Human Rights Watch wants St. Vcent to repeal gay sex ban | Miami Herald

Contents:

• JAMAI'S ANTI-GAY PROTTERS ARE TRYG TO DUCK THE 'HOMOPHOBIC' LABEL
• A FORMERLY ANTI-GAY REGGAE STAR RETURNS TO JAMAI. THIS LBIAN POET LLS ‘PLITED.’
• ANTI-GAY VLENCE FI LAID-BACK IMAGE OF JAMAI
• VLENT PREJUDICE AGAST JAMAI'S GAY PEOPLE MT STOP
• JAMAI – GAY ACTIVISTS CLAIM HORRIFIC VLENCE, URGE REPEAL OF ANTI-GAY LAWS
• ACTIVISTS NMN VLENCE AGAST LGBTQ MUNY ST. VCENT, WHERE GAY SEX IS ILLEGAL
• GAY SEX IS STILL ILLEGAL THIS CARIBBEAN ISLAND; HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WANTS BAN REPEALED
• HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
• GRAMMY AWARD GIVEN TO JAMAIN SGER OF ANTI-GAY ‘MURR MIC’
• "NO TO HOMO AGENDA": HOW EVANGELILS SPREAD ANTI-GAY HATE TO JAMAI
• JAVED JAGHAI, GAY JAMAIN MAN, SET TO CHALLENGE COUNTRY'S ANTI-SODOMY LAWS
• JAMAIN DANCEHALL STAR SIZZLA BANNED FROM MIC FTIVAL FOR ANTI-GAY LYRICS
• UNRSTANDG AND RCG SEXUAL PREJUDICE JAMAI: THEORETIL AND PRACTIL INSIGHTS FROM A SEVERELY ANTI-GAY SOCIETY

JAMAI'S ANTI-GAY PROTTERS ARE TRYG TO DUCK THE 'HOMOPHOBIC' LABEL

” At a recent rally agast a possible repeal of a lonial-era "buggery law" — which crimaliz sodomy — "Speakg tth is not homophobia" was a popular Kei Miller, who has taken on the media's skewed narrative of the gay rights bate before, examed the trend:This claratn by negatn is gettg que popular across the island.

’The post lv to the etymology of the word “homophobia” and argu that exists on a spectm, wh some rpons beg more extreme than others:Homophobia is therefore not a phobia the medil sense of the word. If “you are disgted by the act of homosexualy and you wish to impose or reta laws that lim the exprsn of that sexualy, then you probably are homophobic, ” Miller wr.

A FORMERLY ANTI-GAY REGGAE STAR RETURNS TO JAMAI. THIS LBIAN POET LLS ‘PLITED.’

The bate first epted early May, when Jamain profsor Brendan Ba, who was then then head of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regnal Trag Network (CHART), gave expert ttimony the Belizean se of Caleb Oroz, a gay man who sued the untry's attorney general over the unnstutnaly of crimalizg homosexual ttified that “the relative risk of ntractg HIV is signifintly higher among men who have sex wh other men Belize than the general populatn. In his post, Miller acknowledg that certa stris have been ma batg the untry's homophobia, but much remas to be done:It is a good thg that we are now willg to step away om the more extreme exprsns of homophobia.

ANTI-GAY VLENCE FI LAID-BACK IMAGE OF JAMAI

Further south, Tridad and Tobago, activist Brendon O'Brien ntends that the Caribbean general is beg targeted by anti-gay Christian groups bee the appete for homophobia is wang the US:The language of discrimatn and ostracism that is prent anti-gay mistry is beg rejected more and more as now half of the stat the US are actg agast LGBT discrimatn and even providg marriage equaly. But, if you’re palist, you know that means that you need to fd new that means a whole new scramble for the Caribbean and Ai as plac to keep beatg the ad homophobia horse.

” But Banton still n’t shake off his homophobic reputatn, which mak his story plex for many Jamains, cludg Staceyanne Ch, an LGBTQ activist and poet om Jamai, who now liv the US. It was a Jamain woman who was servg me IKEA, and she said wh such jubilatn that he's g home and the same breath she said — wh such vrl — that the reason that he was imprisoned the first place was the hatred of the gay muny and ternatnal, almost anized way which they systematilly went after him and took him down.

VLENT PREJUDICE AGAST JAMAI'S GAY PEOPLE MT STOP

But there are still people on the ground Jamai who feel the only reason that he was behd those bars was that he was beg targeted by the gay muny, by the very powerful gay muny, as we are often scribed as by the reggae muny.

