Last edited: June 10, 2004


Jamaica’s Leading Gay Rights Activist Killed

Gay.com U.K., June 10, 2004
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2004/06/10/2

By Ben Townley

SUMMARY: After Jamaica’s leading gay rights activist was stabbed and killed in his home, local gay groups blamed his death on homophobia.

After Jamaica’s leading gay rights activist was stabbed and killed in his home, local gay groups blamed his death on homophobia.

Brian Williamson was found with multiple stab wounds to his neck yesterday morning.

So far, local police are denying the murder was a homophobic attack, claiming that a missing safe suggests it was a robbery that went wrong. Two men reported to be at Williamson’s apartment prior to the murder are wanted in connection with the killing.

However, a spokesperson for the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) said that because Williamson was one of the country’s most visible gay men, they were considering the stabbing a “hate crime.”

The group told the Jamaican Observer that Williamson was “one of Jamaica’s most courageous human rights activists.”

Williamson was one of the founders of J-FLAG, Jamaica’s only group of its kind, started in 1998 in an attempt to overturn the country’s sodomy law. The effort failed, but J-FLAG stayed together, with Williamson a visible spokesperson who used his real name and appeared on television to raise awareness of gay rights.

The murder comes just days after Amnesty International published a report slamming Jamaica over its stance on sexual diversity.

The human rights group called for international action against the country, which is fast becoming notorious for its homophobic attitude. Amnesty International also demanded that the country’s prime minister immediately decriminalize homosexuality.

“We have talked to people who were forced to leave their communities after being publicly vilified, threatened or attacked on suspicion of being gay. They face homelessness, isolation or worse,” said Amnesty U.K. Media Director Lesley Warner.

“We are concerned that these reports are just the tip of the iceberg. Many gay men and women in Jamaica are too afraid to go to the authorities and seek help.”

Musicians who have recorded anti-gay songs have faced boycotts in the United States and Britain.


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