17-year-old Dwayne Jones was attacked and killed by a mob over the weekend once it was revealed that “she” was a “he.”
Jones was dressed as a female and dancing with a man at a party in Montego Bay Sunday night when a woman recognized him and informed the other guests that Dwayne was actually a boy. According to radio station, Irie FM:
It’s understood that one of the men at the party, held on to the teen, searched him and discovered that he was in fact, male. Some of the patrons reportedly set up on the teen, and chopped and stabbed him to death. His body was then dumped in bushes along the Orange Main Road.
Police discovered Jones’ body around 5am Monday morning.
Despite its reputation as a travel hotspot, Jamaica has often been cited as the “most homophobic place on earth” due to its rampant homophobic and transphobic violence.
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Maurice Tomlinson, a lawyer who fled Jamaica when he began receiving death threats after news of his marriage to a Canadian man leaked to local media, told the Washington Blade there have been nine reported anti-gay murders on the island this year alone. He noted this was a “400 percent increase in the number of reported attacks against LGBT Jamaicans since 2009.”
In a 2012 Human Rights Report by the US State Department, a retired assistant police commissioner claimed Jamaica’s homophobic reputation is simply “hype”, suggesting that “the real problem was gay-on-gay crime and members of the community cross-dressing in public.”
Homosexual acts are illegal in Jamaica, a holdover from colonial buggery laws, and men found guilty of having sex with other men can face up to ten years in prison. Though Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller spoke out against sexual orientation discrimination and vowed to review the anti-sodomy law, she has yet to make good on her promise. However, as the United States Supreme Court struck down Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act, the Jamaica Supreme Court heard the first legal challenge to the outdated anti-gay law.
Though police say they will increase their presence in the wake of Jones’ brutal murder, LGBT rights group the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) is calling for a thorough investigation.
“We send our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the teenager who was slain,” J-FLAG said in a statement Tuesday. “We call for a thorough investigation into the murder of the teenager in Montego Bay and hope that the family and loved ones of the slained teen will find the justice they deserve.”
Photo: BET
Polaro
Jamaica is a hell hole. There is no reason to ever go there.
B Damion
Please..please don’t think that the entire island of people think or act this way towards the LGBT community. Just like anywhere else, you have people who are so full of hate in their hearts. I am of Jamaican descent and I know many other like minded people like me who are not gay like me but str8 and have love for our community.
This is not fair to defame this entire island filled with some of the most loving, kind hearted people you can meet. This is a sad terrible thing that happened i am so saddened by this.
ted72
@B Damion: They best prove you right, otherwise, it’s as is… They need to take serious action against these homophobic criminals to assure me and my gay brothers & sisters their safety. As of now, I’m not setting foot there nor will my friends and family.
Your insight is appreciated, however…
tardis
How barbaric.
B Damion
ted72 ..trust me. I completely understand your position regarding this post.
Kangol
This is horrible news.
It seems like even with some advances like J-Flag, an organization that defends LGBTQ Jamaicans, and occasional anti-homophobic comments by some politicians, gay, lesbian and trans people continue to be treated as scapegoats by some members of the Jamaican body public. As the article rightly notes, this hate can be traced by to British (i.e., colonial) laws, and people should always remember that Britain’s former colonies (all over the globe) tend to be among the most homophobic places, though the richest ones (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the US) have made major advances in ending homophobia.
I do know that Protestant religious leaders really do foment anti-gay hate, just like elsewhere. It’s tragic, and the result is this young man has lost his life. The writer Thomas Glave has written some great pieces about this. People should check out his essays and fiction to learn more.
Mr. E. Jones
when a woman recognized him and informed the other guests that Dwayne was actually a boy
That nosy bitch needs to die.
vonlmo
Tourists to Jamaica are routinely advised to not leave resort premises to go into Kingston, lest they be assaulted. This barbarity is little suprising. Like Haiti, another ghetto-country, Jamaica should be nuked & sunk.
2eo
You can’t blame colonialism forever, there are systemic sole culture problems, and crying wolf doesn’t help anybody.
that_dude247
@Kangol: So protestants are the only ones who preach against homosexuality?
