Rev. Aaron Dumas, an antigay pastor and advice columnist for The Jamaica Star, tells a lesbian that U.S. ex-gay political activists can cure her “lifestyle.” He advises her to seek out a “Christian counsellor” — certainly not one of those mainstream mental-health professionals who “would encourage you to continue to practise homosexuality.”
Jamaica is a nation where antigay vigilantism is culturally accepted; authorities leave violence unpunished; and no GLBT organization can meet in public, hold events, or advocate publicly for justice and equality. In Jamaica, it takes courage to simply say “no” to violence.
Columnist Diane Abbott of The Jamaica Observer on Sunday wrote a column citing numerous recent reports of antigay murder and vigilantism. She warned that public denial of the severity of such violence harms Jamaica’s reputation.
Because attitudes to homosexuality in Jamaica are so hostile, it is not sufficiently understood how damaging its stand on the issue is outside the country.
A U.S.-based, pro-equality boycott against Jamaica was put on hold earlier this year when J-FLAG, Jamaica’s GLBT organization-in-hiding, withheld its support.
Nevertheless, Abbott says Jamaicans should learn from the boycott and from numerous reports of antigay violence:
The boycott has so far been unsuccessful. But a country dependent on tourism cannot afford to ignore the fact that attitudes to homosexuality in other countries have moved on. There are probably as many people in Britain who are privately judgemental about homosexuals and lesbians as there are in Jamaica. But the British take the view that what people do in the bedroom is their affair. So gay marriage is legal and leading politicians in both the government and opposition parties have publicly acknowledged their sexual orientation and married their partners. It is difficult to imagine such a state of affairs coming about in Jamaica any time soon.
But Jamaica could do more to stress that despite the blood-curdling lyrics of much of its popular music, it is a more tolerant society than people think. And violence against gay people should be universally condemned.
The latest anti-gay terrorism in Iraq — is gluing shut the anuses of homosexuals, while forcing the victims to ingest a form of Ex-Lax. The special glue can only be removed by surgery — thus often leading to a painful death.
It is always a challenge to know if such information is accurate. But, confirming (I have) the latest form of torture is beside the point, really. What we do know is that the news from overseas is rarely encouraging.
For example, in March “tens of thousands” of people from Burundi demonstrated to outlaw homosexuality. This destitute nation is the kind of place that you may have seen in late night infomercials where flies buzz around the lips of starving children. Eighty percent of Burundi’s population lives in poverty. Famines and food shortages have occurred and the World Food Program reports that 56.8-percent of children under age five suffer from chronic malnutrition. Yet, the good citizens of Burundi have time to chant and hold signs demanding the imprisonment of homosexuals.
Back to Iraq — our tax dollars are now overseeing the wanton murder of gay Iraqis. The New York Times reported this month that “the bodies of 25 boys and men suspected of being gay have turned up in the huge Shiite enclave of Sadr City…”
In Nigeria, lawmakers are debating a bill that would imprison gay people who live together and jail anyone who doesn’t rat out the gay couples. In July 2008, London’s Independent wrote a story about a 26-year-old gay man in Turkey, Ahmet Yildiz, saying that his own family may have killed him. “They wanted him to see a doctor who could cure him, and get married,” a friend explained.
Box Turtle Bulletin reported that a Ugandan newspaper this week published an article under the banner headline, “Top Homos In Uganda Named.” This outrage — that jeopardizes the lives of gay people – follows a recent anti-gay conference in Uganda featuring a board member from the American “ex-gay” organization Exodus International.
In Moscow, mayor Yuri Luzhkov has rejected calls for a gay pride march to be held during an upcoming European music festival. He has called pride parades, “gay propaganda” and “satanic acts”, according to the New York Times.
What we are seeing in front of our eyes is the globalization of gay bashing. The United States has exported marketing techniques and church structures to culturally homophobic countries. The sexual minorities caught in these nations’ do not have the same freedoms that we enjoy in the west, so they can’t fight back. They are essentially voiceless and fearful — allowing insidious myths and stereotypes to go unchallenged. With gay people effectively demonized and hatred promoted by civic and religious leaders, hysteria on gay issues ensues. (Read More)
Some Jamaicans have spoken out in favor of efforts to boycott Jamaican goods or music until leaders take serious action to reduce antigay vigilantism.
