As Harmonica Sunbeam,Dorian Bryant is an uncomplicated man

By Antoine Craigwell

Resplendent and radiant in a shimmering orange sequined floor length gown, she was like a shocking burst of sunlight. Even though it wasn’t the first time seeing Harmonica Sunbeam performing, in one of her many appearances far away from her stomping grounds, as the hostess at the 2010 Gay Caribbean Pageant in Brooklyn, and despite the seemingly rough environment, she maneuvered in impossibly high heels on the rickety stage, her enormously exaggerated hair, like a lion’s mane, occasionally eclipsing the banks of overhead lights. More than 300 people watched her announcing and commenting on the contestants with poise and aplomb.

Early on a chilly November evening, last year, at Manatus Restaurant on Bleeker Street, close to Christopher Street, where many Black gay men go as part of the ritualistic date; Dorian Bryant talked about his life and about his alter persona, Harmonica Sunbeam. At the bar in the very subdued lighting, bordering on gloom, Dorian sat on a bar stool, posture erect, legs crossed at the knees, and slowly stirring a cup of tea, pondering many things, his patience belied and hid the room filling energy and unstoppable force when he is transformed into Harmonica Sunbeam.

Dorian was born and grew up in the Vailsburg section of Newark, NJ. After attending Irvington High School, for one semester he went to St. John’s University. Last December, he obtained an associates degree in Liberal Arts from Hudson County Community College, and with the arrival of the new 2011 semester, is attending New Jersey City University for a bachelors in Community Health. His family, originally from New Jersey, now consists of a sister, with whom he is very close. His mother died when he was 16-years old from breast cancer, and eight years later his father died from kidney failure. After his mother’s death, he lived for a while with an aunt, but the desire for independence propelled him to move out.

As he spoke of his mother’s death, a tone of sadness crept into his voice, “It hurt when she died. I realized after, that she didn’t want to worry us. She felt that she would tell us when she thought it was appropriate.”

Recognizing his penchant for things health and medicine related, while in high school he wanted to become a pharmacist but was put off by chemistry, and later following his desire, focused on natural healing, becoming a massage therapist, for which he became licensed in New Jersey and practiced for five years.

Dorian said he didn’t tell his parents about his sexual orientation, “I wasn’t out and I guess they had their suspicions. While I didn’t hide myself, I didn’t go around telling everyone I’m gay; I was myself.” And, as with most gay kids, he was bullied in school, but when it came to it, he stood his ground, even to hitting out at some who threatened or practiced violence against him.

“I always said, people could say what they want as long as they didn’t touch me. I’ve never been bothered by people’s words,” he said.

When he started hanging out with other gay men and women he became more involved in the Ball scene and the Houses, including the time when he “walked” at Paris Dupree’s Ball at Tracks NYC, which was on West 19^th Street, in the “Butch Queen First Time Up In Drag” category and won; that he was drawn in by the adulation of his friends and the crowd at the Ball. That was the beginning of his indulging, creating, and developing Harmonica Sunbeam as his alter persona.

“This was sometime between 1988 and 1991. After the first Ball, I went back to being me. Then I went to a drag show and I thought, “I could do that.’ A few months later, I was a performer in a show. My friends came out to support me, and from then, time to time I’d do a show. The name and persona was born at that Ball,” said Dorian.

Dorian recalled that while in the 12^th grade, along with two of his friends they created drag names. His first his name was “Macadamia Serendipity” but soon changed it to “Tequila Sunrise” because he thought that the previous one would be too long for flyers promoting him.

At that time, he added, although his friends had names, they all really had no intention of using them, “I don’t remember exactly how it came to be,” he said, but when he walked more and more Balls, he knew that Harmonica Sunbeam would be her stage name, and with orange as her favorite color, it was only natural that she would appear as sunlight.

As the years went by, Dorian lived the gay life, working and doing drag occasionally; worked for 19 years at Radio City Music Hall in NYC in guest relations. He walked at the Paris Dupree Ball and when for the first time he was called Harmonica Sunbeam, it seemed to fit perfectly. And, as with any job or career, the more he embodied the alter persona, the more he improved it, “When I look back, I realize I’ve come a long way.”

People, Dorian said, have different perceptions of a man dressed as a woman.

“I wanted people to understand that when I dress in drag, that I didn’t want to be a woman or a transsexual. I just wanted to dress and perform,” he said.

On the other side of that perception, Dorian said that people often have a hard time separating him from his alter persona, “This is not something I do for fun. This is my job. While I enjoy what I do, I look at it as work and people have a hard time separating the two things; people often expect me to be and act like Harmonica all the time.”

Yet while there is a little bit of Dorian in Harmonica, when it’s time to spring into action, the character he has painstakingly developed takes over, and what Dorian wants to tell the world is not expressed through Harmonica. He admits that the things Harmonica would do and say, Dorian would not do. Through trial and error, being sensitive to the responses from various types of crowds, he knows what to perform and what he could get away with. From the beginning, making people laugh worked so well that he stuck with comedy as a part of Harmonica Sunbeam’s shtick.

With a wistful tinge in his voice, Dorian admitted that he was not seeing or involved with anyone, but cautions that he wants to find someone who appreciates him for who he is, “I’m just a gay man who has chosen drag as my profession, but it is not my whole life. I’d want a partner who appreciates and understands Harmonica, but loves Dorian.”

While Dorian is shy and reserved, Harmonica can be flirty, outgoing and social. As Dorian, it takes a while for him to open to strangers. Placing himself in the third person, Dorian, he said is more of a people watcher, “I sit and observe. I get my comedy routine from life,” providing the material for Harmonica. Dorian is humorous, which people don’t get to see unless they are close to him, but as Harmonica, the humor is an extension of Dorian, “I get it first as Dorian, then through to Harmonica.”

Bucking the entrepreneurial streak, Harmonica is Dorian’s occupation. The transformation from Dorian to Harmonica, as with any job in show business, has to be crafted carefully; taking between 45 minutes to an hour to apply make up, hair and gown. As a job, making appearances or performances, there is a minimum charge just for Harmonica to get ready, whether it’s to be on a stage for five minutes or 30 minutes. While Harmonica is lucrative for Dorian, though not enough to own an apartment on Fifth Avenue, but allowing him to take cruise; most of the money coming in from her performances go back into new gowns, wigs, make up, and shoes, “I can’t wear the same dress for three weeks or people would talk, so whatever money I make goes back into my craft.”

Harmonica recalled that her first performance in NYC was at the former Two Potato on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village and for 12 years was the host at Escualita’s, close to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Her list of accomplishments includes both film and television, including be a member of the Screen Actors Guild, “I pay my dues, so I get to vote for the awards,” and depending on who has invited him to attend the awards, he would go either as Dorian or as Harmonica.

For a brief moment Dorian shared his thoughts about the gay community: In the gay community, he said, people can be judgmental. Although Harmonica and Dorian get along with a lot of those who share similar talents, nonetheless, he said, it is filled with “a lot of shade” and insecurities. While some people see someone in drag not as sexual as they expect, there are others who like men who do drag, and want them to remain that way, “I’ve met people who want that and I get to find out about their intentions from their actions and their words.”

In New Jersey, Dorian said he would like to see more people unifying on important issues affecting the LGBT community, by becoming active on what’s important. On the issue of same-sex marriage, he said that while some people may not want it for themselves, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t support it for those who do.

“As the gay community, it bothers me how we’re still separated; we don’t accept each other as we should. As a public figure, I try to speak about it, especially as someone with a diverse following, to encourage others to appreciate what everyone brings to the table. Sometimes as gay people we limit ourselves to new and different things. But I see a lot of work ahead for the Black gay community. We can learn to love and respect ourselves before we could expect others to do the same,” he said.

On Jan 17, Harmonica along with four other stand-up drag comedians was part of a one night comedy show called “Dragtastic” on the CBS show, “Logo”. As a performer, Harmonica wants to move away from the club scene and hopes to be cast in a play or a cabaret, or playing in front of an audience of peers. As with every occupation, Dorian insists that he doesn’t want to do drag forever; instead he wants to have something to fall back on, “If I’m going to do drag long term, then it’d have to be more main stream and not clubs. That’s why I want to finish school so I have a plan “B”.” Beginning last September, Harmonica hosts a show every Sunday night at Splash in NYC, and on Tuesdays, for three years, has been hosting a strip show contest at the Cage in Hoboken, NJ.

