‘If You’re Gay in Jamaica, You’re Dead’
Prejudice and violence against gay men in Jamaica have
been hitting the headlines this year. But until now the plight of lesbians
been ignored.
The
Guardian, August 2, 2004
By Diane Taylor
Following the murder of gay activist Brian Williamson in
Kingston in June, the Jamaica Observer published a letter which read, “To be
gay in Jamaica is to be dead.” Since Williamson’s death, Jamaica’s gay
community has been even more fearful than usual. The motive was officially
given as robbery, but Williamson was the only “out” gay activist in the
country; members of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays
(J-Flag), an organisation that operates underground and anonymously, believe
that homophobia made him a target. According to their estimates, his was the
30th killing of a gay man on the island since 1997.
International human rights organisations have described
Jamaica as one of the most homophobic places in the world; gay and lesbian
relationships are largely conducted in secret. But, while prejudice and
violence against gay men have hit the headlines following Williamson’s
murder and the ongoing controversy over Jamaican singer Beenie Man’s lyrics
(which call for the execution of gay men), the plight of lesbians in Jamaica
has not attracted the same attention. Yet their lives are no less difficult:
in a strongly-worded statement issued in June, Amnesty International
highlighted the growing problem of vigilante action against gays and lesbians,
and of their ill treatment and torture at the hands of the police.
According to the Amnesty statement, gay men and women
have been “beaten, cut, burned, raped and shot on account of their
sexuality. Once a person’s homosexuality becomes known to family and
community they are frequently at risk.”
Even speaking out anonymously can place a gay woman at
risk. According to a recent report from the London-based charity Asylum Aid,
one woman who appeared on a television show to speak (from behind a screen)
about the persecution she had endured because of her sexuality was verbally
abused and assaulted. “The following day, a co-worker who had recognised her
voice went as far as beating her up,” states the report. “Other women
suspected of being lesbians have been raped and chased out of their homes and
communities.”
Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International
Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission says: “Brian [Williamson]’s murder
has really pushed things back. Now there are no public voices in Jamaica to
speak out against homophobia. Lesbians face constant sexual harassment.”
Common terms of abuse include “batty man” for gay men and “sodomite”
for women.
Technically, it is not illegal to be gay in Jamaica,
although the Offences Against The Person Act bans any kind of physical
intimacy between men. Section 76 of the act bans anal sex between men, and
between men and woman—although the majority of prosecutions involve gay men,
who can serve 10 years in jail with hard labour if convicted. No statistics
are currently available on the number of prosecutions of gay men under this
legislation, but J-Flag plans to start collecting figures held at local police
stations.
Because there is no mention of same-sex relationships
between women on the statute books, they are perhaps more likely to be the
objects of vigilante action. Amnesty has received numerous reports of lesbian
women being raped: rapists believe theirs is an appropriate penalty for
“unnatural” sexual acts, and that it will “reprogramme” a lesbian’s
sexuality. “There are reports of lesbians being singled out for attacks on
the grounds of a ‘mannish’ physical appearance or other visible
manifestations of sexuality,” reads the June statement. Lesbians have
reported gang rapes in public places, witnessed and condoned by other men and
heterosexual women. Those heterosexuals who believe that sexuality is a
private matter, and not a reason to abuse or vilify others, are often too
scared to express any public support.
Nor does the situation seem likely to improve. “Both
the main political parties here have said they are not going to address
homophobia,” says a spokesman for J-Flag. “I lived in London for many
years and feel very comfortable with my sexuality but when I returned to
Jamaica I had to go back into the closet. This society makes you feel
self-loathing for your sexuality.”
Brenda, a professional woman living in Kingston, has
resigned herself to keeping her sexuality a secret. Her relationships with
other women involve clandestine meetings in out-of-the-way places. “I’m
always checking my back,” she says. “Some of my friends told me not to go
near them again when I said I was a lesbian. And my parents asked me to leave
their house. Beatings and rapes of gay women are the norm and are not
considered to be a crime here. Many women don’t report them to the police
because they know the police won’t do anything.”
She says that, in a recent case, two lesbian women
walking together in a public park were dragged into a maze by six men and
raped, although they had been demonstrating no physical affection towards one
another.