Perhaps most prominent among music-boycott supporters in 2008 was Gareth Henry, who was the co-chair of Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, Allsexuals, and Gays until he was forced to flee the country for Canada last year. J-FLAG publicly expressed disagreement with the 2008 music boycott, but according to Xtra.ca, Henry said that JFLAG could not be seen to publicly support a boycott.
“They can’t be the ones to call for the boycott,” he says. “They can’t be that voice. But the gays, lesbians and queers on the ground are supportive of a boycott.”
Henry says he’s tried talking to the government.
“We have tried numerous approaches, numerous dialogues with government officials,” he says. “They have been non-responsive to the call. We have to hit people where it’s going to hurt, where they’ll feel it. In the Jamaican context talk is cheap. After 10 years of JFLAG’s existence what else can we do?”
[Addendum:Henry opposes the 2009 boycott of goods and tourism that is advocated by BoycottJamaica.org.]
Stop Murder Music Canada (SMMC) advocated a boycott last year of Jamaican musicians whose songs contain violently homophobic lyrics .
Xtra.ca reported that Canada’s reggae community was split on the issue.
Christian Lacoste, an openly gay Montreal reggae fan who runs the website Murder Inna Dancehall, supported both the music boycott and an official immigration ban on visits by homophobic dancehall artists. But Cezar Brumeanu, who runs the Montreal International Reggae Festival and that city’s House of Reggae nightclub, opposed a boycott.
This year, Jamaican blogger Dave, supports BoycottJamaica.org, a newer boycott of Jamaican goods and tourism. Dave — who is forced to remain anonymous to protect his safety — says:
This could potentially devastate my country during this global recession but this is basically the only thing I can do to improve my living conditions without putting myself in physical danger. Jamaica sucks when it comes to addressing LGBT issues and I am tired of living under these stupid conditions. Obviously, LGBT issues require much more attention Worldwide, even in the US, but Jamaica just refuses to even give us any basic rights. And they NEVER speak out against violence against gays. I don’t F-ing care how long it takes, just Boycott our asses and pass the word along.
The goals of BoycottJamaica.org are modest: There is no requirement that Jamaica affirm same-sex orientation or legalize same-sex intimacy. Instead, BoycottJamaica calls for Jamaican officials to publicly commit to ending antigay violence, and for the Prime Minister to clearly and unequivocally condemn antigay violence and express regret for past violence.
But they refuse. Until Jamaican leaders declare a halt to antigay vigilantism, boycotts appear to be the only way for North American LGBT people and their allies to tell Jamaica that they will no longer subsidize Jamaicans’ war against their gay neighbors and against basic human decency in exported music.
National Jamaican Boycott Campaign Kicks-Off in New York City With ‘Rum Dump’ at Birthplace of Gay Rights Movement
Stonewall Inn Owners Dump Stock of Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer in Sewer; Urge Other Bars To Follow Lead
Gay advocates launched a national boycott of Jamaica in New York City at the famed Stonewall Bar – birthplace of the gay rights movement. The bar’s owners and boycott supporters dumped Jamaican liquor – Red Stripe beer and Myers’ Rum – down the sewer.
Human rights activists have given Jamaica the infamous title: “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth.” Gay people have regularly been beaten and murdered on the island, while authorities do little to stop the violence.
“We, as the owners of the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the Gay rights movement, refuse to support, in any way, shape or form, the oppression of any people especially our gay brothers and sisters in Jamaica,” the Stonewall Inn said in its statement. “We ask all people of all walks of life to send a clear message to the Jamaican people and their government, that as long as they continue to allow and condone violence and hatred toward the Gay community, we will neither buy their products nor support their tourist trade. To do so is to tacitly support the current climate of oppression.”
“If you love your gay friends and family members, you won’t visit Jamaica,” said boycott co-organizer Wayne Besen. “If you care about the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, you won’t buy Jamaican products. We hope that all gay and gay friendly bar owners and restaurateurs across the nation will participate in ‘rum dumps.’ We can no longer subsidize our own slaughter.
GLBT activists Michael Petrelis, Wayne Besen and Jim Burroway launched this boycott after a State Department report highlighted the violence faced by GLBT people. According to the report:
The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG) continued to report human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents.
The West Coast portion of the boycott took place earlier this month with a rum dump in San Francisco that featured Petrelis and city Supervisor Bevan Dufty.
I strongly urge all people interested in stopping the anti-gay violence in Jamaica to see Taboo Yardies, a film-short on the issue. It will be shown at 6 p.m. April 24 at the General Theological Seminary, 440 W. 21st Street, in New York.
