Michael Abrahams | Gay pri? What the hell is that? | Commentary | Jamai Gleaner

Contents:

• THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS
• LGBT JAMAINS HOLDG FIRST GAY PRI CELEBRATN ON ISLAND
• JAMAIN GAY BAR RAID
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• SPICE HEADLG 2022 TORONTO GAY PRI LGBTQ FTIVAL
• MICHAEL ABRAHAMS | GAY PRI? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?
• JAMAIN GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST CHALLENG LAW AGAST SEX BETWEEN MEN
• THERE ARE NO GAY PRI PARAS JAMAI

THE U.S. & JAMAI ARE FIGHTG OVER GAY RIGHTS

The Emancipennce holidays celebrate both the end of slavery 1838 and the untry’s break away om Brish lonial le 1962.But this year has seen a very different kd of symbolic even, one that for LGBT mpaigners the untry marks an equally important moment the future velopment of this young natn.It started not wh a proclamatn or a flag beg hoisted up and down a pole but wh a flash mob, an art day and a chance for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr Jamains to show thgs are changg for the better.PRIDE JA was the first public gay pri celebratn the English-speakg Caribbean, after a siar event had to be nceled due to secury ncerns the Bahamas last year. For those volved the week’s activi – anised by JFLAG, the Jamai Fom for Lbians, All-Sexuals and Gays – was a chance to be proud and visible.

When you go out public, if you exprs yourself a particular way or e certa mannerisms you have to be on your guard but this really felt like was ours.”Jamai has often been scribed as one of the most homophobic untri the world, a untry where hostily toward gays and lbians is voiced om the church pulp to the sound system.Sexual activy between mal is illegal and threats of physil vlence and discrimatn are all too mon.Last year JFLAG reported more than 80 homophobic cints cludg threats, physil attacks, sexual vlence and displacement, while the high-profile 2013 mob kilg of transgenr teen Dwayne Jon remas unsolved.Safety was a ncern for the anisers of PRIDE JA, said Latoya Nugent, JFLAG’s tn and outreach manager.“We had an awome and credible week of events,” she said. Others will see as a logil step forward for a natn that pris self as beg culturally more signifint than s physil size or s populatn of a ltle ls than 3 ln people.But the natnal preoccupatn wh what happens nsentg adults’ bedrooms is a hrance to the untry’s velopment and image.Print Obama’s vis to Jamai April was wily anticipated but he too faced protters upset that his vis might promote more tolerance toward the gay muny as s policians bid to improve s human rights rerd.Angele Jackson, whose LGBT advocy work was praised by US print Barack Obama a speech Kgston, said that much work remaed.“This allowed the LGBT muny and s alli to feel ee, to have a safe space for a week but we need more, we have to change society. It’s not only the law but ’s changg the hearts, the mds and attus of Jamains that’s gog to be difficult – we need to move people away om the mob mentaly,” she said.Prime Mister Portia Simpson Miller raised hop among gay rights activists the n-up to the 2011 electns, when she said she would not discrimate agast gay policians.

Her ments offered a marked ntrast to the prev lear, Bce Goldg, who vowed he would never allow a gay member his bet; but many activists now feel that Miller missed an opportuny for change. Nearly five years later, the lonial-era legislatn that outlaws homosexualy remas on the statut.

LGBT JAMAINS HOLDG FIRST GAY PRI CELEBRATN ON ISLAND

Rumors are swirlg that tensns between Jamai and the Uned Stat are risg after the former refed to grant accredatn to the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat – whose inty has not been ma public – sce same-sex marriage is not legal the Caribbean natn. Equalx reports that addn to same-sex marriage beg illegal, homosexualy among men remas outlawed Jamai and n be punished wh up to seven years prison.

Homosexualy among women is not explicly illegal, but sodomy between any two humans is punishable wh up to 10 years prison.

JAMAIN GAY BAR RAID

In 2006, Time Magaze named Jamai ​“the most homophobic place on Earth. ” As a genre, dancehall has produced many murroly homophobic lyrics.

ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL

For Nelson, there’s nothg herently homophobic about Jamain mic.

​“To say we are the most homophobic place is jt simply not te… ’s not the vlent mob g to chop somebody up like you might picture before. Perhaps the cle homophobia n be attributed to the rise of social media and a more globalised world that allows people on the island to see, and be aware of, other liftyl. The Stop Murr Mic Campaign – which prsur Jamain micians to absta om allegedly glorifyg homophobic vlence (and which J‑Flag -n) – targeted Banton alongsi several other artists.

Banton signed a ntract wh Stop Murr Mic Campaign 2007, agreeg to no longer make homophobic statements. Other dancehall artists have bee utly aware of how homophobic material might harm their prospects as an ternatnal tourg act. Hope has studied dancehall for over 20 years, and says the homophobia is rooted the island’s history of lonialism and slavery.

SPICE HEADLG 2022 TORONTO GAY PRI LGBTQ FTIVAL

Pledgg to vlently attack gays was jt one of the trends the ways Jamain artists asserted their masculy, which was then reflected their mic. Hope has whnsed homophobic lyrics dancehall soften over the past ten years.

MICHAEL ABRAHAMS | GAY PRI? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?

​“It’s gog to take a big dancehall or reggae artist g out as gay to change that and who knows when that will happen. In an terview wh the BBC 2008, then Prime Mister Bce Goldg said, ​“Homosexuals will fd no solace any bet formed by me.

JAMAIN GAY RIGHTS ACTIVIST CHALLENG LAW AGAST SEX BETWEEN MEN

” Ten years later, Jamai’s current prime mister Andrew Holns publicly weled gays to his bet.

THERE ARE NO GAY PRI PARAS JAMAI

Jamai has a long way to go the fight for gay rights but – as this year’s Pri celebratns proved – there are more moments of joy which to celebrate than ever. The rabow flag, monly the gay pri flag and LGBT pri flag, is a symbol of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) pri and LGBT social movements.