DigiActive.org

Tactic: Tweeting for Equality

Description: On Sunday, thousands of gays and lesbians gathered in Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March, which was billed as the largest event of its kind since 2000. While many in the gay community were divided over the reasoning for having such a march, this was also one of the first massive gay rights protests to use social media – tools that are being used by the new generation of LGBT activists. Sunday’s protest was the latest example of the generational shift in how to communicate for social change.

Digital Tools Being Used: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

What Are They Doing: Most of the organizing was done through Facebook, YouTube and other tools leading up to the march. Before and during the march, protesters could follow the march’s official Twitter feed for any logistics matters, such as getting information about purchasing subway round-trip tickets before the march to avoid long lines stations kiosks.

Throughout the day, Twitter was the main choice of communicating, as thousands of protesters either in Washington or following the events on television reflected on march highlights. Most used the hashtag #nem to follow the conversation.

loquaciousmoi “Rights for Gays
and Lesbians aren’t special rights in any way. It isn’t special to be free from
discrimination.” – Julian Bond #nem

700mtv Judy Shepard, “I”m here today
because I lost my son to hate . . . We’re all equal Americans. Gay, straight,
whatever.” #NEM

peterzimmerman Wow the speeches at #NEM are really inspiring. Gosh.
So exciting to see the outpouring of emotion at the march!

What Was The Impact: Jamal Jackson and Winston Brown moved to the United States from the Caribbean island of Jamaica to escape harassment from others about their relationship three years ago. The march was the first gay rights event they have attended as an openly gay couple. The both also used Twitter to follow what other folks were saying, as well as tweeting their own thoughts.

“I started using Twitter a year ago and I found using it to be very useful,” Jackson told DigiActive following the march. “I was able to tweet other protesters, find out where to meet my friends and navigate the city during the protest. I was able to find other people here from the West Indies, like Trinidad, Dominica and Haiti.”

For Winston Brown, tweeting had a more sentimental meaning.

“I am using Twitter because I still have closeted gay friends back home in Kingston, and they are reading my updates,” Brown said to DigiActive. “They will not feel alone anymore and might feel inspired.”

Campaign:JA gays fight to get into UN AIDS meeting

Description: World leaders and civil society activists are gathering this week at UN Headquarters for the 2008 High-Level Meeting on AIDS. The goal of the meeting is to reevaluate the amount of progress the international community has made in combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. However, some governments are being criticized for obstructing meaningful advocacy and implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention tactics. Specifically, the Jamaican government has been chastised in recent weeks for letting stigma fester on the island around HIV/AIDS and sexuality. The Jamaican government went as far as preventing its country’s leading gay rights group from even attending the New York meeting. Bloggers throughout the Caribbean are taking the country’s government to task.

Tools Being Used: Blogs

What Are They Doing: Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) was denied accreditation to the UN event last week after representatives of the Jamaican government complained about their presence only after the group was given clearance to attend the meeting months before.

“J-FLAG is extremely disappointed by this move,” said J-FLAG spokesperson Jason McFarlane. “The Jamaican government itself has acknowledged that homophobia is fuelling our HIV epidemic. Silencing J-FLAG – Jamaica’s only LGBT organization – undermines Jamaica’s efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.”

J-FLAG used their blog to update readers on their efforts to get into the UN meeting. The blog has also become an activist space to share pertinent information and advice with LGBT Jamaicans and their allies, such as on counseling and asylum referrals, as well as updates on violent, homophobic behavior on the island.

In recent days progressive bloggers throughout the Caribbean have also criticized the Ministry of Health’s decision to abruptly fire Annesha Taylor, an HIV-positive spokesperson for the MOH’s HIV/AIDS campaign, because she became pregnant and allegations that Jamaica feared a backlash from the US government for not using its PEPFAR funds to promote abstinence. Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding came under fire two weeks ago by other bloggers for his controversial appearance on BBC’s HardTalk, where he stated that gays had no place in his government.

While stigma around homosexuality and HIV/AIDS have been hard topics to discuss publicly in Jamaica for many years, social media is opening a new door to have honest and fair conversations and advocate on these issues.

Outcome: Tuesday afternoon a J-FLAG representative wrote a post on their blog, saying that after much lobbying with the UN civil society task force, J-FLAG was finally admitted to the UN AIDS meeting.

Tactic: Jamaicans blog for Prison Reform

view of the entrance area of Tower Street Adult Correctional Center in Jamaica

Description: Jamaica has one of the most controversial criminal justice systems in the world. There have been reports of overcrowded prisons throughout the Caribbean island. In recent months a Jamaican nonprofit has made strides to give prisoners training on how to use citizen media to document their grievances.

Tools Being Used: blogs, Flickr, podcast

What They Are Doing: The S.E.T Foundation, a grantee of Rising Voices, is a program that works with prisons to reduce recidivism, by helping prisoners become productive citizens after they are released. As part of the Prison Diaries project, prisoners will be trained on how to use the group blog, as well as edit their own audio and video clips. Prisoners are also using Flickr to post photos. The goal of the project is to give the world a reality check about Jamaica’s prison system.

Through blogging, inmates are able to tell their stories,” said SET Foundation leader Kevin Wallen. “They are able to paint a realistic picture of life behind bars and the consequences of crime. Currently, Jamaica’s music and media idolize the badman or shotta and portray as role models those who have been incarcerated. Many of our youths now think that prison is a cool place to be, until they themselves are faced with the harsh truth. The Diary of an Inmate blog will allow all Jamaicans to learn about the realities of Jamaica’s overcrowded prison system with the hope that this will counteract the false ideas implanted by the media.

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