Murder in the dancehall

J. Hari

Jamaica's only high profile gay activist Brian Williamson was stabbed to death in June 2004, the same year viciously homophobic Jamain singers take stage. Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Buji Banton sing lyrics like "Im dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays" or "Hang chi chi gal [gay women] wid along piece of rope" (BM), "Queers must die.. give me a tech-9 [a gun], shoot them like birds" (EM), "Boom Boom, in a batty boy's [=faggot] head... Shoot dem, this his skin must peel, burn him up badly like an old tyre wheel." (BB). Peter Tatchell and his OutRage! strated a campaign to silence this hatred, in collaboration with BMAG, the leading group representing black gay people in Britain an J-FLAG. They successfully got Elephant Man to be de-nominated for the MOBO (Music of Black Origin) award, Beenie Man's US tour has fallen apart since tobacco giant RJ Reynold has cancelled 14 concerts under gay pressure, a concert venue forced him to drop two anti-gay songs and sportswear mogul Puma, sponsor of the Jamaican Olympic team, has declared that they will not longer sponsor concerts featuring Buju Banton unless he pledges in writing to not incite hatred of gay people. But in Jamaica gay-bashing, often till deaths follows, is a day-to-day business, for passers-by as well as for the police.