Vartan X.
@Kangol:
Do you really want us to believe that former British colonies were gay paradises before the evil white men came and destroyed their ‘cultcha’ of love, compassion, and tolerance?? This is the main reason why the far-Leftism of Americans and Europeans is a morally bankrupt ideology whose fundamental tenet is the notion that non-white cultures have no capacity for wrongdoing, only white cultures do.
Enron
Jamaica is 100% homophobic, almost an entire University chased down a young man for getting caught in a compromising position with another student then ended getting beaten by the same guard officers who were suppose to protect him. I personally am looking for a way out from this place. I can’t meet anybody just out of fear for my life.
B Damion
@Enron …..That is so sad. Can you try to get asylum to the US or Britain? Or would that be too dangerous to even try? I apologize for my ignorance regarding such things, but that is so crazy.
dre23222
@Enron: Have you tried to get out? A place that is 100% homophobic is beyond words crazy!! I would leave the first chance I get.
Teleny
@Mr. E. Jones: I’ve had str8 genetic females do that to me.
Dr. Dick
@Vartan X.: No no no nooooooooooo. Nobody (white or otherwise) in my super Lefty San Francisco, PC Democratic ego-circlejerk of a life really blames white people for all evil, that’s absurd. Sure, “white people” as a term is thrown around willy nilly as some collective villainous force, but it’s not that blacks and browns and reds and yellows were pristine utopias of sexual liberty before imperialism came a-callin’. What they WERE was free of Jesus and his pesky rules about the buttsecks….until European missionaries/slave traders came along….
and @2eo: that’s totally valid, except colonialism is not exactly a distant memory yet, (Hong Kong, relinquished in 1997) soooo I don’t think people have been blaming it “forever”.
Guys, let’s all remember who the REAL enemies are, the sons of b!tches who robbed nearly ALL of us of our ancient, butt-sexin’, pagan/heathen ways: ABRAHAMIC RELIGION. THANX FOR NOTHIN JEEZUSS
*i do not support “white-guilt”
**or misplaced anger from anti white-guilt white people
Ditamo
To me it just seems like utter ignorance from these people, it’s more than just homophobia it’s lack of respect for human life!!!! How could these people, especially the person who denounced him, be in a party and just let others stab and chop up a teenager in front of them, independent if that person was gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. It’s pretty outrageous and saddening that there are people in certain places of this planet that still accept such barbaric acts. We as a species have evolved so much in our social policies, but yet, it seems that some people are still socially retrograde. I feel sorry for Jamaica. I do know that not all Jamaicans have the same view as these people, but since it seems that, neither the country nor its diaspora is doing anything to stop these types of social injustice, I would say that it’s everyone’s fault!
BlogZilla
I don’t get it, It’s homophobic to not like cross dressers? Cross dressers look like women. I can’t stand drag queens. No I’ve never stabbed one to death, but some of that embarrassing crap I see at the gay pride festivals repulses me. It’s like dude, shave that beard and at least shave your legs, damn. And wash that nasty man pussy that probably has every kind of wart known to man growin’ out of it.
Daniel-Reader
Lord of the Flies.
Vartan X.
@Dr. Dick:
If African cultures were traditionally so gay-loving before the white man came along and imposed Jesus upon their butts, why not go back to their tradition of tolerance and embrace their fellow gay citizens? Besides, the U.K. and some of its former Western colonies have progressed significantly over the last three decades. Why can’t they catch up? Now, you’re going to vent about how every nation advances at its own pace, and we shouldn’t judge their authentic ‘cultcha’ because they are so unique, special and misunderstood human beings… bla bla bla. I surely don’t buy into this rubbish of moral relativism, and neither should anybody else.
cghmid
I lived in Kingston and can tell you this truly is the most homophobic country on the planet. It’s also the most hypocritical. Many of the men committing these acts of violence against the GLBT community can, themselves, be seen at gay parties that same night. From what I saw, it’s perfectly ok to rape your own daughter agt 12 years of age and sell drugs and then, in the name of religion, condem homosexuality. I could go on and on, however let me say its as bad as any story or report you might read, probably worse.
shanzi
Im jamaican born and raised here and I think its really sad how some of you people use the actions of some to label the entire island which is so not fair to the innocent loving and accepting persons who live on the island. For the ones who say they will never come here…I will never try and convince them to come here but look at this if the entire islamd was so barbaric would there be any gay persons at all living here?? You would hear on the news everyday that a gay person was killed.
