecuted a child for war crimes.

The groups — the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Human Rights First and Human Rights Watch — urged Obama to drop the military commission charges against Khadr and either repatriate him to Canada or, if there is evidence to support it, to prosecute him in U.S. federal courts in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards.

The groups also called on Obama to immediately suspend pending proceedings against Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan who is also charged before the military commissions for crimes allegedly committed when he was 16 or 17. A military judge twice ruled that statements Jawad made following his arrest were not admissible at trial because they were obtained through torture. However, the government has challenged the ruling and the Court of Military Commission Review in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday, January 13.

The letter from the groups to President-elect Barack Obama is below and can also be found online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/…

More information on the ACLU’s work to close Guantánamo can be found online at: www.aclu.org

---

January 12, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama
Obama-Biden Transition Project
Washington, DC 20720

Dear President-elect Obama:

We write to you regarding Omar Khadr, the 22-year-old Canadian national slated to be tried by military commission at Guantánamo for crimes allegedly committed when he was aged 15. If the trial, now scheduled for January 26, 2009, is allowed to go forward, Omar Khadr will become the first person in recent years to be tried by any western nation for war crimes allegedly committed as a child.

We urge that upon taking office, you act quickly to suspend the military commissions, drop the military commission charges against Khadr, and either repatriate him for rehabilitation in Canada or transfer him to federal court and prosecute him in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards.

Background

United States forces captured Khadr on July 27, 2002, after a firefight in Afghanistan that resulted in the death of US Army Sergeant First Class Christopher Speer, as well as injuries to other soldiers. Khadr, who was seriously wounded, was initially detained at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. There, according to his lawyers, he was forced into painful stress positions, threatened with rape, and hooded and confronted with barking dogs.

In October 2002, US officers transported Khadr to Guantánamo, where the abusive interrogations continued, and where he has been ever since. Khadr told his lawyers that his interrogators shackled him in painful positions, threatened to send him to Egypt, Syria, or Jordan for torture, and used him as a “human mop” after he urinated on the floor during one interrogation session. He was not allowed to meet with a lawyer until November 2004, more than two years after he was first captured.

During his third year of detention, Khadr was charged with murder and other related crimes under the first set of military commissions authorized by President Bush. Those charges were dismissed when the Supreme Court ruled the commissions unlawful in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. In 2007, under newly authorized commissions, the United States government charged him with murder, attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, providing material support for terrorism, and spying. He faces a possible life prison sentence.

Violations of Human Rights and Juvenile Justice Standards

Khadr’s prolonged detention in Guantánamo Bay contravenes the United States’ binding legal obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and international juvenile justice standards. Although these international standards allow for detention of juveniles only as a last resort and require prompt determination of juvenile cases, Khadr was detained for more than two years before being provided access to an attorney, and for more than three years before being charged before the first military commission. After more than six years the lawfulness of this detention still has not been judicially reviewed on the merits.

Further, despite international standards requiring treatment of children in accordance with their age, as well as segregation of children and adults, Khadr has been housed with adult detainees, even when other child detainees were being housed together in Guantánamo’s Camp Iguana. The abusive interrogations and prolonged detention in solitary confinement violated both international juvenile justice standards and general humane treatment standards, including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and other binding prohibitions against torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Failure to Comply with Obligations under the Optional Protocol

International law requires the United States to recognize the special situation of children who have been recruited or used in armed conflict. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (”Optional Protocol”), which the United States ratified in 2002, explicitly prohibits the recruitment or use of children under the age of 18 in armed conflict by non-state armed groups and requires state parties to criminalize such conduct. It also requires the rehabilitation of former child soldiers within a signatory’s jurisdiction, including “all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and their social reintegration.”

Yet in its dealings with Khadr, the US government has ignored its legal obligations under the Optional Protocol. For years, Khadr was denied access to education, vocational training, counseling, or any family contact. Instead, he was held in isolation and abused.

Last May, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which oversees compliance with the Optional Protocol, criticized the United States’ treatment and military prosecutions of children held at Guantánamo, and called on the US government to treat children in its custody in accordance with international juvenile justice standards.

Military Trial Moving Ahead

Despite widespread criticism of the military commission system and its treatment of Omar Khadr, the outgoing Bush administration has continued to move his case toward trial. Motions hearings are now set for January 19, with a trial date scheduled for January 26. Unless you act quickly to suspend the commissions, Khadr will become the first person in recent history to be prosecuted for war crimes allegedly committed as a child, before a system that you have consistently criticized as “flawed.”

As you are aware, you voted against the legislation passed by Congress in October 2006 to authorize the commissions, calling it a “betrayal of American values.” When charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the 9/11 co-conspirators were announced in February 2008, you criticized that decision on the grounds that “[t]hese trials are too important to be held in a flawed military commission system” and that the men should be tried in federal court or by courts-martial, in order to “demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law.” Just five months ago, after the conviction of Salim Hamdan, you reiterated your criticism of the commission process, stating it is “time to better protect the American people and our values by bringing swift and sure justice to terrorists through our courts and our Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

You have also co-sponsored legislation (the Child Soldier Prevention Act, S. 1175, which was subsequently incorporated into the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, and the Child Soldier Accountability Act, S. 2135) designed to help end the use of child soldiers. These measures, both signed into law in 2008, commit the US government to expand services to rehabilitate child soldiers and reintegrate them back into their communities, and allow the United States to prosecute the individuals responsible for the recruitment of children as soldiers.

