In every culture, there are some practices and lifestyles that it is intolerant to. The people of the Caribbean are no different. However, we do stand out in our level of intolerance especially towards homosexuals. Jamaicans in particular, have been known to get violent with homosexuals and their supporters.

 The grave intolerance of Homosexuality in the Caribbean has been recorded as far back as the colonial days of the British. This is so as a large amount of the laws present in today’s society is a hangover from the days of colonial British rule and has been struck off the books in England but not in all Caribbean countries. According to an article entitled “A view from the Outside: ‘Boom Bye Bye’ to Homophobic Jamaica” written by Karl Walker, a careful perusal of the law shows that it is anti-anal sex. This law, known as the Buggery law, is stated in section 76 of the Offences Against the Person Act and states:

“Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with’ mankind or with any animal, shall be liable to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for a term not exceeding 10 years.”

This means that this is an act that can be committed against a female or a child and that it is not necessarily written with homosexual males in mind. The more specific act that addresses homosexuals is stated in section 77 and states:

“Whosoever shall attempt to commit the said abominable crime, or shall be guilty of my assault with intent to commit the same, or of any indecent assault upon any male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding seven years, with or without hard labour.”

Should this protection be removed? According to a survey that was carried out, some 90 percent of Jamaicans do not think so.  The Bahamas is the only country in the Commonwealth Caribbean countries that has repealed its buggery law.

   Another key factor that contributes to homophobia in the Caribbean is the issue of religion. Most Jamaicans tend to have been raised on biblical principles. These principles taught the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and in many verses, it is illustrated that Christianity condemns the act of same-sex relationships (White & Carr, 2005). Homosexuality within the Caribbean is then discriminated against and is greatly targeted for harassment and violence which the Sodom laws reinforced, thus creating the criminal class of gay men and lesbian (Leslie, 2000).

Specifically speaking, two Caribbean countries are gravely intolerant of homosexuality. 

Jamaica, being the most homophobic, is very violent towards acts of same sex relationships especially in men. For instance, in 2004, Jamaica’s leading gay rights activist, Brian Williamson, was damaged, he says, by blows with a board and kicks from the Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Later that year, he was mutilated and murdered in his home ( Human Rights Watch, 2004). Additionally, in 2017 another gay activist, Dexter Pottinger, was murdered and found dead in his home.

Trinidad and Tobago, being the second most homophobic country, prohibits all anal sex, both heterosexually and homosexually and goes as far as passing a law to prevent homosexuals from entering their country (Article8 (18/1) of the Immigration Act).

There is a stigma attached to homosexuality in Jamaica, an the Caribbean at large, speaking in particular to the behaviours that society expects of a homosexual. As we are thought in Caribbean Civilization that you can know someone’s identity by the way they speak, dress, culture etc. We have conducted a survey in order to get some feedback from the university students on how tolerant are they toward homosexuals within the University of the West Indies. 

1. What do you use to determine that a person is a homosexual? 

2. Do you associate yourself with anyone who is consider gay, bisexual, trans etc? 

3. If your answer to question 2 is no why? 

4. If your answer to question  2 is yes why? 

Answers to the question 

• 70% of the respondents said the way they speak and their body language are usually indicators that they use to determine whether a man is homosexual while the remaining 30% conclude that a male is homosexual due to the way he dresses.  For a female homosexual it is the other way around, 70% use the way they dress and their body language as an indication of homosexuality while 30 %said that it is how they speak an relate. 
• The males response to questions 2-4  is yes they know females who are bisexuals and they don’t have a problem because they are females but there is no way they would tolerate a gay male friend that just (wrong) and some said red flag… others gave some explicit response but in other words they would not accept a gay male friend 
• The female response to question 2 was, yes they associate themselves with female gay friend because it’s not serious and if that’s what they like and want to do that’s their business and they tolerate them. Their response to having male gay friend is neither here nor their to them they said they like being around gay guys because of how they talk and they are nice and ‘vybzy.

This study indicates that although homosexuality is indeed gravely intolerable, there are much stronger negative feelings aimed at homosexual males than females.

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