There was a mini fracas of sorts last weekend with the nearby health centre staff and some of the men who reportedly used an old building behind the JASL offices to gain access to the rear of JASL. There have been other problems in the New Kingston area nearing the old Super Plus Store where they normally congregated at nights and the rental car agency situated nearby has hired a canine team as well who monitor the building'd periphery at nights. My last visit there the men were talking loudly as the guard looked on intently. There was another beating reportedly nearing the Cross Roads area as well some two weeks ago.
An incident to which I was alerted to by other allies and friends of an attempted beating downtown made its way to the Star News legal section where an excerpt read:
Homosexuals and buggery law
A group of young men who were described as homosexuals escaped a severe beating last month when some men began chasing them in downtown Kingston.
The young men had to run for their lives when their attackers told them to leave the area because they were encouraging schoolboys to be homosexuals. Women also joined in and began cursing the young men and described them as being very dangerous to the society.
One of the men commented that he overheard discussions on the radio that the British prime minister had threatened to cut off aid to countries that do not uphold human rights, including the oppression of gays and lesbians.
“I am not saying that people should abuse them, but my fear is that they have no right to indoctrinate the young schoolboys or lure them into sexual activities,” one of the men said.
He said he was aware that people had sexual preferences but warned that “homosexuals must keep their activities to themselves and be discreet about it”.
“Yes, they have no right to come out here looking young schoolboys to spoil them,” a woman said.
“I observe gay men forcing themselves on the schoolboys all the time and are even offering them money,” the woman added.
“I will beat them if I see them bringing arguments to schoolboys,” the man said.
“Although I am definitely against homosexuals, I am not going to break down a house and interfere with two consenting adults. Once they are in the privacy of their home, they should not be disturbed, but if I see them soliciting schoolboys on the street then they must be beaten,” the man said.
The recent announcement by the British prime minister has led to groups in Jamaica calling for the government to repeal the buggery law. Some Jamaicans are opposed to the abolition and have pointed out that even if the Government is minded to repeal it, there should be no accommodation for same-sex marriages or unions.
It is against the law for persons to attack or beat homosexuals and they can be arrested and charged. If homosexuals are caught breaking the law, then the matter should be reported to the police for them to investigate the matter and make arrests, if necessary.
The sad part however is that LGBT people who do not have any insulation and are stereotyped due to physical misconceptions about us are the first to suffer on the frontlines and our advocacy systems have very little interest to provide any support in that regard to preempt such attacks instead it’s always a knee jerk reaction and intervention after someone has been beaten or stabbed or chopped then a few thousand dollars are given and mostly nothing more after that. We need residential, psycho social services for these persons and also educational and self defense training for our most vulnerable brothers and sisters and transgender folks out there. Bearing in mind however they are the ones who remind the rest of the nation we are here via there aesthetic presentations.
There was another incident as well on Half Way Tree road just near the vicinity of the Institute of Academic Excellence IAE where some men were also chased after it was alleged they were seen acting suspiciously by a group of men heading to the square on foot. All these incidents and reports and even after the embarrassment on our advocates to deal with this population still no concrete moves to deal with this the least amongst us.
I'll continue to track this as best as I can and work with the other individuals who are so interested in seeing some resolve on this longstanding issue. One displaced young male was represented in an online group with JFLAG personnel included as members where his request for assistance was placed there as per his request to the individual who did so, the response from the Programs Manager of the J was that they have no money for that flat out yet we saw multiple trips by the J team members overseas which I suspect were not subsidised by any foundation or funder or through scholarships, we see a legal challenge to the buggery law overseas albeit through AIDSFREEWORLD but that I doubt that is on a pro-bono basis and high ended salaries plus a new position added that of Executive Director but one simple request could not be handled even via a small stipend just to carry him through, my time at the J I had instituted a small stipend payout just to fill any small requests like that of this young man but not even that was postured to him as a temporary solution. Sad also that an overseas member of said group out-rightly asked if such requests could be made private as if to say we must not highlight these issues in our own country from our official representative, now you see why persons like myself are justified in criticising the imperialistic way our advocates do business. The agenda is more about prime time spots than dealing with lives interrupted.
also see older posts: 3 more brothers displaced teetering on homelessness
and a hand written expression from a homeless young man
Peace and tolerance
H
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