(Kingston, Jamaica) Buju Banton, one of Jamaica's
most famous singers, has been charged with assault in connection with a vicious
attack on six gay men.
Police allege that Banton was one of about a
dozen armed men who forced their way into a house in Kingston last year and beat
up the occupants while shouting homophobic insults. Several people were taken to
the hospital following the attack.
Banton, whose song Boom Boom Bye Bye threatens
gay men with a "gunshot in ah head", was identified by several
witnesses.
He will appear in court on Friday to answer the
charges. In the meantime Baton is out on bail.
"This trial is test case on whether gay people can get justice in
Jamaica," said Brett Lock of the UK-based gay human rights group OutRage, which has spearheaded an international campaign
against homophobia by reggae singers.
"Some Jamaicans fear that Mr Banton’s celebrity and the strongly
homophobic attitudes that exist in Jamaica will deny justice to the
victims of what was a horrific homophobic assault," said Lock.
Gay sex is illegal in Jamaica,
punishable by jail, with the possibility of hard labor.
Last year, a concert in London
by Beenie Man, another Jamaican singer who calls for beating
and killing gays, was cancelled. (story)
One of Beenie Man's songs
contains the lyrics: "I'm a dreaming of a new Jamaica,
come to execute all the gays."
The cancellation of the concert
came less than two weeks after the brutal slaying of Brian
Williamson, Jamaica's most prominent gay activist.
His body was discovered in his
Kingston apartment by a roommate returning home from work.
Williamson was lying facedown in a pool of blood. He had been
stabbed numerous times in the neck. (story)
Sizzla, another Jamaican singer
who advocates killing gays, had a concert at the House of
Blues in West Hollywood cancelled last month after LGBT civil
rights groups complained. Nevertheless, the chain of
restaurants allowed a concert by Sizzla to go on in Cleveland.
(story)
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