One Hate: Jamaica’s new tourism slogan?

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

Tires, shoes and stones were some of the things that were being thrown to a helpless gay being beaten to a pulp in a street in Jamaica.

Tires, shoes and stones were some of the things that were being thrown to a helpless gay being beaten to a pulp in a street in Jamaica. This was the scene in one of the posts on my Facebook feed yesterday morning. Shocked of what I saw, I decided to write an article about it.

Jamaica is the most homophobic travel and tourism island destination in the Caribbean, with harsh anti-gay laws, even though there’s a large local gay population. This is according to “tips for Gay and Lesbian Travelers” by Frommers.

The US Today once published:”Gay tourists in Jamaica should expect hostility from locals. Jamaica harbors strong anti-gay sentiment; sex between men is illegal, violence against gays is a theme of Jamaican pop music and police and government officials have condoned and even participated in the harassment of homosexuals.”

If the video had a message to convey it was this: One Hate, which may as well be the new tourism slogan for Jamaica Tourism as the famous Caribbean destination seems to be racking up points for anti-gay incidences of late.

Regardless, Bob Marley would certainly not be proud if he were alive today. What is happening on the anti-gay streets of Jamaica is a far cry from the ubiquitous “One Love” message that he became famous for. The lines “One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right” are not celebrated on the streets of Jamaica any longer, let alone honored. It does, however, seem like the prevailing message is one that is of hatred towards a particular group – gays and lesbians.

The Facebook video described above has been taken down and the owner of the video is no longer active on the site. Either his video was reported, then he was banned or he has disabled his profile from public view. But, not before other people (apart from me, of course) have seen it.

The below is a comment from Facebook user Jeff Hickson, who also saw the video before it got taken down. He said: “The video of an alleged gay man was extremely violent. It shows a Jamaican man being savagely beaten, kicked, picked up and tossed. Huge rocks from the size of golf balls to watermelons were hurled at his body, face and head. He tried to fight back a few times, he tried standing but to no avail he would fall and the beating would continue. I wanted to stop watching because I hurt. My stomach cringed, I felt nauseated and my heart ached. All I wanted to do was save him and destroy everyone around him because not only were they violent to him, most stood in favor of his beating and just watched without and act to slow it down or stop. He finally fell lifeless when several melon sized rocks hit him in the head and a few more kicks to the face.”

Hickson added: “In the video, we hear police sirens and the locals disbursed and ran the opposite direction. I couldn’t help but feel angry and sad at the same time. I can’t believe humans act like this and kill someone just because they believe he loves a man.”

Hickson claims to have visited Jamaica in the past. After seeing the horrific video, it doesn’t look like he will be returning to Jamaica anytime soon. Hickson said: “I am an avid traveler, but after seeing this disgusting display, I will never return to Jamaica again. I want their community to fail without growth and prosperity. This is how angry and sad I am. I also feel the same way about any people/ country that harms their own brothers and sisters in the neb of hate.”

It is unclear at this point if there were any tourists involved in the incident. But, I am very much interested in what the good people at the Jamaica Tourism Board have to say about this unfortunate incident.

For now, see below videos for Jamaica’s atrocious treatment of gay people.

Are Jamaicans THIS ignorant?
Jamaica LGBT News reports the fear of homosexuality and perceived contagiousness as well as communicability resulted in five homosexual men being trapped and barricaded by an angry anti-gay lynch mob at their home. Community members were deeply troubled by their belief that these gay men are going to spread their homosexuality to vulnerable young boys within the community.

The video of this incident is below:

However, without hesitation, Jamaica’s Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna declared that Jamaica is far from ready to accept the international proposal of the redefinition of the same sex family.

“Some of the interesting things coming out of the new reports of the International Human Rights Commission, and what their policies are looking at, have to do with the traditional family and what the traditional family looks like or shouldn’t look like and redefining the traditional family, as we know it,” Hanna stated during a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last week Wednesday.

“However, at this stage, Jamaica is not ready for this new definition of family. That is going to take a tremendous amount of cultural change.”

The culture minister was quick to point out, however, that “with the dialogue taking place internationally, Jamaica cannot afford to get behind the eight ball, and we cannot afford to be seen as not living up to our obligations. Whether or not we feel that we will be bludgeoned into acquiescence, we will have to have a place at the table.”

How do you feel about the above videos? Feel free to Rant Or/And Rave via the comments section below

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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