And a next thing I do not condone with what happened to this young man but think about it…if you know that some people do not agree with you lifestyle why would go to a party that they are at and “wine” on one of these men try to pass yourself of as a woman, what did he think would happen when these people find out. Would you tell your that you stole something knowing you would get in trouble for it?? I dont think so!
B Damion
@shanzi …Thank you for confirming what I thought all along. Every country has it’s good and bad. This is just a horrible situtation. I hope those seeking asylum get it.
stfallon1028
Jamaica is a disgusting nation, despite its great natural beauty. It, Russia, and Uganda, and probably Cameroon too constitute the “Axis of Evil” for homosexuals everywhere.
alexcavill
@Kangol: And how do you explain the many former French African colonies as well as in the Caribbean and Asia where homophobia is just as bad? It’s not all down to the British. What about homophobia in Latin America under the Spanish and Portuguese?
Kangol
@Vartan X.:
The former British colonies are far and away the most homophobic countries on earth.
In Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, etc.), in Asia (India, Pakistan, etc.), in the Caribbean (Jamaica, to a far lesser degree Barbados), the British colonies have had the most extreme laws.
In former French colonies, the anti-gay laws were repealed under Napoleon, thus there is not law criminalizing same sexual behavior in Haiti or Dominican Republic, or France, or nearly all of France’s colonies, including Islamic ones like Morocco and Tunisia.
Despite the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, many former Spanish and Portuguese colonies, ranging from Mexico and Cuba to Brazil and Angola, do not have laws criminalizing gay sex, or the laws are nothing like the ones the British instituted.
Look it up. Blaming Jamaica alone without looking at the monstrous history of Britain’s colonial practices and laws, which oppressed Britons in the UK well into the 20th century (Alan Turing, etc.) is really problematic.
alexcavill
@Vartan X.: Exactly! Who do they blame for homophobia in the middle east, eastern Europe, Italy, Greece and the Baltic states I wonder?
2eo
@Kangol: So you excuse religious and sole culture by blaming things that were decades ago. We don’t hold Germans as Nazi’s, we don’t think of every Slavic as a gypsy.
It’s time these nations stopped blaming other countries and address the problems like adults, the fact you are so willing to use race is a pathetic indictment at just how far behind they really are as individual nations.
You are now 4 generations clear of colonial rule, and 8 generations clear of it actually being a colony. Grow up and fight the problems in 2013.
Kangol
Let me be clear, though. I am not defending Jamaican homophobia at all. I am not defending homophobia anywhere. What I am saying is that there are historical reasons why some countries are far worse on this than others.
For example, as homophobic as the Roman Catholic Church can be, it is telling that it tends to be the US states with the largest Roman Catholic populations by percentage (i.e., the ones in New England and the northeastern US, California, etc.), as well as several very secular ones (Washington State) that have passed same-sex marriage laws. It also is the case that as horrible and often homophobic colonial powers as France, Spain and Portugal were, the ways that those empires dealt with sexualities and homosexuality differed from and has resulted in differing approaches to the issue vis-à-vis the former British colonies.
That, along with the strong influence of Protestantism in Jamaica, the economic crises there, etc., have meant its discourse and treatment of LGBTQ has been far harsher and more homophobic than nearby countries like Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, etc.
Kangol
@2eo:
I am not excusing ANYTHING. I am just pointing out the historical role that certain imperial powers have played. If you are ignorant of history–not saying you are, but many are–then you cannot understand why things occur the way they do. Also, British influence in Jamaica extended well into the 20th century.
Jamaica did not become independent from Great Britain UNTIL 1962!
1962! Not 8 generations ago!!!
Great Britain did not end its extremely homophobic laws until the Sexual Offences law of 1967.
