NO GAY RAGE - Homosexuals Are Not Targeted For Violent Crime, Say Experts

The long standing hole in the crisis communication via the lobbyists and advocates has once again reared its head remember the last time we saw a decrying of such agitation of murders of gay persons as lies by Betty Ann Blaine and then outgoing UK seconded police commissioner Les Green at the time with his parting shot Gay lobby claims not true, I had dealt with the matter via two audio posts/podcasts (pretty lengthy): 

Big Lies, Crisis Archiving & More MSM Homlessness Issues 12.07.12 and 

Big Gay Lie ... responses continued and 

Homophobic Killings versus Non Homophobic Killings 12.07.12 (highly recommended)

Let us also bear in mind the public's perception that is yet to be dented that it is gay men who are really killing each other due to jealousy as this old Jamaica Observer vox pop brings to bear:

Especially when the victims are found in the nude and have multiple wounds and even as media houses do not directly state the motive persons easily conclude they are gay murders when such variables are present.

Now comes this from the Gleaner as penned by Jodi-Ann Gilpin, Gleaner Writer

As various groups continue to decry violence against the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) in Jamaica, Assistant Commissioner of Police Devon Watkis has declared that there is no evidence showing members of that community encountering higher violent incidents than other members of the public.

Watkis, who was also speaking against the background of the recent killing of Montego Bay cross-dresser, 17-year-old Dwayne Jones, says all investigations are taken seriously and there is no target group.

"Our numbers generally show that we have had some violence committed against the citizens of Jamaica, inclusive of all groups," he told The Gleaner.

"I have no specific evidence outside of those isolated ones, that this group is a target group as opposed to the ordinary citizen," he said.

Jamaica has been described by some human-rights groups as the most homophobic place on Earth because of a perceived high level of violent crime directed at LGBT people.

The United States Department of State said in 2012, that homophobia was widespread in the country, and through the songs and the behaviour of some musicians, the country's dancehall culture helped perpetuate homophobia.

In its Human Rights Report, the State Department said that during 2012, Jamaica Forum for Lesbians All-sexual and Gays received 68 reports of sexually motivated harassment or abuse, which included 53 cases of attempted or actual assault, including at least two killings and 15 reports of displacements.

Political sociologist at the University of the West Indies Professor Anthony Harriott believes that every Jamaican is susceptible to violence.

"From my ongoing study of homicides, I can say that there is nothing extraordinary about the killings of gays to the extent that one can discern from the information in the police records that the victim is gay.

"As it relates to other forms of violence such as beatings, I do not know, but from my observation there might be a tendency of advocates for gay rights to name all violence against gays as anti-gay and we have to be careful with that," he said.

He added: "I think there is a lot of loose talk in just lumping up all victimization of people who happen to be gay as victimisation against gays. Truth is, I have encountered cases of murder where it is evident that it is as a result of one being gay, but those are few."

Meanwhile Watkis emphasized that everyone is entitled to their rights, but was quick to point out that responsibility is also critical.

"I won't dispute that there has been some cultural intolerance manifested in the public, but I have known individuals who have chosen that lifestyle but they have practiced their choices with responsibility and as a result they have not been subjected to any major taboo from the citizens of Jamaica," he said.

ENDS

This case earlier this year this one occured:

Many concluded that it was a lover's quarrel and hence adding further to the cynicism and dismissal of cries from the lobby for abuse of gay men in the majority. The murder of the two homeless homeless MSM last year which was first marketed as a homophobic killing then it turned out it wasn't as shown in that interview with the ED of JFLAG and Dionne Jackson Miller has only further served to make the agitation more difficult in justifying same and hence calls for tolerance. 

Arguable JFLAG and other groups do not have the capabilities to properly investigate and document from a socio-anthropological standpoint the incidents over the years but that ought to have been balanced with persons who know the lay of the land and have first hand experience when it comes to the actual LGBT populations and the issues that attend to them. The challenges that of gay on gay violence versus genuine homophobic or homo-negative ones need to be properly explained and also show that there is a link to the general homophobic nature in the national psyche that has an impact in even same sex exploitative relationships as well in other words gay for pay or hypermasculine types who fear their projected strength be lost or challenged in such sexual unions especially when they take on a hetero-relational construct to them so role play becomes so important (man and woman, bottom or top) and any deviation from such can and have had disastrous consequences.

Dwayne Jones's murder has other bits and pieces that have bot been brought into the discourse such as young pre-operative transgender individuals who after successfully fulfill their public female cisgender imperatives tend to go further in over exuberance and end up in problems. It was Dwayne's dancing that was the trigger factor leading to his sad end and this is in the absence of any social programs for such category of persons to learn the lay of the land and survival skills in navigating Jamaica, after all cross dressers have been going to such street dances and clubs for decades with incidents few and far in between.

The solution to combat the disbelief of "gay rage killings" which has been repeated time and time again by myself and other is the crisis communication needs to be tidied up and the TRUTH as per each case that involves a perceived gay victim must be gathered verified and presented outrightly so that no doubt must be left in the minds of the public and so called experts thus strengthening the credibility of the agitation for rights and recognition but at the rate pockets of the advocacy are going these days we are eons away from that. Will we learn?

Meanwhile there is growing unease with the stewardship of JFLAG from advocates locally and abroad regarding this same vexed issue of murders and how they are handled. 
a blog post clearly states the challenge: Gay Murders Jamaica – Gay Community Divided, I don't need to add to this as I am on record for years on this.

Cartoons like this also serve to reinforce the disbelief and cynicism when human rights groups are labelled or perceived to be selective or knit-picky on issues as done by the Jamaica Observer cartoonist Clovis:

Peace and tolerance

H