January 29, 2008: Three gay men brutally attack by angry mob
(Mandeville, Jamaica) On Tuesday, January 29^th, a mob of 20 men broke into the home of the young men. According to reports, the machete wielding attackers badly beat and severed limbs of one man who is in critical condition in hospital. A third victim is still missing. Witnesses say he jumped off a cliff to his death. The men were attacked in the privacy of their dwelling by an angry mob who had days before threatened them if they did not leave the community.
MORE ON THE LINK BELOW.
(PinkNews)

Reports from human rights organisations
Amnesty International
OUTfront! Jamaican report (June 2004): Battyboys affi dead: action against homophobia in Jamaica

Human Right Watch
Human Right Watch report (November 2004): Hated to Death: Homophobia, Violence, and Jamaica’s HIV/AIDS Epidemic





Testimonies
RICHARD (28-year-old gay Jamaican)
OCTOBER 2004. "It is like living in Afghanistan under the Taliban. I wake up in the morning not knowing whether today I will live or die." Richard is lucky. He is still alive. But he bears huge scars from a machete attack by a homophobic mob. Jamaican police stood by and allowed the crowd to chop at him like a piece of butcher's meat. Amazingly, Richard survived. (excerpt from: Black Gay and Hunted, published in October 2004)

BRIAN (44-year-old gay Jamaican)
APRIL 2006. Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye—damaged, he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups, Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence. It was a bitter decision for Brian, who lost his landscaping business after the attack and is fearful of giving his last name. "I still go to church," he says as he sips a Red Stripe beer. "Every Sunday I ask why this happened to me." ...Meanwhile, gay-rights activists say Jamaican police often overlook evidence in anti-gay hate crimes, such as the alleged assault by Banton in 2004. His accuser, Brian, says cops excised Banton's role from their reports of the 2004 beating. A police spokesman denies that. But in dismissing the case earlier this year, the judge in the trial warned Banton to avoid violence and "seek legal recourses" when he has complaints against gays in the future. Banton refused TIME's request for an interview. His manager, Donovan Germain, insists that the singer is innocent and that "Buju's lyrics (shooting gays with Uzis and burning their skin with acid 'like an old tire wheel.') are part of a metaphorical tradition. They're not a literal call to kill gay men." . (excerpt from: The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?, published in April 2006)

FITZROY (28-year-old gay Jamaican)
The 28-year-old musician, explains the harsh realities of life as a gay man in Jamaica. 'It's terrible. I can't have peace and freedom like everyone else. If I walk down the road, all I hear is "batty man, him hafi dead, shoot him, slit him". 'I can't find work - I had to leave my last job when my boss found out - and I can't find a home. It doesn't matter how much you try to hide it. If you are seen in certain places or with certain people, you get branded as gay. Once the torment starts, it never stops. 'I was going downtown with two friends. Suddenly I saw a group of men coming towards us with big sticks. We ran to the police station and told them what was happening. But then the policeman took up a big stick and ran us out of the station. When we got to the steps, the mob was waiting for us. So we had the policeman behind us with his stick and the men in front of us with sticks. Luckily a cab with some girls we knew went past. We ran to it and managed to get away. If that had not happened, the three of us would have been dead that night.'
(excerpt from: Jamaica gays flee to save their lives, published in October 2002)

ROBERT (31-year-old gay Jamaican, granted asylum in the UK)
Driven by routine beatings from his home in Montego Bay, Robert, 31, is one of only five Jamaicans granted asylum in the UK on the grounds of his sexuality. Declaring his own sexuality cost Robert his job, brought ostracism from friends, and even family, and invited a string of violent assaults. Robert fell foul of the island's laws as a teenager. He said: "They put me in prison and beat me when I was 16 years old. I had dated a policeman and it found its way into a newspaper. "It was reported like a big scandal, that a policeman was gay. Being in prison was a nightmare - the police beat me. When they were through, the prisoners beat me." "I was there for a few weeks and was extremely lucky it was not longer. The law in Jamaica says they can imprison gay people for 10 years with hard labour." "After that story was in the newspapers, everything changed for me. I had known I was gay from when I was very young but it had not been a problem, because I was just a boy and no one paid me much attention. ""I had my first homosexual experience at 16. Montego Bay is a small community. I had problems at home with my family, at school and at church, where I had been very involved. One of the reasons Jamaican society is so homophobic is religion - it is all fire and brimstone about it being against God. "People would give me grief in church. I once sat in the congregation while a priest thundered away about the evils of homosexuality. He said that gay people should be stoned. Like everyone else I shouted: "Amen." I was scared. What else could I do? I wanted the earth to swallow me up. " He tried "going straight" by getting a girlfriend, subsumed himself in church work and even married, at 19. "I tried to force myself to stop being gay. But being gay is like being black: it is who you are, you can't change it. "If I had stayed in Jamaica, I would be dead by now. I'd have killed myself or been killed. I thought of suicide many times. Before I left I was threatened with a gun."
(excerpt from: One Love, published in July 2004)

DELROY CONSTANTINE-SIMMS (New York journalist and editor)
FEBRUARY 1994. Black History Month, I witnessed a gang fight between black and white gays in Greenwich village, I was even more surprised when these mainly African-American youths were chanting Boom Bye Bye, lets get those queers" I was shocked, given all the work that Donald Suggs had done for GLAAD, in terms of effectively closing down, Marky Mark, Shabba Ranks and Buju Banton, it was a shock. Not because of the chants, but because those doing the chanting were themselves Gay. (excerpt from: The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities Experience, published in April 2001)

