October 30, 2007
So much for gay-murder advocate Buju Banton “coming out against anti-gay lyrics“:
Buju sings controversial tune at music festival
It had all the ingredients of a good show - quality performances, massive support and mostly clean music - but the highly anticipated Guyana Music Festival clearly lacked the core item of local talent, which was in very short supply.
But even that was insufficient to put a damper on things and when the curtains came down at around 3 am yesterday morning, the $3000 that the majority of persons parted with, was exhausted mainly due to one man and a band with a music career much older than three quarters of the huge crowd.
‘Gargamel’ Buju Banton and Third World rocked the show so hard the vibrations probably shifted a few seats in the Guyana National Stadium. Combined the two powerhouses belted out sounds so sweet and conscious it was difficult to determine the best reggae performance of the night. But the night certainly belonged to the dreadlocked, still very much homophobic Jamaican dancehall star, who had no apologies for his discriminatory lyrics lashing the gay community.
“Buju nah like no batty boy and dem batty boy attack Buju”, the singer said to an adulating audience who seemed to have been waiting for that exact moment. And perhaps feeling the vibes of the embracing crowd and the urge to sing his controversial song, “Boom boom bye”, the singer belted out a few of the lyrics nearing the close of his performance.
But Buju was not the only performer to have walked that line. Kiprich, another Jamaican star who appeared much earlier in the night also sang out against the gay community and the audience largely enjoyed it.
It doesn’t make us happy to say we told you so. But we told you so.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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October 8, 2007
Adapt or die.
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Like Jamaica (more about that hotbed of homo hatred in a moment), the Bahamas is (are?) finally realizing that they don’t have to like us — but if they keep treating us like lepers, their all-important tourism industry can and will suffer.
Granted, this author of this op/ed for the Nassau Guardian believes the myth that all American gay men and lesbians are obscenely wealthy compared to our heterosexual counterparts — but the bottom line is the bottom line: Stone us in the streets (even figuratively), and we’ll stop spending our money there — and so will our family, friends, and allies.
Anti-gay campaign
The Bahamas needs to decide whether it can afford the damage a “gay and lesbian lifestyle ban” would have on its $2-billion tourism industry, said a member of an international gay rights group.
In an interview with The Guardian yesterday, Brian Winfield, communications director of Equality Florida — the state’s umbrella organization for gay and lesbian rights — said The Bahamas was already treading on thin ice with the international gay community. The strained relationship has everything to do with the very vocal and highly publicized anti-gay protests against Rosie O’Donnell’s Family Vacation Cruise Ship in 2004.
. . .
His comments come as both the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) and individual activists in the community call for the government to create a law banning the “gay lifestyle” of homosexuals both in the public eye as well as behind closed doors. The BCC was also involved in the 2004 protests against O’Donnell’s cruise coming to country. “It was horrible,” said Winfield. “They got off the ship to be greeted with an enormous amount of hatred and whether that hatred is in the name of God or not doesn’t change the fact that it’s hatred. …”
. . .
The arguments are those of thousands of American gays and lesbians, who if statistics are to be believed, wield disposal incomes very much the envy of their hetersexual counterparts and firmly placing them in the target market of tourists increasingly this country’s bread and butter.
. . .
Resort destinations that once banned gay couples have had courts force them from that position. … An increasing number of choices of wear to go for sun, sand and sea … means The Bahamas is especially vulnerable to losing those well-healed [sic] visitors. …
Back in April, much the same sentiment — “We hate homos, but we’re worried about the economic backlash” — was expressed in an op/ed in the notoriously homophobic Jamaica Star, “Bending ‘backwards’ for tourism?“:
Every day I read the papers I ask myself what the hell is going on. People are stealing phone lines to make bullets; toddlers are having sex in our schools, and anti-gay outrage is becoming more vocal and visible despite the obvious negative economic impact it can have on the island. Already, potential visitors are beginning to voice their concerns about visiting Jamaica primarily due to concerns about their safety.
. . .