LGBT Summit on Wall Street, A First

By Antoine Craigwell

The recently concluded summit of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) financial industry representatives was like breaking through one more glass ceiling on the way to the top of the building that is society. The summit, billed by the organizers, Out On The Street, as the first LGBT Leadership summit on Wall Street, was attended by more than 160 men and women representing several different financial institutions on Wall Street on Wednesday, Mar 30 at Deutsche Bank’s offices on Wall Street.

As a first, the summit discussed the many ways in which being LGBT on Wall Street, seen as a hindrance to hiring, retention and career advancement, can be overcome with understanding and accepting managers, changes in a homophobic culture geared toward greater talent retention, the commercial viability of attracting clients and socially progressive companies, utilizing LGBT specific messages in recruitment, and recognizing global trends toward diversity and inclusion.

In his opening remarks Seth Waugh, CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas said that the diversity of the audience at the summit was like a rainbow. While promoting diversity in the workplace, acknowledging and giving equal rights to LGBT employees, he said that from a business perspective, it was commercially viable to do so.

Partnering with straight allies fosters the relationship between allowing for acceptance and diversity, and the commercial aspect of LGBT employees, Waugh said. It is not a high bar to define someone as an ally, someone who doesn’t discriminate against LGBT.

“This gives us the opportunity to show we care. We educate our LGBT employees about the issues they are likely to face. All types of diversity make better sense as we seek to recruit the best and the brightest; decisions, which are reflected in our client pool and creates a richer mosaic,” he said.

Out On The Street founder and principal of CODA, LLC, Todd Sears said that it is important to begin the dialog among senior producers in the financial industry. The banks and financial institutions, which make up Wall Street, he said, have an estimated 880,000 employees and collectively hold approximately $440 billion in capitalization.

“I was out in college and when I had my first job on Wall Street, my managing director called the guy next to me a faggot. I promptly went back into the closet and started looking for a new job. I found one and I let them know my sexual orientation and they were supportive. I was able to build with them and brought lots of LGBT clients to the company,” said Sears.

In her presentation, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Ph.D., placed the theme of the panel discussion “Wall Street as a workplace of choice: Culture” in perspective when she revealed the results of a 2010 study of LGBT out at work in comparison to their straight counterparts. Although the study’s results have been embargoed, Hewlett, as director of the Center for Work Life Policy, said that LGBT acceptance and comfort at being able to be themselves at work has a lot to do with the culture of the organization. Hewlett stated that increasing is the number of companies who see a commercial advantage to participating in the Center’s Hidden Brain Drain Task Force, which assists companies hold on to their LGBT talent, those who would otherwise leave because they are working in an uncomfortable environment.

Considering diverse work pools from a global perspective, companies are taking into account their employees’ sexual orientation by ensuring that they attract and retain the best talent. Hewlett said research revealed that LGBT are more educated and qualified than their heterosexual counterparts. In many ways, Hewlett’s data presentation was similar to the published results of the General Social Survey conducted by The Williams Institute. That survey suggested that 37 percent of lesbian and gay people (LG), and 46.6 percent of those who are bisexual (B) reported higher levels of education either with college or graduate degrees than 26 percent of their heterosexual counterparts. The Institute, a part of UCLA School of Law, said a combined 43.6 percent LG and B are out in the workplace and known among other employees.

But, in workplaces LGBT employees still have to contend with stigma, discrimination and racism. Many feel isolated and disengaged; they are disinterested in participating in company events, including bringing their partners to parties or outings. Many do not have photos on their desks or as screen savers, or have phone conversations with their partners while at work, as do many heterosexuals.

Close to 95-percent of those who attended the summit indicated by standing that they were out at work. Few, who remained seated, raised their hands to show that they are LGBT but not out at work and fewer still said they were straight.

“It says a lot that even at a LGBT event that there are some LGBT who do not feel comfortable to stand up and identify that they are gay or lesbian,” said Brian McNaught, a LGBT trainer and a moderator for one of the panel discussions.

When asked why someone at a branch or a desk should come out, Mark Stephanz, vice chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said, “Hiding is tiring.  I came out three years ago because I couldn’t continue to expend the time, energy and brain function.”

Married with two children, Stephanz said he told his wife and the first person he told at work was his boss, “I felt it important to have that one-on-one conversation with my colleagues and clients. Then, I thought I was risking my career. Many think that coming out would be much worse that it turned out to be for me.”

But another panelist, Sonelius Kendrick-Smith, who is African-American, and a director and portfolio manager with Deutsche Bank and a member of his company’s Rainbow group, said that in one of his previous jobs, even though at the time he was already out to family and friends, he was concerned about coming out on the trading floor.

“At one of my previous jobs, I went to my boss, the head of the Fixed Income Department, and told her that I am gay and I didn’t want to go back into the closet. She assured me that the company will protect me. She said that she has two brothers who are gay and gave me her support. But the problems I had after coming out was more of some stupid stuff. Once I went to the bathroom. When I walked in, I met another man using a urinal and as soon as he saw me, he turned his back and tried to hide himself,” Kendrick-Smith said.

The definition of a straight ally is someone who is a little more than “pissed-off” who wants to make things better said Bonnie Howard, chief auditor, Global Control Head, Citigroup. Many straight people, who want to be allies often feel as though they would likely say the wrong thing.

Hewlett added that lesbians are more likely to have children and do not seem to receive the harsh treatment as men because that are seen as mothers who are gay. Data shows that isolation and backlash is more often directed toward men than women and that many gay men distrust their employers. And, compared to women, she said, a pattern among gay men has emerged of those who come out after they have been married.

But, McNaught, said that it’s important to have people in the top level management who are out or comfortable with LGBT issues, which makes it easier for employees to come out. Heterosexuals, he added, are not the enemy, management need to be authentic in their demonstrations of support for LGBT.

An openly gay member of the NY Stock Exchange, Walter Schubert, said that as the first person to come out on the trading floor, it took about a year for people to become comfortable with him.

“I’ve learned that homophobia is anti-feminism, where homosexual men are assumed by heterosexuals to be just like women, but being gay is not personal, it’s a public matter. A person’s behavior is private, but their orientation is public. It is important that employers and managers be available to talk,” said Schubert.

Many Wall Street companies have embraced a program where managers have symbols of a tent in their offices as a sign to LGBT employees that these offices are safe places to come for refuge.

A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his company’s public relations department had not given permission to speak with the press, said that companies have to assure candidates when they are being hired that it’s okay to go to a multicultural or diversity group, “From the get-go, African-American LGBT are under enormous pressure, such as skin color, their sexual orientation and the number of projects they have to deal with. The challenges are there and everyone has to make the decision which battles they would deal with. I was fortunate that the racism was not that great and the homophobia was dealt with by an overt support system from my managers, which helped my confidence and productivity. Being comfortable, I was able to bring all my talents and skills to my job.”

As if demonstrating the strength and power of being LGBT, Maggie Stumpp, Ph.D., chief investment officer with QMA Associates who is transgender, manages an estimated $80 billion in assets and investments, said she had a picture on her desk of herself in drag. No one commented because they thought it was her sister. She decided to transition from male to female 10 years ago. At the time, she came into her office with a business plan on how to tell people about transitioning. On one occasion, her team was fired by a client when they found out she is transgender.

Introducing the panel discussion on driving innovation with strategic partnerships and investments, and quoting from a national transgender survey, Stumpp said that 47 percent of transgender lose their jobs, 16 percent are involved in the illicit drug trade, and 14 percent have incomes above $100,000. She added that 27 percent of all transgender have college degrees compared to 10 percent of the general population, and 20 percent have graduate degrees as opposed to 9 percent of the same general population.

Challenges norms and beliefs

By Antoine Craigwell

As with a seedling slowly bursting from the ground, positive messages of self acceptance are emerging into the sunlight of a world where human differences are normal, countering the denials and negations of who a person is by family and friends, communities, classmates, church members, and governments and laws.

