Jamaican PM vows to ‘protect’ his country from homosexuality
While speaking before Parliament in support of a new sexual offenses bill, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Godling said that his country would not decriminalize homosexual behavior in an effort to protect his country.
“We are not going to yield to the pressure, whether that pressure comes from individual organisations, individuals, whether that pressure comes from foreign governments or groups of countries, to liberalise the laws as it relates to buggery,” he said.
The British government has raised the issue with Mr Golding.
Gareth Thomas, minister of state at the Department for International Development, told PinkNews.co.uk last November that tackling state and cultural homophobia is vital to the fight against HIV in the Caribbean.
He said he was concerned that “things are not getting better on either front, and more change is necessary.”
The dancehall music scene on the island is notorious for its homophobia, with many artists taking pleasure in calling for gays and lesbians to be murdered.
