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WATCH: No Fights or Anti-Gay Mobs as Jamaica Celebrates Its 1st Pride

Speaking of Jamaica ...

Only a few years ago in Jamaica there were a number of anti-gay lynch mobs who attacked men suspected of being gay in public and in their homes . And yesterday the island celebrated what is being called its first Gay Pride march and there were no fights, mobs or attacks whatsoever. Amazing.

UK Gay News reports:

"Officially, it was the Walk for Tolerance from Howard Cooke Park, along Howard Cooke Boulevard and ending on the beach. 'Yesterday was an amazing day, here in Montego Bay,' [William Urich] told UK Gay News. 'My eyes well up at the very thought of the day's outstanding and astounding success.'Encouragingly, the walk had police support, Mr. Urich added. Around 100 took part in the walk, which was headed by Reverend Elder Nancy L. Wilson, the openly lesbian presiding bishop of the International Movement of Metropolitan Community Churches. One participant commented: 'I never thought I would live to see the day that this could happen in Jamaica.'"

Staceyann Chin, the Jamaican lesbian poet and activist who left her homeland for America, writes at Facebook: "How proud I am of my brothers and sisters in Jamaica. I wish I could have been there."

Congratulations, Jamaica. It's a great step forward.

Watch the march AFTER THE JUMP ...

Julian Bond, Lt. Dan Choi and Judy Shepard Among Announced Speakers at National Equality March

The National Equality March released the list of speakers for the rally on the Capitol's West Lawn on October 11. The announced speakers include veteran civil rights activist and NAACP Chairman Julian Bond, who endorsed the march in August.

The entire list, AFTER THE JUMP.

The organizers write:

 

More than 30 speakers, representing the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its straight allies, will take the stage at a rally following the march on the west lawn of the Capitol.

Longtime gay activist David Mixner will [be] on the stage [with] the national co-chairs of the march, Cleve Jones, Lt. Dan Choi, and Nicole-Murray Ramirez. Co-directors of the march, Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, also will be speaking. Civil rights leader Julian Bond, will be one of the featured speakers. Bond was a founder Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and today serves as Board Chairman of the NAACP, the country’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. Bond likens the National Equality March to the Civil Rights March of 1963. 'We had a dream and marched on Washington to demand our rights; I am proud to stand with the LGBT community as they march for theirs,' he said.

St. Olaf college student Richard Aviles will be speaking on behalf of student activists from across the country, who have organized for the march and are descending on Washington. Also speaking will be Judy Shepard, who lost her son Matthew to a murder motivated by anti-gay hate and who founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in his memory. The Foundation is dedicated to working toward the causes championed by Matthew during his life: social justice, diversity awareness and education, and equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people."

The NEM has also published route of the October 11 event.

Staceyann Chin is also speaking. The entire list, AFTER THE JUMP.

'Jamaica, Island of Hate"

On the same day that the San Francisco Chronicle publishes an interview with Buju Banton where the notoriously homophobic reggae star defends his rants with crocodile tears—"we have been blacklisted," he cries—Jamaica's leading gay activist is interviewed in another publication and recalls the horrors of being openly gay in his homeland.

“Jamaica is not a safe environment for gay people to survive in, either physically, emotionally, or psychologically.” Gareth Williams, the leader of the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG), speaks to Doug Ireland and Gay City News in an extensive interview. "Williams"—actually "a pseudonym he must use for his safety"—candidly speaks about the rampant homophobic violence that has scarred the nation, including that of his good friends Steve Harvey and Brian Williamson, the former J-FLAG president.

The irony, of course, is that the picturesque island nation has long promoted itself as "one love"—even though the country's leading cultural exports, reggae and dancehall, are also puctuated by violent, homophobic imagery. "The climate here is very, very hostile to gay people. We have been hunted and beaten and killed because of who we are,” Williams added. “Families turn against their own members because of sexual orientation."

Staceyann Chin agrees. The Jamaican-born, lesbian performance artist tells Keith Boykin and the Chronicle that homophobia forced her to emigrate to America. Rape, murder, poverty and HIV are every day facts of life in Jamaica. It's "more than a culture of violence," Chin says. "There's a culture of confrontation."

Jamaica, Island of Hate (Gay City News via Blabbeando)

Reggae Star as Lightning Rod (SF Chronicle via Jasmyne)

Staceyann Chin's Redemption Song (Keith Boykin)

Previously:

"One Gay is Dead, What's the Difference?" (Rod 2.0) “If You’ve Really Changed, Then Just Say It” (J Cannick) Buju Banton Concert Cancelled (Club Rimshot) Buju Banton Busted By The Bay (Keith Boykin) Jamaican AIDS Activist Murdered (Blabbeando) Homophobia "Greatest Hurdle" in Jamaica (Rod 2.0) Justice, Jamaican Style (Rod 2.0) Jamaica Urges One Love (Rod 2.0) LIFEbeat Latest (Rod 2.0) The Most Homophobic Place on Earth? (Rod 2.0) Buju Banton Pro/Con (Rod 2.0) Beenie Man and Buju Banton Cancelled (Rod 2.0)

LIFEbeat Latest

The latest in the dramatic cancellation of the Reggae Gold Live concert by LIFEbeat:

· This morning, Keith Boykin, StaceyAnn Chinn, Kenyon Farrow, Tokes Osubu (GMAD) and a number of black lgbt activists held a newsconference outside of LIFEbeat's Midtown headquarters. Above photo by Andrés Duque at Blabbeando, who uploads a photostream of the activity.

· Earlier today, the organizers issued a statement that is much more peaceful than the previous rhetoric, and, for the first time, makes an apology. "“In our desire to do something positive within the Caribbean American community, we didn’t realize the depth of the hurt in the GLBT community around the lyrics of these artists,” says John Cannelli, executive director of LIFEbeat, referring to the inclusion of Beenie Man and T.O.K. “Once we saw how deep and real it is, it became very clear that canceling the concert was the right thing to do. We want to extend a heartfelt apology to those we offended and thank the individuals who raised their voices and helped us to see a more effective way to realize our mission."

· The organizers clarified their cryptic message of violent threats against the concert—which threatened to dishonor the many black lgbt voices who spoke out against the inclusion of homophobic acts in cause that ostensibly would raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. LIFEbeat now says the threat of violence was not from activists but "from threatening phone calls our office received from random individuals."

· Ramon Johnson, the Gay Life columnist at About.com, recaps many of the best quotes from the black gay blogsphere.

· Frank León Roberts publishes a chronology of the events.