LESBIAN ATTACKED AT WORK
MARCH 2001: The following incident occurred on March 19, 2001 shortly after the victim appeared on a national television talk show. Her name was not given and she was only shown in silhouette, but a colleague at work recognized her voice. When he saw her at work after her appearance on television, he offered her a drink from his coffee. When she declined, he accused her of being "unfriendly" (he had a long history of propositioning her unsuccessfully for sex). At this point, she began to defend her behavior. He countered by saying that since she went on national TV and declared her sexuality, he could advertise it too. After a series of insults and name-calling, she retaliated by making a similar comment about his wife, which elicited another round of verbal attacks from the man followed by several punches to her face. As the assault progressed, he also hit the victim on the head and neck with a wooden vase and a metal two-hole paper punch. By now the commotion attracted the attention of the employer, who entered the room and stopped the attack. He asked the victim to explain what was going on, but she did not want to divulge any information for fear of what the attacker would say, so the employer dropped the issue and left. The victim subsequently contacted the police to inquire about the procedures for filing charges but did not pursue the matter because there were no apparent marks left from the attack and no witnesses. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

'BOOM BYE BYE' – A WITNESS STATEMENT
SPRING 2001/SUMMER 2002: Testimony provided by a transsexual woman that now lives in Brighton & Hove. "In the spring of 2001, I moved to London from a small northern town in the hope that a cosmopolitan city would be too busy about its own business to worry about my transsexual life. I am an obviously trans person, and have no choice but to be “out”, nor do I have any way to hide my trans identity. I had no expectations of what life might be like in Brixton SW9, nor had I ever heard the words “batty boy” “chi chi man” or “Boom Bye Bye” before I moved there. I began to hear all of these words directed at me with venom from the very first day of my arrival, and at first I did not know what they meant. I would only have to go out to the shops to have these words said to me by total strangers. I had been in Brixton only a week when I was first attacked. It was broad daylight, the middle of the afternoon, just a few yards from my flat, when I was kicked to the ground, and my shopping scattered. There were shouts of “batty boy” and other things said in patois, which I did not understand. No one in the street moved to help me. By the summer of 2002, I had been violently assaulted nine times. I had been pelted with bottles and tin cans lifted out of a rubbish bin. I had been pelted with fruit from a vegetable stand. I was kicked unconscious on one occasion. On another I was hit with a wine bottle which bruised me but did not break. On the last occasion, I was first pelted with stones, and then as I tried to run to my flat, knocked to the ground with shouts of “Boom Bye Bye.” My face was stamped upon, and I was kicked unconscious. Maxillio-facial repair has been only partly successful. My head bears many scars, but the scars in my heart are deepest and will not heal. I fled to Brighton, and here at last I have found peace, and support from Mind Out, for the many emotional problems this abuse has imprinted in my heart and mind. I had never heard of Buju Banton until I came to Brighton, and was at last able to find a meaning to the words “Boom Bye Bye” which I had heard so often, yet never understood, whilst living in Brixton. There is nothing that can now be done to undo the harm done to me by Buju Banton’s words, but if a similar wretchedness is not to befall others, I urge Brighton & Hove City Council and our police service to do all in their power to prevent his planned performance at the Concorde. There are many LGBT people like me in Brighton & Hove, who have come here as a final refuge from violent alienation and abuse. If the advocates of hate and murder are allowed to do their work here, how long will it be before their violent ministry proliferates, and where will there be left for us to go?"
(taken from: Spectrum (Brighton & Hove LGBT Community Forum), published in June 2006)

COPS ABUSE SAFE-SEX ACTIVISTS
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: A group of three of us were walking along a major thoroughfare at about 8:30 p.m. one night, on our way to Half-Way Tree in Kingston, which is a popular open-air gathering point for many working class Jamaicans. While we were walking, a police car pulled up alongside us. We stopped, the police car stopped, and two policemen got out of the car with semi-automatic weapons pointed at us, saying they wanted to search us. While they were searching us, the police found about seven condoms in the pockets of each of us. The policemen exclaimed about the number of condoms each of us had, and declared that we must be "battymen" [faggots]. The third policeman turned off the engine and also got out of the car. The policemen began to ask us what we were doing with so many condoms. We said we were giving the condoms to our friends and that was why we had so many. The policemen then began to shout that they hoped it wasn’t "batty business" [homosexuality] we were promoting. We started to explain we were promoting safer sex. The police asked what kind of people we were promoting safer sex to, and we responded "both males and females." The policemen began to tell us we were "battymen" and they were going to lock us up for promoting "batty business." The policemen then told us to get into the police car. The policemen did not want to sit next to us and so they crowded us on one side of the back seat of the car. We were not allowed to let our bodies touch the policeman who was also sitting in the back of the vehicle. When we arrived at the police station we were told we were going to be charged with loitering. The policemen began to point us out to the other police officers and tell their colleagues we were "battymen." The other police officers told us we should be dead and that the policemen should have killed us instead of bringing us into the police station. The policemen continued to point us out and label us "battymen" to everyone who came into the station, including police officers, or others who came in to make a complaint. The newcomers then joined in the abuse. This went on for approximately three hours, while we were held in the reception area of the police station without charge. After this time, we were released. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

EXTORTION
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: When my community found out I was gay, some men in my area began to terrorize me and demand money from me for "safe passage" every time I left my house or entered my community. I went to the police station to register a complaint about this. There were two officers on duty. One of the officers asked me if I was in fact gay, and I said yes. The police officers then told me I was impudent and told me to get out of the police station as they did not protect "battymen."(taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

