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Jamaican Students Riot, Try To Kill Gay Student
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

April 6, 2006 - 12:01 am ET










(Kingston) Students at University of the West Indies rioted as police attempted to protect a gay student and escort him from the campus.

The Daily Gleaner reports that the student had been chased across the Mona campus by another student who claimed the gay man had attempted to proposition him in a washroom.

Dozens of students joined in the case and the student sought protection in a university building.

The mob demanded that campus security turn the student over. With security guards badly outnumbered college authorities called in police fearing the gay man would be killed.

The Gleaner reports that a contingent of police in full riot gear battled with students in an effort to protect the gay man.

Students threw objects from all directions at the officers. At one point the gay man was stabbed by another student, although the injuries are reportedly superficial.

The crowd only began to disperse when one officer drew his gun and fired a shot in the air.

Violence against gays is all too common in Jamaica.

In January a young man plunged to his death off a pier in Kingston after reportedly being chased through the streets by a mob yelling homophobic epithets. (story)

Earlier this month four people were charged with the killing of Lenford "Steve" Harvey a gay man who ran Jamaica AIDS Support for Life. (story) Harvey was shot to death on the eve of World AIDS Day last December. (story) Support for Life provides support to gay men and sex workers.

In 2004, Brian Williamson Jamaica's most vocal advocate of LGBT rights was murdered. (story)

Gay sex is illegal in Jamaica, punishable by ten years in jail, with the possibility of hard labor.

Reggae, or Jamaican dancehall music, is blamed for fueling homophobia. Reggae star BujuBanton's hit song Boom Boom Bye Bye which threatens gay men with a "gunshot in ah head".

The gay man rescued by police at the university was taken to a police station where the claims he had propositioned another student are being investigated. If the claim is substantiated he could face charges.

©365Gay.com 2006


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