Please, open a history book, it’s not that hard to do!
Kangol
@stfallon1028:
Really? Uh, what about Iran, where young gay men have been hanged in public for allegations of gay sex?
What about Uganda, where the government, with US evangelical support, keeps debating laws whether or not to put gay people to death?
What about Iraq since the US invasion, where gay people are rounded up and have been killed without impunity?
The Axis is homophobia is a lot broader than you imagine. It should end EVERYWHERE. Gay rights are human rights, and homophobia destroys the lives of millions.
2eo
@Kangol: 50 years, is well over 4 generations, funnily enough 4 is what I said, not 8, 8 is from when we started seceding powers leading to eventually leaving.
50 YEARS.
50 YEARS.
That’s 5 decades. We have been marvelously slow out the blocks but have made amazing progress this past decade, and legalising gay marriage is now a reality, for your logic to ring true then we in Britain would never have got it because we’d be the worst of the worst.
Your logic doesn’t hold up to the slightest scrutiny.
The law is NOT the will of the people. The law DOES NOT define a culture. Stop making excuses for your failure to tackle social and economic issues for 50 years.
B Damion
This is the simple point I was trying to make. It doesn’t seem morally right to curse an entire country because of the deplorable actions of a few. It is understandable to be apprehensive about certain parts of the country, but to say that the entire country is bad is morally wrong. And I am guilty of this myself.
I have been to Jamaica 3x. I love the food the culture and the beauty of the island. Will I visit places like Kingston lol..hell no…lol
Stache1
@B Damion: Thanks for confirming what? Using violence towards those you don’t like. The guy “shanzi” just said this person got what they deserved.
The only thing he “confirmed” for me was that most of the commentators condemning Jamaica are right.
B Damion
@…Stache1 ..I see you try’en to come for me when I didn’t send for you. lol..!
gardis
Guys,
I lived in Jamaica as an Expat working in Kingston from 1992 to 2002. I had a house with a caretaker in New Kingston. I can tell you I felt fairly safe, as long as I kept on the “DL”. Yet, there are many young males who are extremely “feminish” and play the “woman role” in Jamaica. I have friends still there who I am close to and help as much as I can. It is nearly impossible to get an exit visa unless one can demonstrate strong economic ties (own a house, own a business, etc). I have to agree with B. Damion and Shanzi though. If you are in a place where dressing as a woman could cause severe consequences, then why do it? Discretion is always the better part of valor. Also, my friends tell me some of the young gays are themselves, very violent, and hurt each other and bring harm to others. They are poorly educated, ignorant, and have no family guidance. Jamaica is beautiful and a wonderful vacation place. When in Rome, so as the Romans do. I had hot and cold running boys in my house, no one bothered us, because we respected others beliefs and didn’t flaunt ourselves in anyone’s face. Stop trying to make the world accept you. It will do so on its own terms. Yes, it can be dangerous, but I disagree with some of the extreme characterizations posted here. I long to return.
gardis
@shanzi: I agree with you Shanzi. I lived in Jamaica. See my post below. Feel free to write me,
Gardis
mz.sam
FYI to all travelers and non-Atlantis gay cruisers: stay alive, spend your travel dollars wisely and have a great time ELSEWHERE!
Derrick
The woman who told on him should be jailed or taken care of because of her mouth and jealousy, he is now deceased.
Derrick
The Queen herself just approved Gay marriages in England, so it is time for Jamaica to get with the program! This is pure foolishness and most of the Jamaican men that are killing these gay guys and girls are probably scared their business will be put out there care there is alot of “Gay stuff” happening not only in Jamaica but every West Indian Island, I have seen it on various sites online, everything is pushed under the table but there are alot of freaks out there.