MANY MIDDLE-CLASS QUEERS NOT SPARED
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE SEPTEMBER 2002: I am a thirty-three-year-old, middle-class gay Jamaican male. My appearance does not necessarily easily identify me as gay (i.e. I do not fit an effeminate stereotype). My experience as a gay man living in Jamaica is one which is marked by periodic incidences of abuse, both verbal and physical. I have lost count of the times I have been verbally abused, called "battyman", "chi-chi", "sodomite", "dirty battybway" [all derogatory terms for homosexual men], in situations as diverse as walking down the street, browsing in a shop, at work, in my community, at the beach. These comments come mostly from people that do not know me, occasionally from those that do. Mostly they are just comments, but sometimes this verbal abuse actually takes the form of a threat. Whilst just words, these comments nevertheless undermine my confidence and on occasion, the thought of running into such abuse has actually deterred me from going about my business in certain places. In the past two years, I have suffered actual violent, physical abuse because of my sexuality, on two occasions. On the first occasion, I was shopping with a friend in the Half Way Tree area (one of the main commercial districts in Kingston). At around 7 p.m., on leaving a supermarket, a man who had been waiting outside the door started shouting homophobic abuse at us, calling us "dirty battybway", etc. We ignored him and kept walking, but he followed us and continued to hurl abuse at us. My friend stopped walking and turned around to face him, so I stopped too. The man then approached my friend and was shouting in his face and started pushing him violently. When I tried to intervene, he then approached me shouting and proceeded to push and kick me. The gist of what he was saying was that "battymen" didn't have any right to be there and that we should leave the plaza, that he was going to run us from the plaza. Although there were several onlookers, nobody came to our assistance."At this point, my friend and I decided to go back into the supermarket to seek refuge and also to call the police. The manager of the supermarket called the police and explained what was happening and she was told that they were on their way, but we waited for more than half an hour and still the police did not come (the police station is less than five minutes away). We eventually realized that the police were in fact not on their way, and decided to see if we could leave safely, which we did, as the man had left by this time. We were shaken by this incident, but doubly upset because the police had not responded to this homophobic attack. (I have had reason to call the police on another occasion, for a traffic accident in the same area, and they responded within five minutes).

SEPTEMBER 2002. The second incident occurred very recently, on 17th September, 2002. I had arranged to meet the same friend as above in New Kingston after work, outside one of the restaurants on Knutsford Boulevard (the main nightlife strip in the business district). I arrived to find my friend somewhat distressed because he had just received a barrage of homophobic verbal abuse from a young man on the street, and had also had some kind of projectile thrown at him by the same person. On my arrival the verbal abuse continued and in addition, he [the young man on the street] took up a bottle and threatened to smash it and come after us with it as a weapon. We quickly entered a bar, but this incident had put a dampener on the whole evening, so we soon decided to leave and go home. On leaving the bar, we turned up the street, but in order to reach my car, we had to pass the same person who had abused us in the first place. As we approached, the verbal abuse started again and it continued as we passed. This time it was not just him, but two other men who were with him and joined in. When we were about 10 meters past them, a projectile hit the back of my leg and one skimmed past my friend - I think they were small rocks. We did not look back, but kept on walking until we reached the safety of my car. We did not report this incident to the police because my friend felt (based on past experience) that the police would be unsympathetic and possibly also abusive too. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

NOTE: The following statement is from Tony Hron, who headed J-FLAG for three years until January 2004. It is probably related to the above story: "I've never felt unsafe in this area (New Kingston, close to where Brian Williamson used to lived). Only once have I heard a comment in the four years I've been down here." But local friends of his haven't been as fortunate. "I know a gay man who was attacked at a shopping mall – within five minutes of this house. He and another friend were viewed as being gay, as the other friend was a little bit effeminate. They were punched and kicked and had to run into a store to get away from the attackers." (New Times)

MORE COP HARASSMENT
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: Nine of us were walking through the New Kingston area and a police car came upon us and stopped us. Another empty police car arrived on the scene and stopped. The policemen then told us they knew we were "battymen" and they were going to lock us up that night. They stopped passersby for the next 15 minutes to tell them we were a group of "battymen." Some of the passers by continued on, and others hurled epithets sy us with the encouragement of the policemen. They then crowded us into the empty police car and carried them to the Half-Way Tree police station. We were put in the holding area and everyone who entered the station was told we were "battymen" and we were then subjected to new rounds of verbal abuse. The men were all charged with loitering and were put on bail that very night. Some of the men made bail that night, and others did not. The case went to court several times and the charges were eventually dropped. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

