Melville CookeMan to man is so unjust
You don't know who to trust
Who The Cap Fits
Bob Marley
BY NOW we should be well aware of the term 'homophobia'. Now, I introduce you to another word, 'homofibia'.
In the current climate of hysteria by overseas gay groups, notably the British Outrage!, as they step up the pressure on Jamaican performers (who have no right to preach violence against anyone, that all-inclusive group, including the subset gay people) lies are being slung faster and thicker than Vybz Kartel's rhymes.
And when they are not being told wholesale, they are being given the smart bomb approach theoretically precisely aimed, but in reality, as surgical as an axe on hardough bread.
Hence 'homofibia', defined as "vicious lies deliberately and strategically told, retold, added on to and spread as widely as possible, except in Jamaica, to advance the gay agenda".
I encountered one of the more vicious examples of 'homofibia' on the website montrealdancehall.com, which reprinted an article of August 19 in the Montreal Hour, written by Richard Burnett. The story, under the headline 'What Happened To One Love', after stating that some gays have found asylum elsewhere, goes on: "But back in sun-splashed Jamaica a deeply religious island nation still deeply feeling the effects of slavery, British colonial rule, HIV and endemic poverty there are far more gays and lesbians who cannot escape and live in fear of being beaten to death.
"And their lives are being made all the more miserable by international Jamaican dancehall superstars like Buju Banton, Beenie Man, TOK, Capleton and Sizzla, the latter two ultra-orthodox Boboshanti Rastas, called 'bobo dreads', who exhort their fans with 'fire burn' lyrics, which profess the literal torching of all symbols of Babylon.
"Many persons or people perceived to be gay have since been set afire in Jamaica by mobs chanting 'fiya burn!'."
In Jamaica? Gay people being set afire by chanting mobs? Many gay people to boot? Who? When? Where?
BUJU WANTED
The same article goes on to quote the U.K. website gay.com.uk from June 19, as saying deejay Buju Banton "is wanted in connection with an attack on four Jamaican gay men, which took place in their home." In other words, Buju Banton is alleged to have been part of a gang of men who invaded gay people's private space and beat them up. That is an outright lie.
On August 2, the Guardian in the U.K. published a story under the headline 'If you're gay in Jamaica you are dead'. The headline, it appears, was based on a letter, which appeared in the Jamaica Observer in June, which stated "To be gay in Jamaica is to be dead".
In that article, J-Flag claimed that 30 gay people had been killed in Jamaica since 1997. (Up to last week, by the way, 1,030 people had been killed in Jamaica this year). If I may take liberty with the saying, there are lies, damn lies and, just maybe, homofibia.
The story goes on to say: "But, while prejudice and violence against gay men have hit the headlines following Williamson's murder and the ongoing controversy over Jamaican singer Beenie Man's lyrics (which call for the execution of gay men), the plight of lesbians in Jamaica has not attracted the same attention. Yet their lives are no less difficult.
"Lesbians have reported gang rapes in public places, witnessed and condoned by other men and heterosexual women. Those heterosexuals, who believe that sexuality is a private matter, and not a reason to abuse or vilify others, are often too scared to express any public support."
CREDIBILITY
'Gang rapes in public'? It sounds incredulous, but this is Jamaica, where a dead man's head can be cut off and paraded through the heart of the capital. I do, however, know the date of the beheading and the name of the beheaded. I do not expect to know the names of the lesbians who have been gang-raped in public places, but some dates and places would help credibility immensely. Just like those 30 deaths.
Two years ago, I went to the opening of an exotic dancers' club in the Blue Diamond Shopping Mall in Montego Bay, St. James. While there, a patron asked me how much it would cost to take one of the dancers (all female) home. There were open displays of lesbianism by the dancers and many patrons, including one woman who crawled up on the stage, her eyes fixed on the treasures between the open and inviting legs of a dancer. A crowd gathered and I did not see the outcome. (Hey, have you ever seen a woman giving a woman a lap dance? Pretty funny, actually.)
And recently I have heard more than one man complain recently that the lesbians are hogging the space at the go-go clubs.
Some homosexuals face a very hard time in Jamaica; hard enough, I believe, that there is no need to exaggerate. But the homofibia continues. And so will I.
Liar liar
Pants on fire
- Old saying
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
