A recent report chastising the Jamaican government for not repealing the buggery law in the interest of the LGBTQI population is the latest in a series of attempts by developed countries to influence local policies and perpetuate what has been described by some Jamaicans as a lie.
The report, A Caribbean Outlier: Repeal Anti LGBTQI+laws in Jamaica pointed to a culture of homophobia and violence in the country. The report was done by two gay rights advocacy groups based in Canada and the UK.
“LGBTQI+ Jamaicans continue to suffer horrific violence, discrimination, and persecution and lack the most basic protections under the law,” stated a section of the report, which was carried by the Associated Press on February 21 and republished in two local newspapers.
These claims are not surprising to the chairman of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, Dr. Wayne West, because they have been made before in an effort to justify the call for a repeal of the country’s buggery law. He believes it is part of a plot by members of the LGBT community to earn sympathy for their cause.
“A strategy used by the homosexual community, or I should say not just homosexuals but the LGBT community in general, is to claim that they are victims and that the reason one must accept their lifestyles is because it puts them at risk of physical injury, violence, and death, and that is not true,” he said.
The claims of victimization by the gay rights lobby have been refuted by officials in different sectors, including the security forces. In 2012, former assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green rubbished this claim. He did so the day before going back to the UK after an eight-year stint as a homicide detective in Jamaica.
“I think Jamaica is far more tolerant than the public hype. There is a vibrant community in Jamaica, and there isn’t the sort of backlash that some people say. I think we are much more tolerant and accepting. Just go around and you will see they are more flamboyant in the way they dress and behave as if they are comfortable with it. If that’s the case, why are they stigmatized?” Green stated in a Jamaica Observer interview.
Greenhad been seconded from Scotland Yard in the UK to assist with improving the investigative capacity of local law enforcement. He said he worked closely with the gay lobby group, which referred him to several incidents in which members of their community were murdered, but following investigations, he found that the majority of gay killings were carried out by members of the gay community.
“It’s just the hype from some who claim Jamaica is very anti-homosexual, but the reality is far from that. There are many homosexuals who live and work freely in Jamaica,” he said.
A year later, then Assistant Commissioner of Police Devon Watkis refuted claims that members of the homosexual community were encountering higher incidents of violence compared to other members of the public. He maintained that there was no evidence to support this claim, which has been pushed by varying international human rights groups.
In fact, Dr. Daniel Thomas, president of the Christian advocacy group the Love March Movement, pointed to evidence of Jamaicans being abused by homosexuals.
“I have not seen any evidence that suggests that homosexuals suffer violence at a higher rate than straight individuals. Sadly, we are a violent society, and everyone is suffering under it. It is sad too that particularly in and around Ruthven Road have been hotspots for persons actually being attacked by members of the LGBT community including cross dressers,” he pointed out.
He notes that LGBT advocates have a habit of conflating violence against someone because of their sexual orientation with violence against a person who happens to have a particular orientation.
“These Canadian LGBT advocates really aren’t telling the full story. The laws regarding violence which are currently in place serves to protect all persons, with no distinction between genders or orientations, and that’s how it should be. We encourage the police to continue to do their best to protect all persons and ensure that justice is served where there have been breaches of the law,” said Dr Thomas.
Most of the pressure on Jamaica to repeal its buggery law in recent times has been mounted by gay lobbyists living in Canada. Among them is Maurice Tomlinson, a Jamaican-born attorney who, in 2015, filed a case with the Jamaican Supreme Court to overturn the country’s anti-sodomy law.
On February 17, 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published its final report in the case of Gareth Henry and Simone Carline Edwards, two Jamaicans now living in Canada and Europe respectively. Henry, a gay Jamaican citizen, led the petition with the IACHR to challenge Jamaica’s “buggery laws,” and Edwards, a lesbian, was added as an additional victim to the petition in 2014.
LGBT rights activists claim that gay Jamaicans struggle to access jobs, medical care, education, and housing. Similar discrimination was reported in other Caribbean countries that have since repealed same-sex laws. Jamaica is one of six countries in the Americas that have not bowed to international pressure.