Queering Paradigms conference, Day 1

“Queering Paradigms” conference on LGBT issues on the Cayman Islands and beyond started on Friday at 1730 hours. This is a watershed event in the Cayman Islands, and some opposed to the conference tried to boycott it, to no avail.

The meeting started with a (good quality) copy of The Abominable Crime documentary (worth watching, linked below in average quality).

The notes I logged down:

Homophobia in Jamaica is prevalent, and mostly supported by a monolithic evangelical religion framework (Southern Baptists, mostly) with started to erode the former already not too good, yet not that bad "One Love" baseline (check the documentary linked at the bottom of this entry for the influence of USA cults in this regard).

Now, for example, children and adolescents in the educational system cannot ask for help if they are experiencing gender-identity struggles, because if they do the teachers/counselors report them to the authorities.

Hate crimes in Jamaica against LGBT are in the rise, and many of these attacks end in murder. Jamaica has one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

The presenter, Maurice Tomlinson, said that the higher the proportion of Catholics in Caribbean nations, or the more diverse religions are in a given island territory, the lesser the chances for experiencing homophobia.

A quote to remember from the Minister or Ethics in Uganda, Reverend Father Simon Lokodo, referred that homosexuality was worst than child rape. Specifically on girls' rape, he specified "it is the right kind of child rape."