Father beats son on suspicion of being a homosexual

An irate father accused of cruelly disciplining his son for what he claims were homosexual tendencies had his bail extended when he appeared before the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

The accused, who was charged with cruelty to a child, said that he witnessed his seven-year-old son in the street playing with a number of other children.

It is alleged that the accused accosted his son, scolding him that he is always in the street 'with man'. It is believed that Brown ushered his son away from the roadside to their home where he sought to discipline him by stripping him of his clothes, allegedly using a wire to whip him repeatedly.

The court heard that after enduring a whipping, the seven-year-old fled from the house running breathlessly to a nearby police station in the nude. Brown was subsequently arrested and charged.

However, Brown maintained that his son exhibited homosexual tendencies as he played with other children of similar age. As a result, he sought to discipline his child as he says other parents were not taking the necessary action to prevent a re-occurrence.

"They are feeling on each other's penis and whining on each other and these parents are not doing anything about it," said a seemingly distressed Brown.

"It is called experimentation. It's a normal part of growing up where they play nurse and doctor," remarked Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey. "What you need to do is talk to your child and explain to him what is appropriate behaviour. Beating them is not the answer. Teaching them is the answer. Now the way in which you beat him, that is what you are charged for,"

Subsequently, the accused was ordered to return to court on September 9 for a mention hearing.

Sadly there are so many other cases like this that go unreported or unheard of and teens and young adults suffer in silence unable to be themselves or get validation for who they actually are. The lack of sex and sexuality in schools' curriculum also is a factor as played out in the recent issues shows us why a beating also such as this repeatedly occur.

I hope the case leads to some sense and sensibility into this father who thinks the only way to address this and that some counseling be brought to bear not to supposed restore the youth as it were for the minds of some to heterosexuality but to repair the broken relations between the father and son. 

Reconnecting should be the ultimate goal here than just stopping the beatings and the court case, I hope this young man also does not end up becoming another displaced or homeless statistic as we also have so many of those to speak of.

There was an incident several years ago where a father allegedly handed his gay son to students at his school to be beaten but was rescued by compassionate ancillary staff who took several blows to shield him and called for police intervention.

Jamaica Observer article 19/02/04: Father encourages students to maul 'gay' son

"According to students and teachers at the school, the boy's father apparently found pictures of nude men in the boy's school bag.
Infuriated, he turned up at the school yesterday with the pictures and encouraged the mob to turn on his son. As students began to maul his son, the man is reported to have driven away."

In notoriously homophobic Jamaica gay men can hardly expect protection even from their parents - as was made very clear yesterday.
A father, concerned that his son might be gay, turned up at the Dunoon Park Technical High School in east Kingston and apparently encouraged other students to beat the boy, an eleventh grader.

"Them bruck up desk and bench and beat him up badly," one Dunoon student told the Observer. "Him get nuff lick, box, kick and thump from boy and girl."
The boy's name was withheld by school officials and the extent of his injuries was not immediately known. But whatever they were, it would have been worse were it not for the intervention of ancillary staff.
According to students and teachers at the school, the boy's father apparently found pictures of nude men in the boy's school bag.

Infuriated, he turned up at the school yesterday with the pictures and encouraged the mob to turn on his son. As students began to maul his son, the man is reported to have driven away.
In the frenzy, students hurled stones at police who were called to the school to restore order, in the process damaging police cars and motorbikes. The police eventually were able to rescue the youngster from the other students, most of whom wore uniforms, and whisked him off the campus.
According to a teacher at the school, people from outside the school joined in the fracas.

"They were intent on killing him," this teacher said. "They were like a pack of wild animals who had smelled blood and if it wasn't for a staff member who jumped on top of him, you would be reporting on a mob killing."
The teacher described the behaviour of the student's father as "careless".
"A me save him," an ancillary staff member told the Observer. "Me have to jump on him and shield him cause them was going to kill him. Me get a whole heap of licks, but me push him in the office and lock him in."
School authorities were forced to call the Elletson Road police to escort the boy off the compound when the angry mob became uncontrollable.

But the cops were also attacked, leaving some with minor injuries. After calm was restored, at least a dozen Dunoon students were taken to the Elletson Road police station where they were given a stern warning by officers from the station's Criminal Investigation Bureau before being released.
"We went to the school to calm down a situation and protect the students and they turn around and fling stones on us," an Elletson Road police office complained. "What has the society come to?"
The parent who has been accused of ordering the students to maul his son, reportedly drove away from the school as soon as the fracas started.

Read more: also see from sister blog GLBTQJA 2009: Insensitive Parents & Displaced MSM and Part 2 HERE

Peace and tolerance

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