by A. Wheeler

Created on: May 25, 2008

When Amy Brown, a Jamaican student and close friend of mine studying at the University of Miami, was asked to describe the discrimination associated with AIDS in her hometown of Kingston, Jamaica, her characteristically expressive face went solemn. "The discrimination against HIV infection in Jamaica is really bad, so much worse than most people here can even comprehend," she said. "People with AIDS are forced to hide it out of fear that they won't retain jobs or that people won't want to sit with them on the bus. It's a total embarrassment to be HIV positive [in Jamaica], and I think that's a pretty serious problem."

A pretty serious problem, indeed. The US-based Human Rights Watch uncovered a dismal finding in 2004 in its discovery that a key issue in the development of the AIDS stigma in Jamaica seems to be related to an overwhelming homophobic mindset, especially in regard to homosexual men. How pervasive is this homophobic mindset, exactly? Well, under Jamaican law, acts of homosexuality are punishable by up to ten years in prison with hard labor. The HRW's report claims that violent behavior against homosexuals, from "beatings to brutal armed attacks to murders," occurs far too often in Jamaican society and that police harassment and brutality against homosexuals is widespread. The entertainment industry also contributes its share; many of Jamaica's popular reggae artists, including Beenie Man, Elephant Man, and Sizzla, perform songs with lyrics so offensively homophobic that over forty-four concerts have been cancelled in the US, Europe, and the UK. Outrage!, a gay and lesbian activist group in the UK, initiated hundreds of protests and concert cancellations around the world and called for an apology from the artists-which they ardently refused, despite an estimated collective loss of nine million dollars resulting from the cancellations. Books, poems, political campaigns, and even graffiti consistently embrace explicit homophobic messages, all of which serve to suggest that the prejudice in Jamaica is both deep-rooted and ubiquitous, permeating every aspect of the culture.

Why all the fuss over homosexuality? For one, Jamaica is flooded with Christian influence, possessing more churches per capita than any country on earth. Aside from the common Christian fundamentalist standpoint, there is also Rastafarianism, particularly the Bobo Ashanti sect, which encourages racial segregation and, quite frankly, makes traditional US Southern Baptist theology look

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