BY HG HELPS Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com Sunday, April 19, 2015
IT was not a scheduled item on the agenda for discussion when United States President Barack Obama met with Jamaica's Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and seven of her Cabinet ministers on Thursday, April 9 at Jamaica House, but the matter was destined to come up.
In fact, Obama placed the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Jamaica as one of the first topics to be discussed, following opening statements by the Jamaica team and their United States counterparts, an impeccable political source informed the Jamaica Observer.
"The two original items that Obama and his team had down for discussion were the Jamaican economy, with particular reference to Jamaica's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF); and energy, bearing in mind the situation with the PetroCaribe oil deal with Venezuela," the source disclosed to the Sunday Observer.
"Jamaica had listed the wiping of the criminal record of (National Hero) Marcus Garvey and a plan that involved the training of nurses and sending them to work in the United States, as its two main points for the talks," the official went on.
Simpson Miller's Cabinet ministers present were: Robert Pickersgill, Dr Peter Phillips, Phillip Paulwell, Derrick Kellier, Anthony Hylton, Ronald Thwaites and AJ Nicholson.
Obama politely conveyed his Administration's "dismay" that Jamaica had not moved fast enough in ensuring that the rights of the LGBT community were being respected and even protected. more
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