Now is the chance to ensure America’s commitment to the rule of law by putting an immediate halt to Omar Khadr’s trial. If there is evidence that Khadr committed a federal crime, he should be transferred to a federal court and prosecuted in accordance with international juvenile justice and fair trial standards; if not, he should be repatriated for rehabilitation and integration.

This is also the course you should take with the other known juvenile detainee, Mohammed Jawad, an Afghan, who has been in Guantánamo for six years, reportedly subjected to torture, sleep deprivation, and other abuse, and charged with attempted murder by the military commission for acts allegedly committed when he was either 16 or 17 years old. No trial date is currently set in his case.

We hope that you will act quickly on this matter in the interest of justice, protection of human rights, and the rule of law.

Sincerely,

American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International
Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch

cc:
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Eric Holder

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December 18, 2008

“Sodomy” Laws Show Survival of Colonial Injustice

NEW YORK — December 17, 2008 — More than half of the world’s remaining “sodomy” laws — criminalizing consensual homosexual conduct — are relics of British colonial rule, Human Rights Watch showed in a report published today. Human Rights Watch urged governments everywhere to affirm international human rights standards, and reject the oppressive legacies of colonialism, by repealing laws that criminalize consensual sexual activity among adults of the same sex.

The 66-page report, “This Alien Legacy: The Origins of ‘Sodomy’ Laws in British Colonialism,” describes how laws in over three dozen countries, from India to Uganda and from Nigeria to Papua New Guinea, derive from a single law on homosexual conduct that British colonial rulers imposed on India in 1860. This year, the High Court in Delhi ended hearings in a years-long case seeking to decriminalize homosexual conduct there. A ruling in the landmark case is expected soon.

“Half the world’s countries that criminalize homosexual conduct do so because they cling to Victorian morality and colonial laws,” said Scott Long, director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch. “Getting rid of these unjust remnants of the British Empire is long overdue.”

On December 18, 2008, the UN General Assembly will hear a statement signed by over 60 countries affirming that human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Some national leaders have defended sodomy laws as reflections of indigenous cultures. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, for example, has called gays and lesbians “un-African” and “worse than dogs and pigs.” The Human Rights Watch report shows, however, that British colonial rulers brought in these laws because they saw the conquered cultures as morally lax on sexuality. The British also wanted to defend their own colonists against the “corrupting” effect of the colonies. One British viceroy of India warned that British soldiers could succumb to “replicas of Sodom and Gomorrah” as they acquired the “special Oriental vices.”

In the early 19th century, the British drafted a new model Indian Penal Code, finally put into force in 1860. Section 377 punished “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with up to life imprisonment.

Versions of Section 377 spread across the British Empire, from Africa to Southeast Asia. Through it, British colonists imposed one view on sexuality, by force, on all their colonized peoples. Over time, these laws came to seek punishment against not particular acts but whole classes of people. The British, for instance, listed “eunuchs” - their term for India’s hijras, or transgender people - as a “criminal tribe” because they were prone to “sodomy.” Simply for appearing in public, hijras could be arrested and jailed for up to two years.

Today, international human rights standards have compelled former colonial powers to acknowledge that these laws are wrong. England and Wales decriminalized homosexual conduct in 1967. The European Court of Human Rights found in 1981 that a surviving sodomy law in Northern Ireland violated fundamental rights protections. In 1994, the UN Human Rights Committee — which authoritatively interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) — held that sodomy laws violate the rights to privacy and to non-discrimination.

The laws nonetheless persist in many of Britain’s old colonial possessions. Moreover, the model British-era sodomy law made no distinction between consensual and non-consensual sex, or between sex among adults and sexual abuse of children. As a result, these surviving laws leave many rape victims and child victims of abuse without effective legal protection.

“From Malaysia to Uganda, governments use these laws to harass civil society, restrict free expression, discredit enemies, and destroy lives,” Long said. “And sodomy laws add to the spread of HIV/AIDS by criminalizing outreach to affected groups.”

Colonies and countries that retain versions of this British sodomy law include:

• In Asia and the Pacific: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, India, Kiribati, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Myanmar (Burma), Nauru, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Western Samoa. (Governments that inherited the same British law, but have abolished it since include: Australia, Fiji, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.)

• In Africa: Botswana, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Eleven former British colonies in the Caribbean also retain sodomy laws derived from a different British model than the one imposed on India.

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November 21, 2008

Reggae Gay-Hater Bounty Killer: “Faggot, I kill every one of them”

Title tells all.

Pink News UK has the story and the video, and a link to a second video…

…too distressing to be shown here, [which] records the attempted lynching of a gay man in Jamaica. You can hear the attackers shout the lyrics from murder music songs: “Batty men fi dead (queers must die).”

Click here to watch the video, which contains disturbing scenes of violence.

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August 31, 2008

New York “Straight Pride” Parade Complete Bust; Gay Haters (And Everybody But Joe) Stay Away in Droves

Joe.My.God. has the pictures… of absolutely nothing:

Straight Pride Parade: Attendance Zero

The things I do for you people, getting up at the asscrack of the Lord’s Day to trek out to Brooklyn’s Crown Heights for the much-hyped Straight Pride Parade. As you can see, however, I found the corner of Flatbush and Church, the parade’s supposed 10am starting point, completely deserted. Damn, and here I wanted a Straight Pride t-shirt.

