Cops rescue men cornered by mob of 2,000 anti-gay Jamaicans

[Ian David]

published Friday, February 16, 2007

Three men branded as gay were rescued by police after being confined inside a pharmacy in St. Andrew, Jamaica, for an hour, the Jamaica Observer reported Thursday.

The 2,000-person mob cornered the trio into the Monarch Pharmacy in Tropical Square. When police arrived, the group was resistant, the Observer reported. When authorities attempted to extricate the three from the pharmacy to a police vehicle, one of the men was hit in the back of the head with a rock thrown from the crowd. Police were forced to use tear gas to disperse the angry, shouting mob, which included children.

Under Jamaican law, a person can be sentenced for up to nine years if caught having consensual gay sex. Gay rights groups have long branded the island nation as anti-gay.

Jamaica Star columnist Leighton Levy praised the police response and expressed relief that the men were not injured.

"The last thing we needed was for a mob to be beating three suspected homosexuals perhaps to death -- not with the Cricket World Cup less than a month away," Levy wrote.

More:
http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2007/02/16/5

[Mika]

1. Gawd forbid that the Cricket World Cup could be tainted!

Pathetic.

The Bahamas is a similar deal (as are most of the Caribbean islands - except Cuba now).

[xchrom]

2. jamaica has reall deep issues with homophobia.

and this is a fairly glaring example.

[youngdem]

3. Jamaica is a violent, fucked up place

Outside of the tourist districts, the country is in crisis. Unemployment, poverty, gun crime to rival any American city, mob violence, extremely active gang culture. All are huge problems.

I loved it when I visited, but when talking with locals (especially away from the huge hotels) and you get the idea that the country is on the verge of instability. They all spoke of anger with government and anger at each other for rampant crime.

[Downtown Hound]

4. Hey mon, not cool.

[bluedawg12]

5. Just watched the docu. on Rosie's Gay Family Cruise

and one of the caribbe islanders mounted a protest as the boat with kids and families docked-spewing the most hateful vitriolic trash in the name of jesus.

Stupid people who forget about their own experiences with bigotry and have an almost superstitious view of religion...oh wait...that could be here too.

I cannot get over the hate that is spewed by self righteous ignorant hateful people.

[sakabatou]

7. ...

[Tyo]

6. One more place we won't be spending our hard-earned gay dollars n/t

[Rowdyboy]

8. A friend invited my partner and me to visit her in Jamaica.....she was

a visiting professor for the summer. We immediately and forcefully declined.

When she returned, she assured us she now understood why we were so negative and she has no interest in ever returning.

There are too many places where my "gay" money is welcome.