With Lady Gaga’s dramatic entrance in an egg at the 2011 Grammy Award, being borne by carriers, suggesting that often in the gestation period, many people participate from the outside to influence the fetus, and her strikingly symbolic emergence from it  said that no one is responsible for who he or she is, that all who are human are born as they are and did not choose to be who they are; that who a person is, is not as determined by society, family, or friends. At the awards, her debut of “Born this way”, she gave voice and encouragement to many who often feel beaten down by the society they live in and its representatives.

But as a 24-year old, it is particularly interesting that Lady Gaga’s music, choreography, costumes are reminiscent of Madonna, a previous tween idol, whose performances with many of the same social messages were designed and intended to challenge conventions and norms, and have significantly advanced the cause for acceptance of self and by others. As a “yundult”, a young adult, it is no surprise that her affirmation of a person’s identity resonates with many young people, tweens and yundults alike, as she too emerges from the learning and growing pains of young adult hood to becoming a full adult. On the ABC Channel 7 interview, she remembers vividly her experiences and emphasizes that she is not a bystander in the lives of those her own age, but a witness; she is speaking directly to her peers, her generation, and those following close behind.

The lyrics in the song, “There’s nothin wrong with lovin who you are…” reaches across age groups. It encourages, reawakens and stimulates those whose self-esteem are fledgling, and builds self confidence in many who have been denied and have even denied themselves, to feel that they could at last step out of the confines of stigma, stare discrimination in the face, and attack bigotry with the strength of the self, empowering those who feel less than. For those who are struggling with or have crises of their emerging sexual identities, in society, community, among family, friends, co-workers, classmates, church congregations; the song is uplifting: “Give yourself prudence [how many would know the meaning? Does she mean take care of your self?]/And love your friends/ Subway kid, rejoice your truth/ In the religion of the insecure/ I must be myself, respect my youth…”

“Born This Way” says as it reaches into a desperate need for belonging, striking a chord in the human psyche: “I’m beautiful in my way/ ‘Cause God makes no mistakes/ I’m on the right track baby/ I was born this way/ Don’t hide yourself in regret/ Just love yourself and you’re set…”

But, Lady Gaga is not the only one to send out messages of encouragement. In recent times, more and more television shows have featured lesbian and gay characters. While Patrik Ian-Polk’s “Noah’s Ark” captured and parodied Black gay life, as it reflected just how dysfunctional and unaccepting Black gay men are of themselves, “Will and Grace” on the other hand, fit into the stereotypes of gay life for the White community; Glee, and Sundance Channel’s “Girls Who Like Boys who Like Boys”, reflected society and culture, as art and literature does, the feelings, emotions and lives of those who are lesbian and gay, and telling their viewers that it is okay to be who you are.  More recently, Facebook announced making available categories allowing for greater expression of relationship status beyond the heterosexual classifications, which with its more than five million users, a large percentage who are young, allows each person the freedom to express his or her sexual identity as he or she chooses. And, with each person still able through privacy settings to control who has access to his or her Facebook page, those who live in the shadows can choose whether or not they want to reveal their identity through their relationships.

With an estimated 29 million friends on her Facebook page, and nearly 17 million listeners to the “Born This Way” audio on YouTube, one wonders how many who are living hidden lives and suffering in silence are able to identify with its lyrics feel strong or empowered enough to break out of their own shells and the shackles imposed on them?

These many different, yet, concerted attempts at creating an acceptable space and environment for those who are LGBT, especially many younger people who are growing up with images of same-sex relationships and same-gender parenting, are reversing through attrition and cultural expansion, the entrenched mindset passed on by those who are older. In fact, even though racism still persists, this type of reversal is akin to presentations of inter-racial couples in popular media and entertainment which broke down racial barriers, as Lady Gaga says: “…Whether you’re broke or evergreen/ You’re black, white, beige, chola descent/ You’re Lebanese, you’re Orient/ Whether life’s disabilities/ Left you outcast, bullied, or teased/ Rejoice and love yourself today/ ‘Cause baby you were born this way…”

Lady Gaga’s song gives hope, encouragement and strength to many younger people who daily see images of hate, discrimination, bigotry, stigma played out starkly in the media, from those who are supposed to be leaders or role models, as with the rapper 50 Cent sending out a homophobic tweet, to reports of bullying and suicides, states passing laws outlawing same-sex marriage, violence against LGBT by others, including brutal murders, and most insidious of all, religious pastors/leaders continuing to spew condemnation and judgments of abomination for someone who has any feelings for another of the same sex, or who is struggling to find his/her identity. But many are still confused by the conflicting and contradictory presentations of leaders who spew hate and abomination, but whose secret lives are brought out into the light, and are revealed to be true hypocrites, leave many LGBT turning away and seeking affirmation in their friends, in songs, in movies and in video games.

As if to celebrate the variedness and diversity in the human spectrum, Oprah Winfrey on her show interviewed Lea T, the Brazilian transgender super model, who began the process of transformation from male to female and is on the verge of completing with gender reassignment surgery, Lady Gaga says in the song: “No matter gay, straight, or bi,
Lesbian, transgendered life/ I’m on the right track baby/ I was born to survive…”

As more of these efforts strike at the heart of the bigotry, discrimination and stigma and challenge uncompromising acceptance, more young people today and those arriving on the threshold of their identity awareness are likely to be less afraid, feel less trapped, and would be able to speak out, face down those who would seek to intimidate or demean them, and not be victims of depression, with all its attendant complications and results. Young people who no longer experience or have to deal with the pejorative aspects of their sexual identity, as determined by society, would be less inclined to become drug and alcohol abusers, be more aware of themselves, take precautions and practice safe sex, and be forceful, confident and with a sense of purpose and direction for their lives.

Or cover for religious homophobia and retaliation for winning lawsuit

By Antoine Craigwell

(New York, NY)— There are two possible motives for David Kato’s death, retaliation for a court judgment or as the police claim, he refused to pay for having sex with another man. The former is part of the wider culture of religiously influenced homophobia, while the latter, made out to be mundane, is being used as a cover for the former.

“I highly think his death is related to the homophobia from the religious groups and to winning the High Court judgment against the newspaper,” said Frank Mugisha, executive director, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG).

Kato was brutally beaten over his head with a hammer in his home on January 25, and died shortly after on his way to hospital. Police reports state that Nsubuga Enock, also known as Sydney, was arrested and had confessed to the crime.

Against the backdrop of mounting international pressure to cancel the stalled anti-homosexuality bill which criminalizes anyone who is gay and tendered in parliament in 2009 by David Bahati, and scrutiny of abuses against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT), it seems apparent that the Ugandan authorities are deflecting the motive for Kato’s murder from one of retaliatory action for the High Court judgment and the virulent homophobia to besmirching his memory.

The Ugandan state police in a statement issued by Major General Kale Kayihura, Inspector General of Police, and published on the Uganda’s official Website on February 3, while carelessly mistyping the month of the occurrence as February instead of January, said that “Nsubuga on the 25th of February 2011 negotiated with the suspect to be paid money for using him as [a] sexual partner, but the promise was never fulfilled. He claimed the deceased convinced him to play sex with him in the night after making him drunk from a nearby pub. He claims he was provoked to hit the victim because he was demanding to play sex with him that afternoon and yet he was not interested in the same.”

The statement said that Nsubuga has a long criminal record. He was on remand for theft of a phone but also had other criminal records in his home area. The statement does not say whether or not Nsubuga participated in any sexual activity with Kato.

“Nsubuga confessed that he picked a hammer from the bathroom and hit him on the head, which resulted into his death. Nsubuga, further said that he locked the house and took off with some of the items belonging to the deceased,” the statement said. Senoga, a car driver who Kato frequently hired was also arrested and held for further questioning. He had visited the house earlier in the day and like Nsubuga, was seen by neighbors behaving suspiciously.

Kayihura said that investigations so far conducted show no indications that the deceased campaign against the Homosexuality Bill was a contributing factor to his death, “The police has not received any information pointing to a hate crime apart from speculation from the public. In addition, I request sections of the Clergy campaigning against homosexuality to exercise restraint.”

In response, Mugisha, who has known Kato for several years, since their years working together at Integrity Uganda, said, “It is highly unlikely that David would pay anyone for sex.”