“In Jamaica, a woman is stigmatised if she doesn’t
have children,” says Brenda. “Some of my lesbian friends have had children
just to cover up the fact that they are gay. Brian Williamson’s murder has
been a war cry to the heterosexual community. Last week, a group of gay people
leaving a party had their cars ambushed by people throwing rocks.”
Brenda believes that Jamaica’s very masculine society
has contributed to the level of homophobia. “Men have it drummed into them
from an early age that it’s wrong to be affectionate,” she says. In
October 2003, a study carried out by the University of the West Indies in
Kingston found that 80% of Jamaican men and 25% of women believed that the
natural role of women was to support men. There search also found that the
majority of Jamaican men see themselves as more powerful than women, and
believe that their authority over women is inherent and God-given.
A spokesman at J-Flag said he believed that, at the same
time, Jamaican men felt marginalised within a hyper-masculine society. “In
tertiary education, only 25% of the students are men; 75% are women. Many men
are unable to get good jobs because they are less well-educated. When they are
brought up, girls are subjected to more discipline than boys—which is one of
the reasons they are more likely to go on to higher education. Boys are more
likely to be allowed to run free. We have a real problem with male role
models, too. A lot of children grow up in single-parent families with no
father present.
“We hear arguments that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam
and Steve. Homophobia is an irrational fear of gay people and people worry
that if they allow gay people to ‘take over’ there will be no more
procreation and the human race will die out.”
A number of gay Jamaicans have claimed asylum in
countries where they can express their sexuality openly, such as Canada, the
US and the UK. But, according to a recent report from Asylum Aid, Jamaican
lesbians who claim asylum in the UK do not get a sympathetic reception. The
report—entitled Safe For Whom?—states that Jamaica is one of more than 20
places on the British government’s “safe country list”: asylum
applications from these countries are routinely dismissed by the Home Office.
Sophia Ceneda of the Refugee Women’s Resource Project
at Asylum Aid is critical of the government’s inclusion of Jamaica on its
“safe” list. “Recourse to protection is non-existent for Jamaican
lesbians,” she says. “Deporting lesbians back to Jamaica puts their lives
at risk.”
A Home Office letter sent to a lesbian asylum seeker from
Jamaica acknowledges that public figures in the media, the church and politics
have voiced homophobic views, and that there have been numerous reports of
acts of violence against gays but adds, “Nevertheless it is understood that
this attitude is not universal: police officers in Jamaica have protected
homosexuals from violent assaults, and Jamaica’s public defender, who has
publicly condemned homophobic violence, has stated that the perpetrators must
be punished. But he cited the reluctance of victims of assault to come forward
as a reason for the failure of many investigations into homophobic attacks.”
The government is committed to protecting genuine
refugees, and asylum is granted where case-workers are satisfied that an
asylum seeker has a well-founded fear of persecution under the terms of the
1951 UN Convention on Refugees.
Janet, a 38-year-old lesbian from Jamaica who has claimed
asylum in the UK, is still waiting for a decision on her case from the Home
Office. “Whatever happens, I can’t go back to Jamaica,” she says.
“I’d rather die in the UK than be sent back.” There are scars all over
her body from the beatings she has received, part of the evidence she has
submitted to immigration caseworkers. She has often needed hospital treatment
as a result, but never told doctors and nurses why she had been assaulted.
“I’ve been beaten so many times when I’ve been out with friends that I
could write a book about it,” she says. “I tried so many times to stop
being a lesbian but it’s the way my body works. It’s the way I was born
and I’ll be myself until the day I die.”
One day, she says, she was at home with a female partner
when a child from the neighbourhood saw them together and went round knocking
on doors, telling people to come and see. “A large crowd gathered outside my
house and they beat down my front door. They kept shouting ‘Sodomite girl,
leave this place.’ “
Janet claimed asylum in the UK two years ago. The year
before she left Jamaica, she was coming home from a party when two men held up
her taxi at traffic lights, forced her out of the car, demanded oral sex and
raped her. “I couldn’t believe it the first time I saw a gay couple at a
train station here being openly affectionate to each other,” she says.
“There were lots of people around but none of them started beating or
abusing the couple. Coming here, I felt safe for the first time. Gay people
can lead an open life here.”
In Kingston, Brenda says she is determined to stay and to
resist the intimidation as best she can. “I’m 37 now and maybe by the time
I’m in my 60s I’ll see some tolerance of gay people appearing in Jamaican
society. I hope things change in my lifetime.”
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