I did see a good number of cars whizzing by that were festooned with flags from Jamaica and other Caribbean nations, but those were probably just folks getting ready for tomorrow’s massive West Indian Day Parade. Just to make sure I hadn’t missed the fun, I popped into a few shops to inquire if anybody had seen a parade this morning. The manager of Raquel Shoes told me, “I’ve been here since 8:30am. It’s been totally quiet all morning.” …

I at least expected to find a couple of reporters lurking around, but the only folks on the street seemed to be morning shoppers. …

Who knows, maybe I blinked and missed a handful of haters marching up Church Avenue wearing Buju Banton t-shirts. What a laughable non-event. And that, my tender kittens, is a very good thing.

Great parade, gay-bashers!

Related:

Gay-Hating Reggae Singers Coming to NYC for Anti-Gay Pride
July 8, 2008

Four Days Until Jamaican Gay Bashers Descend on New York
August 27, 2008

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August 27, 2008

Four Days Until Jamaican Gay Bashers Descend on New York

New Yorkers, what are you planning for a protest? There’s virtually no news, even in the LGBT media, on this disgusting display of anti-gay aggression. Are you going to let this happen without showing up, or at least speaking up?

Backstory:

Gay-Hating Reggae Singers Coming to NYC for Anti-Gay Pride

If the above link isn’t enough to make you sick to your stomach, here’s an August 19th press release from the gay-haters themselves:

Reggae and Dancehall Music Defend Itself Against the Homosexual Community

TCOOO, the reggae label for artists such as Massicker, Jango Fresh, Boom Viniyard and Stapler will be holding a straight pride parade in New York City on August 31, 2008. The label hopes that this parade and more to follow will rid Reggae of the negative “murder music” label that, according to the TCOOO label, has been given to the music by gay right activists such as Peter Tatchell.

New York, NY (PRWEB) August 19, 2008 — With the straight pride parade in New York City only two weeks away, Reggae continues to defend itself against the recent boycotts of the music. The main purpose of the parade is to get rid of some of the negative stereotypes that, according to the TCOOO label, has been attributed to not only the Reggae community, but to Jamaica and Jamaicans in general.

Some Reggae artists believe that reggae music has been unfairly targeted. Stapler from the TCOOO label and the artist behind “Hit them hard,” the song at the root of the straight pride parade, believes the gay community targets Reggae because 99 percent of the artists are African American.

Yeah, pull the racism card, Stapler. It couldn’t possibly be that it’s not your skin color, but your deep-rooted, activist aggression and violent hate speech that bothers us, could it?

“Eminem dissed them and they protested a little, then Eminem performed on stage with Elton John and all was forgiven,” said Stapler. “Beenie man went on the Ru-Paul show so why are gays still bent on destroying Reggae music?”

Hey, Stapler: Better you should ask why reggae artists are bent on destroying gay people. You stop inciting violence against us, and we’ll leave you alone. You actively work against anti-gay violence, and we might even consider buying your records again.

Massicker from the TCOOO label took it a step further, saying, “Look at the Reggae artists that they target. They go after Buju Banton and Sizzla, but they don’t bother a Sean Paul or a Damian Marley. When Damian Marley said, ‘Funny man get drop like a bad habit,’ what do they think a funnyman is? A funnyman is a homosexual, so are they afraid to challenge a Marley, or is he not Black enough for the homosexual community to try and destroy?”

Get off your cross, Massicker — your fellow gay-bashers need the nails.

As far as Sean Paul and Damian Marley: Who the hell are they? If they were as high-profile as Sizzla and Elephant Man (and espoused hatred against gay people), we’d say something about them, too.

TCOOO maintains that the label just wants to make music for Reggae fans worldwide and doesn’t have the time for any negativity. The label’s song “Hit them hard” by artist Stapler was banned by numerous radio stations after climbing to the top ten on numerous Reggae charts for what some claim was anti-gay content. Both the label and Stapler deny the claim, saying that the song is really a pro-family song.

Then the label and Stapler are clearly delusional — or just plain stupid, or just plain liars, or just plain milking this controversy for all its worth with clearly inflammatory statements because all publicity is good publicity. Yes, I believe that’s it exactly.

The Straight Pride Parade will take place in Brooklyn, New York along Church avenue on August 31, 2008 form 10AM to 6PM. Information about the parade can be found at TCOOO’s websites at www.tcooo.imeem.com.

“Hit Them Hard” lyrics by the artist Stapler:

“Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause

Hand in hand with my lady
Hug her and kiss her cause she carried my baby
But some boys moving shady
While am chilling on the ends making sweet love to Sadie
All I know am here to produce and all the ladies you are my friends
From the past, the present, the future my girl, love and respect to the end

Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause

Remember you are a King, what happened to your queen
The youths need a role model to instill self esteem
So live your life clean
and you will see what I mean

Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause

The world is spinning and everything in it
Mankind lose their way, some gone past their limit
Am here to advice and to be a critic
Be careful of the lifestyle you choose to exhibit
Children live what they learn
Aren’t you concerned
of your choices in society
We need to preserve the value of a male and a female in every family”

Ugly. Just ugly. And dangerous.

Related:

Change of Heart for Jamaican Hate-Music Stars? We’re Not Buying It.
June 13, 2007

We’ll Believe It When He Never Sings “Boom Bye Bye” Again
July 23, 2007

Toronto Cops to Keep Close Eye on Jamaican Hate Music Purveyors
September 26, 2007

Toronto: Elephant Man, Sizzla Shows Cancelled
October 2, 2007

NDP Calls for Boycott of Anti-Gay & Lesbian Artists
October 4, 2007

We Knew Buju Banton Was Full of Bull. Sometimes, We Just Hate Being Right.
October 30, 2007

Gay-Hating Reggae Singers Coming to NYC for Anti-Gay Pride
July 8, 2008

More in the Jamaica category.

