With the headline in the Jamaica Observer on Sunday the 29th (see post below this) there seems to be another attempt the lead the public into thinking that the violence meted to gays in Jamaica is nothing more than gays themselves involved in lovers' spats that have gone bad.
The article has listed quotes from some prominent luminaries in Psychiatry and Counseling who have on the face of it backed the belief that is widely held by many in Jamaican society and echoed in the piece. Sadly many of the cases of gay violence be it gay on gay or otherwise involve prominent persons but have internal conflicts ending up in some ugly mess. That much is true however the vast majority of cases where persons are killed, evicted or forced to relocate from their homes, rape of lesbians and beatings go unnoticed by the mainstream media and are often sanctioned in a way by the silence thereof sliding them underground. If it weren't for blogs like this one and others who may know of such events or JFLAG to some extent, if and when they speak out on these issues then the public would be unaware but with the limited reach and readership of such outlets the issues still go unheard of thus fuelling the perceptions held ad expressed in the Observer article.
Do not get me wrong there are incidents of relationships of whatever sort go haywire namely transactional or situational sex negotiations that did not work out or just mere accusations of infidelity have led to awful outcomes but to simply say that no incidents of homophobic attacks and episodes have occurred is simply not true, frankly many quoted in the article simply want not to believe it so they can push their discriminatory lines of argument and justify their bigoted positions.
Just look at some of the incidents that have come to light recently not to mention those that have gone under the radar from folks like me who have our ears on the ground. One wonders when are we going to see the truth or is part of the problem class? as outlined before the cases that do get media attention are ones with prominent persons while the ordinary victims are overlooked as they have no stake being involved in this nasty lifestyle. There is alot that needs to be done with us a GLBT community and the general population by extension.
Tolerance please.
H
You know I had a guy from Jamaica hit me up on A4A and told me the same thing...I am like dude C'MON!
ReplyDeleteReading this (as an SGL individual of Jamacian descent) makes me extremely mad. However, I will refain from using strong language (lol).
ReplyDeleteThe people that claim gays are killed by fellow gays in Jamaica must be on crack! They are TELLING LIES because they don't give a damn about LGBT people. They want to feel justified in their homophobia, making it look as if LGBT people are so mentally disturbed that they are harming/killing one another.... For the sake of Steve Harvey, Stacyann Chin, Brian Williamson, Michael Hayden, Gareth Henry, Candice Williams, Phoebe Myrie & soooooooo many more Jamaican victims of gay-hate crimes committed by homophobes, it is important for the lies to be stopped because MOST (if not all) of the crimes committed against LGBT people in Jamaica are committed by homophobes.
Changing the subject, I must take this moment to thank the makers of this website/blog. You are courageous troopers. I pray that you will have continued success and that you will all be kept from harm amidst all of the hatred towards LGBT people.
From Ashley (London, England)
At the end of my previous comment, I thanked the "makers of the website/blog". Instead, I should have thanked ONE person, Mr. H. Therefore, thank you Mr. H for all that you are doing. How brave & wonderful you are.
ReplyDeleteBlessings from Ashley (London, England)