HAIRDRESSERS BEATEN
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: The attackers were from an infamous garrison community. The men who were attacked were well-known hairdressers in their neighboring community and had a thriving makeshift hair salon on the sidewalk. One Saturday at about 5 p.m., I was coming up that street the salon was on and I saw this crowd. I saw a man very badly beating what looked like a woman. When I looked more carefully there were actually about six men who were beating this "woman" who I recognised as a gay man whom I knew. The crowd was standing around watching, saying, and chanting, "Battyman, battyman, battyman." They went so far as to block the road to clear a space to beat him and accommodate the growing crowd. The crowd got so big a wholesale shop nearby closed for business early and sent their workers home. They gathered around him as he lay on the sidewalk and they beat him, punched him, kicked him, they dragged him down the road, they threw water from the gutter on him, they threw garbage on him, all the while shouting, "Battyman, battyman." They beat him and dragged him for half a kilometer. They shouted, "Battyman fi dead!" [Faggot should die!] As I stood across the street I realised there was nothing I could do to help him. There were some mothers who were actually in tears at what they were witnessing, but there was nothing they could do either. When the police came, they had to call for backup. About three police jeeps had to come. They fired shots in the air to clear the crowd. The crowd was saying "Give him to us! Let us kill him. He’s a battyman." Some women started intervening and said, "Don’t kill him! Just because he’s a battyman don’t mean you should kill him, cause nuff a dem who a beat him a battyman too." The police picked him up and put him in the jeep and carried him to station. The crowd followed the jeeps shouting, "Battyman! Battyman!" The crowd went to the station and surrounded the station shouting, "Kill battyman! Kill battyman!" The crowd dispersed slowly. I saw him about two weeks later and he said the police had taken him to the hospital. He went to England and I hear he got asylum. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003) (also reported in Amnesty International's report: Jamaica: Battybwoys Affi Dead)

MURDER
BETWEEN JANUARY AND OCTOBER 2003: My friend and I had lived in a working class community all our lives; we were born there. Growing up, the community realized that we were gay. Some of the young men in the community would verbally abuse us and call us "battymen." I would always keep quiet, but my friend would not and would respond to them and tell them to leave him alone and that he was not going to let them abuse him that way. He was a good fighter, and would win any fight he got into. He also carried a small machete and was not afraid to use it. Because of this, he was not physically attacked and could go anywhere within the community. I did not fight, and so I had to hide, and keep quiet. There was one young man, in particular, in the community who hated my friend, but could not win a fight with him. He decided to team up with a gunman from another community to shoot my friend. This gunman was from a family known for their violence, and they knew that since he had a reputation for being very dangerous, he could kill my friend in our community and no one would retaliate. One morning, at about 2 a.m., my friend was at a dance in the community. He was enjoying himself and dancing and suddenly there was a gunshot and a bullet hit my friend in the back of his head. He turned around after realizing he was shot, and they shoot him in his face again three more times. He fell, and they continued to shoot him as he lay on the ground. They then announced that I was next and "Battyman fi dead." [Faggot should die!] Hearing that, I was forced to run from the community, and I have been moving from house to house trying to avoid homelessness and living a hand-to-mouth existence. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

NOTE: Amnesty International write that this case occured in 2003, in their report entitled: Jamaica: Battybwoys Affi Dead. In happened before November of that year as that testimonial was published in the report Jamaica: Accounts Of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003. •

IMPUNITY
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: Two friends of mine, an older man and his younger, effeminate lover, were at a popular middle-class spot in New Kingston. A group of young people saw the couple and started shouting at them that they were "battymen", drew knives, sticks, and small cutlasses and started coming towards them to attack them. The younger partner ran away, but the older one was not quick enough and they began to beat him. The police came to the scene there and then, and took the older man to the police station. The younger man ran to find me and some of his other gay friends for help, and a group of us then went with him to the police station to which the older man had been taken. When we arrived and asked for the older man, the police officer responded by asking us, "Who, the battyman who the judgment took place with?" We were then told the older man had already left. Later, when we found him he told us they had not even taken a report and that no one had been arrested. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

WOMAN INCITES BASHING
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: Three of us were walking down the street in downtown Kingston. A woman rode past us on a bicycle and told a group of men further down the road that some "battymen" were coming down past them. They pulled out their knives, machetes and sticks and began shouting at us that we were battymen and that "battyman fi dead." They came towards us and we immediately ran straight to Central police station for protection. When the police realised it was a "batty judgment" they began to call us "battymen" and told us, "Battyman fi dead" [Faggots should die!] and shouted at us to leave the compound. We were terrified for our lives as the group of armed men were waiting for us across the street from the gate to the police station. While we stood there being verbally abused by both the police and the group of armed men, a group of dancers was walking by and one of them recognized me. She decided to intervene and said the situation was wrong because I was a "good boy." She hailed a taxi for us and convinced him to take us out of the situation. He agreed but charged us 25 percent more for a trip so short most people would just have walked. He pulled up at the gate between the crowd and us, we got into the taxi, and he drove us away. If he had told us 10,000 percent more that the normal cost we would have paid it because we were all sure we were going to be killed that night. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

HOSPITALS SCORN BASHING VICTIMS
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: A group of us were walking along Constant Spring Road in Half-Way Tree, [Kingston] at about 8 p.m. One of our friends left us and went into York Pharmacy to buy something and by the time he was coming back, two guys started shouting that he was a "battyman" and that "Battyman fi dead," [Faggots should die!] attacked him, stabbed him, took away his jewelry and his money. By the time we got to him to help a police car pulled up. We got into the car and they took us downtown to Kingston Public Hospital. On their way they realised that we were all gay and the started to laugh at us. When we got to the hospital, they dropped us off and drove away. They did not take any statements or make any reports. Some members of the group were effeminate and patients in the emergency room started verbally abusing us and calling us "battymen," while the porters, janitors and even some of the nurses laughed at us. They took a much longer time than usual to attend to us; in fact, we got to the hospital at about 10 p.m. and they did not attend to us until the next morning. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

