Blog post by Clinic student Bryce Braegger
On November 8, 2013, the International Human Rights Clinic sent a sign-on letter to Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller. Our letter highlighted the recent spate of anti-gay violence in Jamaica and called on the Prime Minister to honor her promise to call a vote to amend the laws that criminalize acts of consensual same-sex intimacy.
This summer was a particularly bad time to be gay in Jamaica. Over the last several months, violent mobs have chased LGBT individuals from their homes, or even stoned or killed them. In an especially egregious case, partygoers at a dance beat up, stabbed, shot, and ran over Dwayne Jones, a transgender teenager, then threw his body in the bushes. Several months later, a mob firebombed four gay men living at Dwayne’s house.
Our sign-on letter drew attention to these attacks and to the connection between anti-gay violence and Jamaica’s buggery laws. The colonial-era buggery laws, by criminalizing homosexual conduct, perpetuate the stigma and discrimination against the LGBT community. They also fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS by making LGBT individuals afraid to seek needed healthcare. By failing to amend the buggery laws, Jamaica is also violating its international human rights obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Our letter was signed by LGBT-rights organizations, human rights clinics, professors, attorneys and individuals to whom we are very grateful for their support. We hope that our letter will draw attention to this important issue and will help lead to positive changes in Jamaica. A copy of our letter is located here.
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