Dwayne Jones was a young trans youth living in my hometown of Montego Bay, Jamaica. “Mo. Bay,” as locals affectionately call it, is known as the “friendly city.” This undisputed tourism capital of the English-speaking Caribbean is very popular with overseas visitors. But this tourist paradise hides a dark secret that is carefully hidden from … Continue reading
Emotions ran high when the mother of Jamaican-Canadian LGBTI rights activist Maurice Tomlinson took one Sunday off from her homophobic Pentecostal church to attend an Anglican church with her gay son. Continue reading
Canada has a crucial role to play in the effort to assure full recognition of the human rights of LGBTQI people, in particular for LGBTQI refugees, Jamaican-Canadian activist attorney Maurice Tomlinson told Canadian legislators this week. Continue reading
Jamaican/Canadian lawyer and LGBT rights activist Maurice Tomlinson addresses the question of whether tourists should boycott Jamaica in hopes of persuading that country to recognize the human rights of its LGBT citizens. Continue reading
One of Jamaica’s largest cable TV operators has blocked transmissions of the American LGBT rights historical drama “When We Rise.” Continue reading
A year ago something remarkable happened in the Global Anglican Communion (GAC), but most persons missed it, even senior Anglican clergy. This miraculous event occurred on Jan. 15, 2016, when the Primates representing all the Provinces in the 80 million+ denomination agreed, for the first time, that criminalizing same-gender intimacy is wrong. Continue reading
From Jamaica, activist Maurice Tomlinson describes an encouraging incident on the long road toward fair treatment for Jamaica’s LGBTI citizens: Am I married? Recently I went to renew my Jamaican passport in Kingston and I was pleasantly surprised at the conversation with the customer service agent. It is reproduced below: Passport Officer: “So, are you … Continue reading
Montego Bay Pride 2016 was another amazing time of community building, entertainment, and education! There was indeed “Equality and Inclusion in the Bay,” thanks to our generous sponsors, including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the Round Hill Hotel and Villas, WestJet, the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, InterPride and Total Advantage Travel & Tours Inc. One … Continue reading
As a lawyer working for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBT) people in my homeland of Jamaica, I am sadly accustomed to receiving death threats. However, when a particularly vulgar and graphic email promised to immediately end my life if I didn’t cease speaking out against homophobic abuse, I was … Continue reading
Caleb Orozco struck me as nervous but determined when we first met in 2007. We were among only a handful of Caribbean civil society delegates at an Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in Panama. In the very Latin space that is the OAS, I affectionately referred to our grouping as the “English ghetto” … Continue reading
