Jamaican Prime Minister: We Will Never Legalize Buggery

Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he will never allow homosexuality to be legalized, despite new pressure from foreign governments like the island's former owners, the British.

"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. [snip] 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. That widespread hatred is evident in the wider culture, with reports of gay men and lesbians being attacked by gangs and murdered. International human rights organisations have described Jamaica as one of the most homophobic places in the world.

Gay rights groups have been relatively quiet regarding calls to boycott Jamaica, which gets a huge chunk of its income from the over 1 million American tourists who visit annually. Most of that business comes via four cruise lines: Carnival, Costa, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. Last year Wayne Besen called for a boycott of those cruise companies, calling the revenue they deliver to Jamaica "blood money."