As with many others who worked with SMUG, Kato often had to scrounge around for money to help bail people who were arrested, especially if they were LGBT, which meant that they would have been disowned by their families, and on their release from jail would have been homeless, said Mugisha.  As part of his work, Kato, he said, had quite likely bailed Enock out of jail and since he was homeless, offered him a place to stay. He added that given the depth of his relationship with Kato, he would’ve known if anyone was staying with him in his home.

Contradicting Enock’s claims and the insinuations made by the police, Mugisha said, “Anyone who knew David knew that he didn’t have any money to promise anyone a house, car, as was reported. The media says David had a house and car, but all the stories are untrue. They are saying that David was trying to give money to a straight person and that SMUG and David were getting money from foreign sources, and that he had lots of money.”

But the story of Kato’s death could be traced back to Oct 2, 2010 when The Rolling Stone newspapers published photographs of Ugandans suspected of being gay with the headline “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos” and a banner “Hang Them”, which prominently featured retired Anglican bishop, Bishop Christopher Senyonjo and Kato side by side. It was as if they and the 98 others, including human rights activist Kasha Jacqueline and Pepe Onziema were suddenly marked as targets.

Even before the publication of Kato’s picture in the newspapers, his work as an advocacy and litigation officer for SMUG, who championed the cause of LGBT rights and in real ways the plight of many who were arrested and jailed, meant that he was the focus of many people’s attention and ire. According to Mugisha, a month before his demise Kato had told him that he was afraid for his safety.

Jacqueline, the founder and executive director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, on Feb 15 published a statement in the Kampala Dispatch. In it she said that Rolling Stone accused her of having held parties and orgies for homosexuals at her home and that she was involved in brainwashing children into being homosexual, and reputedly quoted her as saying, “We are targeting those as young as 12-years old, as they are easy to persuade to join gay groups.”

The accusation of influencing children to which Jacqueline refers was a tactic used by U.S. religious evangelists, including Scott Lively, who had visited Uganda in March 2009 and advised those who attended a workshop that gays and lesbians in Uganda are receiving funding from international organizations to turn their children gay, and that the gays and lesbians in Uganda are using money to buy, coerce and force children to become gay.

“I have never said such a thing. I have never even thought such a thing – and even if someone was throwing homosexual orgies at my house, they never invited me,” she said. Jacqueline added that those people whose pictures were published in the newspapers were attacked, had rocks thrown at them, many had to abandon their homes, and have gone into hiding in safe houses around the country. Because it was known that there would be no support or relief from the authorities, Jacqueline said they all were too afraid to file police reports.

It was in this atmosphere of homophobic hysteria stirred up by the newspapers that in November 2010 Kato, Jacqueline, and Onziema filed a suit in the Ugandan High Court against Rolling Stone on the grounds that whether gay or straight, all Ugandans have a right to privacy and safety against incitements to violence. Jacqueline said that while she never denied her sexual orientation in her affidavit, the issue concerned the rights that Ugandans should have to be protected from the incitement of violence and violation of their privacy, “No one should ever wake up and see a call for violence and his [or her] home address published in a newspaper.”

On his Facebook page, Giles Muhame, editor of the newspapers, issued a “press” statement where he repeated many unproven and unsubstantiated calumnies against Kato. Drawing on references of child corruption, he said that in the court case, a man named Kagaba swore that Kato “was seriously recruiting kids into homosexual circles,” and that Kato was fired from his job as head teacher of a Christian-founded school in Nkoni, Masaka District, likely because “he could have been sodomizing kids, including one Douglas whom he stayed with.”

Mugisha said that Kato was never fired from his position as head teacher of the school, but it was the naked homophobia, including being physically attacked, as the reason he never returned to the school. The members of SMUG, he added, now after Kato’s death, have to work even stronger, “We cannot give up. This death was an eye-opener for our security. We always underestimated our security. Before we never paid much attention to the church groups, but now we have to.”

Following filing the suit, Justice Kibuuka Musoke issued an injunction against the newspapers prohibiting it from publishing more photographs and awarded the plaintiffs 1.5M Ugandan Shillings ($640) as compensation. Muhame said the paper is appealing the ruling. But, according to Jacqueline, the proceedings turned ugly in December, when as well as being bodily mistreated by court officials, she was attacked by known anti-gay pastor Solomon Male. On Jan 3, she said the judge’s ruling “clarified a nuance of the law, that while certain homosexual acts may still be illegal, maintaining a homosexual identity is not. In Uganda, a person is free to identify themselves however they please, and cannot be persecuted for it. Therefore, a newspaper like The Rolling Stone cannot incite violence against innocent citizens, and cannot invade their privacy.”

As one whose face was plastered on the newspaper’s front page, Bishop Senyonjo on Feb 8 broke his silence surrounding Kato’s death and the High Court ruling. The bishop, a heterosexual married man, was forced to retire and was denied his pension by the Anglican diocese of Uganda because of his work with and for the LGBT community. In an open letter to Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams, other primates, bishops, clergy and people of the diverse Anglican Communion, Bishop Senyonjo said, “A loving Anglican Communion should not keep quiet when the Rolling Stone tabloid in Uganda openly supports the “hanging of the homos,” including a fellow bishop who pleads for their inclusion and non-discrimination! Silence has the power to kill. We have witnessed its destruction this past week in the tragic and cruel murder of David Kato.”

The Bishop added that if Anglicans in one country dehumanize, persecute and imprison minorities, that people everywhere must be true to the Gospel and challenge such assaults on basic human rights.

“The key to our ministry must be to educate our people and encourage LGBT people to tell their stories and the impact of homophobia in their lives. Listening to the stories of LGBT people was the beginning of my own transformation,” he said.

Mugisha said that the virulent anti-gay pastor Martin Ssempa reportedly said that Kato was killed because he was living a dangerous life as a gay person.

The newspaper’s editor, in an interview with the Guardian Newspapers on Jan 27, said that he was sorry for Kato’s family and his death, repeated many unproven and unsubstantiated allegations surrounding Kato, “This looks like any other crime. I have no regrets about the story. We were just exposing people who were doing wrong.”

But in comments to his posting on Facebook, one person, Hyena Rubahoma said, “I highly doubt if that Kato guy was murdered, as said by the Police. Chances are 99.5% that he could have been excessively bum-drilled that he lost sense and later died. And besides, death of such evil guys reduces on the number of such evil activists.” As if agreeing, Muhame replied, “hehehe…that’s a good one my dia friend….hehehe….”

The court verdict, Jacqueline said, has shown that indeed, justice is possible in this world and more so in this country. She added that as members of a marginalized community, many people have taken advantage of their oppression to satisfy their political, economic, and social greed and bigotry, “We are victims of oppression in so many ways. And for being just who we are, many have turned us into targets of oppression. But we refuse to be silent. The stories of people fighting against injustice have always been about a minority, because social justice struggles are fought by a minority for a majority.

“The court verdict reminded us all that Uganda is no place for hatred and impunity. Irresponsible journalism has no place in this country. The Rolling Stone tabloid and its editors may not have anticipated that they would be victims of their own actions, but we would never wish for or call for them to be “hanged”. A media that is based on untruthfulness is an enemy of the nation. Let this be the beginning of responsible journalism for justice and equality.

“But one verdict does not mean that we have won the struggle. We still have a lot of sensitizing to do, especially to the people in rural areas, before people fully understand just how big a lie The Rolling Stone published. We have to know that we are all different in many ways and that we cannot all be the same. My hope is that we can learn to live together in this beautiful country of our without stigma and discrimination, but with respect and tolerance.”

The editors of the Kampala Dispatch said that two weeks prior to publishing Jacqueline’s statement, they tried to obtain a comment from at least two people behind the anti-gay vitriol, Bahati and Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo, who not returned any calls.

A Harlem Memorial Service for David Kato

(New York, NY) —Speaking softly at the memorial service for David Kato, his close friend and colleague, Frank Mugisha said, “It’s a sad time for me, because he seems to still be here with me.”

Appearing diminutive, dressed in a black and white sweater/cardigan, and standing in front of more than 150 people at Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church on Monday, Feb 7, Mugisha, said that Kato’s death was a sad time for all those who worked for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and human rights in Uganda.