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July 16, 2008

The Fascinating Evolution of a Formerly Homophobic Jamaican

We’re always interested in reading about the stunning level of violent homophobia in Jamaica. Well, perhaps “interested” isn’t the right word — more like “mesmerized with horror and revulsion” as one might be after being forced to watch the hammer-on-the-head scene in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,* over and over again, in slow motion.

Occasionally, some comparatively sane voice bucking the Jamaican lynch mob’s cries of “Kill batty-boy!” emerges — but seldom to decry homophobia itself; usually, there’s only a brief awakening to the damage Jamaica is doing to its own tourist industry by allowing and openly encouraging the overwhelming, societally-approved anti-gay violence. And then, once again, all you hear is the crowd’s constant baying for blood.

That’s why I was fascinated by the accidental discovery of a blog by one Francis Wade, a Jamaican who moved back to Kingston after a long stint in the United States. Moving Back to Jamaica is what the title says, a chronicle of Wade’s journey home.

The most interesting thing (to me, of course) is Wade’s other journey: the slow but clear realization of his own homophobia, and the shift in his attitude toward gay people — and, in the process, toward himself.

While Wade is, like many Jamaicans, often more concerned about the impact of homophobia on the Jamaican economy, there is no question that he’s made a significant leap in his thinking. In February, 2006, for example, he wrote “Topics I Don’t Blog About,” in which he finally touches on homosexuality for the first time in seven months of blogging — a long time when you consider how very hot indeed the topic is in Jamaica:

Recently I was asked by someone online if there are any topics I don’t blog about. One of the hot topics that have not yet touched is homosexuality, and how it plays out here in the Caribbean.

Most of my experience comes from being here in Jamaica, which has the broadest manifestations of hatred, and I think is a leading force in the West Indies in social attitudes.

I can’t tell the reason why I have not spoken on the topic, except that perhaps I have had nothing to say. Until now.

Last week I was in HiLo, and overheard a loud conversation between two employees, one whom had apparently walked beside some gay men holding hands. They were quite agitated that that could be happening in “broad daylight.”

One of them arrived at the following conclusion as I was unsuccessfully searching for canned string beans: “hear me man…. if my son turn out to be a batty-man, I would mek sure to kill him first before any anyone else (could).”

I believe him.

I further believe that he is not alone, and that the overt hatred that is often openly expressed, acted out by almost all of us, reinforced by the judicious use of scripture and supported by written law are just the precursors for something awful to happen. It’s the way awful things happened, and happen in the world — whether they be in Soweto, Auschwitz, Montgomery, Rwanda, Wounded Knee, My Lei [sic] or Kosovo.

Less than a week later, Wade writes about his “ugly reaction” to a phone call from a man he thought was gay; Wade is shocked by his own hateful, literally murderous thoughts about the man. Excerpting this post would dilute its impact; it should be read in full.

As time goes by, Wade finds himself feeling defensive about the way the rest of the world views Jamaica (as “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth”), while acknowledging that as “Jamaica tells the world the lengths we are willing to go, in order to exclude gay people … the world just happens to be moving in the opposite direction, with full force.” He also (bravely) cites the lessons Jamaica should have learned by example from South Africa, “as we implement our own Apartheid,” and recognizes recent anti-gay remarks of Prime Minister Bruce Golding as “divisive and bigoted.”

I wouldn’t call Wade a fearless ally — yet — but his ongoing struggle is a thing of curiosity and, at times, even beauty, to watch.

I’m bookmarking Wade’s blog; I look forward to watching his thoughts progress even further.

Here’s a link to just the posts on Wade’s blog that reference homosexuality; I encourage you to scroll all the way down the page, and start reading the posts from the bottom up:

http://francismove.blogspot.com/search?q=gay
 
* Yes, the correct title of the original film is The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, not The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So, I’m a purist.

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July 8, 2008

Who Needs Hate-Crimes Legislation? Bermuda, That’s Who.

Bravo, Judge Greaves!

Machete Attack Leaves Gay Man Permanently Disfigured

A Bermuda judge has sentenced to seven years in prison a man who slashed and hacked the face of a gay man with a machete and prompted the judge to rebuke the island government for not passing LGBT civil rights legislation. …

During [Rashad Cooper]’s trial the court heard that he had a history of tormenting [Shawn Nusum] with homophobic epithets.

Last November 15 the taunting turned to violence at a Hamilton club. As Nusum left the building he was attacked by Cooper who was armed with a machete.

Nusum suffered a broken nose, fractured jaw and cheekbone and multiple deep cuts. The attack left him with permanent scars and he is unable to move one eyebrow that droops over the eye. …

[Judge Carlisle Greaves] used the sentencing to suggest the government stop dragging its feet on civil rights legislation for gays and for a hate crimes law.

“It is a human right of every citizen that he ought not to be discriminated against on the basis of race, his origin and such. This court can see very little difference between such rights and the rights and expectations not to be violently attacked on the basis of one’s sexual orientation,” he said in his ruling…

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Gay-Hating Reggae Singers Coming to NYC for Anti-Gay Pride

You think my headline is too harsh? Consider the reaction to a KKK “white pride” event to counter Juneteenth.

Yes, reggae hate-music “artists” and their proponents are on par with white supremacists; both groups advocate the murder of minority groups.

This “Straight Pride Parade” is nothing but an excuse for gay bashers and would-be gay bashers to flaunt their open, blatant hatred for those of us they want to see dead.