JAMAI – GAY ACTIVISTS CLAIM HORRIFIC VLENCE, URGE REPEAL OF ANTI-GAY LAWS

I me out as a lbian on the universy mp Jamai and was vlently asslted by a large number of boys who wanted to — their tentn mt have been to eher punish me for beg gay or to nvert me to beg straight. Later, I beme aware of the fact that I wanted to partner wh women, and beme plited for me bee the song was actually sayg "kill gay people, kill gay men, shoot them the head, " which is no way permissible when you are a person who is gay bee you're actually advotg for the ath of your own kd, your own person. "One time may be an isolated cint, " said Rebec Schleifer, a rearcher for Human Rights Watch who has studied the issue and regularly gets lls om the island om gays unr attack.

But crics say islanrs are selective the vers they ce, and the rage at gay sex ntrasts sharply wh Jamains' embrace of sual sex among heterosexuals, which is nsired part of the Caribbean some other Caribbean tourist statns have ma a pot of marketg to gay travelers, Jamai has not joed the double standard on the island is reflected the anti-gay lyrics of Jamain dance hall mic, the headl of some hyperventilatg tabloids - "homo" is the term most often ed - and the fact that homosexualy remas illegal here, wh the specific crime lled "buggery.

The mob, outraged that effemate mourners wearg tight pants and shirts had dared to show up, threw bottl and rocks through the wdows, then barged si and orred that the service be pastor, who had not known the ad man was gay, prsed on, fur at the protters for what he nsired a filg of his church. No one was prosecuted the untry's public fenr, Earl Wter, later nmned the vlence at the funeral, but he also rerced the mon view that if only gays would be ls flamboyant, there would be ls vlence agast them.

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

Speakg to the Manville Rotary Club last April, he urged Jamai's gays to avoid flntg their sexual is, Jamai's gays socialize at unrground nightclubs and worship at secret church servic that move around the island. The leadg gay rights anizatn, Jamai Fom for Lbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, mt lie low even as ph for societal manr of the Manville police statn, Inspector Cl Smh, while makg clear that his relig beliefs firmly oppose homosexualy, rejected the notn that the police ndone vlence agast gays. His head was also battered, though he ped a more vic beatg by nng through the mob wavg a kchen the attack, Andre said, he has been tryg to undo his homosexualy, followg a mon view here that is an acquired behavr that n be dropped if only one prays more and pays more attentn to the oppose sex.

GAY SEX IS STILL ILLEGAL THIS CARIBBEAN ISLAND; HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WANTS BAN REPEALED

Almost a year to the day that David Kato, the Ugandan human rights activist, was murred his home bee of his sexualy, I am flyg om Toronto to London to accept the gural the David Kato Voice and Visn Award, which regnis dividuals who uphold the human rights and digny of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) people around the world.

The latt victim was a 16-year-old youth chopped to ath his home by early morng vars bee of his "qutnable relatns" wh another prime mister Bce Goldg set a tone of impuny for those prepared to e vlence agast gay people Jamai: durg a BBC Hardtalk terview 2008 he said that he would not allow gay people to be a part of his bet. Ironilly, however, he failed to acknowledge or apologise for Bra's role imposg the anti-sodomy law on s former loni, while his emphasis on homosexualy is advertently discrimatory as ignor other egreg human rights vlatns beg perpetuated the tentns might have been well meang but they are also unterproductive: tryg to force people to change their attus and cultural beliefs n play to the hands of reprsive regim – by portrayg sexual rights as an imposn of "wtern lonialism".

As Hillary Clton said at the Uned Natns Human Rights Council Geneva: "Some have suggted that gay rights and human rights are separate and distct, but fact they are one and the same.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

However, the Jamain ernment uld make the missn petn rndant by simply repealg the anti-sodomy new Jamain prime mister, Portia Simpson-Miller, has dited that she would have no objectns to selectg a gay person for her bet.

GRAMMY AWARD GIVEN TO JAMAIN SGER OF ANTI-GAY ‘MURR MIC’

Vcent and the Grenad, where gay sex is still homelsns to ongog physil and verbal abe, the gay muny the small natn of some 100, 000 people says is unr nstant threat. ”Human Rights Watch terviewed more than 20 members of the island’s LGBTQ muny who shared their stori but were not intified to protect them, notg that lol police are often openly discrimatory toward gay people who seek help.

