Keep U.S. and U.K. anti-LGBT rhetoric out of Jamaica!

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COMMENTARY: Roger Kiska and Linda Harvey are well known for spinning discredited homophobic arguments in the U.K. and U.S.A. Now they plan to do the same in Jamaica. Tell them NO! Join me in telling them to keep their hate out of Jamaica!

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Maurice Tomlinson: “Join me in telling them to keep their hate out of Jamaica! We have enough trouble already dealing with domestic religious bigots and their deadly rhetoric!” (To sign the petition, click the image.)

By Maurice Tomlinson

Anti-gay author Linda Harvey says there is no such thing as an LGBT person, only a “lifestyle,” and that politicians, the entertainment industry, and the media promote that lifestyle to young people. She also claims LGBT people “hate Jesus” and that transgender actress Laverne Cox is working in league with Satan. — The Advocate.

Jamaica criminalizes all forms of intimacy between males, even holding hands in the privacy of a bedroom. Convicted gays must also register as sex offenders and always carry a pass or face a J$1million (about US$6,800) fine plus spend a year in prison for each offence of not having the pass.

This archaic British colonial law is a major reason that Jamaica is the most homophobic place in the Caribbean. Gays are regularly harassed, beaten, and killed simply for existing, and the police often turn a blind eye. LGBT+ youth are especially vulnerable as parents, acting under the law, have thrown gay kids as young as ten years old out onto the streets. Many of these kids sleep in sewers and sell sex to survive.

The highest human rights body in the Americas condemned the hideous law and its impact on LGBT+ people and called on the Jamaican government to repeal the statute. But this is a non-binding decision.

Roger Kiska is an active anti-gay campaigner and  former vice-president of Alliance Defending Freedom International (ADF), described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “fanning the flames of anti-gay hatred that already exists in many of the countries where they are injecting themselves.”

In the meantime, I am fighting the law in court, acting alone against the homophobic government and ten extremist religious groups, which the court allowed to join the case. One of these groups, Hear the Children’s Cry (HTCC), claims to support all youth (but has never made any statement about the appalling situation for LGBT youth). HTCC has applied to admit two foreign court “experts” to give “evidence” that the hideous and deadly law is necessary to protect youth!

Those “experts” — Roger Kiska and Linda Harvey — are well known for spinning discredited homophobic arguments in the U.K. and U.S.A. Now they plan to do the same in Jamaica.

Tell them NO! Join me in telling them to keep their hate out of Jamaica! We have enough trouble already dealing with domestic religious bigots and their deadly rhetoric!

Please sign and share the petition at this link now! My case goes back to court on March 8!

This is the text of the petition:

To Roger Kiska and Linda Harvey:

We the undersigned have come together to request that you do not interfere in the domestic affairs of Jamaica during the upcoming case on decriminalizing homosexuality brought by Maurice Tomlinson. The inter-American court has already made clear that Jamaica’s archaic colonial law needs to be repealed. The law fosters violence and hatred against Jamaica’s LGBT+ community, with young people especially vulnerable.

Please show some respect for the human rights of Jamaica’s already beleaguered LGBT+ community and keep out of this case!

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