That said… From PageOneQ:

Straight pride parade to hit New York City

A group of reggae artists, backed by their record label, will openly embrace their heterosexuality this upcoming Labor Day weekend.

“Although reggae is known for its militancy and its resistance to injustice,” TCOOO Productions proclaimed, “the reggae community has remained calm throughout the attack on the music by Peter Tatchell and other Gay activists (sic) groups.”

Frequent reports of kidnappings, harassment and mob beatings of gays, particularly in Jamaica, provide the backdrop for the lyrics of reggae and dancehall artists such as Beenie Man and Buju Banton, assailed by Outrage! founder Peter Tatchell as part of his Stop Murder Music campaign, which spans two decades. One example of a song that has gained notoriety in its mentions of violence against gays is Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye,” released in the early 1990s and cited as the catalyst to the campaign’s birth.

“The Straight Pride Parade is a chance for Heterosexuals to gather together and proudly embrace their sexuality,” said reggae artist Jango Fresh. “The Parade will also allow reggae and dancehall fans who are in New York City for the Labor Day celebrations to get together and celebrate reggae, dancehall and family in love and unity.”

“Hit Them Hard,” a song by TCOOO artist Stapler, is one recent example of a song the label laments as a chart-climbing “pro-family” hit taken down by Tatchell’s campaigning.

The chorus is:

Jah Jah gonna hit them hard
All the men who visit men backyard
Leaving all the women to starve
One thunder ball and all of them pause …

The event is planned for August 31, 2008 in Brooklyn, on the same route as the Caribbean Labor Day parade.

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June 20, 2008

Why Do We Hate Jamaica So Much Again? (Oh, yeah, I remember now…)

Completely unsurprising:

Poll: 70 Percent In Jamaica Oppose Any Rights For Gays

There is little chance laws against homosexuality will be repealed in Jamaica if a public opinion poll released Friday is any indication.

The survey found that 70 percent of Jamaicans do not believe gays and lesbians should have any civil rights.

The poll, taken for the Jamaican Gleaner newspaper, found women slightly more receptive than men to repealing the sodomy law or giving gays protection from discrimination in housing or work. …

Jamaican gays, supported by international human rights groups, have been calling for repeal of the sodomy law which carries a sentence of 10-years in prison on conviction.

Last month Prime Minister Bruce Golding condemned Britain and other Commonwealth countries for criticizing the treatment of gays in the Caribbean nation.

”Jamaica is not going to allow values to be imposed on it from outside,” he said during an interview broadcast on the BBC. (story)

Jamaica has been described by human rights groups as having the worst record of any country in the New World in its treatment of gays and lesbians. …

Funny, but I describe Jamaica that way too. As a lesbian, I’d rather take my chances getting outed in Saudi Arabia. (Afghanistan or Iran? That’s a hard call; I say both are even with Jamaica.)

This story reminds me… I haven’t cruised over to the Jamaica Gleaner lately to see what the haters are saying these days. If you’ve never visited the JG site, you should — the disgusting filth spewed there will wipe out any silly idea you ever had about vacationing in Jamaica.

That goes for you straights, too, you know — even those who don’t give a whit that Jamaicans are overwhelmingly in favor of beating queers to death; they’ll happily beat you to death, too, if they accidentally mistake you for a battyboy.

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April 17, 2008

The Bahamas Gets It, and Now Oklahoma is Getting It (Hiya, Sally Kern!)

Last October, I mentioned that The Bahamas was (were?) finally started to wake up to the reality that if you treat homos like garbage, homos won’t spend their vacation dollars in your island/country/town.

It ain’t rocket science.

Of course, not too many homo-haters in this country, the Grand Ol’ U.S. of A., are even close to rocket scientists. Sally Kern — about whom Buffy has written extensively on The Gaytheist Agenda — would be lucky to pass a course in the Science of Tying One’s Shoes.

Luckily, Oklahoma is not filled with Sally Kerns (although we do question the very humanity of the dipsticks stupid — or just hateful — enough to vote for her), and is beginning to understand that homophobic hatred could cost the Sooner State some serious money.

Not that we Sneaky Homosexual Agendaists were planning to descend en masse and rename the place Oklahomo; no, it’s this, via The Journal-Record:

OKC Chamber: Kern spooks big biz relocation consultant

OKLAHOMA CITY — A San Francisco Bay-area financial services company has not yet ruled out Oklahoma City for a major office relocation, a vice president of a real estate search firm confirmed. A decision is expected in three to four weeks.

But Tom Maloney, vice president of California-based Staubach Co., would neither confirm nor deny that the 1,000-employee, AAA-rated client company’s top executive is a lesbian who expressed concern over Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern’s recent anti-homosexual statements, as has been the topic circulating among local business leaders.

Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said the issue is a major concern the chamber is trying to address. He confirmed a Staubach consultant was troubled by Kern’s comments during a recent visit to the city.

“He told us straight up … ‘I cannot recommend to any of my clients that they should consider Oklahoma City because of that,’” Williams said. “When you have one of the nation’s premier relocation experts making those statements, you should pay attention to that and not dismiss it.

“And that’s immediately what happened: People said, ‘Well, then tell them not to come here.’ …”

At the Commerce Department, Business Services Deputy Director Sandy Pratt said … Kern’s comments have not been raised as a concern: “It did not come up in any of the governor’s economic development team meetings with consultants or discussions we’ve had with consultants,” Pratt said. …

As for Kern’s comments, “They no doubt send a message out there that no city wants to send, and that is one of divisiveness instead of unitedness,” [Williams] said. For the last five years, the chamber has made a greater effort “to embrace differences and embrace diversity, to build a community that is open and welcoming to anyone.”