COPS FIRE AT GAY CROWD
BETWEEN 1999 AND 2002: One night, after clubbing at Entourage, at about 4 a.m. Saturday morning, a group of us went to a place called Xamaica, otherwise called School. It was a business compound on Waterloo Road, Kingston with a gay resident owner, who knew we would come and welcomed us. It was a place where we used to hang out and chitchat until daybreak before going home. All of a sudden, a white van pulled through the gate and men armed with firearms jumped out of the vehicle and started to fire shots into the crowd. We scattered in all directions, jumping fences and dividing for cover. A group of three of my friends and I began to run. They could jump the fence, but I had difficulty, so they had to drag me over the fence with men chasing us and firing at us. This happened three times and each time I was dragged over the fence I fell on my head. Finally, we got to a residence and I hid behind a tree. My friend was not fast enough to find a hiding place and the two men who had been chasing us caught him and began to beat him with their fists and their weapons, kicked him as he lay on the ground, calling him a "battyman." They took him away. I met up with some of the guys from the crowd on my way home, and found out that my friend had been taken to the police station, and that the men who had attacked us were plainclothes policemen. When I saw my friend later, he told me that they verbally abused him at the station and had told their co-workers that he was a "battyman" and they began to verbally abuse him as well. They held him overnight and released him. He was not charged with any offense. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)
NOTE: It's me who concluded that it occured between 1999 and 2002, as the club Entourage opended in late nineties and closed down two years later.

HIV-PHOBIA AND A GAY SAFE HOUSE DESTROYED
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: Two gay men, one of whom was HIV-positive, lived in a house in Meadowbrook, a middle-class neighborhood, and ran it as a safe house for gay men. At any one time there were an average of eight men taking refuge in the house. One of the men who was seeking refuge in the house told a neighbor that there was an HIV-positive person living in the house. About a week later, at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, the house was surrounded by approximately 20 police officers who demanded entry. At that time there were about 12 of us gay men taking refuge in the house. When one of us opened the front door police officers began to rush into the house with semi-automatic weapons drawn. They commanded us to surrender our guns. The rest of the police officers followed behind and entered the house. An outspoken member of the group explained that no one in the house had a gun or had committed any offense. Several of the police officers then began accusing us of being "battymen" and bringing "AIDS people" into the area. The same member of the group said yes he was gay, but we had no guns and had not done anything wrong. The police began to beat the young man, until others of us spoke out and said we were gay as well and we had done nothing wrong. The police officers then turned on all of us and four of the officers began beating us about our heads and bodies while calling us "battymen" and warning us not to cry out. Those standing around and watching also hurled hateful epithets at us and told us we were lucky it was Meadowbrook or they would have just killed us and dumped the bodies. They told us we deserved to die because we were "battymen." This continued for approximately 15 minutes. Then the officers demanded that we gather our belongings and leave the area. We were able to gather our clothes and shoes but were forced to leave other valuables such as furnishings behind. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

CELEBRATING JAMAICA'S INDEPENDENCE DAY
AUGUST 6, UNKNOWN YEAR, BEFORE 2003: I was living with my mother in her community when the rumor spread that I was gay. I had to leave my mother’s house, and I have been drifting around living on the streets and sleeping at different people’s houses ever since. It was at the Independence Day celebrations in Kingston, at the new Emancipation Park, that this particular attack took place. I had gone to the park early, at about one o’clock, before the celebrations were to begin. There were some girls who were supervising the use of the public restrooms. I used the bathroom and then left the park to pass some time until the celebrations began. I was knocking around waiting and had the urge to use the bathroom again. I went back to the park and the young women began asking why I was using the bathroom so frequently, that I must be a "battyman." I used the bathroom and left and drifted around some more. I went to use the bathroom a third time and the women began to get really upset and said, "This battybwoy is up to something. If him try anything we going to kill him." I told them the bathroom was free to use as often as I wished and that was what the bathroom was there for. I used the bathroom and left again. Security told me to go take a break, drink a beer and come back to the park if I wished. I left as they suggested, staying clear of the women. It was about four o’clock; the celebrations were to start at about 6 p.m. I met up with a friend and we had something to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken in New Kingston. After eating we went to join the Independence Day celebrations at the park. I went to use the bathroom a fourth time (it was about 9 p.m.) and that was when the women came into the bathroom and pushed the door open as I was using the toilet. They told me I had to pay J$10 [about US$1.70] for a piece of toilet paper, and began to call other men and the security guards to attack me. They told the men I was there to molest a male child (there were no children in the bathroom at that time) and to have sex with men. Everybody starting hitting me, boxing me in my face, kicking me—women, men and security guards. One man was trying to rescue me but they pushed him aside saying, "This boy a battyboy; him fi dead!" [This is a faggot! Kill him!] I ran out of the bathroom and they began to run behind me. The senior security guard told the men to get a baton for him as the group chased me through the crowd. The men returned to join the chase with grey plastic pipes [PVC] and strips of board they used to beat me as they chased me out of the park. At the end of the park the security stopped and the civilians chased me up the street. I fell when I got to the corner at the Hilton Kingston Hotel and they beat me and kicked me while I tried to run again. I ran towards the New Kingston police station for help. When I got there, the men stopped at the gate and I fell on the floor of the police station. I was feeling so sick and was so out of breath and in pain I couldn’t speak. Finally I caught my breath and tried to tell the police my story, but they refused to help and called me a "battybway" and threatened to hand me over the civilian crowd. The crowd was at the door telling the policemen I was in the Park kissing me and that they should hand me over to them and let them kill me. I was feeling sick to my stomach and wanted to vomit—I needed to use the bathroom again or vomit all over the floor. I asked to use the bathroom and the policemen refused to let me use the bathroom. I begged one of them who seemed slightly more compassionate to let me defecate and he finally allowed me to use the bathroom where I threw up all that I had eaten that night. The policemen let me wait for more than two hours in the police station until the crowd gave up and left. They did not take any statements and were not interested in making this a criminal case. I left and went over to a radio station nearby to find a place to sleep. I slept on the street that night. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

