No more bullshit

Bullshit, bullshit was the cry from the audience which cheered after Robert Carr's closing presentation in the panel "MSM, HIV and Activism : Key Questions and Strategies for Moving Forward" in the closing plenary of the MSM Pre-conference.

We in the Caribbean have had many internationally renowned orators.. Burnham, Eric Williams, Rodney ..  Robert's passion and "righteous anger as panel moderator Stephen Lewis put it , came over succinctly in the history of those great Caribbean orators, in Robert's call for no more bullshit.

The remarks focussed on :-

1. Bullshit was the word used to describe the provision of peer education workshops and workshops "using dildos to show how to put on condoms" while other sections of the Government - police, social services, education services discriminated against MSM are not the signs of any Government's activities to addressing the needs of MSM. 
2. Bullshit was the word used to describe the politicians' acceptance that homophobia was equivalent to nation building, and that homosexuality was a western imposition, and that homosexuals were not citizens
3. Bullshit was the word used to describe the UN's slow movement to invest in programmes that directly targetted MSM,and their complicit avoidance of the homophobia in the Government partners - even though the UN is committed to good governance, democracy and human rights.
4. Bullshit was the word used to describe the expectation that civil society activists who are providing services and advocating for MSM must work as volunteers. The call was made for independent funds for Civil Society organisations.

Robert asked the plenary to acknowledge the work done by the representatives from Jamaica AIDS Support and JFLAG . He used the Stand for Silence as way to emphasise and celebrate the "committment of the spirit to the science of overcoming the impossible"

it was arite

The Caribbean participants at the MSM GF conference attended different sessions in the very broad programme. There were a few persons affiliated to CVC who did presentations, and one poster presentation was submitted by Pride in Youth about their project in Jamaica with LGBT youth.

Robert Carr in his presentation in the panel "Always Left Out: Queer African and Caribbea Black Diaspora Populations Navigating Sexuality and HIV/ADIS through Migration"  celebrated the progress being made in Jamaica and the Caribbean - given the complex challenges of dealing with homsexuality in the region. Robert noted the most recent Stand for Silence as a symbol of that progress. Reginald Dupont's presentation of SeroVIE's work in Haiti was also well received.
Mark noted that people were interested in the work being done by PRIDE In Action ( mail indefenceofequality (at) gmail.com ) with  LGBT youth. This poster presentation was about the project in which LGBT youth from Jamaica worked in camp retreats in the Jamaican countryside to learn leadership and team skills. A component of the project is the building of relationships with the camp owners and other staff.

[This blogger missed the afternoon session since he had to negotiate the Vienna metro to find a mall which sold adaptors]

The Caribbean people attended different presentations and workshops. Some had mixed views saying that the quality was not what they expected while others found the content interesting and relevant to their work. A few people admitted to dozing off during some of the sessions, the heat and jet lag of the long travel from the Caribbean.
Most people felt the same as the trans person from Guyana said, that the day was arite.

the Crown Princess is not here but the queen is..

The MC said that the Crown Princess of Norway could not come to address the opening plenary of Be Heard! The MSM Pre-Conference, but not to worry, since the queen was there - there were many references to queens during the day.

The Opening plenary of the MSM (men who have sex with men) pre conference featured remarks and presentations which were endured in a very hot conference room. A lot of people were fanning, some were dozing. Chris Beyrer's presentation The Global Epidemics of HIV Among MSM in 2010: Epidemiology, Responses, and Human Rights discussed the results of a study which was complex to understand in the hot room, but the gist of which was that they could prove that improving services to MSM in a human rights framework would reduce HIV infection rates generally in the population. The four pillars which were tested are :-

• outreach with condom and lubricant promotion 
• community level behavioural interventions
• ARV provision
• harm reduction/substitution therapy for durg users

The conclusion is that for the first time, it seemed that science and rights based approaches are in agreement.

No doubt, many of our Caribbean not-homophobic holders of the Caribbean morals and consciousness would say that the science was flawed.. Dr Breyer did dedicate this presentation to his partner who died in a time when there were no ARVs ... so we could imagine the reminders about the gay militant conspiracy..


Michel Sidibé from, UNAIDS celebrated the recent news from Iceland and Argentina about the legislation of same sex marriage. He repeated his support for the efforts to change laws which criminalise same-sex relationships and to remove homophobia from the health sector. He congratulated all the persons there for the work being done.

Joel Nana reminded the plenary about the  importance of donors understanding indigenous LGBT movements. He spoke passionately about the advocates in Africa who face great personal risk and who are expected to work voluntarily. He also called on donors to listen as well to those activists and not only preach.

Three young persons from the Caribbean said that they found the plenary long and boring. They said that they needed to have a youth rep on the steering committee. They liked Joel Nana's remarks. (Joel Nana is not 30 as yet). Other Caribbean people felt that these remarks were relevant to the Caribbean since there are Caribbean movements which are being forced to be organised and become professionalised.
One person said that Chris Breyer's presentation was enlightening, while others felt that could have been in one of the sessions since it was very technical.
People were glad that Michael Sidibe spoke but some said he sounded a bit confusing, while a Cameroonian said he thought he might have been nervous speaking in a forum of MSM.

In the discussion  during the networking coffee break about whether Michael Sidbie deh suh..  one Caribbean man said no, not with that shirt he was wearing, no gay man would wear a shirt like that.