The other day I got a message from one of the young men who used to live in the gully in New Kingston. He thanked me for my help last year and told me he is now living in Denmark. He fled Jamaica because it was simply not safe for him, as a gay man. He had been attacked numerous times and could not access the services that most people take for granted. And I have just learned that another young man, transgender, is leaving in several weeks for another European country, for the same reasons. His apartment was vandalized and he has been attacked several times as well. It is a loss, not just for the nation, but for humanity in general, that our fears create such a hostile climate for our fellow human beings.
Check out this BBC documentary on two transgender people who came back to Jamaica to meet their friends and families with their correct identities.
Jamaican Journal 
Reblogged this on FRAGMENTS and commented:
Thank you, Kate Chappell, for posting this. I salute the bravery of these young men.
I have never witnessed such bravery as amongst this population.
By coincidence, I watched this just last night. I was blown away by the bravery of these young boys, and especially so by Romario’s conversation with his father, who had always wanted a son, actually had a son, but not just in the expected physically body.