MEETING MACHETES
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE NOVEMBER 2003: At 7:00 p.m. I got to Bounty Hall, Trelawny, and at about 9:15 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. I left my friend’s house to get a taxi to come back to Montego Bay. Passing some men on the road, one stopped me and asked where was I from. I told them I am from Ocho Rios. At the same time a taxi was passing. The same man asked the taxi driver if he knew me. Without responding, the taxi driver nodded and drew a chopper [machete] from under his seat (one of the men in the taxi stated that he knew me as a "battyman" from Montego Bay). I ran and he threw the chopper after me. I ran away to a nearby shop, where my friend's brother decided to accompany me past the men. However, they still came after me. I returned to my friend’s house and told him what happened and while I was there the men broke down the back door and came at me. There were several men waiting outside who hit me with sticks and machetes several times but I got away eventually. When I knew I was at a safe distance I tried getting a taxi but was unable to, as I had blood all over me and my clothes were torn. I had to walk from Bounty Hall to Falmouth, which took about two hours. At Falmouth, I could not get any transport to get to Mobay. Even with the blood running down my neck, I had to walk further out of Falmouth. Eventually, a taxi man reluctantly took me to Montego Bay and I got to my home past midnight. At some minutes to 12:00 noon, I asked a friend for his assistance and consented for him to report the matter to J-FLAG [Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays]. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003).

MORE EXTORTION
MARCH 2003: This incident took place on Saturday night, March 29, 2003. A Kingston-based taxi driver arrived at 10:30 p.m. in response to a call from someone at 2 Cleveden Avenue, St. Andrew, near Hopefield Avenue. [The address is known by some people in the area as a house in which many homosexual/gay men live.] As the driver pulled up in front of the house, he noticed a flashing light behind him, which he soon saw was the light of a police car. As his passenger approached his taxi from the house, the driver heard one of the two police officers in the police vehicle command, over their microphone, that the passenger go back into the house, and that he should not go near the taxi. The passenger retreated into the house. One of the policemen then told the taxi driver (who was still seated in his taxi) to get out of the taxi and approach them with his official papers. The taxi driver complied with the policeman's requests. When he offered his papers to the questioning policeman (the officer seated in the passenger front seat of the police car), that same officer began to speak belligerently at him, saying things like (as quoted by the taxi driver), "Mi nah like oonu. Oonu don’t know seh dis ya place is a dutty nasty place? Mi know seh onnu is one a dem, yu bloodclaat battybwoy." (Other curses followed from the officer, which the taxi driver, in recounting this incident, was reluctant to divulge.) The driver protested the policeman’s belligerence, and asked what he meant: "Wha oonu mean fi seh, officer? Mi just come fi pick up de guy, mi nuh know nuttin bout de house." After this brief exchange, the police officer handed back the driver his papers, and said, "Oonu go on where yu a go." The taxi driver got back in his car and drove off toward Hope Road. Just before he reached nearby Sugar Daddy, he saw that a police car was behind him; the police in that car soon thereafter indicated that he should pull over to the left. He did so. They commanded him over their microphone to get his papers out and bring the papers to them. When the taxi driver did so, he saw immediately that these were the same two police officers as before. The officer who had been abusive to the driver earlier began to harangue him, accusing him of having gone to 2 Cleveden Ave. to participate in "sex business." He brandished handcuffs, stating to the driver that if he didn’t "come clean" about his "nasty business" that they would take him to the Half-Way-Tree police station to "mek dem bwoy [other officers, presumably] deh beat you." The officer said that the driver would be charged at Half-Way-Tree station with buggery. The officer then took his name and address, and asked if he were from Kingston. The driver believes, in trying to remember, that he told the officer that he was not from Kingston. The driver remembers the officer continuing to harangue him and accuse him of having homosexual interests at 2 Cleveden Avenue. The taxi driver at that point in the exchange grew impatient, he admitted, and asked the officers, "What oonu up to? What oonu really want?" In recounting this incident, the taxi driver said that, while he did defend himself against accusations of wrongdoing to the officer, he felt "so intimidated" in the moment of the exchange that he admitted to the officer that he was "like that" [gay/homosexual]. He still insisted that he had done nothing wrong, only gone to pick up a passenger. The officer then asked him, "What [sexual] role you play?" The driver didn’t answer the question. Both of the officers began to shout that they would fine the driver J$20,000. [US$340] in Half-Way-Tree station, and that the driver must "give" them "a someting." The driver said, "Officer, mi nah have money. Mi only have J$1,000." [US$17] The officer in the passenger seat of the police car commanded the driver to take the J$1,000 out of his pocket and drop it on the front passenger-side floor of the police car. The officer then gave the driver back his papers and said that he could go. The driver drove off. He did not get any kind of identifying number of the police car, nor any kind of badge number for either of them. He could not quite describe them after recounting this incident. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