“David wouldn’t stop at supporting anyone who needed help, including those who were imprisoned. At the time of his death he was following three cases of people in remote villages who were arrested and was trying to organize a lawyer for them,” Mugisha, who is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), said.

He spoke of Kato’s commitment and loyalty to his friends and his family, to his work as an advocacy and litigation officer for SMUG, the needs of those who were marginalized, and the dangers he faced in an increasingly religiously fueled homophobic environment. As if sensitive to the hateful atmosphere in his homeland, Mugisha recalled, Kato had spoken presciently when he said, “When I die, these are my family and I want them to bury me in the Rainbow flag.”

Kato, 46, was beaten over his head with a hammer in his home by a suspect now in police custody and died on his way to hospital on Wednesday, Jan 26. Together with two others, he sued Rolling Stone newspapers in the Ugandan High Court and won for their violation of his privacy. In October 2010, the newspapers had published Kato’s photo and 99 others with a banner “Hang Them” emblazoned over the front page. Many believe that his death was in retaliation for winning the case and the increased homophobia that had become prevalent in the country and not as the police had suggested, that his death was a pay for sex gone wrong.

Several representatives from Christian religious organizations gathered under the sponsorship of the Global Justice Institute, and led by Joseph Tolton, pastor, Rehoboth Christ Consciousness Church. The memorial was led by Abyssinian’s pastor, Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, III, and featured prayers and orations by Rev. Stacy Latimer, pastor Love Alive International (LAI), Rev. Pat Bumgardner, pastor, Metropolitan Community Church New York, and Rev. Dr. Michael Waldron, Jr., pastor, First Corinthian Baptist Church, and included musical renditions by the combined Resurrection and LAI choirs and a violin solo by Juliette Jones.

Charles Radcliffe, chief, Global Issues, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in his tribute said, “We don’t need a judge’s ruling to know that without change, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender will never be free to enjoy their human rights on an equal footing with their fellow human beings. Today, it would be unthinkable to tolerate laws criminalizing people simply because of their gender or the color of their skin. Yet more than 70 countries around the world retain laws that criminalize people for no other reason than that they are gay or lesbian. Those laws are an affront to the very principles of equality and non-discrimination, a serious violation of the human rights of those whose conduct they seek to sanction. They also legitimize homophobia, giving it a State-sanctioned seal of approval, reinforcing stigma, and fuelling hatred and violence.”

Representing City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Kihani Brea said, “His [David’s] death is a reminder that every single individual has the power to promote equality and stand up against injustices both near and far.”

And, delivering the call to social justice, Tolton said he was placing Kato’s death in a larger macro context, looking at the various forces at work and at play. He began by referring to an Old Testament passage which named the rivers of origin, then he recounted the evolution of human from a single cell to complex cellular beings, and to the rise of competition, power, domination and control humans exert over each other, including the role the church has played in racism and the slave trade. It’s the same church, he said, which has participated in the persecution of LGBT people and Kato’s death.

Bringing the service to an end, Butts said that Kato was a brave man and his living was not in vain, “Nobody should be killed, be beaten, or cursed because of their orientation. We haven’t done enough to close the chasm which separates us. This is a call to those who are prejudiced, biased, and bigoted, like David Kato or Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.; I’d want to have a long life.”

January 27, 2011

My friend,

Many of us know of someone who is troubled, suffering inside. Perhaps you suffered or are suffering in silence. Many of us have watched from the sidelines as someone we know deteriorates before our eyes – he is unable to keep a job and maintain a relationship, appears disheveled, is no longer interested in things he used to enjoy, sleeps more than usual, and he might even have developed a dependency on drugs or alcohol. Worst of all, he feels empty and hopeless. Perhaps you felt you didn’t belong.

The only option he feels he has left is to remove himself from humanity. May be you know someone who did, and we who remain ask why.

From the outside, we try to understand, but many of us realize that we are incapable, we too are powerless to do anything. But, those who experienced and overcame the relentless pain in their heads can identify, they say “You Are Not Alone.”

Depression is a serious mental illness that could have devastating consequences; it does not have to. It is TREATABLE!

You may or may not be Black or gay; you may be Black and you may be gay, but you may know someone who is Black and gay. In many Black families, in our communities, and in societies gay men exist, yet because of the silence imposed by culture, the homophobia, stigma, and discrimination many experience, Black gay men are living hidden, secretive, and unfulfilled lives. Shouldn’t our Black gay men deserve to live wholesome and productive lives?

This link http://dbgm.info/ is a 2-minute trailer for a documentary, “You Are Not Alone”, in production. In it, courageous Black gay men are breaking the silence and a taboo in the Black community: they are speaking out about their depression. It is hoped that a Black gay man, through what he sees and hears in this documentary, could feel emboldened to know he is not alone, and find the courage to reach out for help.

Your support toward the completion of this documentary would provide a resource and encouragement for other Black gay men, especially young Black gay men who feel imprisoned, are struggling with their sexual identity, and acceptance in a world that rejects them, to know “You Are Not Alone”.

Kindly share this letter and trailer http://dbgm.info/ with your email networks and lists. Post it on your blogs and Facebook pages and encourage others to donate to the completion of this documentary.

Thank you for your generous support,

Yours,

AntoineB.

A pervasive phenomena in the Black community

By Antoine Craigwell

Toward the end of 2010, a series of events rocked everyone’s sensibilities: suicides, reports of bullying, and a combination of abuse and betrayal, all sharing depression as a common denominator.

When Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi jumped to his death from New York’s George Washington Bridge, he became one of more than 10 others across the country who had committed suicide. But while psychological experts attempted to allay fears of an epidemic, Clementi’s death highlighted bullying and harassment as facets of a pervasive problem affecting many in high schools and colleges. About the same time, though not as widely publicized, Raymond Chase, a 19-year-old African-American student at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhodes Island, who, it was reported, was harassed and bullied because he was gay, and felt the only way out was to hang himself in his dorm room. Also, not as widely reported was the death of 26-year-old Joseph Jefferson who hung himself in his Brooklyn, NY apartment. Jefferson’s suicide, as with Chase, left many unanswered questions for their respective families and friends, why.

For someone who is predisposed to depression, internal as well as external factors: biological – the function of essential neurochemicals in the brain and environmental – occurring outside a person, combine to hasten that downward spiral. From the environment, depression is caused by the vitriol spewing from many Christian leaders who preach that being gay is an abomination, and parents who subscribe to this destructive belief system by denying their son’s development feed into the alienation many feel. When young Black men, searching for their place in society see and hear politicians reinforcing stereotypes with legislation that deny them basic rights to be who they are and be accepted, they feel caught in a vortex. And, with popular culture making acceptable “no homo”, “faggot”, “sissy” and “gay” as negative language to demean and humiliate someone who is different, many struggling with their sexual identity find difficulty in fitting in and belonging to the human fabric. Each suicide irreparably rends of the connectedness and belonging to the fabric of humanity.

Adding his voice for more studies into depression in Black gay men, Louis Graham, MPH, says that although the most robust study of depression among Black gay men shows that Black men experience less depression than White gay men, Black gay men experience more suicidology. He argues, “Depression accompanies suicidology in 90 to 95-percent of the cases, so it is highly unlikely that Black gay men experience depression less than White gay men if they experience more suicidology.” Graham, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina, says of the limited studies into the mental health state of Black gay men, “we are measuring depression incorrectly among Black gay men. We cannot use the same tools to measure depression among Black gay men that we use among White gay men, because depression looks differently in Black gay men and Black gay men express symptomology differently.”

Many Black gay men may recount that every day is a battle against homophobia, from outside and within the Black community, against the memories of sexual abuse, the overt and covert racism and intra-racism, economic disparities, injustices, and stigma and discrimination. Thrown into this mix is the deeply psychologically scarring and anti-human effect of religion, particularly Christianity, which has been used as a tool in slave times to oppress and subjugate, and to stifle, repress, encourage ostracism and marginalization of those who feel an attraction to another of the same sex.