IslandDude
What happened must horrify us NOT because it happened in Jamaica BUT because it happened … period. Before the rest of us start labeling all Jamaicans as barbarians, let us remember that in the U.S. (yes; the land of justice, equality and enlightenment) Trayvon Martin was murdered by a man who has received shovel loads of money as a result and who actions have been declared justified. Just like the teen in Jamaican the teen in the U.S. became a target because he was doing something that someone else felt empowered to decide he had no right to do. THE QUESTIONS to ask then are; who empowered the barbarians in the U.S. and in Jamaica? How do we hold them accountable? MORE IMPORTANT though; how long will we keep blogging away from the safety of our keyboards while things go on as they ALWAYS have? What do we do when the government of Jamaica and the U.S. simply do NOTHING to bring about meaningful change (instead, they wait for us to move on to the next hot topic and forget these two lives)? Do we just keep on blogging away? What does DEMANDING change mean? Blogging and blogging and blogging and then blogging some more? Apart from all the chatter, what has happened or is happening in THIS forum that is so powerful that it will force change???????
Stache1
@gardis: All you do is confirm for me why it really is a ignorant rat hole country with your comments.
LadyL
@gardis: I totally agree that you should do what you need to do to protect yourself in a dangerous place. Safety first. That said, staying safe does not obligate you to drink the kool-aid and buy into the offensive notion that being openly gay, even in a dangerous place, represents “flaunting” yourself. That word is such a red flag to me as it is always used by homophobes to justify injustice.
What that young man did was foolish, risky–and incredibly brave. He should be mourned, not blamed.
jintao
In a country where the murder rate stood at 1,087 in 2012 equalling to 21 Jamaicans per week, that is 3 Jamaicans murdered each day and this does not take into consideration the nearly 300 killed by the police, the killing of a cross dressing teen is not as significant as some people with their homosexual agenda would want to make it seem. Jamaica has a problem with crime; see it for what it is and not what your selfish minds want it to be. The mother of that teen is mourning a lost, yes, but so is 2 other mothers each day. Jamaica needs to fix the problem of its people having a blatant disregard for the lives of other human beings whether or not that human being is gay, straight, man, woman, young or old. This is not a problem of homophobia, it is just a murder rate much too high…
taniya
We were located in Kingston which enable it to let you know this genuinely will be the many homophobic land on the globe. It’s also one of the most hypocritical. A lot of the guys enacting these acts regarding assault against the GLBT neighborhood may, themselves, be observed on lgbt celebrations that very same nighttime. Through precisely what We saw, it’s perfectly ok in order to rape your girl agt 12 yrs . old along with promote medications after which, from the title regarding religion, condem homosexuality. I could truthfully go on and upon, however ok, i’ll state it’s since awful since just about any history or perhaps report you could examine, probably a whole lot worse.
http://www.101lawyers.com
Kenzie
They strike again:
Two Homosexual Men Attacked and Mobbed in Jamaica on August 1, 2013:
http://youtu.be/20uhlwaMo3w
MrUSA
@Stache1: YOU ARE A JOKE!
That’s like me saying USA is a big “rat-hole infested Pond” because of the vast number of black people and hispanic maimed,shot,and killed by the police officers(USA). Oh, and your laughable court system (USA) where minorities(Hispanics and Blacks) get twice the prison sentences than their WHITE counterparts..Most of the whites rarely get convicted. Just look at our entire population, then compare the percentage of minorities in jail vs. whites?
OH, some will say they commit more crimes…(laughing). The entire country practice (in silence)the system announced by the NYC Mayor and cops.. ” On the streets of NY they stop minority pedestrians/traffic 80% of the time even tho they are less than 20% of the population.
We can’t compare #’s, but if you compare 4 Homosexuals being killed in Jamaica in ONE year to the vast numbers of deaths and atrocities committed by our judicial system (USA) …..”Let he without sin cast the first stone”
Someone poignantly and sadly referred to the death, sorry, the MURDER of Trayvvon Martin and the verdict of our fair and balanced(FOXX-faux-NEWS)court system that turned the murderer back on the street ( AND gave him a boat-load of CASH generated via his website). If Trayvonn shot Zimmermann… the verdict would be reached in less than a NANOSECOND, and it would be GUILTY!
Tho I hate the narrow-minded and vicious bastards that killed that little “baby boy”, NOT even an adult(18yrs+) because he exercised his God-given right to choose what he wanted to do/be and was abandoned by his “gutless and heartless” parents that were suppose to care and protect him; regardless of the position of the backward churches and the retrograded government policies toward homosexuals in Jamaica… Very similar to most churches here in the US of A.
