News

A new project is to be launched to tackle homophobic violence in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean Anti-Violence Project (CAVP), an initiative of the University of the West Indies (UWI), is to launch a web-based documentation project to record incidents of harassment and violence based on homophobia, gender and HIV-related stigma.

The launch comes on the heels of increasing incidents of homophobia, prejudice and violence in the region.

Recently, a Jamaican mob attacked groups of men described as ‘effeminate’ in three incidents in close succession.

In Trinidad and Tobago, Christian pastors called for a ban on the openly gay headliner Sir Elton John performing at the Plymouth Jazz Festival in Tobago; and the United Nations Human Rights Committee also recently urged Barbados to decriminalize sexual acts between adults of the same sex and take all necessary actions to protect homosexuals from harassment, discrimination and violence;

Also, crowds turned out in protests in Guyana, against a dancehall performance that contained homophobic lyrics, and in Bermuda, church leaders drummed up opposition to the planned return to the Caribbean by a cruise for children and their gay and lesbian parents slated for July 7.

CAVP has developed an anonymous, online reporting form to allow data to be collected from the ground around the region.

POLICE BRUTALITY

“I encourage all Caribbean people who may have experienced such regrettable incidents to report them online at www.CaribbeanAVP.org,” said Gareth Williams, a victim of police brutality at the mob attack on February 14 at a pharmacy in Half-Way-Tree, Jamaica.

“There are real costs to homophobia we are seeing across the region, not just for gay and lesbian people, but for all of us,” said Prof. David Plummer, Common-wealth/UNESCO regional chair in HIV/Aids education at UWI.

Commenting on online calls for a boycott of the Plymouth Jazz Festival and Tobago as a tourist destination, Anthony Maharaj, chief executive officer of CL Communications, the event promoters, said: “This small group needs to understand the damage they are doing to tourism in Tobago.”

The costs of homophobia and homophobic violence in addressing the HIV epidemic were emphasised by the leaders of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Aids Coordinating Committee (NACC).

“Stigma and discrimination drive the HIV epidemic underground. Homophobia does the same,” said NACC chairperson, Angela Lee Loy. “Homophobia has contributed to the spread of HIV in this country and the entire Caribbean region.

Incitements to violence against anyone based on sexual identity or HIV status must have no place in a society that is serious about reducing HIV transmission,” added NACC technical director, Dr. Amery Browne.

Published: 25 April 2007
Issue: 1266