Well, that’s a very nice sentiment, Mr. Williams, but while Oklahoma City may be “open and welcoming to anyone,” the state of Oklahoma is very much stuck in the Dark Ages, thanks to your constitutional ban on marriage equality.

Sally Kern aside — and seriously, who is Sally Kern but just another dunderheaded bigot who’s done us the favor of showing the public just how mean and stupid homophobes can be? Sally Kern is a flyspeck in the cosmos. It’s the people of Oklahoma — the ones who decided to legislate their own gay and lesbian neighbors into permanent second-class citizenship — who are the problem. It’s nearly impossible to comprehend that the marriage ban isn’t Staubach’s biggest concern: Staubach’s LGBT employees will have no rights in Oklahoma.

Interestingly, Indianapolis is also on Staubach’s list of potential new homes. Wake up, Staubach — Indiana is hardly better than Oklahoma; aside from the fact that Indiana refuses to recognize any same-sex marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership established in another state, and aside from the fact that a state constitutional ban on marriage equality failed in February, the issue is far from dead: Both houses of the state legislature favor a ban, and there’s an ongoing push to put the issue to the voters. And (especially when you consider that over the past seven years, only one state, Arizona, was able to beat back a marriage amendment) you know what that means; to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin (and mix in a little Ayn Rand), when you allow the majority to vote on the rights of a minority, you’ve got two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Staubach, you need to reconsider this move. I’m assuming you want to leave California because it would be cheaper to do business somewhere else.

But you’ve got to ask yourselves which is more important: money, or doing the right thing.

Meh, I know: It’s business. And money always trumps the right thing.

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October 30, 2007

We Knew Buju Banton Was Full of Bull. Sometimes, We Just Hate Being Right.

So much for gay-murder advocate Buju Banton “coming out against anti-gay lyrics“:

Buju sings controversial tune at music festival

It had all the ingredients of a good show - quality performances, massive support and mostly clean music - but the highly anticipated Guyana Music Festival clearly lacked the core item of local talent, which was in very short supply.

But even that was insufficient to put a damper on things and when the curtains came down at around 3 am yesterday morning, the $3000 that the majority of persons parted with, was exhausted mainly due to one man and a band with a music career much older than three quarters of the huge crowd.

‘Gargamel’ Buju Banton and Third World rocked the show so hard the vibrations probably shifted a few seats in the Guyana National Stadium. Combined the two powerhouses belted out sounds so sweet and conscious it was difficult to determine the best reggae performance of the night. But the night certainly belonged to the dreadlocked, still very much homophobic Jamaican dancehall star, who had no apologies for his discriminatory lyrics lashing the gay community.

“Buju nah like no batty boy and dem batty boy attack Buju”, the singer said to an adulating audience who seemed to have been waiting for that exact moment. And perhaps feeling the vibes of the embracing crowd and the urge to sing his controversial song, “Boom boom bye”, the singer belted out a few of the lyrics nearing the close of his performance.

But Buju was not the only performer to have walked that line. Kiprich, another Jamaican star who appeared much earlier in the night also sang out against the gay community and the audience largely enjoyed it.

It doesn’t make us happy to say we told you so. But we told you so.

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October 8, 2007

Bahamas Finally Realizing Homophobia Can Mean Economic Hit

Adapt or die.

Like Jamaica (more about that hotbed of homo hatred in a moment), the Bahamas is (are?) finally realizing that they don’t have to like us — but if they keep treating us like lepers, their all-important tourism industry can and will suffer.

Granted, this author of this op/ed for the Nassau Guardian believes the myth that all American gay men and lesbians are obscenely wealthy compared to our heterosexual counterparts — but the bottom line is the bottom line: Stone us in the streets (even figuratively), and we’ll stop spending our money there — and so will our family, friends, and allies.

Anti-gay campaign

The Bahamas needs to decide whether it can afford the damage a “gay and lesbian lifestyle ban” would have on its $2-billion tourism industry, said a member of an international gay rights group.

In an interview with The Guardian yesterday, Brian Winfield, communications director of Equality Florida — the state’s umbrella organization for gay and lesbian rights — said The Bahamas was already treading on thin ice with the international gay community. The strained relationship has everything to do with the very vocal and highly publicized anti-gay protests against Rosie O’Donnell’s Family Vacation Cruise Ship in 2004.

. . .

His comments come as both the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and individual activists in the community call for the government to create a law banning the “gay lifestyle” of homosexuals both in the public eye as well as behind closed doors. The BCC was also involved in the 2004 protests against O’Donnell’s cruise coming to country. “It was horrible,” said Winfield. “They got off the ship to be greeted with an enormous amount of hatred and whether that hatred is in the name of God or not doesn’t change the fact that it’s hatred. …”

. . .

The arguments are those of thousands of American gays and lesbians, who if statistics are to be believed, wield disposal incomes very much the envy of their hetersexual counterparts and firmly placing them in the target market of tourists increasingly this country’s bread and butter.

. . .

Resort destinations that once banned gay couples have had courts force them from that position. … An increasing number of choices of wear to go for sun, sand and sea … means The Bahamas is especially vulnerable to losing those well-healed [sic] visitors. …

Back in April, much the same sentiment — “We hate homos, but we’re worried about the economic backlash” — was expressed in an op/ed in the notoriously homophobic Jamaica Star, “Bending ‘backwards’ for tourism?“:

Every day I read the papers I ask myself what the hell is going on. People are stealing phone lines to make bullets; toddlers are having sex in our schools, and anti-gay outrage is becoming more vocal and visible despite the obvious negative economic impact it can have on the island. Already, potential visitors are beginning to voice their concerns about visiting Jamaica primarily due to concerns about their safety.

