Ten years for JFLAG

Kingston, Jamaica
December 10, 2008 marks ten years since the founding of the Jamaica Forum forLesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), Jamaica’s foremost lesbian, gay andtransgender rights advocacy group. The anniversary will be commemorated with achurch service on the weekend. As J-FLAG celebrates this milestone, it pauses to reflecton the challenges and successes that have shaped its journey thus far.
Started by a group of 12 business people, educators, lawyers, public relationspractitioners, advertisers and human rights activists, J-FLAG was launched in the weehours of December 10, 2008. The organisation was born out of the need to advocatefor the protection of lesbians, gays and transgenders from state-sanctioned andcommunity violence. In this regard, J-FLAG’s call was for the fair and equal treatment ofgays and lesbians under the law and by the ordinary citizen.
The organisation’s birth was condemned and decried by most as a foolhardy venturethat would result in a backlash against members of the country’s lesbian, gay, bisexualand transgender community. On the other hand, it was welcomed by a few as a boldattempt to recognise lesbians, gays and transgenders as members of plural Jamaicansociety.
After ten years of existence, J-FLAG can boast of having survived in one of the mostinhospitable environments for gays, lesbians and transgender people. Indeed, much ofJ-FLAG’s work has revolved around the rescuing of community members from violentsituations or attempting to deal with the aftermath of such situations. In fact, theviolent death of Brian Williamson, one of the co-founders of J-FLAG—and for years itsvoice and face—and the recent departure of Gareth Henry, a former programmesmanager of the organisation, testify to the dangerous environment in which theorganisation operates.
Yet J-FLAG has been able to do what was, ten years ago, unthinkable in Jamaica. It hasvisited and made presentations on sexuality and human rights to a variety of local andinternational organisations, including religious, civic and human rights groups as well astertiary educational institutions and the police. It has also met with and given interviewswith radio and newspaper reporters. But perhaps its most significant achievements havebeen the submission to parliament regarding the addition of sexual orientation as acategory for which there should be constitutional protection against discrimination andthe assistance, in 2006, to relaunch the Caribbean Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals andGays (C-FLAG).
Over the ten years of its existence, J-FLAG has stood as a singular voice in Jamaicacalling for the respect of lesbians, gays and transgenders as citizens with the samerights and value as heterosexual Jamaicans. For the next phase of its journey, theorganisation will continue calling Jamaicans to a deeper understanding of their pluralityand their democracy; it will continue seeking to raise the level of debate in the societyabout the meaning of tolerance and the acceptance of difference. Accordingly, J-FLAGwill attempt to forge new relationships with a wider cross-section of organisationscommitted to strengthening democracy and the promotion of respect for all Jamaicans,regardless of sexual orientation, gender, creed, religion or social status.-30-