There are no jobs to be had, yet the Statistical Institute has the gall to tell you that the economy is growing. … But we’re not going to be creating much of anything, let alone more jobs, if we don’t find a way to soften our rapidly hardening image across the world which is not being helped by this very vocal and very visible anti-gay sentiment snowballing right across the island. From Montego Bay right across to Kingston, more and more reports are surfacing about the mortality of gays and those suspected of being gay, being challenged almost on a daily basis.
We need to understand something. We might choose to remain homophobic as a nation, which is our right, but when we expect people to support our tourism product we have to sometimes bend backwards a little because tourists don’t have to come here. And let me tell you something, if you all think things are bad now you don’t want to see how bad they’ll get if our tourism market collapses, which it will if the gay propaganda machinery sets its sights on generating a boycott against Jamaica.
We have to learn to be more tolerant. It makes better economic sense.
Sapphocrat’s take on this piece:
Well, hallelujah: a Jamaican who hates queers, but realizes that the nation’s rabid homophobia is coming back to bite, square in the pocketbook — and that “learning” tolerance is vital to keeping Jamaica from complete collapse. …
Do I feel sorry for poverty-stricken Jamaicans? I know I should. I know I should be able to rise above their hate for us and do something practical to help.
But you know what? I don’t. What I do know is that when you have theocratic leaders leading the people down an ever-spiraling path of hate and crime (and Jamaica’s leaders and police actively encourage this kind of thinking and behavior), there’s not a damned thing anyone on the outside can do but starve the beast, and wait for the people to take the lead — which I hope the people of Jamaica can do through a democratic process, as opposed to a violent one (but I have little hope for the former).
Will that change the attitudes of rabidly homophobic Jamaicans? In the long run, I believe it will. When they get desperate enough to make the changes their current leaders won’t, they will be forced to “tolerate” us. And, as we all know, proximity — continuing and permanent — breeds tolerance. Eventually, tolerance breeds acceptance.
Same goes for the Bahamas — and for every other country in the world torn between a love of hatred, and a need for ready cash.
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October 4, 2007
For us U.S.-centric Usians, the NDP is Canada’s New Democratic Party — basically good guys, and what you wish the U.S. Democratic Party would be; i.e., totally pro-LGBT, pro-social programs, pro-environment, etc. Here’s their latest press release:
OTTAWA - NDP critic for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Transsexual Issues, Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas) called on Canadian fans of Jamaican dancehall music to carefully consider their attendance at concerts by Jamaican performers Elephant Man and Sizzla.
“These performers are known for their explicit lyrics calling for the killing of gay men and lesbians. According to human rights organizations, their music has contributed significantly to a marked increase in anti-gay and lesbian violence in Jamaica,” noted Siksay.
“Canada and Canadians have said clearly that the incitement of violence or murder against an identifiable group is unacceptable. I hope that fans of Jamaican dancehall music will appreciate that a vibrant musical tradition should not be used as a cover for the promotion of hatred. I hope that they will choose to boycott performances. I also hope that the promoters and venues for these concerts will reconsider their participation in the spread of a hateful message. Canadians must stand in solidarity with the gay and lesbian community in Jamaica and in Canada in saying that the promotion of violence is not acceptable,” concluded Siksay.
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October 2, 2007
The Toronto Star delivers the good news:
Kool Haus has pulled the plug last minute on the concerts of two controversial reggae and dancehall artists.
Entertainers Elephant Man and Sizzla were scheduled to perform Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 respectively, but both men have been under fire from human rights organizations who say their lyrics are homophobic.
Akim Larcher, founder of Stop Murder Music Canada - a coalition made up of 20 organizations that promote human rights - says that the federal government has remained silent.
“They shouldn’t have been allowed to get visas to perform in the country,” says Larcher. “It’s not about censorship or artistic freedom. That stops when hate propaganda is involved… No one should have that platform to speak.”
. . .
But activist and author Orville Lloyd Douglas says a lot of these organizations are targeting Black entertainers. “There are a lot of double standards here. They don’t go after Eminem or Marilyn Manson.”
