Hated to Death: Homophobia, Violence and Jamaica's HIV/AIDS Epidemic

Jamaica's growing HIV/AIDS epidemic is unfolding in the context of widespread violence and discrimination against people living with and at high risk of HIV/AIDS, especially men who have sex with men. Myths about HIV/AIDS persist. Many Jamaicans believe that HIV/AIDS is a disease of homosexuals and sex workers whose "moral impurity" makes them vulnerable to it, or that HIV is transmitted by casual contact. Pervasive and virulent homophobia, coupled with fear of the disease, impedes access to HIV prevention information, condoms, and health care. This report is based on a three-week field visit to Jamaica in June 2004, as well as prior and subsequent research. Two Human Rights Watch staff members conducted detailed interviews with more than seventy-five people living with or at high risk of HIV/AIDS, including sex workers, men who have sex with men (MSM), women who have sex with women, and people who had been incarcerated in police lockups and prison. These interviews took place in Kingston, St. Ann, St. James, St. Catherine, and St. Andrew, the five parishes hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.