Many also stggle to fd jobs amid a high unemployment rate and said they face discrimatn, cludg a 19-year-old gay man who said he has rorted to beggg: “Sometim I am so hungry.

”González wh Human Rights Watch noted that 2019, the ernment held a workshop for public employe on the importance of rpectg gay rights, a rare move for a nservative Caribbean natn.

"NO TO HOMO AGENDA": HOW EVANGELILS SPREAD ANTI-GAY HATE TO JAMAI

Vcent and the Grenad is known for s volnic terra, spectacular ral reefs and yacht-filled the ty Eastern Caribbean untry loted the Lser Antill also has a dub reputatn when to the treatment of lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people: Its lonial-era gay sex ban. Vcent and the Grenad, the level of homophobia the untry and ntued effect of s archaic law on rights of LGBT dividuals warranted report’s release while there is currently a trial si St. Vcent and the Grenad should repeal the gay-sex provisns s crimal and pass prehensive civil anti-discrimatn legislatn that clus protectns based on sexual orientatn and genr inty.

“Every LGBT person terviewed said they wished to leave the untry and envisned their future abroad due, part, to the homophobic or transphobic vlence and discrimatn the untry, ” the report said. González said the crimalizatn of gay sex giv “tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams. Homosexualy ntu to be crimalized the former Brish lony after many hundreds of years, leavg LGBTQ dividuals wh ltle if any legal protectns while vlent crim were beg mted wh impuny, the report said.

JAVED JAGHAI, GAY JAMAIN MAN, SET TO CHALLENGE COUNTRY'S ANTI-SODOMY LAWS

Many of the terviewe said job hirgs and firgs were beg largely termed by sexual orientatn, while other gay people lucky to have jobs faced sexual harassment the workplace. "The crimalizatn of gay sex giv tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams, " said Cristian González Cabrera, gay rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch.

Six other Wtern natns -- cludg Domi, Grenada, Guyana, Jamai, and Sat Lucia -- ntue to crimalize gay sex, wh penalti as weighty as a prison for "gross cency wh another person of the same sex. Jamain dancehall star Buju Banton’s poisonoly anti-gay lyrics have ma him a target for worldwi boytts and protts by LGBT rights activists who say his songs enurage anti-gay vlence, pecially among fans on the heavily homophobic Caribbean island.

JAMAIN DANCEHALL STAR SIZZLA BANNED FROM MIC FTIVAL FOR ANTI-GAY LYRICS

In 2009, when he was nomated for the same award, gay-rights groups led by the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD) mounted fur protts and lled on the Rerdg Amy to e the telest of the awards ceremony to “nounce such mic. Ironilly, the Grammy awards ceremony me one day after a new report that 28 gay Jamains had been granted polil asylum the Uned Stat 2010 bee they were persecuted their native land. Gay rights activists say Jamai is plagued by “murr mic, ” as this genre of aggrsively anti-gay dancehall rhythms is lled, and pot out that openly advot anti-gay vlence.

Even the origal Jamain patois, the meang of his most notor anti-gay song, “Boom Bye Bye, ” is clear enough: “Boom bye bye/Inna batty bwoy head/Ru bwoy no promote no nasty man/Dem haffi ad.

UNRSTANDG AND RCG SEXUAL PREJUDICE JAMAI: THEORETIL AND PRACTIL INSIGHTS FROM A SEVERELY ANTI-GAY SOCIETY

In 2009, ls than a week after stg down wh a group of San Francis gay rights activists hopg to start a dialogue, Banton clared, “This is a fight, and as I said one of my songs, there is no end to the war between me and f-----[s]. Homophobia is notorly prevalent Jamai, wh 82 percent of Jamains seeg male homosexualy as “morally wrong” acrdg to a 2011 survey by the Universy of the Wt Indi Kgston.

Later, the issue was highlighted by several high profile bias crim, cludg the stabbgs of a gay man Montego Bay and a genr non-nformg 17-year-old St Jam, both 2013.

… But you will not see the level of hostily towards gays as you’ll see Jamai, bee those two untri— Tridad, they have the Hdu, Mlim, Indian, Black, Che—there’s a much more multicultural mix, so there’s much more of an appreciatn for diversy.... ” It’s the same kd of rhetoric, which is beg driven by evangelil money, and they’ve ma the same kd of pronouncements sayg that, ‘We should play up the whole issue of the threat that gays pose to kids. Whether she’ll appot somebody to her bet that’s gay is neher here nor there my timatn, bee we know for a fact that there’ve been gay members of the bet before—’s an open secret.