EYE CANDY: Jovan Campbell (black/white)

Jovan Campbell has appeared as Eye Candy before (May 1, 2017 and June 26, 2017). According to his Model Mayhem profile page he is 28 years old 160 pounds and 5-foot-10. He is West Indian but lives in New York City now. You should follow him on Instagram @ironaddictjovan.

EYE CANDY: Jovan Campbell (reprise)

Jovan Campbell has appeared as Eye Candy once before (May 1 2017). He is a 28-year-old model from the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago who now lives in New York City. Follow him on Instagram (@ironaddictjovan) for more pictures of this muscular hottie.

EYE CANDY: Jovan Campbell

Jovan Campbell is a 28-year-old model from Trinidad who lives in New York City, according to the good folks at Pop Glitz. He has almost 30,000 followers on Instagram (@ironaddictjovan).  West Indians represent!

This is his first time on Eye Candy but it certainly will not be the last. You may have noticed that Eye Candy is no longer a weekly feature of the blog. I am going to try and switch to an every-other-week frequency as I aim for an every-other-day frequency of posting to the blog. Thanks, everyone!

EYE CANDY: Antonio Stephen (reprise)

Antonio Stephen has appeared as Eye Candy once before (April 6, 2015). He's a fitness model of West Indian descent (Trinidad and Tobago). He has a Facebook page and Twitter account.

You can see more pictures of Antonio online. Enjoy!

QUEER QUOTE: Barbados PM Responds Positively To LGBT Rights Inquiry

After the horrible news of the passage of virulently anti-gay legislation in Uganda that could lead to sentences of life imprisonment for homosexuality, it is nice to report some good news from another part of the world where people of color predominate.

In Barbados, which is one of the 77 countries which still has a sodomy law, Prime Minister Freundel J. Stewart has responded respectfully and positively to an inquiry from one of the few organized LGBT advocacy groups in the Eastern Caribbean country.

The following excerpt from his letter is today's Queer Quote:

I wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated November 5, 2013. In your letter,  you requested that Barbados, in the person of the Prime Minister, seek at this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka to have included in the agenda of the Meeting in 2015, an item on the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons. 

Although matters of State did not allow me to attend the 2013 meeting, I wish to assure you that Barbados remains committed to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and will continue, therefore, to lend its voice to calls both regional and international fora for the elimination of all forms of discrimination including discrimination against persons of differing sexual orientation.

This response is reminiscent of the letter the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago wrote last year expressing her "personal" support for LGBT rights.

Anyway, it is indicative of a modicum of progress on LGBT rights in the region. Perhaps in addition to calling for an end to discrimination in regional and international fora PM Stewart might want to insure that his country has enacted legal prohibitions against LGBT discrimination.

Jus' sayin'.

77 Countries Around The World Have Laws Banning Homosexuality

The disappointing news that India had recriminalized sodomy through a  court ruling yesterday has drawn attention to the fact that there are now 77 countries around the world that have laws banning homosexuality around the world. India's unfortunate action alone impacted over 1/6th of the world's population!

Business Insider has the full list of countries where LGB people are de facto (and de jure) criminals:

1. Afghanistan
2. Algeria
3. Angola
4. Antigua and Barbuda
5. Bangladesh
6. Barbados
7. Belize
8. Bhutan
9. Botswana
10. Brunei
11. Burundi
12. Cameroon
13. Comoros
14. Dominica
15. Egypt
16. Eritrea
17. Ethiopia
18. Gambia
19. Ghana
20. Grenada
21. Guinea
22. Guyana
23. India
24. Iran
25. Jamaica
26. Kenya
27. Kiribati
28. Kuwait
29. Lebanon
30. Liberia
31. Libya
32. Malawi
33. Malaysia
34. Maldives
35. Mauritania
36. Mauritius
37. Morocco
38. Mozambique
39. Myanmar
40. Namibia
41. Nauru
42. Nigeria
43. Oman
44. Pakistan
45. Palau
46. Papua New Guinea
47. Qatar
48. Samoa
49. São Tomé and Principe
50. Saudi Arabia
51. Senegal
52. Seychelles
53. Sierra Leone
54. Singapore
55. Solomon Islands
56. Somalia
57. South Sudan
58. Sri Lanka
59. St Kitts & Nevis
60. St Lucia
61. St Vincent & the Grenadines
62. Sudan
63. Swaziland
64. Syria
65. Tanzania
66. Togo
67. Tonga
68. Trinidad and Tobago
69. Tunisia
70. Turkmenistan
71. Tuvalu
72. Uganda
73. United Arab Emirates
74. Uzbekistan
75. Yemen
76. Zambia
77. Zimbabwe