. . .
“There are artists who are profiteering the songs about death and violence against gays and lesbians,” says Larcher. “It isn’t a black and white issue. It’s a human rights issue.” …
Ah, the old when-you’re-wrong-shift-the-target-to-something-else gambit. But that’s OK; we’ll bite:
Nobody’s “targeting Black entertainers” — only so-called entertainers whose lyrics promote the murder of gay men and lesbians; e.g.:
Shot batty boy, my big gun boom — Sizzla
(”Shoot queers, my big gun goes boom”)
Battyman fi dead!
Please mark we word
Gimme tha tech-nine
Shoot dem like bird — Elephant Man
And gay people have long complained about Eminem’s anti-gay lyrics, even while being told we’re just not hip enough, or young enough, or whatever enough, to appreciate his artistic stylings.
Whatever. These lyrics alone, from Eminem’s Criminal, are clear:
My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge
That’ll stab you in the head
Whether you’re a fag or lez
Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest
Pants or dress — hate fags?
The answer’s ‘yes’
And if Marilyn Manson is offending anyone (and it should be African-Americans who are offended; we’ve heard Manson repeat the N-word in his lyrics, compulsively), why isn’t anyone speaking up? Maybe because Manson is primarily the property of death-obsessed teenagers unlikely to notice his racial barbs, much less complain about them? 
See also:
Toronto Cops to Keep Close Eye on Jamaican Hate Music Purveyors
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September 26, 2007
What would Bob think?
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The Toronto Star reports:
Toronto police will monitor this Friday’s concert by Jamaican dancehall artist O’Neil Bryan, also known as Elephant Man, after receiving complaints that the performer incites anti-gay violence through his music.
. . .
Despite protests by the Toronto-based Canadian Caribbean Human Rights Group, immigration officials have issued visas to both Bryan and Collins. The latter was banned from the United Kingdom in 2004. Bryan arrived in Canada last week and has performed in Winnipeg and Victoria, where local police closely monitored the concerts.
. . .
Ticket sales for Elephant Man’s show have been poor, with only one-third of the 2,180 seats sold. Sizzla’s concert is expected to draw 1,500.
That’s little comfort to the organizers of the Stop Murder Music campaign, made up of 20 advocacy groups that believe music by homophobic dancehall performers has contributed to mob attacks against gays in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Police could charge the artists if they perform anti-gay numbers.
The artists’ Toronto promoters, Ultimate Entertainment and Chris Hines Ent., say the performers don’t have the power to “invoke violence and murder” against gays and lesbians.
The Toronto booking agent says he can’t do anything now because of contractual agreements, but says: “I am a million per cent against lyrics that promote hatred against gays and lesbians, women, religions and races … Had I been aware of the nature of the lyrics, I wouldn’t have allowed the booking.”
That’s why it’s important to keep hammering at the issue. A lot of people who can do something are just not aware.
See also:
Dr Evil or plain hate?
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September 9, 2007
From Newsweek:
Land of Reggae and Homophobia
While governments in a number of Latin American countries and elsewhere begin to recognize the legal rights of same-sex partners, Jamaica is bolstering its image as one of the most virulently anti-gay societies in the Western Hemisphere. Between February and July of this year, 98 gay men and lesbians were targeted in 43 different mob attacks, according to the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays. Four lesbians were raped, four gay men were murdered, and the houses of two gay men were burned down. On Valentine’s Day the police took two hours to reach a Kingston pharmacy where a crowd shouting anti-gay epithets had cornered three men; then the constables allegedly attacked an activist who had tried to help the men, striking him in the abdomen with a rifle butt and slapping him repeatedly in the face.
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Spokesmen for the country’s ministers of justice and national security declined repeated requests from Newsweek for interviews. …
. . .
The political climate isn’t likely to change as long as evangelical Christian churches, whose congregations already outnumber those of the mainstream Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, continue to grow in size. …
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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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