It pales in comparison to the VAST DEEP PEST INFECTED POND OF ALL THE ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY THE CORRUPT COURT AND POLICE SYSTEM IN THE GREAT U S OF A!!
So, again I say unto you…. “let he that has not sin cast the 1st stone”
I might be a white american, but I’m married to a minority. SO dont tell me .. or try o tell me about the CRAP(putting it nicely) that my wife and her family endure daily…weekly…monthly.. from this GREAT, FREE, LOVING COUNTRY CALL THE US of A!
I really have to laugh at the comments condemning THE ENTIRE COUNTY, because of the violent acts of a few…Jamaica. I visited MOBAY and Kingston several times and will continue to go there! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST!
If Jamaica is to be condemned and obliterated off the face of the earth for the killing of (4 gay)people per year? And Jamaica has not GROWN UP after 5 generation? What should we do with the great US of A? Sink it? Blow it up? …..How many generations (23?) has passed since our Independence 1776….And still we fail to ‘PRACTICE’ fairness, equality AND JUSTICE for ALL, not some…. ALL!
FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST
MrUSA
@2eo:
That’s like me saying USA is a big “rat-hole infested Pond” because of the vast number of black people and hispanic maimed,shot,and killed by the police officers(USA). Oh, and your laughable court system (USA) where minorities(Hispanics and Blacks) get twice the prison sentences than their WHITE counterparts..Most of the whites rarely get convicted. Just look at our entire population, then compare the percentage of minorities in jail vs. whites?
OH, some will say they commit more crimes…(laughing). The entire country practice (in silence)the system announced by the NYC Mayor and cops.. ” On the streets of NY they stop minority pedestrians/traffic 80% of the time even tho they are less than 20% of the population.
We can’t compare #’s, but if you compare 4 Homosexuals being killed in Jamaica in ONE year to the vast numbers of deaths and atrocities committed by our judicial system (USA) …..”Let he without sin cast the first stone”
Someone poignantly and sadly referred to the death, sorry, the MURDER of Trayvvon Martin and the verdict of our fair and balanced(FOXX-faux-NEWS)court system that turned the murderer back on the street ( AND gave him a boat-load of CASH generated via his website). If Trayvonn shot Zimmermann… the verdict would be reached in less than a NANOSECOND, and it would be GUILTY!
Tho I hate the narrow-minded and vicious bastards that killed that little “baby boy”, NOT even an adult(18yrs+) because he exercised his God-given right to choose what he wanted to do/be and was abandoned by his “gutless and heartless” parents that were suppose to care and protect him; regardless of the position of the backward churches and the retrograded government policies toward homosexuals in Jamaica… Very similar to most churches here in the US of A.
It pales in comparison to the VAST DEEP PEST INFECTED POND OF ALL THE ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY THE CORRUPT COURT AND POLICE SYSTEM IN THE GREAT U S OF A!!
So, again I say unto you…. “let he that has not sin cast the 1st stone”
I might be a white american, but I’m married to a minority. SO dont tell me .. or try o tell me about the CRAP(putting it nicely) that my wife and her family endure daily…weekly…monthly.. from this GREAT, FREE, LOVING COUNTRY CALL THE US of A!
I really have to laugh at the comments condemning THE ENTIRE COUNTY, because of the violent acts of a few…Jamaica. I visited MOBAY and Kingston several times and will continue to go there! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST!
If Jamaica is to be condemned and obliterated off the face of the earth for the killing of (4 gay)people per year? And Jamaica has not GROWN UP after 5 generation? What should we do with the great US of A? Sink it? Blow it up? …..How many generations (23?) has passed since our Independence 1776….And still we fail to ‘PRACTICE’ fairness, equality AND JUSTICE for ALL, not some…. ALL!
FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST! FORTIS CADERE, CEDERE NON POTEST
Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/in-jamaica-cross-dressing-teen-chopped-stabbed-to-death-20130724/#ixzz2iOfduGcn