"No to Homo Agenda": How evangelicals spread anti-gay hate to Jamaica
From funds to personnel, here's how U.S. churches are directly inciting virulent homophobia on the island
Salon/July 10, 2014
By Eliot Glenn
Homophobia is notoriously prevalent in Jamaica, with 82 percent of Jamaicans seeing male homosexuality as “morally wrong” according to a 2011 survey by the University of the West Indies in Kingston. The issue of LGBT rights and the buggery laws in particular (which criminalize same-sex intimacy) rose to prominence in 2011, when Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller mentioned in her election campaign that she favored reviewing the laws for possible decriminalization. Later, the issue was highlighted by several high profile bias crimes, including the stabbings of a gay man in Montego Bay and a gender non-conforming 17-year-old in St James, both in 2013. A lawsuit seeking to evict homeless LGBT youth forced to live in a public sewer in New Kingston also garnered international attention. Other public figures in Jamaica, including former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, recently voiced support for LGBT rights, and a joint committee of parliament is set to review the Sexual Offences Act soon.
Last Sunday, 25,000 Jamaicans gathered in the capital to protest the repeal of the buggery laws. The protest was organized by CAUSE (Churches Action Uniting Society for Emancipation) in response to what they see as the advance of “the homo agenda.”
To understand the politics of the protests and the prospects for LGBT rights in Jamaica, Salon spoke with human rights advocate Maurice Tomlinson, who has litigated extensively to overturn the Jamaican buggery laws and other anti-LGBT statutes in the Caribbean. Tomlinson has worked with Aids-Free Jamaica on issues related to HIV in marginalized communities and recently started a new organization, LGBTI Aware Caribbean, to conduct sensitivity trainings with service workers in the region. Broadly acknowledged as one of the foremost human rights advocates in the world today, Tomlinson was awarded the David Kato Vision and Voice Award in 2012 (named after the late Ugandan LGBT rights activist). Following is a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
Why is homophobia so virulent in Jamaica in particular?
Well, I’ve done a fair bit of traveling around the region when I worked full-time with Aids-Free World to do training in documenting human rights violations against LGBT people and advocacy to advance the rights of these people. And it was my experience that yes, the level of physical violence against LGBT is definitely more pronounced in Jamaica and also more pronounced is the influence of the evangelical churches. I’ve found in the other islands that have much more multicultural and multireligious makeup or a more moderate form of religion, there was less virulence against LGBT people.
Homophobia is notoriously prevalent in Jamaica, with 82 percent of Jamaicans seeing male homosexuality as “morally wrong” according to a 2011 survey by the University of the West Indies in Kingston. The issue of LGBT rights and the buggery laws in particular (which criminalize same-sex intimacy) rose to prominence in 2011, when Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller mentioned in her election campaign that she favored reviewing the laws for possible decriminalization. Later, the issue was highlighted by several high profile bias crimes, including the stabbings of a gay man in Montego Bay and a gender non-conforming 17-year-old in St James, both in 2013. A lawsuit seeking to evict homeless LGBT youth forced to live in a public sewer in New Kingston also garnered international attention. Other public figures in Jamaica, including former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, recently voiced support for LGBT rights, and a joint committee of parliament is set to review the Sexual Offences Act soon.
Last Sunday, 25,000 Jamaicans gathered in the capital to protest the repeal of the buggery laws. The protest was organized by CAUSE (Churches Action Uniting Society for Emancipation) in response to what they see as the advance of “the homo agenda.”
To understand the politics of the protests and the prospects for LGBT rights in Jamaica, Salon spoke with human rights advocate Maurice Tomlinson, who has litigated extensively to overturn the Jamaican buggery laws and other anti-LGBT statutes in the Caribbean. Tomlinson has worked with Aids-Free Jamaica on issues related to HIV in marginalized communities and recently started a new organization, LGBTI Aware Caribbean, to conduct sensitivity trainings with service workers in the region. Broadly acknowledged as one of the foremost human rights advocates in the world today, Tomlinson was awarded the David Kato Vision and Voice Award in 2012 (named after the late Ugandan LGBT rights activist). Following is a transcript of our conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
Why is homophobia so virulent in Jamaica in particular?
Well, I’ve done a fair bit of traveling around the region when I worked full-time with Aids-Free World to do training in documenting human rights violations against LGBT people and advocacy to advance the rights of these people. And it was my experience that yes, the level of physical violence against LGBT is definitely more pronounced in Jamaica and also more pronounced is the influence of the evangelical churches. I’ve found in the other islands that have much more multicultural and multireligious makeup or a more moderate form of religion, there was less virulence against LGBT people.
To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.
