Asylum Is Granted to Gay Jamaicans
The
Daily Telegraph, October 13, 2002
By Martin Bentham, Social Affairs Correspondent
Two Jamaican homosexuals have been granted asylum in
Britain on the grounds that their lives are in danger because of “severe
homophobia” in their home country.
At least seven other men from the Caribbean island are
claiming asylum because of their sexual orientation, while a tenth has
obtained exceptional leave to stay. The cases are among the first successful
asylum claims since a House of Lords ruling in 1999 which stated that
“particular social groups”, including homosexuals, could qualify for
refugee status.
The applications were supported by evidence of machete
attacks, murders and threats against homosexuals in Jamaica and reinforced by
concern about the lyrics of some of the country’s leading music stars. One
recent hit record in Jamaica advocated “burning queers”, while others have
called for the shooting and battering to death of homosexuals.
One of the two Jamaicans to be granted asylum, who called
himself Matthew, said that he had suffered torment in his home country.
“Being gay in Jamaica is a hell-house. When I was walking down the streets,
I didn’t know who was going to attack me,” he said.” The police do
nothing. I would be dead now in Jamaica.”
Barry O’Leary, a solicitor with Wesley Gryk, a law firm
representing 26 homosexual asylum seekers, said that Jamaican men often faced
severe persecution because of their sexuality. “We have Jamaican people
seeking asylum whose gay compatriots have been chopped to death with machetes
and the applicants themselves have been the victims of repeated homophobic
attacks,” he said. “I am representing one client who has lost his last two
partners to fatal homophobic attacks, one of which took place in church.”
The Home Office said that applicants from Jamaica, where
homosexual intercourse is a criminal offence punishable with up to 10 years of
hard labour, were eligible for asylum if they could prove that their
government was failing to protect them. “If you are claiming persecution as
part of a particular social group and the state is not providing adequate
protection, there may be grounds for a valid claim,” said a spokesman.
Among the examples of homophobic attitudes cited by those
supporting asylum applicants from Jamaica are the songs of Capelton, TOK and
Elephant Man, three of the country’s most successful acts. TOK topped the
charts in the Caribbean island for 13 weeks with the song Chi Chi
Man—Jamaican slang for a gay man—which commended the burning of
homosexuals.
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