BASHING AT KFC
JULY 2003: On July 17, 2003 I was coming from work at a [hardware] store heading for Musgrave Avenue via New Kingston. Reaching Dominica Drive, I saw a friend standing on Dominica Drive and we started talking. I was there about 20 minutes when a wagon motor vehicle come down the road and it stopped. The driver asked if we are selling. My friend told the men J$1,000 [US$17]. Suddenly, I saw the men alight from the motor vehicle with batons in their hands. I panicked as I ran down Dominica Drive, while my friend ran the opposite direction. The men jumped in their car and started chasing me down. I got tired and breathless so I ran inside the KFC restaurant for refuge. The three men came inside and started beating me with the batons. I was beaten all over my body by the men, and they were calling me "battyman" [faggot], etc. The security guard who was on duty started beating me when he heard that I was gay. While I was being beaten, the cashiers and servers were screaming and begging the men to stop, especially when they saw the blood. To avoid any more abuse, I had to jump over the counter and run upstairs to the employee restroom and lock myself away. When the police came and they heard that I was gay, they verbally abused me and didn’t want to help me. I was eventually taken by a police officer to Kingston Public Hospital where I was treated for a broken nose, and had four stitches in my upper lip. The next day I went to the New Kingston police station and got the same reception as the night before – verbal abuse, especially from the officer who was taking my report. So far, the police haven’t made any arrests or done anything to help me. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)

AT RISK AT HOME
SUMMER 2003: My friends and I were coming home from a [gay support] meeting at about 11:00 at night. We are a group of young men (20 to 23) who lived together in the Constant Spring area just above Halfway Tree. Just as we reached our yard, the neighbor family came at us with stones and a knife and machete. There were about six of them – the parents who were in their 30's and the kids who were in their teens. They were calling us names and threatening us, so we ran. They chased one of us down, Lenni [not his real name], who has now moved to another country. When we met up with him later in the night, we saw that he was chopped on his face, neck, hand and back. He was bleeding bad, but just bandaged it up himself. The next day, we all went back to our yard and the neighbors tried to attack us again. We called the police. When they arrived we told them how we had been attacked and chased, but the neighbors began telling the police that we were "battymen" and that we had to leave or they would kill us. When the police heard this, they took sides with the neighbors and began calling us names as well. We began arguing with the neighbors who called dirty names. We all began cussing and that’s when the police arrested us for indecent language. They hit us with their batons and guns like we were animals to get us in the police cars. Two of us got away but the others were taken to the Constant Spring Police Station. Once there, the police continued to threaten to beat us and call us names. We said we would get a lawyer if they tried anything. They charged us all for indecent language, set bail at $J5,000 [more than US$100], and gave us a court date. We were released after about five hours on surety. We didn’t go back to the house until a few days later to collect our things. When we went for our court date on September 3, 2003 our case was not listed so they stamped our papers and told us to go. We saw one of the officers who arrested us and asked him why our case was dropped. He said that the arresting officer was out of the country. (taken from: Jamaica: Accounts of Anti-gay Violence, published in November 2003)
NOTE: I concluded that this case occured in the summer of 2003, as the court date was on September 2003.

LESBIAN ATTACKS LESS VISIBLE
UNKNOWN DATE – BEFORE MARCH 2005: Local activists say women who step outside societal norms--by dressing "too manly" or having few male visitors, for example--risk threats of verbal and physical abuse. Women have reportedly been raped, beaten, murdered and forced out of their homes or jobs simply for being lesbians... "Just the other day abuses were hurled at me where I live, saying stuff like 'sodomite' (a derogatory term for lesbian), 'cocky fi u' (penis for you), 'Sodomite can't stay ya, gunshot fi u' (Lesbian can't stay here, gunshot for you)," Karlene (co-chair of J-FLAG) says. "They find all kinds of names to call you. It lowers your self-esteem. When you're out in the community you just have to hold your head down and hope nobody finds out about your sexuality." Karlene has seen enough not to dismiss angry words as idle threats. She recalls the lesbian who was raped and beaten by the local 'don,' or gang leader: "Because she had no men coming to visit her, it was alleged that she must be a 'sodomite' and what she needed was a 'cock.'... " Receiving less attention, however, is the particular impact this homophobic climate has on Jamaican women. Vigilante attacks most often target men, while the violence affecting women, including rapes and murders, usually occurs outside of the public eye. "Violence against lesbian and bisexual women happens more often in a more private sphere," says Michael Heflin, of Amnesty International in the United States. "It's what we've seen in other countries as well, although particularly acute in Jamaica." Men often get attacked in a more public way with crowds present and even participating while women are more likely to suffer assaults in their homes or neighborhoods. Karlene recounts the story of a woman who was murdered in the community where she was born, by people she'd known all her life after they discovered her sexuality. "The guys decided the lesbian can't stay here. They worried she was going to infect the young people and the ladies around her. After they raped her, they murdered her," she says. Another lesbian raped several times by the local 'don' has never reported the matter because she fears for her life; the man has threatened her several times, Karlene says. Most of these attacks go unreported, making it difficult to track the full scope of the violence. "They're afraid to come out and tell what happened to them. They don't want to face the embarrassment, the shame," she says. "They say, 'I don't want to talk about it. I just want to get past it.'" For these reasons, documenting rapes, beatings, and murders of women in their homes and neighborhoods is perhaps even more difficult than tracking violence against gay men on public streets. (excerpts taken from: Lesbian Activists in Jamaica Tell Horror Stories, published in March 2005)

VISITING HIS MOTHER
JULY 2007: example given by Carolyn Gomes from the Human Rights Group Jamaicans For Justice: "A man going to visit his mother in her community, and not only him being attack, but his mother being attack for allowing him to visiting her." (transcript from the BBC report: Coming Out in Jamaica, published in July 2007)









Internet forums that express hate
These are few examples of hate circulating on internet forums.

