![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldBack in August, I picked up on the growing international campaign against Jamaican popular musicians whose songs regularly feature and approve of violent homophobia, and the way that this homophobia is evident in Jamaica (Buju Banton, a singer singled out for criticism, was also involved in a home invasion of a gay household in Kingston). In November, the organization Human Rights Watch released a report (Hated to Death) which described in sickening detail the ubiquity of homophobic crime in Jamaica as well as the prejudice against AIDS patients, and warned these two prejudices interact in such a way as to accelerate the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Jamaicans haven't gotten the message and aren't likely to, as Alexis Petridis suggests in The Guardian in his article "Pride and Prejudice".
Petridis goes on to document how the Jamaicans he met shared Howard's opinions in broad detail, believing their country to be exceptionally tolerant towards sexual minorities save when they made absurd intrusion, claiming despite the evidence that homophobic violence was rare and was actually the result of gay passion killings, arguing that the current international campaign was motivated by racism, and so on. The article left this reader with the distinct impression that if one had the misfortune to be born non-heterosexual in Jamaica, the best course of action would be to buy a plane ticket and claim refugee status in some place where you weren't so likely as to be murdered. And, perhaps, if you care about human rights, that attending a Jamaican resort isn't such a good idea. Cuba or the Dominican, anyone?
You know, I'd like to think that I've an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A pity that others would disagree with me.
Jamaicans haven't gotten the message and aren't likely to, as Alexis Petridis suggests in The Guardian in his article "Pride and Prejudice".
The reasoning behind the homophobic lyrics is unlikely to find much favour with OutRage! [Music promoter Dennis] Howard says that he has advised artists to "censor" themselves because Jamaica has always been tolerant of homosexuality and the dancehall DJs lyrics give a false impression. "Yes, there is homophobia here, but coupled with that homophobia is a tolerance. We are one of the most tolerant societies in the world. In every community, there are identified homosexuals that are tolerated. There is an anti-gay stance in Jamaica, but it has never been seriously violent. I'm not going to tell you it hasn't been violent, but not so as people die.
"I think a lot of this hysteria and paranoia is being fed by organisations like J-Flag, in their zeal to assert themselves and assert homosexuality in Jamaica, and also the fear that they are persecuted, which they are. But nobody don't kill them. Homosexual deaths in this country are perpetuated by homosexuals. There are famous cases in this country where people are murdered by their lovers. They are heinous and vicious, they cut up people, stab them up, cut them up and throw them all over the place, but nobody talks about that."
Petridis goes on to document how the Jamaicans he met shared Howard's opinions in broad detail, believing their country to be exceptionally tolerant towards sexual minorities save when they made absurd intrusion, claiming despite the evidence that homophobic violence was rare and was actually the result of gay passion killings, arguing that the current international campaign was motivated by racism, and so on. The article left this reader with the distinct impression that if one had the misfortune to be born non-heterosexual in Jamaica, the best course of action would be to buy a plane ticket and claim refugee status in some place where you weren't so likely as to be murdered. And, perhaps, if you care about human rights, that attending a Jamaican resort isn't such a good idea. Cuba or the Dominican, anyone?
You know, I'd like to think that I've an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A pity that others would disagree with me.