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

80% Of British Commonwealth Countries Have Sodomy Laws

While progress on LGBT equality is accelerating at at an amazing pace in the United States we should not grow complacent about how homosexuality is treated around the world. For example, a new report indicates that 41 of 53 members of the Commonwealth declare homosexuality to be illegal.

Homosexuality is illegal in 41 out of the 53 Commonwealth countries, a report released on Monday reveals. Despite this, the forthcoming Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) in Sri Lanka has elected not to discuss the issue of anti-gay discrimination. Commissioned by the Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation and compiled by LGBT activists throughout the Commonwealth, the report calls for Commonwealth countries to repeal anti-gay legislation, with an immediate moratorium on enforcement. 

“If you look at the world as a whole, around about 40% of nations have state-sponsored homophobia,” said Kaleidoscope’s spokesman, Douglas Pretsell. “Half of those – about 54% – are in the Commonwealth. If you look at the rest of the world not inside the Commonwealth, it’s only 24.5% – so the Commonwealth has a big problem. “These are laws that make it illegal to be gay.”

The other half and I visted two of these Commonwealth countries earlier this year (Barbados and Grenada) and I can confirm to you that homosexuality may be illegal but there is most definitely homosexuality there!
Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

QUEER QUOTE: Same-Sex Marriages In Trinidad

The English-speaking Caribbean is somewhat notorious for its outdated policies and attitudes towards LGBT equality, with extant sodomy laws and violent homophobia present in the most prominent of the Caribbean countries like Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica.

In Trinidad, there is an active discussion about same-sex marriage going on because it was reported  in the media that Trinidadian gay men have been going to the United States to get married and then returning home to the Island to have "lavish" commitment ceremonies celebrating their unions, which are not recognized under Trinidadian law.

Interestingly, in a recent report about same-sex marriage there was a quote from the past Chief Justice of the Trinidadian High Court which was surprisingly approving.

The marriage of a gay couple who exchange wedding vows abroad is not valid locally, former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma said. Sharma, who once presided over a landmark High Court case on the rights of unmarried persons in relationships, also said in his view the laws in place are “unfair”. He noted that partners in unmarried straight couples are afforded common-law rights but gays in committed relationships are not.  

“A common-law wife who has been living with a man for forty years gets certain rights,” Sharma said. “In a case I presided over, I held that in this country we cannot treat unmarried couples in and unfair manner because the practice is so common here culturally. At the same time, we do not recognise homosexual relations. I am certain the principles of a common-law relationship would not be applied because it would be regarded as being against public policy.”  

Sharma continued, “It might be unfair but it has not been tested in the courts. Some people might find the idea of two men living together for their entire lives repugnant. Some people might not. I personally do not find it repugnant. If a man wants to do that with another man that is their business. That is the nature of love, which does not offend. Such a love does not hurt anyone.” 

That last sentiment from Mr. Sharma is today's Queer Quote! Let us hope that it is a reflection of a thaw in the cold shoulder that LGBT people have been receiving in the Caribbean. As a person who considers himself of Caribbean descent (having been born in Grenada) I intend to follow advances on LGBT rights in the area closely.

Trinidad PM States LGBT Support In Private Letter

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is making news today due to the release of the contents of a private letter she wrote to an LGBT activist where she stated her personal support for equal rights based on sexual orientation and gender identity.Trinidad and Tobago has explicit legal policies discriminating against LGBT people, for example in immigration where the entire class of LGBT people are prohibited from entering the country according to Section 8 of Trinidad's Immigration Act. (It should be noted that prior to 1990 homosexuals as a class were excludable from entering the United States and until 2008 HIV-positive people were excludable as well. "Excludable" means that the person technically could be excluded from entering the United States, even as a tourist and could not get permanent resident status.)