Still holding on to vestiges from slavery, in the Black community one never talks about his feelings to another. A Black man is encouraged to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself, put on a strong front, and never appear to be weak, since much is expected of him. Researchers have found that in the Black community, more Black men commit suicide than Black women. Those who were the victims of bullying and harassment at the hands of peers, colleagues, or pseudo friends may have insights, reconciling their differences or non-conformity, and being able endure and persevere. Many would argue that bullying, harassment and betrayal of trust by close friends and family are occurrences in anyone’s development, that one should simply “suck it up”, “move on”, and “get over it”. Moreover, for those who seemed to have survived the perils of their formative years, who later committed suicide, questions in need of answers remain.

Chase may have been unable to cope with the harassment and bullying from his peers and felt that he had nowhere else to turn. Jefferson may not have displayed any signs that he was battling issues so severe; it was reported that he never quite recovered from the death of his mother 10 years ago. While he was active and very involved in the Black gay community, a still unanswered question is why he felt the need to kill himself. Some suggested that the final straw, he didn’t feel he could trust the people he looked up to in the community.

While in the larger scope of things, there are other issues of greater import to the Black community, by their deaths, these two young men have refocused a light on a pervasive, still taboo, subject in the Black and Black gay community. However, one of the most important challenges facing this and the Black gay community is addressing the psychosocial health, including many of the underlying reasons for depression, among their respective men. For someone dealing with depression, out of many other possible actions, suicide is one of the ultimate acts. While the suicide of Chase and Jefferson in itself may not seem any more unusual, their deaths were significant as they sought to encourage more focusing on the reasons why they, like many before them, made that fatal choice. Their deaths encourage those who are struggling with the sense of hopelessness and emptiness, the feeling that they do not belong, and the persistent raging pain in their heads, to realize that asking for help, breaking the silence, the taboo, doesn’t make anyone less a man, weak or crazy.

Another health requirement for gay men,  FDA approves vaccine.

By Antoine Craigwell

Early one fall morning, 32-year-old Mark Ramos (not his real name) walked into the New York-based Callen-Lorde Community Health Center for a routine medical check up. After several questions about his sexual practices, Mark consented to a rectal exam. He dropped his pants and underwear and climbed up on to the exam table in a kneeling position. The doctor cautioned that he would feel a slight discomfort as he swabbed Mark’s anus and took the male equivalent of a pap smear. Two weeks later, Mark, who came to the U.S. from a Caribbean country, received a call and was advised that the pap smear revealed that there was a suggestion of the presence of abnormal cells and was invited to come in for a colposcopy, a more thorough examination; the male equivalent of a cervical exam.

Anatomy of the anus

Except for that heightened fashion sense, creativity, artistry, and culinary skills, men who have sex with men (MSM) do have at least one thing in common with women: one of the effects of the human papilloma virus (HPV) which causes cervical cancer in women and anal cancer in MSM. Over the years knowledge and treatment for this virus has gradually “come out” of the classification as a women only problem, where more and more MSM are receiving examinations, screenings, and treatment, if precancerous cells are discovered. Anal cancer came to prominence recently with the death of Farah Fawcett.

In what was once in the medical domain of women, when high intensity focused ultrasound was used to treat ovarian cancer and is now used for prostate cancer in other countries and still in the U.S. FDA Phase Trials for use in men, that MSM are at an increased risk for anal cancer from the same virus that causes cervical cancer in women. Researchers have discovered that HPV, often present under the foreskin of uncircumcised men, when it comes in contact with the cells of the cervix or anus, mutates and leads to cancer in women and in men, who have unprotected penetrative sex. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control on their Website lists throat and neck cancer also related to the same virus.

When he arrived for his examination, Jeff Huyett a nurse practitioner specializing in anal health and gynecology at Callen-Lorde attempted to put Mark at ease. He explained that the issue of anal cancer in MSM is rising and that it is becoming more urgent that gay men be examined and treated. Showing a diagram of the anus and the rectum, Huyett said that immediately on the inside of the first anal sphincter muscle – a collection of cells similar to the point in women where the cervix transitions to the womb – where the anus becomes the rectum. These, he said, are a type of epithelial cells (similar to those found on the inside of the mouth) susceptible to HPV and if exposed and left untreated, develop into cancer.

Anus before infection and after

As he was being probed and prodded, and given assurances that the examination did not mean that he had cancer, Mark, recalled the story of David (not his real name), who migrated to the U.S. from Colombia, one of his close friends who had discovered late that he had anal cancer. After several unsuccessful chemotherapy treatments at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, David ended up going to the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Philadelphia, PA, to see what could be done for him. With his partner, Fred (not his real name) at his side, David, who recently celebrated his 50th birthday, was admitted with a high fever. His legs were swollen and the swelling seemed likely to spread upward to his abdomen, threatening his life, a tumor was discovered in one of his kidneys, and he was ruled out for surgery to install a colostomy bag. Fred, whose family came to the U.S. from Grenada, said resignedly that the Center advised them that with the different issues, there is no guarantee that they could help. He and David had to come up with about $2,000 to afford to go to the Center, since David’s insurance refused to cover any treatment. As of writing, David had been readmitted to the Center a week before the Christmas holidays and is on a morphine regimen to assist with pain management. A week prior to being admitted, he suffered a fall, fracturing his left femur. Doctors at the Center said that the cancer had spread to David’s bones, making them more fragile. From his previous admission, David’s treatment costs were more than $120,000. Fred said that David needed him now more than ever; he had to resign from one of his two jobs to help him with simple things, including getting dressed and going to the bathroom. For the first time Fred, who is with David for more than eight years, was suddenly thrust, involuntarily, into dealing with David’s family who didn’t trust him, and entering into the realm of talking with lawyers about a will, power of attorney, health care proxy, and making transparent financial decisions.

In an article “The Hole Thing: The Conspiracy of Silence About Gay Men’s Anal Health” published in the Spring 2007 issue of the White Crane Journal, Huyett said, “Nearly 2,000 men a year will be diagnosed with anal cancer. The cancer is treatable with chemotherapy and radiation treatments and it’s dangerous if it spreads throughout the body.”

Image of HPV

Huyett said in the article that that for the gay community which has become plague weary from dealing with HIV, that many are reluctant to address another health issue that is so closely related to sexual practices, which results in little or no advocacy.

“I find it astonishing that in the midst of the HIV pandemic, [that] we are unaware of another important health risk. Clearly, anal cancer prevention means we have to acknowledge we have “butt” sex. It dredges up the feelings of homophobia that we thought we had long ago dealt with. To screen, we have to admit to our sexual practices in order to achieve good health,” says Huyett.

The CDC acknowledges that anal cancer is rising and is a cause for concern for the gay community. The CDC says that of the 20 million Americans infected with HPV, an estimated six million are newly diagnosed each year; in men, approximately 1 percent infected develop genital warts, while about 1,700 men get anal cancer, “Most people who become infected with HPV do not know they have it. Usually, the body’s immune system gets rid of the HPV infection naturally within two years. This is true of both high-risk and low-risk types. HPV is also very common in men, and often has no symptoms…In general, HPV is thought to be responsible for about 85 percent of anal cancers, 70 percent of vaginal cancers, and 40 percent of vulvar and penile cancers.”

“While anal cancer isn’t that common it’s preventable. But you can only prevent anal cancer if you know you have HPV, are screened and have the precancerous areas treated. You can only do this if you live in an area where anal-pap-smear testing is available and resources exist to provide preventive follow-up,” says Huyett.

A Dec 9 article in POZ, a magazine for the HIV-positive community, pointed to a study article published in the Journal AIDS, which said that despite being one of the most expensive methods to screen for anal cancer, compared to the cheaper but least effective tests, a high resolution anoscopy (HRA) is more cost effective in producing a clear result. The HRA examination involves a provider using a plastic anoscope, a small camera, tissue staining solutions, and taking a tissue biopsy, which is sent for analysis.

The magazine said that rates of anal cancer are as much as 160 times higher in HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) than the general public. For this reason, many experts recommend annual screening.

“For HIV-infected MSM and where resources permit, anal cancer screening should be initiated with the direct use of HRA,” the study’s authors concluded.

HPV Vaccine

However, on Dec 22, the FDA announced the approval of Gardasil as a preventive vaccination for anal cancer. Last year, on Oct 16, the government agency had issued an approval of the vaccination to prevent genital warts in men and boys. These warts are caused by HPV types 6 and 11 in men and were found to affect boys between nine and 26. At the time when the FDA approved the vaccination for HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18, for cervical cancer in girls, between nine and 26 years old, some mothers had expressed strong reservations and concerns over the side effects on their daughters; there was no preventive for men and boys.

