Jamaica: Gay men flee firebombed house; police reject plea
Many Jamaicans still ridiculously claim that our country is NOT homophobic. Here’s further independent proof that such persons are beyond delusional. From the Jamaica Gleaner:
The Gleaner’s headline:
House occupied by gays firebombed
Better headlines:
Last home of Dwayne Jones mobbed and firebombed.
Cops refuse to protect his surviving friends.
Four homosexual men, who captured a house in the Porto Bello, St James, close to two years ago and had been residing there ever since, were put to flight early Tuesday night by an angry mob, who attacked the house and subsequently fire-bombed it.
According to an eye-witness account, shortly after 7 p.m., one of the men went outside the house, where he was confronted by a mob comprising some 14 men. They immediately attacked him and in the ensuing commotion, the men had to flee for their lives. The house was subsequently firebombed. …
The house was the last place where 17-year-old Dwayne ‘Gully Queen’ Jones, who was killed by a mob in St James earlier this year, lived. The men who were attacked on Tuesday night were said to be his friends.
Concerned about the safety of the men, who escaped unarmed but are now without a safe place to live, Morgan [Everald Morgan, an officer at the St James Public Health Department] said he made a request of the Mt Salem police to take them in for safe-keeping but the request was denied.
“The police said they could not take them in because they would not be safe there,” Morgan said.
A police source at the Mt Salem Police Station confirmed the firebombing and the request to take the men into custody for their own safety. The source said the matter was under investigation. …
When JFLAG was contacted, spokesperson Jaevian Nelson said the organisation was unaware of the incident.
The Gleaner’s article, “House occupied by gays firebombed” also included this paragraph, which is the Gleaner’s attempt at providing context for this incident:
“While many Jamaicans are generally unsympathetic to members of the gay community, international gay rights group have regularly come to their defence. They protested the killing of Jones at a party, where he had gone pretending to be a female.”
Related articles
- House occupied by gays firebombed (Jamaica Gleaner)
- Another homophobic attack in Jamaica (76crimes.com)
- Jamaica needs urgent action to save LGBT people’s lives (76crimes.com)
- Another anti-gay mob attacks in Jamaica. Why?? (76crimes.com)
- Jamaica: I failed Oshane Gordon. I will not fail Dwayne Jones. (76crimes.com)
This incident could have been avoided, if there was genuine concern by those who have the power to make things happen including you Maurice Tomlinson, the property is linked to the Dwayne Jones matter and by virtue of that there was a clear and present danger to all remaining being his friends and their friends seeing they were homeless or displaced while squatting in the house and St James persons knowing this hence the stoning incidents days after Dwayne’s news was carried.
A casefile as this handled by any sensible Crisis Intervention person or just someone with common sense would have seen that urgent steps should have been taken to have the men moved instead all kinds of interviews were arranged to parade them to the world as victims post the Dwayne Jones demise yet no proper redress that we had to read this firebombing report!
It is clear that affected MSM are just public relations material and nothing more, targets to be met for funding deliverables, how many thousand pieces of condoms can be distributed to them, oh yes and the all HIV infection rate worry, how many workshop seats they can be fit into but what after they are spent?