According to the Guardian newspaper the letter from the Prime Minister said:

“With respect to the concerns raised in your letter regarding aspects of T&T's Sexual Offences Act and the Immigration Act which may target persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), I wish to assure you that due consideration is being given to these issues by my Government. “I do not support discrimination in any form against any individual, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.  “I share your view that the stigmatisation of homosexuality in T&T is a matter which must be addressed on the grounds of human rights and dignity to which every individual is entitled under international law.    “As such I am pleased to inform you that I have mandated my Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Senator the Honourable Marlene Coudray to prepare and present a national gender policy to Cabinet over the coming months.  “It is expected that once adopted, this policy will forge the way forward for T&T as my Government seeks to put an end to all discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.” Thanking Price for writing to her and expressing his concerns, she added:  “Please rest assured that my Government is doing its utmost to uphold the human rights of all citizens and residents of T&T as we remain committed to a democratic, people-centred approach to governance and development.”

This is a good sign of some movement finally occurring in the region I was born in.  (Trinidad and Tobago is very close to Grenada and Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean section of the West Indies.) Hopefully, the PM will dare to repeat her comments in a public forum where they can be cited and debated on the record. Many of these West Indian (and African) countries have internalized decades of British colonial homophobia into their own cultural practices and public policies, such as maintaining the death penalty and sodomy laws even while the imperialist powers that colonized them have rejected such ideas.

hat/tip to TowleRoad.

Olympiad XXX: Jamaica Wins 4x100 Relay (36.48s)!

The Jamaican 4x100 relay team of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter won the Gold medal in the event with a stunning time of 36.84 seconds, a new world record, averaging 9.21 seconds per leg, which is far faster than either Bolt or Blake ran the 100m in their medal-winning performances earlier in the week!

The Jamaican team beat the Americans' time of 37.04 (equalling an American record) and even though the Canadian team crossed the finish line third, their team was disqualified because Jared Connaughton stepped on the lane boundary, which was only discovered during the official video playback review after the team was celebrating their Bronze medal finish! So Trinidad and Tobago was awarded the Bronze medal, completing an outstanding track and field event for Caribbean-based teams.

West Indian Born Lt. Gov (R-FL) Faces Lesbian Scandal

Jennifer Carroll is the Lieutenant Governor of Florida, and the first Black, female Republican ever elected to statewide office in the state. Carroll, 53, was born in Trinidad is now facing a scandal involving a former employee in her office named Carletha Cole who claims that she found her boss in a compromising position with another woman.

According to the Miami Herald:

In the filing, Cole contends that she witnessed Carroll and a top aide, Beatriz Ramos, in a "compromising position" inside Carroll's office, that Carroll's chief of staff secretly recorded conversations routinely at the direction of those working for Gov. Rick Scott, and that the trash can at Cole's desk might have been deliberately set ablaze following an argument between her and Ramos. 

Cole also said Ramos was living at Carroll's home and at one point she was ordered by Ramos to find adjoining hotel rooms for Carroll and Ramos when they traveled. Cole said that she was "scolded" by an agent with Carroll's security team when she placed Ramos next door to Carroll when the lieutenant governor and her husband traveled last summer to Puerto Rico. The agent told her to not do it again, Cole says, although he did not explain why. 

Carroll, a former Navy officer who is also a mother of three, says the allegations are all lies.

However, this is not all that Carroll is saying about the allegations that the married mother has a "gal pal." She also claims that the allegations can not be true because black women who look like her do not "engage in relationships like that."

"The problem is that when you have these accusations that come out, it's not just one person you're attacking. It's an entire family. My husband doesn't want to hear that. He knows the type of woman I am. I mean, my kids know the type of woman I am. For twenty-nine years - I'm the one that's married for twenty-nine years. The accuser is the one that's been single for a long time. So usually black women that look like me don't engage in relationships like that."

 Really? Really? What do you think a lesbian looks like? As TransGriot would say: "Shut up, fool!"


