So as we continue to trod the sometimes difficult roads of living in Jamaica as same gender loving folks more openly now comes this not unusual case where a same gender loving couple in a gated apartment complex found themselves the brunt of taunts which turned to physical threats in an upscale neighborhood leading to their hasty departure for their own safety. Normally more comfortable members of the community would have been spared the innuendos and threats normally meted out to lgbt people from the lower socio economic strata of society and given our classist/elitist nature in Jamaica generally and the insulation of sorts created by just where one lives it was surprising to hear this episode as reported by one of the victims involved.
She wanted to let persons know that she experienced lesbophobia first hand and that it does not matter where one lives the hate will follow if it wants to, a fact that some activists and influentials have been pointing out but some persons are of a different opinion and so there is a kind of complacency in certain upper middle income lgbt groups. The women who recently rented the flat in upper St. Andrew and are working professionals were pleased they had a home to quietly live away from the hustle and bustle of noisy streets, prying eyes and some privacy in a secured gated setting with a security detail at a button's pressing to summon them. Both had also gone through some rejection from their own families as they made known their decision to cohabit and have a long term relationship, this did not sit well with members of their families but they persisted non the less, now this.
Their new neighbours, mostly males with occasional female visitors who moved in some two months after the ladies settled in their comfi flat however had a different idea of living in an apartment complex, the SGL female couple began to notice the previously absent prying eyes phenomenon, the very thing they were trying to escape, whispers as they alight from their car in the evenings after coming in from work or at early mornings if the ladies had a night on the town. The series of peepings as it were and whispers persisted for some time and even other neighbours began to warn the ladies to be careful after what was alleged to be a spirited conversation by the prying men with their women one late evening after the girls left for a private function. Concerns were expressed to the strata management of the property by the ladies by phone who promised that they would look into the issue, this they did by calling in the main male tenant of the apartment, he was warned of overcrowding his flat with other persons who were not named as cohabitants upon signing the rent agreement where he was warned he was in breach. The engagement by the strata manager with the annoying male tenant about his harboring persons and annoying other neighbours seemed to be the reason for himself and his cronies to turn up the heat on the same gender loving females accusing them of being informants or informers in colourful Jamaican parlance where the ladies saw verbal attacks and the man and his friends almost staking out the ladies as they arrive or depart the complex. He complaine bitterly that the ladies should not have said anything about his visitors etc.
But it was a faithful Sunday morning in April as the ladies arrived home from a weekend out when they were approached threateningly by associates of the man who accused them of being lesbians and the usual ugly anti gay descriptions and threatened the more aggressive of the two ladies accusing her additionally of taking away women from men. The commotion awoke other residents who tried to intervene and demanded the non resident friends of the annoying man to leave the property, the security detail was eventually summoned and the police was also called by a concerned resident. Both units arrived and the non residents numbering five were escorted off the property in a car, the shaken women were thankfully consoled by the other residents while a heated argument persisted with members of the security detail and the prying male resident who hurled expletives at them and at the women continuing to name them as informants and lesbians. He also accused the detail as supporting slackness and that maybe they are gay too, he continued that this was not America and no sodomy will be tolerated.
Things cooled eventually but the women wasted no time in seeking a new flat and moved two days after the incident occurred and a tense calm that followed. I have since learnt that the man has been given notice to quit as a petition letter was sent by the other residents who complained to the strata manger of his disturbance and the disappointment of losing the quiet ladies due to him and his friends behaviour.
Good to see some tolerance coming from the other neigbours and who took action to have the man removed, also I am happy the ladies managed to remove themselves from that situation as quickly as they could, sadly we do have issues like this happening although we often do not have them publicized to show that not only homeless or persons from supposed downtown who are beaten or abused.
Thanks to the ladies for sharing this and bringing some reality to our situation here.
Be vigilant, be safe.
Peace and tolerance
H
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