BMDU: Dr. Ivan Garcia and social stigma

June 19th, 2012

It was clear from the meeting held on June 18th, 2012  at the Lion's Den by The Belize Medical and Dental Union that doctors were angry that their colleague was murdered so deliberately. A call was made at the Lion's Den, to raise funds so that his body could be return to Guatemala a go slow would happen; agreement was reached that there would be a Peace Walk moving from the Lion's Den to the intersecting round about at the Northern Highway and then returned back. As part of the process a committee was formed and agrements was reached to make the peace walk happen. My sign below said it all.




I was approached by Jules Vasquez of Channel 7 today and told that I was a "controversial figure." I even smirkly replied to them that "I don't call talk shows, but appear on them." Trying to tie in our documentation of acts of violence and crime I said to Jules  " We have documented from 1997 through newspaper articles 17 murders and 8 assualts that we know off. Marion Ali who tried to point out that the majority of the murders were crimes of passion, but my response was, the majority, I would not say so, but I can accept a few are."What The United Belize Advocacy Movement is most proud of was writting letter to request permission from the Police Department to do the peace walk and signing the bond to make the walk happen My sign representing the community says it all" Violence is Hateful!" 



What was good about the walk was that medical persons did not see a a gay man, but a colleague who contributed very effectively to the needs of the Accident and Emergency Section of the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital. It will be interesting to see whether the interview done with channel 7, and others have the effect of increasing visibility of homophobia among medical providers or highlight their solidarity that crime and violence are issues that impact dignity and rights and that impact, requires a response no matter the sexual oreintation of the person. This really is the true test of the unions ability to understand the broader concern of crime and violence on the society an on human beings who are Belizean's. It would be ashame to see these noble thoughts be eroded by homophobia.

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