Jamaican gay bar raided

 

News from the sunny, yet hopelessly homophobic isle of Jamaica in the Caribbean reports of a local police raid on a popular gay bar.

The police raided the only gay bar on the Hip Strip in Montego Bay, Jamaica, last month, according to queer organisation J-FLAG.   The Hip Strip is the popular touristy area where there are many bars and establishments.

Around 20 officers kicked in doors, shouted anti-gay slurs, beat and pistol-whipped patrons and made everyone leave, J-FLAG reported.    Customers fled and as they did so people from nearby straight clubs pelted them with bottles and rocks.

Ten of the raid's victims sought medical treatment for injuries sustained in the attack, reports J-FLAG.    There has been a similar raid early last month on a  gay club in the capital, Kingston.

Officials have provided no explanation for either incident.

Jamaican gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson received an e-mailed death threat after his letter to the editor about the raids was published in a local newspaper.
      The signed e-mail said: "listen battyman we in jamaica wont endorse r accept you faggots no matter what the fuck u guys try 2 say r do.....get that through ur thick skulls!!!!!!!!!!!! we have different culture n upbringing fr north americans or whomever else.....you should consider moving sumwhere there......in the meantime shut the fuck up r you will fucking die!!!!!!!!"

Tomlinson reported the e-mail to police and an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He requested that the threat be publicized "just in case anything happens to me."

Tomlinson is a legal adviser for the organization AIDS-Free World and also works with J-FLAG.