Canadian immigration minister Diane Finley finds herself in some gay shit this morning. Activists have come out against Finley for her role in allowing dance hall singer Buju Banton into the country.

Gay and human rights activists have been leading a three year campaign protest Banton and his "murder music," which advocates beating and murdering gay folk. The Stop Murder Music campaign has successfully thwarted a number of Banton's and others' concerts, but apparently Finley hadn't heard, because she allowed Banton into Canada to perform.

And, again, activists are pissed:

…Finley has been accused of being more concerned about getting re-elected than addressing the concerns of the LGBT community. The country is in the middle of a general election campaign.

“The Minister has abdicated her duties by allowing Buju Banton into the country and as a result has provided him with a platform to incite murder," said Akim Larcher, spokesperson for Stop Murder Music (Canada).

“Buju Banton has continued to perform ‘murder music’ whilst on tour in the Caribbean and has recently said that gays and lesbians are part of social decay.”

Stop Murder Music is particularly angry over Banton's song "Boom Bye Bye," which specifically calls for anti-gay violence. That song was released in 1988, when Banton was fifteen.

Buju Banton and other hateful singers may soon find themselves banned in Brighton. The British town's council seems set to approve placing aural prohibitions on neighborhood pubs and clubs:

Under the policy, the playing of all so-called "murder music" could lead to a venue losing its licence.

It would cover all music, live or recorded, allegedly inciting hatred on religious, racial or sexuality grounds.

Some townsfolk and activists balk at the free speech restrictions, but Councilwoman Dee Simson claims the policy doesn't attack free speech. And, what's more, the restrictions are good for the community:

It will be used in really extreme cases to stop the playing of what's loosely termed murder music. We have a large gay and lesbian community in Brighton and Hove and we want to protect people from facing such hatred.

I'm a firm believer in freedom of speech but I'm against the incitement of hatred against minorities.

The council will vote on December 13th.

Buju Banton's under gay fire once again.

Despite earlier promises not to smear the queers, the dread-ful musician took time last weekend to croon his famously homophobic tune, "Boom Bye Bye". And gay activist Peter Tatchell's Outaged!

It was reported in Guyana's Stabroek News that at the concert Buju also said on stage "Buju nah like no batty boy and dem batty boy attack Buju"

Peter Tatchell, head of the gay rights campaign group, OutRage, which spearheaded Stop the Murder Music, a three year pressure campaign against the reggae star, told The Voice: "We offered Buju Banton a deal. We agreed to call off our campaign if he agreed to stop performing songs advocating killing gay people. Buju has now broken this agreement so we will be consulting with our human rights allies in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. I suspect they will want to resume the campaign. Most black and gay and human rights groups will now insist there is a world wide boycott of him."

The move should really come as no surprise. Banton previously denied signing the Stop Murder Music contract.

Dozens of New York gay activists spent their Saturday protesting on Randall Island, where internationally-renowned reggae artists came together for the Carifest festival.

The gays, however, weren't feeling so gay as they derided some of the singers' anti-gay stances. GLAAD's Rashad Robinson showed up at Randall Island hoping to spread the love and told NY 1:

The lyrics of Buju Banton and Bounty Killer are both lyrics that have supported shooting gay men, hanging lesbians. These are horrible lyrics under any context.

Buju Banton only fanned the flamer's flames.

CONTINUED »

Anti-gay reggae gets some mainstream play over at Time, where journo Christopher Thompson takes a look at the so-called Reggae Compassion Act: an alliance of rasta men and women dedicated to eradicating homophobic lyrics in the historically sunny genre.

Beenie Man and Buju Banton have reportedly signed - and denied signing - the act, but some of Jamaica's music makers ain't about to join the Stop Murder Campaign, which spear headed the act. Britain-based songster Vincent Nap tells Thompson:

In Jamaica we grew up in a homophobic society and the Bible is what we go by. You can't expect us to turn around like our religion doesn't matter.

British activist Peter Tatchell counteracts Nap's assertion, reminding readers - and listeners - "The struggle for lesbian and gay human rights. is a universal one." If only people would pay attention, they could get a good thing going on.

Beenie Man and Buju Banton are living in a state of denial, says Peter Tatchell.

CONTINUED »

• Vikki-Marie Gaynor claims DHL-owned Exel Europe forced her out of her job after she started living as a woman:

Almost as soon as I told them I was changing my name to Vikki-Marie and entering the transition stage of my gender reassignment things changed. I started getting hurtful comments and my shifts started being cancelled without warning.

• Juan Uys, South Africa's alleged "gay sex" blogger and fraudulent activist, arrested.

• Damien Hirst joins forces with Levi's.

• We're less intrigued by what Lisa Rinna is doing in the main picture and more concerned with how she got into the bathing suit. It looks complicated.

• Kelly Clarkson apologizes for dissing Clive Davis.

CONTINUED »

Jamaican singer Buju Banton was really looking forward to playing a concert in Brighton's gay district, but unfortunately the gays in the district were less excited about having him, considering that his hit song "Boom, Bye Bye" calls for shooting "batty boys" in the head.

In general we don't approve of censorship, but following all the homophobic violence this Pride month, perhaps it's not the best time to have some lunatic telling his fans to murder gays, considering that sentiment seems to be in the air already.

Show stopped after gay protests [BBC]

• In his continuing effort to rally the conservative right, President Bush will lobby for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. [AP]

• Homophobic singer Buju Banton performs live at California's JazzReggae Festival, but only after he supposedy changed his opinions on gays. [Gay.com]

• The new Scissor Sisters' new album drops in September, and it only took a literary festival to announce it. [Towleroad]

• June is Gay Pride Month, but what the hell does that mean? [Wikipedia]

• And if you're tired of celebrating Gay Pride Month, why not celebrate National Doughnut Day? [Gridskipper]

Queerty asks you to imagine for a moment that a foreign singer had a hit song whose lyrics advocated shooting Evangelists in the head, pouring acid over them and burning them alive. Would the State Department issue such a monster a visa to enter the country? It’s like asking whether Tom Cruise, if gay, is ever going to come out.

How and why Buju Banton and Beenie Man, with their hateful anti-gay lyrics advocating murder are let into this country are grounds for outrage. The two, touring the U.S., are scheduled to appear at Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island on November 21. Club owner Rich Lupo, made aware of Buju and Beenie’s lyrics, has utterly disgraced himself by not canceling their appearance in his venue.

Readers are encouraged to send protest e-mails to info@lupos.com. Buying huge blocks of tickets for the event and arriving en gay masse to boo the entire show, if somebody could organize that, would be faaaaabulous! That the Republican-led U.S. government lets these murder-mongers into the country speaks volumes about its moral values.

Mark your calendars for October 19. Buju Banton is to be tried that day in Kingston, Jamaica. He faces assault charges stemming from his involvement in a mob break-in of a house in Kingston. The occupants of the house were beaten while their attackers shouted anti-gay insults. Two of the victims had to be transferred to a hospital.

Buju is the youngest of 15 children; if one of his sisters and brothers isn’t gay, then surely at least one of them has shaken hands with a homo at some time. He is notorious for recording and performing songs advocating violence against gay people. In his song Boom Boom Bye Bye he glorifies himself for shooting gay people in their heads. When that song first came out, he had just signed with Mercury records. They compelled him to issue a statement, but he refused to actually apologize. He said his Rastafarian religion gave him all the authority he needed to propagate hatred against gays. He has performed the song live many times since.

This trial is of particular import because homosexual behavior is illegal in Jamaica. Authorities there, including the police, are often complicit and at times directly involved in violence against homos in Jamaica.