In a press statement by the FDA, Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, “Treatment for anal cancer is challenging; the use of Gardasil as a method of prevention is important as it may result in fewer diagnoses and the subsequent surgery, radiation or chemotherapy that individuals need to endure”.

Although it seems as though anal cancer is uncommon, the FDA said, rates of incidences are increasing with HPV associated with approximately 90 percent of these cancers. The press statement said that Gardasil’s ability to prevent anal cancer and the associated precancerous lesions caused by anal HPV-16/18 infection was studied in a randomized, controlled trial of self-identified MSM. At the end of the study, the vaccine was shown to be 78 percent effective in preventing HPV infection. This population was studied because it has the highest incidence of anal cancer said the FDA. But, the statement cautioned, Gardasil would not prevent the development of anal precancerous lesions associated with HPV infections already present at the time of vaccination and its efficacy is better for boys and men prior to becoming infected with HPV strains contained in the vaccine.

According to the FDA and Merck and Company, Inc., the New Jersey-based manufacturer, the vaccination is administered as three injections over a six-month period and has headaches, fever and pain at the injection site, itching, redness, and swelling and bruising as the most common side effects. The FDA said that receiving the vaccination does not preclude the need for continued anal screenings.

“We are pleased that with this new indication for Gardasil against HPV-related anal cancer and disease, both males and females can be protected against cancer, which further reinforces the importance of vaccinating both genders,” Richard M. Haupt, M.D., MPH, executive director, Merck Research Laboratories said in an interview with Business Wire. Merck’s stock on the New York Stock Exchange rose from $26.00 to $36.36 on Dec 22 following the announcement of the vaccine.

Following a biopsy of some abnormally appearing cells in his rectum and a caution by Huyett that it does not mean he has cancer, Mark’s doctor confirmed that he did not have anal cancer. The abnormal cells, he was told, appeared because he recently had a bout of Chlamydia, but was advised to do another examination in a year. Huyett said that as a gay man, every year he has an anal examination and urges all gay men who engage in anal sex to be examined and start treatment if necessary, before it becomes too late.

David and Fred are likely to be confined to a hospital room over the holidays, away from family and friends. Fred said the doctors advised that David is in stage four cancer and his future is dire.

Pleas ring out during week of remembrances

“I understand suicide. I attempted it once, so I understand the pain that takes someone to that breaking point,” said Renee Brown-Worrell, at the funeral service for her stepson Joseph Jefferson, on Sunday, Oct 31 in Brooklyn.

Around the country, many were celebrating and honoring those who died, and despite the commercialism and costuming, for All Hallows or Halloween and El Dia de Los Muerto, it was a day when the family and members of the Black gay community in New York City gathered to remember, celebrate the life of 26-year-old Jefferson, who hung himself on Oct 23, and to say goodbye.

It seemed fitting for someone who was involved with the party promotion and with the Ball community to hear sounds of house music through the speaker system, at Ponce Funeral Home on Atlantic Avenue. Since his death and leading up to his funeral, at other occasions during the week, many who knew him, some closer than others, panegyrized him. Some common themes uttered in public or to each other, included, “He was a kind and generous young man”, “He was outgoing”, “He was angry at the state of the Black gay community”, and “He always had an uplifting or inspiring word to give someone.”

On a day celebrated for the dead, when many wore costumes and masks, symbols of hiding, that the Black gay community stripped away pretenses and covers to reveal the pain and suffering, and the extremes to which many resort, thinking there are no other options. Jefferson’s death upstaged many planned events. It was as if he was saying: “By my death, giving my life, I’m drawing attention to a serious issue in need of addressing in the community; it’s not about the parties, “ki-ki-ing” and “shade”, it’s about many like me who are in pain and need help.”

“When you see someone and they’re not talking, they’re likely in pain. When you see someone and they suddenly stop, check in with them, they may have reached or are near that breaking point. Find a therapist and speak with someone. Remember, what you tell a therapist is between you and that professional, by law they can’t tell anyone,” said Brown-Worrell.

Over the past two months, in the African-American LGBT community, Jefferson’s suicide followed 19-year-old Raymond Chase and 19-year-old Alyisha Hassan in September. Two mourners at Jefferson’s funeral service, who choose not to be identified, said that sometime soon after Jefferson took his life, there were at least two more deaths, including a Black gay young man from a high school in Ohio.

But, Steven Welch, LCSW, a New York City-based psychotherapist with a private practice said that he’s not sure why these suicides are getting more public attention. These occurrences seem high for LGBT people and higher for LGBT youth, because many youth are dealing with the angst and conflicts with their identity as they grow into adulthood.

“When they don’t see other options for life, they take themselves out. Suicides in the LGBT community is high because many have a higher sense of hopelessness, there are many who are rejected by their families, and are homeless,” said Welch.

From a child development perspective, he added, a young person has to deal with changes in his or her body, and sexual identity that is still developing.

“Many have been rejected by their families, churches, and peers, and for many who turn to churches for comfort, they find that when they identify as gay or lesbian, suddenly the church has turned against them. Many suffer in silence because of this rejection and betrayal, leading to feelings of hopelessness, which leaves many struggling alone to negotiate and navigate their feelings, without any support,” Welch said.

Rev. Stacey Latimer, pastor of Love Alive International, Inc., said that churches have gained a bad rap with the ways in which they have responded to their LGBT members, “But I want you to know that there are many churches that are sanctuaries for anyone who needs to talk, to unburden, to come in and seek help.”

It isn’t difficult for another to follow after someone else had done it, Welch said of the recent spate of suicides as copycat, since many identify with the person who had succeeded in finding a way out. This he said is similar to someone who mutilates him or her self, as a way of obtaining release, which another would do to achieve the same result.

At the funeral, a young man named Vasquez said that Jefferson took him under his wings about 10 years ago, and together, they worked, laughed, and played.

“I miss my great debater. Joseph didn’t like us to be hating on each other. He accepted everyone for who he or she is, but I knew that he couldn’t take the pain anymore.”

Another young man said that Jefferson was proud, “Every time I hear a Brittany Spears song I’ll remember Joseph, every time I feel the sunlight on my face, I will know that Joseph is smiling down on me.”

The news of Jefferson’s unexpected death rocked the NYC Black gay community, especially, the different smaller communities in which he was involved. With surprising speed, all came together to console each other, remember him, and pleaded that anyone suffering pain in any way to reach out and ask for help. At the panel discussion at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) on Monday, intended to determine the continuation of the “I love my boo” campaign, news of Jefferson’s death overshadowed and replaced the agenda. The tears flowed as many clung to each other for support. They remembered him, and spoke of his involvement in the Ball community, working with party promoters, with GMHC and Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), and HIV prevention with the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force.

On Thursday evening at the “Stop the BS” rally, planned by GMAD in NYC’s Washington Square Park to call attention to the bullying many LGBT suffer and the spike in suicides, tried valiantly to stick to its agenda with invited speakers such as State Senator Tom Duane. Instead, as many remembered Jefferson, a more than usual somber mood hung over the estimated 200 people who gathered for the rally. Following the rally, many of the young gay men reportedly went to GMHC for a special “ki-ki” celebration to honor and remember him, for he was one of their own.

Party promoters, James Saunders and Laurence Pinckney, convened a memorial celebration, “Celebrate Life-Stop the Madness” to which more than 300 people attended at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center on Friday evening, to commemorate Jefferson’s life and to call for anyone who was suffering to reach out and talk to someone. This memorial was different, not given to dirge like singing and exhaustive praying, but reflecting on who Jefferson was. While there weren’t many opportunities for people to share their thoughts of Jefferson, several Black gay entertainers, including spoken word artist Rennair Amin, hip hop singer Lester Greene, and R&B performer Jesse O showed their support to raise awareness of the need to seek help. But the miming performance by Diamond Saunders to Shekinah Glory’s rendition of “Yes”, which in those moments when there was a rest in the music, that the sound of sniffling from many in the audience who couldn’t stifle their tears filled that space. To assist with the funeral expenses, a raffle of several items, including dinner for two on the Spirit Cruise, tickets to Daniel Beaty’s “Through the Night”, and artwork by Ricky Day, raised approximately $671. D’Von Christopher of Blue Magazine offered to add the balance to bring the amount to $1,000. Following the memorial, all who attended were treated to dinner prepared by party promoter Amir Mohamed.

