Commentary

Amnesty's position

THE HUMAN RIGHTS group Amnesty International has called for people across the world to fight against the abuse of homosexuals in Jamaica.

As is reported in today's edition of THE STAR, the group has asked people from all countries to write to Prime Minister PJ Patterson asking him to institute the necessary legislations to decriminalise homosexuality.

In addititon it also cited several cases where alleged homosexuals were targets and abused by both police and civilians.

But in the same story some of the alleged abuses they mentioned were denied and from all indications seemed to have been a gross exaggeration of the facts.

We wonder which Jamaica Amnesty International is talking about. Why? Because unlike years ago when Jamaicans had a near zero tolerance attitude towards homosexuals, that is not the case today.

The many persons 'coming out the closet', the men in Emancipation Park who were chased out ­ not beaten ­ and the number of persons before the courts for buggery are testaments to this.

What the human rights group needs to understand is that in Jamaica homosexuality is against the law and for people like us with a strong culture of homophhobia, accepting such a practice can and will never be easy.

One has to wonder if Amnesty is concerned about the rights of humans overall, or just a selected set of people. Why else would they claim that abuse against homosexuals are on the increase ­ a claim which the Centre for the Investigations of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse has refused ­ but they remain quiet on the number of children who have been buggered and their rights taken away.