Hat/tip to Rod 2.0.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/11/v-fullstory/2891120/apnewsbreak-ex-carroll-aide-alleges.html#storylink=cpy

Furor Over Uganda's Extreme Anti-Gay Bill Grows

The international condemnation of Uganda's proposed extreme anti-homosexuality legislation is growing. There was a meeting of British Commonwealth leaders in Trinidad and Tobago this past weekend and the Prime Ministers of Canada and United Kingdom mentioned their disapproval in private meetings with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Gordon Brown expressed Britain's concerns about the parliamentary bill when he met Yoweri Museveni, the veteran Ugandan president, at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. The suggested legislation would apply to sex between gay men or lesbian women in which one person has HIV. The bill also proposes the introduction of a three-year prison sentence for anyone who knows of the existence of a gay man or lesbian woman and fails to inform authorities in Uganda within 24 hours. The British prime minister's anger was echoed by his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper. Harper's spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said: "If adopted, a bill further criminalising homosexuality would constitute a significant step backwards for the protection of human rights in Uganda."

The proposed legislation includes the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and President Barack Obama have made no public comments on the legislation.

Uganda receives an estimated $287 million in U.S. taxpayer funds annually under the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Rod 2.0 and other bloggers are asking whether those funds will be withheld if the legislation becomes law. The short answer from Eric Goosby, chief administrator of PEPFAR, is no.

I'm very concerned about any decision that any country—including our own—would make to target a group that's in the population, and that's always been in the population, by excluding them from a service or passes legislation that criminalizes their behavior. Every time you do that, you push the behavior underground. It never works. Rather than minimizing the spread of the virus, it actually amplifies it.

The U.S. policy is trying to work with governments to say exactly that. I think I would do more harm than good by connecting our resources to respond to the epidemic to making them dependent on a behavior that they're not willing to engage in on their own. My role is to be supportive and helpful to the patients who need these services. It is not to tell a country how to put forward their legislation. But I will engage them in conversation around my concern and knowledge of what this is going to do to that population, and our ability to stop the movement of the virus into the general population.

This answer is unacceptable. To connect the anti-homosexuality legislation to the AIDS crisis in Uganda, which, like in the rest of Africa (and the world) is an overwhelmingly heterosexual phenomenon is shockingly ill-informed and borderline offensive.

Happy World AIDS Day!

Obama Administration Lifts Some Cuba Travel Restrictions

The Obama Administration has announced that they are making some minor changes to the current restrictions on contacts with the Communist island nation of Cuba. According to the Huffington Post:

In a measured break with a half-century of U.S. policy toward communist Cuba, the Obama administration lifted restrictions Monday on Cuban-Americans who want to travel and send money to their island homeland.

In a further gesture of openness, U.S. telecommunications firms were freed to seek business there, too. But the broader U.S. trade embargo remained in place.

The White House portrayed its changes, which fulfilled one of President Barack Obama's campaign promises, as a path to promoting personal freedom in one of the few remaining communist nations. They also marked another major step away from the foreign policy priorities of the Bush administration.

But the moves fell far short of the more drastic policy adjustments that some _ including Republican Sen. Richard Lugar _ have argued are required to promote U.S. interests in Latin America and to bring about change in Cuba. For most Americans, Cuba remains the only country in the world their government prohibits them from visiting _ a barrier to potential travelers as well as to the Cuban tourist industry that would like to see them.

Washington Note blogger Steve Clemons was not impressed.

So, applause for the Cuban-American oriented efforts. Better than nothing -- but not nearly enough. And the precedent is worrisome and disconcerting.

We did not open up relations with Vietnam by restricting travel to Vietnamese-Americans. We really should not be doing this with Cuba either.

What is happening is that Barack Obama has started the ball moving forward -- and is opening up something he knows many will find completely unacceptable and discriminatory.

Separate is not equal -- and that is what Barack Obama's team has just moved forward.

[...]

Obama has also eased up restrictions on humanitarian gifts and packages to Cuba -- which was really needed after the recent devastating hurricanes this past year. Humanitarian relief has been something we should have eased long ago -- and this was a good step.

Now, my hunch is that Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod see that they have "done enough" to check off the boxes for what they have promised the right wing, moderates, and even left wing of the Cuban-American community that felt collectively strangled by the tightness of the Bush administration restrictions.

As one of the few Americans who have visited Cuba on an academic travel waiver to participate in a conference and do research on the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools I completely agree with Steve Clemons, who is a well-known foreign policy expert on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Interestingly, the policy was announced just days before President Obama travels to Trinidad and Tobago for the 5th Summit of the Americas (in which Cuba is not allowed to participate) this weekend.