Oh my Lord, we have all gone and lost our minds! It's either that, or that three supposedly gay men completely forgot where the hell they were on Wednesday when an angry mob descended upon them in Tropical Plaza in St. Andrew.

Personally, I had thought that Jamaica had come to a point of tolerance of the homosexual community, because over the last few years we had seemed to be getting more comfortable with the fact that they do live among us. After all, everybody has seen them along Waterloo Road at nights; on Waterloo Avenue that has now become infamous as a gay hot spot; and, up in Manor Park and at Tangerine Place where they rendezvous with their well-to-do clients, so I had figured that we were okay with them 'coming out'.

Apparently, that is not the case.

JFLAG is an outrage

Now, while I am not sure what precipitated Wednesday's mob attack, I do know that in short order we will be getting the usual exaggerated public relations rhetoric from JFLAG about how Jamaicans are hostile towards the gay community to which I would respond and say that they are not alone. Just look at the murder figures. We have become hostile to each other, period.

JFLAG's protestations are going to be closely followed by the international gay propaganda organisations, who will describe Jamaica and its people as being backward and ignorant and all the other negative characterisations that go along with being homophobic.

Despite what happened Wednesday, I still believe that Jamaica has moved several steps forward when it comes to acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle. There are many people I know, for example, who while not in agreement with the lifestyle, do have friends that they know to be gay and really do not have a problem with them.

On a broader scale, I think Jamaicans mainly have a problem with gays only when they openly flaunt themselves in public. I also honestly believe that if members of the gay community keep to themselves and keep their actions under wraps, Jamaicans really don't care whether they are there or not. If Jamaicans were truly hostile against gays, that premises on Waterloo Avenue where two gay men have been killed in the last year or so would not have still been there. Trust me.

And for all the flak the police take from the international and local gay lobby, they certainly ought to be commended for going to the rescue of those three young men. After all, if you believe the gay lobby about the Jamaican police, you would be inclined to believe that they would have left those men to the angry mob that was waiting to do God knows what with them on Wednesday.

All in all, I think we all have to be thankful that nothing tragic came of that incident because God knows Jamaica's image could not possibly be any worse right now, what with the runaway murder figures so far this year, including six policemen and the blatant lack of political will to do a damned thing about the problem. The last thing we needed was for a mob to be beating three suspected homosexuals perhaps to death - not with the Cricket World Cup less than a month away. I honestly don't think we as a nation would have survived the fall out.

http://www.jamaica-star.com/thestar/20070216/cleisure/cleisure1.html
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