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Gays Vow To March

ZJSnyper said
09:00 03/05 2008

Splinter gay rights groups have vowed to march through the streets of the Corporate Area to defend gay rights, even without the full backing of J-FLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals & Gays). While no date or location has been set for the march, the two splinter groups are steadfast in their resolve to take their concerns to the streets.

If J-FLAG nah go do it and get we justice against these attacks, we haffi go tek it up on weself. We pay our taxes, we are citizens of this country and we know our rights, we demand that the government does something about the targeting of gays in Jamaica, said one high-ranking member of Gays Are Innocent & Normal (GAIN).

The gays may have been heartened by last weeks successful gay march led by leaders of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Florida on Valentines Day at the Jamaican consulates in Miami, New York, Toronto and Philadelphia. The MCC was protesting against what they said was a series of anti-gay murders and gay-bashing incidents in the island, the latest of which occurred in Mandeville, Jamaica late last month where three gay men were attacked.

Last weeks march was significant because it was on the day of February 14th two years ago that a group of gay men were attacked by the mob in HWT, so we felt it would be appropriate to march on the anniversary of the day of love, Jason McFarlane, public relations officer of J-FLAG, said.

J-FLAG is concerned that police investigations of gay bashing and murders of gays are perfunctory at best.

The police havent taken a proper statement from the persons who survived the attack in Mandeville. The police came to see them in the hospital so we hope to get proper investigation. But unless we request a proper investigation, none is carried out because when it comes to issues relating to sexual orientation which is other than x that is the norm, not many police are willing to do the job, Mr. McFarlane said.

In Mandeville, the men were allegedly mobbed and beaten by a group of residents who demanded that they leave their home. Two of the men were critically injured and one man is still missing and presumed to be dead.
In this decidedly hostile environment, Mr. McFarlane said that J-FLAG was not in the process of organising a local leg of the march, even though splinter groups are clamouring for it.

I havent heard of a local march, because there are challenges and repercussions to a march like that. Last year, 27 cases of gay bashing were reported through our offices, and not everyone is aware that J-FLAG exists, and there are several more that would not have been reported, he said.

THREE GAYS KILLED
Mr. McFarlane said that in 2007, three gays died as a result of mob violence, while the rest received machete and knife wounds during the attacks. Since the brutal death of vocal gay rights advocate Brian Williamson a few years ago and the rising anti-gay sentiment in the island, J-FLAG has stopped listing its address in the telephone book and even the vocal pro-gay Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) runs a roving ministry in Jamaica.

Since 2007, there have been eight cases of violence against gays, the last one was in St. Ann, near Ocho Rios. We think it is a spin off of the Mandeville incident; a march would not be a wise idea, but Nancy is coming home soon, he said.

Nancy Wilson is the leader of the MCC and she has been fearlessly fighting to secure basic human rights for gays, but she is yet to undertake the ultimate acid test a gay rights march in Jamaica. However, while J-FLAGs desire to march in order to protest the plight of gays may be flagging in the face of naked aggression from an intolerant public, at least two splinter Corporate Area gay groups are threatening to go all the way.

The first stage was the release of the gay tape. Then we plan fi march. Were coming out and we are not going to be victims anymore. We are many. We have gay politicians, gay deejays, gay media personnel, gay cops, and gay bad man, if we intend to march, nothing caan stop we, one gay activist said.

There is at least one hard truth in that assertion: there are gays in the police force. During the last few weeks, the Jamaican public was shocked when a gay cop, Constable Michael Hayden, announced to the world that he was gay and complained that he was being ill-treated by his colleagues in the force.

This is the second such public relations black eye for the police force in less than a year. In 2007, there was an incident where a senior cop allegedly forced a teenager to have oral sex with him. That cop was later transferred to a unnamed division in the JCF.

The breakaway gays say that they are more radically minded former members of J-FLAG, who go by the tag lines GAIN (Gays Are Innocent & Normal) and GAG (Gays Are Great), and are ready to join forces with other gay entities to mount pressure on the churches and government.

Speaking to XtraNews, Antonio, a spokesperson for GAIN, said that, The church, government and all who fight against gays stand to gain from us rather than to lose. We are a set of people made up of professionals who are law-abiding and doing our civic duties. We want the churches to come out strongly against crime and violence like how they are vocal about gays.

Antonio added that criminals are allowed to live freely, while gays are being hunted and face the possibility of being killed.

It is so unfair. As consenting adults in the privacy of our homes, we have to live in fear because as soon as someone from the community suspects that you are gay, you are in trouble. It is total hypocrisy when people say that we are to keep our private lives to ourselves. Real gays do not parade their lifestyle or throw it in the faces of others. Unlike when Jamaica used to be totally homophobic, the gay community has grown over the years and you would be shocked to know who are in the closet, he said.

Mariana, who attends a tertiary institution and is a full fledged lesbian, said that as a member of GAG, she has been corresponding with gays outside of Jamaica and they are ready to help in the fight to get a listening ear from the churches and government that they too have rights as citizens.

Its about time we remove the gag that limits us and start to make our voices and presence be felt. We have members in the churches, in politics and just about every strata of society. People have to start understanding that while we are not begging them to accept us with open arms, we just want them to know that we do exist and believe in the same God as they do, she said.

While not affiliated members of J-FLAG, both GAIN and GAG say they are just in the preparatory stages of forging alliances with a wider cross section of affiliates at home and abroad.

We plan to march against them soon as there are more of us in Jamaica than you think, and we intend to let our voices be heard, one GAG member said.

In an article carried in the February 15 edition of the Washington Post, a conservative Christian group criticized a large Methodist church for planning to offer services that recognize gay relationships, saying that it violated the United Methodist ban on same sex unions.

The article stated that Foundry United Methodist Church had decided to support its senior pastors decision to lead services that recognise and honour committed gay relationships.

If theyre not violating the letter, theyre certainly violating the spirit of the United Methodist standards, said Mark Tooley, executive director of UMAction, an Institute on Religion and Democracy project that focuses on the United Methodist Church.

Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches, church law states.

MCCs leader, Nancy Wilson, after speaking with Jamaica Consulate General Richard Allicock and three other top staff members for over an hour, told protesters that she had a frank, honest discussion. Were engaged in a long-term discussion and were not going to stop until gays and lesbians are protected in Jamaica.

Wilson said the MCC was on the verge of calling for a global boycott of Jamaica. She said she was waiting to see how the government responded to the churchs demands, namely that the government launch an educational campaign to decry anti-gay violence in Jamaica, and that the Jamaican police begin sensitivity training regarding this group.

The MCCs Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale runs a ministry here in Jamaica.

Last Revised: 2/27/2008