While having brunch today in Greenwich Village the scene was sprinkled with male and female homosexuals holding hands, kissing and engaging in public affection. A friend of mine said, this would never happen in a West Indian country. Low and behold I come home and get on the internet and there is a story of a Jamaican woman who was about to be deported back to Jamaica stemming from drug charges here in the U.S.
The young lady is a lesbian and her lawyers are arguing that if she were sent back to Jamaica she would not be safe, that the woman would be tortured and possibly even killed. The article addresses the specifics as far as cases and the amount of people who are spared deprotation under the U.N. Convention Against Terror.
The issue makes us take a look at our own prejudices as I spoke about in a former post. But I think Jamaica is catching a bad rap as if the people are uncivilized bigots who wish to only cause torment to homosexuals.Time Magazine did a story on Jamaica where homosexual rights groups have called the country “the most homophobic place on earth”. In the past year Reggae artists have been slammed in the international media for their homophobic lyrics as well.
This is where the propaganda in my opinion begins. Homophobia and homophobic people have existed long before Reggae music came around. The derogatory term faggot comes from the definition of such term which is a bundle of sticks. In the 1700’s gay men were tied up like a bundle of sticks and burned for being homosexual. Violence against gays is not new and I think the Time Magazine article and The Miami Herald article both do an injustice to Jamaica and reggae music by painting them as hate mongers of homosexuals without providing context for such disdain.
Was it St. Patrick’s Day music that made mobs of men beat up on homosexual males in New York during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Was it Muslim spirituals that made the President of Iran condemn homosexuality and describe it as a Western disease. Was it Beethoven, Frank Sinatra or any other musical period which made doctors and scientists here in the United States classify homosexuality as a psychiatric disorder.
The problem is, rather than address a problem from a solution oriented approach; groups look to find someone or something to blame. Of course I do not believe the woman should be killed because she is a lesbian, that’s absurd. But if the issue is as big an issue as we are reading than sparing this one woman’s life will not protect the many people who live in the country living an alternative lifestyle. Accusing the reggae artists of homophobic, misoginist lyrics that incite violence is by no means changing the issue of violence amongst homosexuals. In fact it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. When you paint a people as vile and destructive they take on those characteristics. It becomes a part of their mantra because you have expressed to them that that is who they are, that they are Gay Haters. By labeling a country “the most homophobic country in the world” media outlets send a badge of honor to the cause sub-conciously and create more hostile tensions for people who are homosexual living in such countries. If the article wishes to expose these atrocities and correct the violence against homosexuals than groups have to learn how to form a common ground, how to work together rather than insult and accuse.
Blaming the music is not going to change that people are brought up in religious households where they are taught that homosexuality is wrong, immoral and a sin before God. Blasting a country, it’s government and ideologies in the international scene is not going to create peace, in fact it makes war. People become angered that they have been stereotyped and ridiculed on an international scene because of the actions of others. This does not become a solution, this breeds hate for the people the article claims it was trying to protect. By no means do I have the answer but I believe more productive measures of working together to educate and create safe havens for homosexuals would do alot more good than articles and groups looking to find someone to point the finger at.
Check out the article, thoughts?
Recent Comments