September 9, 2007

Gay Jamaican Tells the Truth About Jamaica (But Still Fears Repercussions from Own Church)

Newsweek talks to “Devon, a 30-year-old homosexual who was granted asylum in the United States three years ago, about growing up gay in Jamaica”:

Gay rights may be spreading in many countries, but not in Jamaica. Violence against gay men is high, and police often look the other way, say activists. When Brian Williamson, Jamaica’s leading gay rights activist, was murdered in June 2004, a crowd gathered outside the crime scene to celebrate. …

Devon, who lives in New York and attends a Seventh-day Adventist church, didn’t want his last name used for fear of being thrown out of the congregation. Excerpts:

Falby: What’s it like being a homosexual in Jamaica?

Devon: Wow. Terrible. Ridiculous. I have not been accepted by my family. My sister kicked me out of her house, and I was dis-fellowshipped by my church. At church I was an usher, and I used to sing in the choir.

. . .

How were other homosexuals and lesbians treated?

Horrible. Terrible. I used to have a roommate, and when I left to come here she was killed at our place. Some men beat and cut up her and her lover.

. . .

Do you think you’ll ever return to Jamaica?

The only way I’ll ever want to go back is if something changes so that people can live their lives and be free. They need to put something in place to protect people who are living this lifestyle in Jamaica. They have nothing in place; the police beat them, the members of the community beat them. And I hope and pray that [the new prime minister] can put something in place so that people like me, who lived the lifestyle in Jamaica, can live their lives.

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Posted by: Sapphocrat