A Bold Move for Equality in Jamaica

Jamaica has a reputation for being one of the most anti-gay countries in the Western Hemisphere, a dubious honor that the country's Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, wears as a badge of honor. Prime Minister Golding has said that openly gay folks will never serve in his government, that laws criminalizing homosexuality will never be repealed, and that same-sex marriage is an abomination. According to Golding, the only way Jamaica will ever recognize same-sex unions is, as Charlton Heston might put it, is from his cold dead hands.

Meaning that as long as Golding is in office, there's little room for advancing gay rights in Jamaica.

"We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organizations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or groups of countries, to liberalize the laws as it relates to buggery," Golding said last year.

Which is what makes yesterday's story of the country's first march for equality — technically billed as a march for tolerance — so special. Under the weight of the Prime Minister's comments, not to mention anti-gay actors who regularly torture, assault and kill queer people, a group of over 100 activists took to the streets to champion love.

According to the UK Gay News, the Walk for Tolerance was organized by Rev. Nancy Wilson, a presiding bishop in the International Movement of Metropolitan Community Churches. It was focused on building support for sexual minorities in Jamaica, as well as drawing attention to the scourge of HIV/AIDS. For Rev. Wilson, spreading tolerance when it comes to LGBT issues and HIV issues shouldn't be a foreign concept inside the island nation.

"We have ministries all over the world that are open and accepting of all people including persons with HIV and AIDS and we know it is important to teach the love of God and Jesus; and acceptance of God for all people," said Rev. Wilson. "We believe that love and grace and mercy and tolerance are so important in today's world."

And those words had resonance for folks on the ground, who never thought they'd see the day when more than 100 folks could march down the street, with support from the local police department no less, and talk about things like HIV/AIDS or LGBT issues.

“Yesterday was an amazing day, here in Montego Bay,” William Urich, the chair of InterPride Committee on International GLBTI Human Rights, told UK Gay News. "My eyes well up at the very thought of the day's outstanding and astounding success."

In a world where all too often, equal rights activists are prevented from gathering or demonstrating, yesterday's march in Jamaica is historic. And if it moves the country even an inch further away from the type of rhetoric championed by the country's Prime Minister, then consider yesterday the biggest day for international gay rights this year.

Photo credit: InterPride (courtesy UK Gay News)