標題: Cheap NHL Jerseys through funding from the World Bank [打印本頁] 作者: god9manr71 時間: 2018-7-28 12:49 標題: Cheap NHL Jerseys through funding from the World Bank
By Neil Marks “Two years ago, I visited Berbice. I wish I could say I wanted to move back,Cheap Jordan Shoes For Sale, but I could not take the level of homophobia — the preaching on the ferry,2018 Nike Vapor Max Plus, the insidious whispers at the hair salon….”Someone who gave her name as Nalini and identified herself as a Guyanese resident in the UK posted that comment on the website developed by the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD).SASOD is the leading organisation trying to stamp out homophobia in Guyana. It started work in 2003 with the campaign to include sexual orientation as one of the fundamental rights in the Guyana Constitution. That is yet to happen, but its fight continues.Only last week, SASOD had cause to sound alarm when acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson convicted seven persons for what is commonly called “cross-dressing.”The charges were laid under Section 153 (1) (xlvii) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:02, which makes an offence of ”being a man,Adam Foote Jersey, in any public way or public place, for any improper purpose, appears in female attire, or being a woman, in any public way or public place,Nike Free Run Shoes On Sale, for any improper purpose, appears in male attire….”Ironically, SASOD pointed out, the men pleaded that they were so dressed to attend a well-advertised entertainment event that made fun of cross-dressing.“Such archaic, colonial-era laws, which have no victims other than those who are convicted of them, remain on Guyana’s 21st Century law books, along with others, such as Section 153 (1) (xi) of the said Act, which renders it illegal to, “in any public way or public place in any town, beats or shakes any mat between six o’clock in the morning or six o’clock in the afternoon”, and Section 169, which deals with “dancing in town after midnight.”In the absence of a legal basis for the practice of same-sex relations, SASOD has been working on promoting rights for gay and lesbian people, such as equal treatment by health authorities when it comes to HIV programmes.Nalini was congratulating SASOD for its “wonderful” work. The website she posted on was developed under the Spectrum Health Net Project. The project was designed to provide information to the LGBT community about safe sex practices.The funding for the establishment of the website came when the Health Sector Development Unit, through funding from the World Bank, agreed to support the work of SASOD. It was the first time the Government was publicly supporting a project targeted at the gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-sexual (GLBT) community.Because most men who have sex with men (MSM) are forced to conceal their sexual behaviour and are therefore mostly invisible to HIV/AIDS programmes, the development of the website was a sort of strategy to reach them with safe sex messages “without requiring physical visibility.”Joel Simpson, one of the founding co-chairpersons of SASOD, hopes that if more funding comes, SASOD will be able to sensitise healthcare workers, as he sees a problem in the way MSM or those perceived to be gay are treated. He said that members of the LGBT community are often treated differently by nurses,Cheap NHL Jerseys, other healthcare workers and even auxiliary staff, and this bars many from knowing their HIV status.For those who test positive for HIV and are unable to support themselves, the Government provides food supplies and cash on a monthly basis; but there is a strict criteria for distribution. And herein lies the discrimination.One social worker who spoke to this newspaper on the basis on anonymity said there are several cases in which persons perceived to be gay are sidelined by healthcare workers.He said that, because not everyone who comes forward automatically receives the supplies, someone perceived to be gay could be sidelined even if his health condition is more serious than a person who is supposedly heterosexual.‘Substantial barrier’By law, intimacy between men is not allowed in Guyana, as is the case in most of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Leading figures in the fight against HIV/AIDS suggest that this outlaw of same-gender sex, along with societal definitions of what is acceptable sexual behaviour, hinders an effective public health response to the epidemic.One of those figures is Sir George Alleyne, the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General to the Caribbean on HIV/AIDS.He is not naïve to suggest that all Caribbean countries immediately drop their anti-gay laws, but Sir George is adamant that such laws work to strengthen discrimination against men who have sex with men, MSM.Dr Michel de Groulard, the Regional Programme Adviser with the UNAIDS Regional Support Team, also supports the view that criminalisation of same-sex behaviour in the Caribbean is a substantial barrier to universal access to HIV prevention, care, treatment and support.Indeed, the statistics are grim. According to UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation, 21 percent of men who have sex with men in Guyana are HIV-positive, as compared to 2.5 percent in the general population.The Government has been seeking ways of preventing new infections among MSM, but has largely run into trouble. When the Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy,Andrew MacDonald Jersey, tried to hand out condoms in the country’s main prison, he was met by placard-bearing religionists who accused him of trying to promote sodomy.The strong homophobia within the societies, the denial from many governments, and the power of churches drive most gay men and other MSM underground or to a better socially accepted “bisexuality,” says Dr de Groulard.He said many of these men are married and have children while having their homosexual life, with or without the knowledge of their female partners.This clearly builds a link between the HIV epidemic among MSM and the epidemic among the general population.He says Caribbean public health decision makers are not comfortable working with a population group that is associated with an activity considered as illegal. However, he said, they can enforce anti-discrimination policies, provide legal aid services, and promote campaigns addressing homophobia.Dr de Groulard goes as far as suggesting that MSM, especially those living with HIV, should be engaged in the design, implementation and monitoring of programmes.He also sees a role for international donor partners. They can provide funding for programmes that address the health needs and human rights of MSM, as well as support for civil society groups, support systematic surveillance of HIV infection occurring in the context of sex between men, and increase support for strategic information and research, to better understand the occurrence, contexts and risk behaviours associated with sex between men, including its implications for women partners.With 17,000 new HIV infections recorded annually in the Caribbean, Dr. de Groulard points out, reducing HIV prevalence can only be achieved by cutting, at least by half, the number of new infections.Despite the observed stable HIV trend in many countries for many years, the Caribbean is facing a sustained epidemic which could simply be explained by the existence of a large bridging population between the most affected ones and the general population.To reduce the size of that bridging population and make new inroads in responding to HIV, the Caribbean should consider positive changes.Dr de Groulard said these should increase the effectiveness of HIV prevention, care and treatment programmes, that is, promoting and protecting the basic human rights of their citizens to live in stigma and discrimination free societies.
