Boycott Jamaica

The world started paying closer attention to Jamaica’s entrenched anti-gay discrimination by 2004, when reports began surfacing.

In 2006, human rights groups told Time Magazine that Jamaica was “the most homophobic place on earth.” The article spoke at length about the “rampant violence against gays and lesbians.”

By 2008, things had only gotten worse, according to The New York Times. The article said, “For years, human rights groups have denounced the harassment, beating and even killing of gays here, to no avail.”

A 2009 Associated Press article echos these horror stories.

A State Department report cites reliable claims of harassment and arbitrary detention of gay people by public employees, with little if any investigation by police. It also says there have been several anti-gay mob attacks, at times with direct police complicity. Some of these attacks have resulted in murder.

In March 2009, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, reiterated the island’s official support for persecuting gay people.

“We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organizations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or groups of countries, to liberalize the laws as it relates to buggery,” said Golding.

Given the island’s ongoing war against GLBT people, why would any person who cares about human rights visit Jamaica?