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| Homeless Gay Youth - Eye witness |
A homeless young gay man was set on fire then thrown into a gully to burn by six men while sleeping among other men near Musgrave mews off lady Musgrave road in an open lot in St Andrew, Kingston on January 24, 2013. In response to the incident, political representative, Kari Douglas, councilor for the area from the People's National Party (PNP) led by the Prime Minister of Jamaica, called for the implementation of stern legislation to prosecute homeless gay men culpable of swatting.
According to CVM TV News Report, "common scenes of homeless homosexuals walking in clusters in the business district at nights. They have come under attack for their divergent sexual orientation, but on Wednesday night it was an attack of unusual nature. One of the men was allegedly attacked while sleeping in an abandon lot which have become a point of controversy over the last few months, over this time around the man was said to be set on fire by six men and then thrown into the nearby gully. The man was admitted in critical conditions."
An eye-witness (homeless member of gay community) mournfully uttered, “we were bawling for help, and no help. The police came and watched the guy in the gully burning, and all of us had to run for our lives. J-FLAG (Jamaica Forum for Lesbian, All-Sexuals and Gays) not helping us, nobody. They just have the little boy them. They have to leave their community to come on the road to survive because they (members from their communities) are burning them up and killing them in the ghetto, and it is the same thing here and the police not defending us."
CVM TV News Report (January 24, 2013 via GLBTQ Jamaica
Also, as far as the attempts at refuting and disregarding the eye witness account of the incident, the Police Officer theorized that the victim was attacked by members of his own group. “a member of the sexual diverse group was set ablaze by another member. There was a dispute involving the group and one member was set ablaze while he was sleeping," said SSP Fitz Bailey (Head- St Andrew Police Division).
As it relates to the alleged lewd public behavior and swatting habits of the homeless young gay men, Kari Douglas, Councilor for Trafalgar division in Kingston expressed that "they are very disruptive and this is the reason why persons tend to want to abuse them or disassociate themselves from them. So we should prosecute them as long as they are occupying lands that does belong to them."
Based on the eye witness account, the young homeless gay man was attacked because of his sexual orientation. He pleaded for help for many other homeless homosexuals who were hosted/ excommunicated from their homes and immediate community for being gay, now on the streets struggling to stay alive.
The common theory and motive for the killing and abuse of homosexuals often used by police investigators and from member of the Jamaican society is one in which all homosexual- victims perpetrators are of the same sexual orientation and the act tends to result from a gay domestic dispute. It is true that gay on gay crimes exist in Jamaica, but not to the extent where the erroneous narrative "gays are the ones killing gays in Jamaica" is being used to substantiate questionable killing of gays when circumstantial and empirical evidence suggests otherwise.
When heterosexuals are killed in Jamaica, the sexuality of their perpetrators is a non-issue. However, when an identified gay individual is killed, the entire country and police in all cases speculated, theorized and concluded that the perpetrator is also gay; "his lover killed him". These sentiments rings as facts throughout the entire populace, except for the victim's family and friends who strongly insisted that their love ones were attacked or murdered for being gay.
Unfortunately, the said theory "gay on gay crime" seemed to influence SSP Fitz Bailey (Police Officer) premature decision to conclude that the motive for this attack without proper probing and eye witness accounts.
While many are quick to vilify, demonize and prosecute the over flowing pockets of homeless gay men in Jamaica, especially in Kingston, even calling them "rowdy" according to J-FLAG, we must never forget Dwayne Jones, who was murdered at the age of 16 on July 22, 2013. He was kicked out of his home and community at 14-years-old. As a homeless young man, Dwayne bears several scars and stab wounds from numerous anti-gay attacks. During an interview a few weeks before his death, he recounts his struggle for survival, while occupying an abandon government building. He was threaten and harassed my police officers.
Jamaica's gay on gay crime theory did not coincide with the brutal murder of Dwayne Jones, because when he was mobbed, stabbed, shot and beaten to death, his body was found in the bushes clothed in female clothes which suggested he was gay or a transgender woman. With that said, the police have yet to report that Dwayne Jones was murdered because of his gender identity or sexual orientation.
Instead of addressing the issue of homelessness of young gay children, the government solution is to prosecute them. This is not right! Forsaking and attacking our children because they are gay needs to stop. The government funded agencies, such as, The Children’s Registry and The Children’s Advocate needs to live u up to their mandate to protect and serve all Jamaican children regardless of their sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. It is time to act.
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| Homeless Gay youth leaving the scene of the attack on one of their members |
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| Police response team/units |
References:
- CVM TV News Report (starts at 00:51 sec) http://www.cvmtv.com/videos_1.php?id=662§ion=watch
- GLBTQ Jamaica
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2389284/Dwayne-Jones-16-year-old-transgender-teen-latest-die-Jamaican-mob-violence-LGBT-community.html