Understanding why someone commits suicide, Welch said, does not follow a logical path, rather it calls for considering the dynamics of depression and how culture influences and affects a person. People of color, he adds, generally don’t believe in therapy, in counseling, in talking about issues to a mental health professional, which inhibits receiving assistance.

“The community can intervene by promoting opportunities for those who are in pain to feel comfortable to open up and talk about what’s troubling them,” Welch said.

As the funeral service came to an end, Rev. Melvin Poindexter Miller in his eulogy said, “Now the curtain falls. He is now committed back to eternity from which he came. Joseph made that choice. He gives us a message and a choice, to love more deeply. Joseph’s death is a call, that no one else has to choose to end their lives too soon. His life must compel us to stand up to the cultural and political bullying that daily beat down on anyone who is different.”

The suicide of Joseph Jefferson

By Antoine Craigwell

Joseph Jefferson, from his Facebook page

It was a text message from NYC party promoter Lee Soulja, “Sorry to deliver this info this way, but I’m at work and just got the sad news of Joseph Jefferson’s passing yesterday.” Anyone wanting to befriend 26-year-old Joseph Jefferson on his Facebook page would meet the “Add a Friend” box, but unless they knew that over the past weekend, Oct 23, he took his own life by hanging, that request would never be accepted or returned.

As a young man, Jefferson had, over the years, volunteered to help party promoters such as Soulja, James Saunders and Laurence Pinckney, and according to his Facebook page, was a young man who was interested in climbing the ladder to make something of himself. His list of favorite books all speak to rising above and persisting, and included Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, Becoming a Person of Influence, Jane Eyre, Donald Trump, and 48 laws of power. He graduated from NYC’s Harvey Milk High School in 2002 and in 2003 from Touro College after studying business management. As an activist and someone concerned about the Black gay community in New York City, he was involved with People Of Color in Crisis (POCC) from Sept 2004 until Aug 2009, about the time when the organization’s leaders betrayed many in the community and folded. Landing on his feet, Jefferson became involved and worked as a health promotion associate with the Charles Angel Wellness Center, a program run by Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD), from Aug 2009 to Jun 2010.

“[Jefferson] was a great young man. He worked [with] a lot of different youth programs at POCC, GMHC, and GMAD and always volunteered to help me with Black Pride and other events,” said Soulja.

Pinckney said that Saunders and GMAD are collaborating to hold an event: “Celebration of Life – Stop the Madness” at the LGBT Center on Friday, from 6 – 8pm, to raise funds to assist with Jefferson’s funeral expenses, during which those who are active in the community would speak about the crisis in the Black gay community.

“Joseph, when he worked with us, he was always so pleasant and a great person. He was one of those people who was always great to be with. For all the years I knew him, about five or six years, I never knew his name,” said Pinckney.

On his page, Jefferson’s bio seemed to hint at what he was dealing with, recognizing in his need for belonging, that there are others like him, “It is my life’s commitment to be the Supportive, Nurturing & always provide encouragement to everyone I come across. I am committed to enhancing the self-esteem of others because it has a profound effect on their values, beliefs, thinking processes.

According to Saunders, Jefferson was kind hearted, caring, and serious about everything, “He cared for the community a lot, and was the coordinator for the outreach workers with GMAD.”

Saunders said that to his understanding, after attending gatherings at his home, that he loved cats, was a smoker, but didn’t do drugs. Jefferson, Saunders said, worked and assisted with party promotions for close to 10 years, and was the type of person who always wanted to know what was happening.

“If anyone wanted him to do anything for them, he was always present and willing to help,” said Saunders.

Reports state that his family were not supportive of him, with his mother’s death about four years ago, his relationship with his father was reduced to receiving monetary handouts when needed. At one point in his life he was  homeless. Apparently, one of Jefferson’s friends also committed suicide a few years ago, and he had never quite fully recovered from the trauma.

Jefferson’s Facebook page mentioned that he was in a relationship, but despite the concerns from close friends, the person he was involved with moved in with him. The other person who was in the relationship with Jefferson was the one who discovered him hanging from within the doorway of the bathroom in the Bedford Stuyvesant apartment they shared, his body  still warm when he was cut down, sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Since his death, this other person has become invisible.

Rod McCullum in Rod 2.0 mentions a comment from a friend who wanted to remain anonymous, “Joseph was truly a sweetheart. [He was] E[e]xtremely bright and impassioned about social justice causes… It’s such a loss,” adding that Jefferson seemed in good spirits and “showed no indications of being unusually depressed.”

On his Facebook page, Jefferson said that a person with “a poor self-concept can have all kinds of negative affects on a persons life [,as] T.S Eliot once said ‘Half of the harm that is done in the world is due to people who want to feel important…they do not mean to do harm[;] they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves’. Belonging is one of the basic human needs, when people feel isolated and excluded from a sense of communion with others, they suffer. I have been an advocate for my peers and most importantly youth because most have never had a deep emotional attachment to anyone. They don’t know how to love and be loved in return. The need to be loved can sometimes translate to the need to belong to someone or something. Driven by that need…Most will do anything to belong.”

There are questions: did the relationship end or were there problems in it? Was he upset about it and did not, after investing so much of himself and feeling a sense of acceptance and belonging, feel motivated or have the energy to move on and live, even to working to build another? What ever it was that caused him to take his own life, a life with so much promise and a future, would never be known.

Many in the Black gay community walk a razor edge, living their lives a daily balancing act between feeling accepted and belonging, and disappointment, betrayal or ridicule for who they are. As in the anonymous comment, many who are depressed, who have been living for years with the pain, have learned coping mechanisms and masking techniques. Often many around a person do not know that he or she is depressed, until when the pain has become too much to bear and they engage in some precipitous action. It seems that Jefferson’s behavior and attitude in life hid what was really happening in his mind from those closest to him. He chose, as many do, to struggle, and strove through working in the community, to exorcise those demons in his own mind.

Joseph and Mom, from his Facebook page

Earlier photos of Jefferson, also on his Facebook page, show that as a young man he was chubby, and begs the question about whether he was he bullied, harassed, and called names because he didn’t fit into the stereotypical image of how a gay man should look, and had survived those abuses only to succumb later on. What was raging in his head that caused him to feel as though he had no other choice than to want to remove himself from the land of the living?

James Baldwin, in his novel, “Another Country” takes his readers into the mind of Rufus and through his eyes shows the swirling conflicts raging in his head, while at the same time the decision to end it all solidifies as he makes his last journey uptown to that moment:

“The train rushed into the blackness with a phallic abandon, into the blackness, which opened their coupling…Suddenly he knew that he was never going home any more…

He felt their stares but he felt far away from them. You took the best. So why not take the rest? He got off at the station named for the bridge built to honor the father of his country…

Then he stood on the bridge, looking over, looking down…He began to walk slowly to the center of  the bridge, observing that, from this height, the city which had been so dark as he walked through it seemed to be on fire.

He stood at the center of the bridge and it was freezing cold. He raised his eyes to heaven. He thought, You bastard, you motherfucking bastard. Ain’t I your baby, too? He began to cry. Something in Rufus, which could not break, shook him like a rag doll, splashed salt water all over his face, and filled his throat and his nostrils with anguish. He knew the pain would never stop. He could never go down into the city again. He dropped his head as though someone had struck him and looked down at the water. It was cold and the water would be cold.

He was black and the water was black,

He lifted himself by his hands on the rail, lifted himself as high as he could, and leaned far out. The wind tore at him, at his head and shoulders, while something in him screamed, Why? Why? He thought of Eric. His straining arms threatened to break. I can’t make it this way. He thought of Ida. He whispered, I’m sorry, Leona, and then the wind took him, he felt himself going over, head down, the wind, the stars, the lights, the water, all rolled together, all right. He felt a shoe fly off behind him, there was nothing around him, only the wind, all right, you motherfucking Godalmighty bastard, I’m coming to you.”