Saturday, March 01, 2008

Boycott Jamaica

From Wayne Besen's website we again find great reporting, unfortunately it is on a very grim subject:

Gay bashing in Jamaica is so prevalent that in 2006 Time Magazine wrote an article about the island headlined, "The Most Homophobic Place On Earth?" The New York Times this week showed that the anti-gay climate has only worsened, with the island caught in a downward spiral of outright psychosis. It is time to hand an ultimatum to Jamaica's public officials: Stop allowing rampant abuse of gay people or your economy will be crippled.

The Times story is downright chilling. It details how last month five gay men were having a dinner party when a mob appeared at the front door - kicking it in and attacking the men. While screaming homophobic epithets, between 15-20 thugs beat the victims senseless with sticks and cut them with machetes. One man is still missing, but police found blood at the mouth of a deep hole near the yard.


Please visit WayneBesen.com for the full report. One question I am left with is how can people treat others this way? When do people stand up and make a stand for those who cannot stand for themselves? How much worse do things have to get in order for action to be taken?

Please consider boycotting any business that brings money into Jamaica until this barbarism is addressed and ended.

3 comments:

John said...

I boycott every place in the world; it's easy when you have no money.

Anonymous said...

i'm a Jamaican and the island is not full of homophobic freaks who hunt gay ppl... i for one am not an extreme homophobic i'm not homophobic at all 1 in a million is not enough 2 make a generalization and attacks on gays r on the decrease not on the increase. boycotting does not solve ne thing. education is the solution...more ppl just need 2 be made aware

John Hosty said...

I appreciate you coming and clarifying your position on this. In case you are getting hitbacks for your comment I'll ask this: you think that homophobia is not an issue in Jamaica? I will respect your opinion since you are from that part of the world and would know better than I. Give me your honest take, you have me listening if you care to respond.