I saw a preview of the movie and I highly recommend it. Filmmaker Selena Blake (pictured left) offers an in-depth, multi-layered snapshot of the problem. She is a heterosexual Jamaican woman who explores the roots of the homophobia and what it means for Jamaican society.
I have long been outspoken on the abuses of GLBT people in Jamaica and the need for action. I can’t imagine why any American, European or Canadian who cares about human rights would spend a dime visiting this island bubbling over with hate. Last week, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, firmly stated how he approved of the persecution of gay people. He stated that gay rights groups are “perhaps the most organized lobby in the world” and he vowed to fight to keep the nation’s sodomy law on the books.
“We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organizations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or groups of countries, to liberalize the laws as it relates to buggery,” said Golding.
Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin wrote an excellent piece describing the abuses in Jamaica.
Personally, I’ve had enough of the prejudice and persecution. Golding’s comments are one step too far. It boils my blood when our straight friends (and uninformed GLBT people) continue to travel and spend money in Jamaica. There are thousands of people, if they knew the truth, who would not visit a place more accurately described as “Ja-Murder.”
Today, Truth Wins Out purchased www.BoycottJamaica.org. We are not yet sure if we want to launch a full-fledged boycott. But, it is nice to know we have this site in our back pocket and can take action against this nation that seems to have a unique and disturbing – if not psychotic – antipathy towards GLBT people. (Read More)
Why do hip-hop artists – often the victims of bigotry themselves – incite this hatred? For 10 years, Terrence Dean was at the heart of the hip-hop scene as a producer at MTV and Warner Brothers. His life is as ghetto as any of the big name artists. His mother was a heroin-addicted, Aids-infected prostitute whose “clients” held Terrence hostage at gunpoint. His drunken grandmother raised him in the slums of Detroit, and he eventually ended up in prison. When he was released, he headed for Hollywood – and he was amazed to stumble into a gay underworld stocked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
I recently interviewed Dean for the gay magazine Attitude. He told me about a man – I don’t believe in outing, so I won’t give his name – who “has been named in the past as one of the biggest rappers of all time by MTV. He’s always trashing gay men in his lyrics. But he is surrounded by a posse of transvestites,” who he has sex with. Dean then runs through a list of hip-hop gays, each more famous and closeted than the last.
He explains: “When the rappers rap about the hatred they have of homosexuals, I know it’s because many of them are struggling with their own sexuality. They hate what they are and in turn they spew their hatred toward men who are reflections of themselves.”
Jamaica prime minister Bruce Golding reiterated this week that he believes all Jamaicans should enjoy a right to privacy and equality — except same-sex-attracted Jamaicans.
Antigay Caribbean nations, some of which criminalize homosexuality and permit mobs to assault and kill gay people, enjoy the ongoing support of the ex-gay Exodus Global Alliance.
From Ecuador and its ex-gay torture and incarceration centers to Gambia and its plan to behead all gays, Exodus Global Alliance says nothing about the human rights of those who “struggle” with same-sex attraction. Instead, the Exodus alliance legitimizes its host countries’ violent methods by promoting undefined ex-gay conversion while offering no public guidelines — no restraints — upon the barbarity of powerful antigay church and government agencies.
Regan DuCasse: PFLAG never has these problems. Neither does the Girl Scouts of America.
You'd think someone would get a clue.
...
Merlyn: Yes, it is creepy Buffy. They always accuse us of recruiting...project much? 'Cause from where I sit, it sure looks...
Fernando L.: I used to be in one of those religious groups who "street preaches" and "evangelizes" in downtown Modesto, CA on...
Rey Guerrero: "...But unfortunately, you fast forward 2,000 years and rednecks who can’t tell the difference between “your” and “you’re” feel comfortable...
Buffy: It's really creepy how much effort they put into recruiting children....
Jamaica is a nation where antigay vigilantism is culturally accepted; authorities leave violence unpunished; and no GLBT organization can meet in public, hold events, or advocate publicly for justice and equality. In Jamaica, it takes courage to simply say “no” to violence.
The latest anti-gay terrorism in Iraq — is gluing shut the anuses of homosexuals, while forcing the victims to ingest a form of Ex-Lax. The special glue can only be removed by surgery — thus often leading to a painful death.
I strongly urge all people interested in stopping the anti-gay violence in Jamaica to see 
