Jamaican Challenges Notions of Race and Sexuality

In record time, Dr. Glave has become known for his erudite expressions concerning the intersection of race and sexuality. In one word, Glave is – brilliant.

While born in the United States in the Bronx, Glave comes from Jamaican parents and spent a considerable amount of his formative years on the tiny island. From his Rasta-like appearance to his sing-song patterns of speech, it is clear that Jamaica – its history and its people – remain imbedded in his spirit.

But being a same gender loving man who loves the home of his ancestors has not been easy, given the negative attitudes and sometimes deadly and aggressive actions aimed at homosexuals.

Not to be deterred, Glave helped found the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-Flag) while in Jamaica to pursue post graduate education opportunities and continues to speak justice to a situation of injustice.
His skill for writing has been acknowledged with numerous awards, including the Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction (2005) for his collection of essays, Words to Our Now: Imagination and Descent for which he also garnered the O. Henry Prize, becoming only the second gay African-American writer, after James Baldwin, to win the award.

We caught up with our friend and colleague recently in Atlanta where he was on a national book tour promoting his latest project, a collection of challenging and insightful short stories entitled, The Torturer’s Wife (City Lights Publishing, 2008).

“Each of the stories is stylistically distinct but each has its own particular issues and questions that I want to focus on and present to the reader,” Glave said. “In the first story in the book, “Between,” I wanted to explore what it would be like for two men from different races to experience a sexual relationship.

More at GBM Magazines!

Promoting Murder Isn’t a ‘Cultural Persective’

From Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida:

In a full page ad in today’s special Grammy-edition of Variety, more than 20 progressive organizations, lead by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, have called on the head of The Recording Academy to use Sunday night’s Grammy telecast to denounce music that promotes or celebrates violence against any group of people and the artists who perform such music.

The ad, in the form of an open letter to The Recording Academy’s President Neil Portnow, is in response to anti-gay reggae singer Buju Banton’s nomination for a Grammy Award in the Best Reggae Album category. Throughout his career Banton has performed music that glorifies the violent murder of LGBT people, and as recently as three months ago he refused to stop performing such music. Last October he was quoted in news reports saying, “This is a fight, and as I said in one of my songs, ‘There is no end to the war between me and fa**ots.’”

In his most notorious song “Boom, Bye Bye” he sings that “batty men (slur equivalent to ‘fa**ot’) get up and run” when he comes, that “they have to die,” and that he will “shoot batty men in the head” or “burn them up bad.” His music has helped foster such an anti-gay culture in Jamaica—where violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is common and sometimes celebrated—that Time magazine recently asked, “Is Jamaica the most homophobic place on Earth?”

More here!

It Rolls Down Hill, Homophobia from the Top

Bruce Golding, Jamaica’s Prime Minister said that same-sex unions might be accepted one day in Jamaica…but not on his watch!

In an interview with the BBC, Golding stated earlier this week:

“I make no apology in saying decisively and emphatically that the government of Jamaica remains irrevocably opposed to the recognition, legitimization or acceptance of same-sex marriages or same-sex unions.”

As the prime minister was opening debate in the parliament over the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, an amendment to Jamaica’s constitution which would define rights and freedoms for Jamaicans, he stated:

“There is the possibility that sometime in the future parliament could pass a law that says same-sex unions are legal but it won’t be done in this parliament. Not as long as I sit here.”

Bruce Golding: Jamaica's Prime Minister

Golding, who in 2007 told the BBC he would not allow gays to sit in his cabinet, said he does not believe it is the business of government to “interfere in what two consenting adults chose to do within their own protected privacy.

But he stressed “I will not accept it that homosexuality must be accepted as a legitimate form of behavior or the equivalent of marriage.”

So, in what very well may be the most homophobic nation of the world, it’s not surprising to see why violence against LGBT citizens is often overlooked and even tolerated as their leader sets the example.

This is one reason I believe the right wing sect of the American population is so bitter. For 8 years, our leader promoted hate and intolerance for LGBT people, and that’s who they got their cue from, and somehow now, believe it’s OK to hate the gays. This is another reason I wish many in the LGBT community wouldn’t be so hard on President Obama. Finally we have a leader willing to address our issues and we want to throw him under the bus for not doing enough quickly enough. He’s doing one great thing if he does nothing else…leading!

British Diplomat’s Hate Crime Murder?

“John Terry was a key member of our team in Jamaica and had been an honorary consul for 13 years, but with many years of other service to the British community in Jamaica before then.” Said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, adding “Honorary consuls like John play a valuable role in our work overseas and this was especially true of John, who helped many, many British visitors to Jamaica over the years. My thoughts are with his wife and children. He will be greatly missed too by colleagues and all those who knew him”

Homophobia in Jamaica

Jamaican society’s stance on homosexuality continues to get bad press abroad. Most recently the New York Times ran an article on Jamaica entitled “Gays Live and Die in Fear in Jamaica”. It featured a victim of violence called Sherman. The article said, “Even now, about three years after a near-fatal gay bashing, Sherman gets jittery at dusk. On bad days, his blood quickens, his eyes dart and he seeks refuge indoors.

“A group of men kicked him and slashed him with knives for being a ‘batty boy’ – a slang term for gay men – after he left a party before dawn in October 2006. They sliced his throat, torso and back, hissed anti-gay epithets, and left him for dead on a Kingston corner.”

Read more at: Jamaica Gay Watch!

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