. . .

There are no jobs to be had, yet the Statistical Institute has the gall to tell you that the economy is growing. … But we’re not going to be creating much of anything, let alone more jobs, if we don’t find a way to soften our rapidly hardening image across the world which is not being helped by this very vocal and very visible anti-gay sentiment snowballing right across the island. From Montego Bay right across to Kingston, more and more reports are surfacing about the mortality of gays and those suspected of being gay, being challenged almost on a daily basis.

We need to understand something. We might choose to remain homophobic as a nation, which is our right, but when we expect people to support our tourism product we have to sometimes bend backwards a little because tourists don’t have to come here. And let me tell you something, if you all think things are bad now you don’t want to see how bad they’ll get if our tourism market collapses, which it will if the gay propaganda machinery sets its sights on generating a boycott against Jamaica.

We have to learn to be more tolerant. It makes better economic sense.

Sapphocrat’s take on this piece:

Well, hallelujah: a Jamaican who hates queers, but realizes that the nation’s rabid homophobia is coming back to bite, square in the pocketbook — and that “learning” tolerance is vital to keeping Jamaica from complete collapse. …

Do I feel sorry for poverty-stricken Jamaicans? I know I should. I know I should be able to rise above their hate for us and do something practical to help.

But you know what? I don’t. What I do know is that when you have theocratic leaders leading the people down an ever-spiraling path of hate and crime (and Jamaica’s leaders and police actively encourage this kind of thinking and behavior), there’s not a damned thing anyone on the outside can do but starve the beast, and wait for the people to take the lead — which I hope the people of Jamaica can do through a democratic process, as opposed to a violent one (but I have little hope for the former).

Will that change the attitudes of rabidly homophobic Jamaicans? In the long run, I believe it will. When they get desperate enough to make the changes their current leaders won’t, they will be forced to “tolerate” us. And, as we all know, proximity — continuing and permanent — breeds tolerance. Eventually, tolerance breeds acceptance.

Same goes for the Bahamas — and for every other country in the world torn between a love of hatred, and a need for ready cash.

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October 4, 2007

NDP Calls for Boycott of Anti-Gay & Lesbian Artists

For us U.S.-centric Usians, the NDP is Canada’s New Democratic Party — basically good guys, and what you wish the U.S. Democratic Party would be; i.e., totally pro-LGBT, pro-social programs, pro-environment, etc. Here’s their latest press release:

OTTAWA - NDP critic for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual Issues, Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) called on Canadian fans of Jamaican dancehall music to carefully consider their attendance at concerts by Jamaican performers Elephant Man and Sizzla.

“These performers are known for their explicit lyrics calling for the killing of gay men and lesbians. According to human rights organizations, their music has contributed significantly to a marked increase in anti-gay and lesbian violence in Jamaica,” noted Siksay.

“Canada and Canadians have said clearly that the incitement of violence or murder against an identifiable group is unacceptable. I hope that fans of Jamaican dancehall music will appreciate that a vibrant musical tradition should not be used as a cover for the promotion of hatred. I hope that they will choose to boycott performances. I also hope that the promoters and venues for these concerts will reconsider their participation in the spread of a hateful message. Canadians must stand in solidarity with the gay and lesbian community in Jamaica and in Canada in saying that the promotion of violence is not acceptable,” concluded Siksay.

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October 2, 2007

Toronto: Elephant Man, Sizzla Shows Cancelled

The Toronto Star delivers the good news:

Kool Haus has pulled the plug last minute on the concerts of two controversial reggae and dancehall artists.

Entertainers Elephant Man and Sizzla were scheduled to perform Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 respectively, but both men have been under fire from human rights organizations who say their lyrics are homophobic.

Akim Larcher, founder of Stop Murder Music Canada - a coalition made up of 20 organizations that promote human rights - says that the federal government has remained silent.

“They shouldn’t have been allowed to get visas to perform in the country,” says Larcher. “It’s not about censorship or artistic freedom. That stops when hate propaganda is involved… No one should have that platform to speak.”

. . .

But activist and author Orville Lloyd Douglas says a lot of these organizations are targeting Black entertainers. “There are a lot of double standards here. They don’t go after Eminem or Marilyn Manson.”

. . .

“There are artists who are profiteering the songs about death and violence against gays and lesbians,” says Larcher. “It isn’t a black and white issue. It’s a human rights issue.” …

Ah, the old when-you’re-wrong-shift-the-target-to-something-else gambit. But that’s OK; we’ll bite:

Nobody’s “targeting Black entertainers” — only so-called entertainers whose lyrics promote the murder of gay men and lesbians; e.g.:

Shot batty boy, my big gun boom — Sizzla
(”Shoot queers, my big gun goes boom”)

Battyman fi dead!
Please mark we word
Gimme tha tech-nine
Shoot dem like bird — Elephant Man

And gay people have long complained about Eminem’s anti-gay lyrics, even while being told we’re just not hip enough, or young enough, or whatever enough, to appreciate his artistic stylings.

Whatever. These lyrics alone, from Eminem’s Criminal, are clear:

My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge
That’ll stab you in the head
Whether you’re a fag or lez
Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest
Pants or dress — hate fags?
The answer’s ‘yes’

And if Marilyn Manson is offending anyone (and it should be African-Americans who are offended; we’ve heard Manson repeat the N-word in his lyrics, compulsively), why isn’t anyone speaking up? Maybe because Manson is primarily the property of death-obsessed teenagers unlikely to notice his racial barbs, much less complain about them?