Youth Link Jamaica
A taste of the abuse hurled at gay people in Jamaica can be found on the discussion board of Youth Link Jamaica, the country’s leading chain of youth clubs. A young woman asked, "Do you think being gay or lesbian is right? What would you do if somebody of the same sex tried to come on to you?" A tsunami of hate engulfed her. "BURN DEM OUT! SHIP DEM OFF! KILL DEM!" replied ‘Jamaican Love Machine’. Most of the posts agreed with him. The most sympathetic response explained, "I can’t accept homosexuality as being ‘right’, but I still think you should be entitled to the same human rights that all of us are entitled to. But right or wrong, you can’t stop people from beating up gays when they go public. You should not be killed though." (www.johannhari.com)

Muzik Media (October 2005)
People expressing their views on Buju Banton's trial and on homosexuality.(Link)








Interesting comments on the subject
When I find interesting comments from people I will put them here. The first comment included below, represent the inner toughts of a Jamaican that overcome society's homophobic attitude and realize that homophobia is still deeply entrenched in him, without fully being aware of it. I found it on a blog and he agreed that I link it on my website.

An Ungly Reaction
TAKEN FROM A BLOG: A few weeks ago I got a message. My wife took a message for me on my business line from a man whose name I could not quite recall. The number was unfamiliar, as was the area code. As my mind searched for the person, I realized who I thought it was. I started to think it was a fellow who I had met in a meeting early last year, and he happened to be one of the many that I've met or worked with, who at some point I've had the thought "I think he's gay." Except that the thought that flashed into my mind next was "I hope it's not that fucking Batty-Boy calling me." I then muttered those words under my breath. ("Batty-Boy" or "Batty-Man" is just about the most vicious slang that we use to attack gay men with in Jamaica. It's the worst insult that can be applied to a male in our society.) The next set of thoughts I had were interesting."Who said that?" (Well, the answer was pretty obvious!) "I shouldn't be saying that." (I'm too "advanced" to be saying that.) "What would my friends who are gay say about that?" (Better hide this damn thought quickly, especially from them) "I hope he isn't calling ME thinking I'm one of them..." (Praying desperately now...) "If he thinks I'm one of them I'll kick his rass...." (Oh shit, there it is again!) "Was I wearing my wedding ring when I met him?" (Insane thoughts were now starting to creep in.) Hopefully, he didn't notice all this going on when I finally did call him back, and emailed him my speaking notes as I routinely do many times after meetings. It wasn't until the call was over that I was able to process all of these thoughts. I realized I had come a long way, and in some ways hadn't changed at all... READ THE COMPLETE POST: An Ugly Reaction)

Gays singing homophobic songs
TAKEN FROM A FORUM: "When I was at Asylum (a club in New Kingston, Jamaica), I was with about 15 other gay guys. Of course when they got to the stupid song chanting to hurt fishman (Jamaican slang for homosexual), I left but those poor gay guys sat in there and sang the song with all the other silly people... sad world"

NOTE: This comment was written by someone named Carlton in December 2007. It was part of 57 comments written for the topic: 'What would you do if your child was gay?' Although you can find very drastic and negative statements, most of them are eighter neutral or even quite positive. My favorite comments comes from Carton, Fyah Bun, Yow and Ken. I was very happy to find such a topic being discussed on the website YardFlex, as I was on the impression that it was a very narrow minded webzine for dancehall when in comes to homosexuality. In the past, I faced cencorship from their team when I wrote a comment on Buju Banton's tour dates being cancelled in Automn 2006. At first they removed the address of my website that was written in the comment. After I ask the direction why he removed the address, they completly erase my comment from the forum. It was obvious that they didn't want their readers to find out about my website. But they would leave tons of ultra negative and violent comments from other readers. (duh!) So it seems that the direction of YardFlex has improved in the last year.

READ ALL THE STATEMENTS: What would you do if your child was gay?








Deaths statistics regarding homophobic crimes in Jamaica
Note: I believe there is not official statistics kept by the Jamaican police regarding the killing of homosexuals. So probably the amount of "official" homosexual deaths, stated below, are numbered over articles read in local newspapers.

1982-2001 Statistics
Julius Powell of J-FLAG: 'We have had 47 murders since 1982 which we have directly attributed to their sexual orientation'. (soure: Jahworks.org, December 2001)

1997-2002 Statistics
More than 30 gay men have been murdered in Jamaica in the past five years. (soure: The Guardian, October 2002)

1997-2004 Satistic
At least 30 gay men are believed to have been murdered since 1997, according to published reports.

2005-2006:According to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, J-FLAG, more than ten homosexuals were killed on the island, between 2005-2006 alone. Last year, there were 40 assaults. (soure: BBC report: Coming Out in Jamaica, July 2007) (transcript from the Jamaican For Justice interview)

JULY 2007: Interviewer: "I asked Carolyn Gomes from the Human Rights Group Jamaicans For Justice, if attacks were increasing?" Carolyn Gomes: "We do know that between last year and this year that mob violence against gays is up. We certainly are aware it's a huge problem. These are people beaten to the point of nearly close to death". (soure: BBC report: Coming Out in Jamaica, July 2007) (transcript from the Jamaican For Justice interview)

SEPTEMBER 2007: Between February and July of this year, 98 gay men and lesbians were targeted in 43 different mob attacks, according to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays. Four lesbians were raped, four gay men were murdered, and the houses of two gay men were burned down. (soure: Newsweek)