Vernon Daley

A FEW years ago, a friend asked me to sign a petition condemning the actions of gay rights groups for their campaign to stop some of our dancehall artistes from performing in Europe and America.

I sent back the petition to her with a note that I had no interest in associating myself with a bunch of gangsters who promote the killing and maiming of people under some twisted notion of freedom of expression.

If our DJs can advocate the taking away of the lives of homosexuals, then I think it fair that homosexuals should at least be allowed to advocate the taking away of the livelihood of those DJs.

The crude anti-gay and miso-gynistic lyrics of dancehall performers and our culture of wanton violence which nurtures them, are fast giving us an unenviable reputation among the civilised peoples of the world.

Worldwide snubbing

And, it's not just in places such as Europe and America that people are shunning us. It's happening right here in the Caribbean. On the weekend, Director of the St. Lucia-based Caribbean Drug Abuse Research Institute, Dr. Marcus Day, called on law enforcement authorities to refuse permission for Jamaican dancehall artiste Sizzla to perform in that country on accountof what he argued was the entertainer's violent, anti-gay songs.

Here's what he had to say: "These guys who sing this kind of crap should learn that if they want to do that in Jamaica and the Jamaica Government does not want to do anything about it, that's fine; but when they come out in the real world where people are supposed to be civilised then that stuff doesn't cut it."

There are those who might be offended that a foreigner should speak about us like this. But the question is whether he is telling the truth.

Over the past few weeks, we have had reports of a number of people being attacked and beaten on the basis that they were homosexuals, yet we haven't heard any condemnation from the country's political leadership. I suppose that would be bad politics, especially in an election year.

If we want to deal with violence as a country, then we have to condemn it in all its forms, whether it's perpetrated against children, old women or homosexuals.

Part of the problem with this issue is that those who ought to know better demonstrate no leadership in engaging people to re-examine their responses.

There is no doubt that people should have the right to express disapproval of homosexuality if that's their feeling. What they don't have is the right to walk about intimidating, beating and killing people who engage in that lifestyle.

The prophet's predictions

It's bad enough we've set so much store by political polls as a country. Now, we are seeking to outdo ourselves by turning to a so-called religious prophet to tell us the outcome of the general election.

This gentleman, Dr. Phillip Phinn, tells us that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller was ordained by God to rule for seven years and suddenly the media have him in prime time telling fortunes.

Dr. Phinn's story had no business among the serious issues of the day. I curse myself for even commenting on it.

Where two horses are in a race and you bet on the animal that goes on to win, who is to say you weren't just lucky? If Dr. Phinn is really a prophet and not simply what Mervyn Morris referred to as a holy rogue of politics, then perhaps he might take on a slightly more difficult task like saying what I'm going to write about next week.