See also:
Toronto Cops to Keep Close Eye on Jamaican Hate Music Purveyors

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September 26, 2007

Did Down-Low Hubby Fake Disaster to Run Away with Secret Lover?

WHDH reports:

Crew of charter boat disappears on high seas off Florida; 2 passengers in federal custody

A boat trip that began as a routine charter to the Bahamas turned horribly wrong somewhere on the high seas when four crew members vanished and the two men who hired the vessel were plucked out of a life raft.

. . .

One of the passengers is wanted in his home state for allegedly stealing more than $92,000 in January from a Wal-Mart where he was an assistant manager. Kirby Logan Archer, 35, of Strawberry, Ark., also went AWOL from the Army four years ago.

. . .

Archer and Zarabozo paid $4,000 cash to charter the “Joe Cool” on Sunday to Bimini, Bahamas, where they told the boat’s operators they had female companions waiting for them. The Coast Guard says that GPS navigation devices on the boat show that it veered sharply south toward Cuba about halfway into the 50-mile trip.

Archer, a former military police investigator, had been stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, during the 1990s, according to court records. He went AWOL in 2003 and received a “less-than-honorable discharge” as a result, according to Arkansas records from his 2005 divorce.

. . .

In court documents, [Archer’s ex-wife, Michelle Rowe] contended that her husband admitted to her that he was gay and had affairs with five or six men. Archer denied that, saying that one man mentioned by his ex-wife was merely a roommate and not a lover.

Court records also show that Archer has since remarried, to another woman named Michelle. In court Wednesday, Archer said he is now separated.

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Toronto Cops to Keep Close Eye on Jamaican Hate Music Purveyors

What would Bob think?

The Toronto Star reports:

Toronto police will monitor this Friday’s concert by Jamaican dancehall artist O’Neil Bryan, also known as Elephant Man, after receiving complaints that the performer incites anti-gay violence through his music.

. . .

Despite protests by the Toronto-based Canadian Caribbean Human Rights Group, immigration officials have issued visas to both Bryan and Collins. The latter was banned from the United Kingdom in 2004. Bryan arrived in Canada last week and has performed in Winnipeg and Victoria, where local police closely monitored the concerts.

. . .

Ticket sales for Elephant Man’s show have been poor, with only one-third of the 2,180 seats sold. Sizzla’s concert is expected to draw 1,500.

That’s little comfort to the organizers of the Stop Murder Music campaign, made up of 20 advocacy groups that believe music by homophobic dancehall performers has contributed to mob attacks against gays in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Police could charge the artists if they perform anti-gay numbers.

The artists’ Toronto promoters, Ultimate Entertainment and Chris Hines Ent., say the performers don’t have the power to “invoke violence and murder” against gays and lesbians.

The Toronto booking agent says he can’t do anything now because of contractual agreements, but says: “I am a million per cent against lyrics that promote hatred against gays and lesbians, women, religions and races … Had I been aware of the nature of the lyrics, I wouldn’t have allowed the booking.”

That’s why it’s important to keep hammering at the issue. A lot of people who can do something are just not aware.

See also:
Dr Evil or plain hate?

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September 25, 2007

Because you haven’t heard any really horrendous Bush gaffes for a while…

Cuban UN delegate walks out to protest Bush insulted directed at Castro

Cuba’s foreign minister walked out of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to protest an insult directed at longtime leader Fidel Castro by U.S. President George W. Bush.

. . .

The Cuban delegation later issued a statement saying the decision by Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to leave the session was a “sign of profound rejection of the arrogant and mediocre statement by President Bush.”

In his speech, Bush looked ahead to a Cuba no longer ruled by Castro, the ailing 81-year-old leader of the communist-run government.

“In Cuba, the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end,” Bush said. “The Cuban people are ready for their freedom. And as that nation enters a period of transition, the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly and, ultimately, free and competitive elections.” …

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September 23, 2007

This Just In: Bahamas Still Run By Hypocritical Bigots!

Bahamas Christian Council against gay LOGO channel on Cable Bahamas

While members of the Rainbow Alliance will continue to lobby for the inclusion of a gay network on Cable Bahamas’ lineup of channels, several local pastors, including the president of The Bahamas Christian Council (BCC), are planning to meet next week to discuss what may become another burgeoning issue between homosexuals and the church.

However, BCC president John Humes told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that the Council is strictly against the “gay agenda.”

“I don’t think it would be in the best interest for Cable Bahamas to proceed with incorporating this channel,” said Humes in a telephone interview. “There may be a market there but we already have enough problems with what we have now [in terms of channels on Cable Bahamas]. And to bring a gay agenda into the mix, we will not stand by idly and allow that to happen, for sure.”

Erin Greene, public spokesperson for the local gay advocacy group Rainbow Alliance, took her case to the media earlier this week. She wants Cable Bahamas to offer the LOGO channel, a network that specifically caters to bi-sexual, gay, lesbian and transgender (BGLT) viewers. The channel, according to its website, www.logoonline.com, offers a variety of programs from sitcoms, dramas, full-length movies, news and documentaries.

Greene said yesterday that the BCC should focus on far more important issues, rather than the inclusion of a BGLT network on the Cable Bahamas lineup. She noted there were no protests when Cable Bahamas installed more than 10 channels dedicated to pornography.

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