Reply #14: No Woman No Cry: Lesbians in Jamaica

[FreeState]

http://www.divamag.co.uk/diva/features.asp?AID=357

Most of the media coverage of Jamaica’s homophobia has focused on the violently anti-gay lyrics of the country’s dancehall and reggae music, and brought to the world’s attention the murder in 2004 of Jamaican gay rights campaigner Brian Williamson, founder of J-FLAG, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays, the country’s first and only LGBT lobbying, advocacy and support group.

But little has been written specifically about the experiences of Jamaican lesbians. Although lesbianism isn’t a criminal offence under Jamaican law, lesbians are significantly affected by Jamaica’s climate of homophobic violence. Karlene is co-chair of J-FLAG, and uses only her first name because of fears for her safety. Against inconceivable odds, J-FLAG runs a women’s group. Says Karlene: ‘We have socials where we’ll lyme – hang out at someone’s house – and some of us host little events at our homes, but they must be in a safe area. Everything must be done in secret – we don’t want unexpected visitors’.

While in Britain we’ve been celebrating the right to join in Civil Partnership, lesbians in Jamaica struggle for the right to exist. Terry, a 22-year-old waitress, is fortunate to have a gay older brother and is out to her father, but she and her brother are regular targets for homophobes. This year alone she’s been trailed and taunted by homophobic men, who’ve threatened to beat her up at work and showered her with a torrent of verbal abuse.

‘I hope one day I’ll be able to walk down the street with my lover, hand in hand, without worrying that I might be killed,’ she tells DIVA.

In recent years, Jamaica has become notorious for its shocking gay rights record. In 2004, Human Rights Watch produced an alarming report called Hated to Death. It focused on homophobia within the country, detailing commonplace acts of extreme violence against gay men, and widespread incidents of lesbians and gay men being driven from their homes under threat of death.

The report also found that police in Jamaica routinely and actively support homophobic violence, and concluded that Jamaica is in violation of its obligations as a state party to regional and international human rights treaties.
It may seem odd, given the country’s heinous record on gay rights, that people like Beverly and Gina should risk having a fairly elaborate ‘wedding’ but, as Amnesty International spokesperson Sarah Green explains: ‘There’s no legal recognition for any act of union whatsoever, but in places where police are brutal and there’s serious vigilante violence, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all gay people are going to be forced into hiding.’