Please contact government officials and tell them you will be boycotting Jamaican tourism and goods, and demand that they enact laws safeguarding their LGBT citizens.
The following link enables you to send an email to the Prime Minister, his cabinet, the Ministry of Tourism, and other important officials.
Click Here to Contact Government Officials!
Jamaican Tourism E-Contact Form
The Most Honorable Bruce Golding
Prime Minister
Jamaica House
Kingston 6
Jamaica
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Hold Jamaica Accountable for Anti-Queer Violence and Hate
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17 comments:
That is sickening and sad. It was
probably true that he was dressed
hotter and was better looking than
the other women.
I have found myself so jealous of
drag queens and some cross dressers
How the hell they get their makeup
so perfect is beyond me because
I sure as hell can't get my makeup
to look that good.
HUGS!
it really is a tradgedy, thanks for your comment laurie.
I share your rage but further impoverishing a whole people for the actions of some is certainly not the answer. If you knew how much poverty the average Jamaican lives in you might rethink that proposal.
Renee I certainly share your concern about Jamaican poverty but I'd have to say my first priority is ensuring the safety of my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who are denied basic human rights within Jamaica. I am not sure what else we can do (internationally) to put pressure on the Jamaican government to change their policies aside from boycotting.
Eric... I am with you on this one, I've been calling for the boycott of Jamaican travel for a very long time now.
If Jamaica is worried about its poverty problem and the economic impact of a boycott, then let them do something. The problem is with them and not with us.
Haha, I just looked at the dates on the comments for this and felt like I hit a time warp. I will throw in that I've been so angry at Jamaica's treatment of gays and lesbians and I wish there was more to do than just boycotting...I'm kinda with Renee's answer, putting them deeper into poverty isn't a great answer to making the hate stop. But what else is there to do, I wonder...
LOL T.R. from time to time I bring back an old post if it still is useful to act on.
I don't know that you could put the average Jamaican much further into poverty as outfits like Sandals are not really doing much to share the wealth with the people of the Jamaica, many of the employees in the big all inclusive resorts are American, Canadian, or British and the locals are not really big on tourist, gay or straight because of this.
But a boycott would get the governments attention... because the Government of Jamaica is bought and paid for by the big tourist industry.
This is really why Cuba and Raul Castro have started to get very gay friendly and have set up several gay friendly resorts and beaches in that country for European and Canadian tourist... they see gay tourism brings in big bucks and they understand what they have to do to get those bucks.
Eric... this article was my inspiration today... you inspired me to write an article about a government that is doing something to change its culture. And getting tourist dollars because of it...
http://lezgetreal.com/2008/10/cuba-libre-gay-rights-and-evil.html
Ohh I inspired an article, exciting. I'm coming over now to check it out =)
Well, extending your logic, QU, shall all transpeople abandon the pursuit of gay and lesbian rights until transfolk are fully included in the nontrans gay and lesbian movement?
Of course you know transfolk can't...because we are you. Of course, the LGB still treats us like disposable trash because they can.
Why are gay and lesbians allowed to discriminate, while you go after transhate in a foregin country??? Could it be that criticizing foreign born dark skinned folks is easier that stopping trans people from dying at home? Especially when lesbian health centers and gay HIV clinics turn away trans women to die?
1 in 8 trans woman of color die by murder right here in the good old USA. We still can't get treated at AIDS clinics like you can.
They won't even use the right pronoun as they shove us out the door telling us they don't treat "our kind."
And gay rights organizations still honor people who openly hate on trans women.
Anybody remember the Lambda Literary Award for Michael Bailey?
The only thing that stopped them was trans women raising Hell.
Glass houses. Stones. Do the math.
Thanks for the heads up on this! I was completely unaware. I'm tired of people saying that boycotts aren't a viable option. My money going to people who want to destroy me? That's not an option. You can point the finger at boycotters for not giving their money to bigots, but how about pointing the finger at the bigots for once? They bring it on themselves.
Actually, Alan, I pwned you.
And a anonymous gay dude on the Net calling an anonymous transchick a coward for being anonymous is...simply funny. Thanks for the laugh.
Think about it.
You know what they say anonymous, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
nice retort theloufus!
the biggest idiots here are the jamaicans that should have been doing what everyone in the world thinks of when they think of jamaica......chilling out,instead of attacking something that is so common....yet equally commonly hidden from the "real world" because of the obvious prejudices of a people (in the world)that are educated badly on how many sexes there are and what clothes are actually for!
clothes are to decorate our bodies to show off our minds!
and to keep us warm!
make up is for performers,newscasters,women types and also for male types that enjoy colour on their god given face!make up is perfect for intersexed "males" such as myself----to stand up for people like the person who got beaten to a pulp........i hate make up but i will in the future gladly apply it to my face sometimes to provoke thought in those people that like to resort to violence before thinking!
peace be with all of you people tonight and every night!
Boycott if you want, but I doubt that anything will change. Why? Because the Jamaican society is quite different from American society.
Many of you are looking at this situation with "American eyes", so to speak. When people get mad here, they protest/boycott/appeal to their leaders. It doesn't really work that way in Jamaica, that's part of the reason why their crime rate is so high.
In the US, you can live somewhere and only come across an aggressive fundamental Christian once or twice a year. In Jamaica, you are SURROUNDED by them. In the US, your circle of friends can include people of multiple religious backgrounds. In Jamaica, ALL of your friends are Christian. The people may not be homogeneous, but just about everyone feels the same way about homosexuality: God forbids and condemns it. This way of thinking is ingrained in a child's mind right alongside their ABC's. I was a gay-basher before I came to terms with myself. Not only because I used it to hide, but because it was taught to me and my siblings as the right thing to do. How would a child know ignorance if everyone around him/her is behaving the same way?
As an American of Jamaican descent, I've spent years in the country as a child and often vacation back there for the holidays (closeted, of course). I may not be as accurate in assessing their society as my mother or father would, but I understand a lot of it because of my experience. Luckily, I've spent the majority of my years growing up here in the US and have access to multiple perspectives. I know for certain that if it were the other way around, I'd only see one. My cousin made the choice to come out to her parents and was literally thrown out of her home. I'm still closeted to my parents and family for this reason.
In regards to the boycott affecting the economy: yes, it would hurt them. But no more than their crooked politicians have devastated the country already and continue to. Jamaican politics makes ours look like a fine china tea party.
I'm a CD so I follow stories like this, and understanding a problem can help tackle it. A 2005 piece at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/05/gayrights.comment has some interesting things in it.
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