LGBTQ Issues in Jamaica and Fleeing a Life of Persecution

Section 1

Statement of the Research Topic

The issue of the rights of the lesbians, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and the queers, also known as LGBTQ, in short, has been approached differently by the various countries in the world (Smith, 2018). Some countries have been known to have a homophobic approach to the issue of same-sex relationships and marriages. Such countries include Jamaica. In Jamaica, the LGBTQ persons have faced open violence from the larger society and have been known to be treated as social outcasts with their families and friends cutting their ties with them due to their sexual orientation (Smith, 2018). The Jamaican treatment against the LGBT people has been in existent in the twenty-first century where many international organizations such as the United Nations have been fighting for the rights of the human beings, regardless of their sexual orientation. That has been viewed as a counter-intuitive approach to human rights as displayed in the country (Smith, 2018).  The laws and regulations in Jamaica that have alienated the LGBT people from the normal society have caught the global attention as most of the homosexual people have been reported to flee the country to the other LGBT friendly countries such as the united states of America, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, among many others (Gross, 2017). The legislative attention in Jamaica has mainly targeted the youth in the country that identifies as LGBT. Consequently, they have faced disparities and thus Jamaica has been reported to be one of the most homophobic and transphobic countries in the world. Tourists who identify as LGBT in the other countries of the world have removed Jamaica from the list of the places they are supposed to tour (Smith, 2018). That has affected the country's tourism sector, which has recorded a drop in the revenue. Contradictorily, Jamaica is one of the signatories to most of the human rights laws that united nations have put in place to protect the citizens (Smith, 2018). 

Statement of the Problem

The members of the LGBT community persecuted in Jamaica have been said to seek asylum in Canada and the United States as the situation worsens in their home country. Some of those that have fled from Jamaica to Canada have actively been involved in helping the others escape from the country as the persecution of the LGBT community exacerbates (Dawson & Gerber, 2017). Their journey to Canada has not been without challenges. As the members of the LGBT reach the Canadian soil, they are asked to provide proof of their sexuality. The roof could be anything like photos, romantic texts that suggest that those involved are of the same sex, and partners (LaViolette, 2017). However, most of the Jamaican LGBT populace has not been able to provide such proof due to their earlier fear of persecution in their country. Most of them opt to keep quiet about their sexuality while they are in Canada for fear of persecution, which they have experienced in Jamaica (Dawson & Gerber, 2017). The fleeing of the persons who identify as LGBT has taken place as the Jamaican legal authorities’ storm the cities hunting for them. Most of the young people in the country have been facing tough lives in being forced to become who they are not concerning sexual orientation. Some have been put out by their parents and guardians and have had to face the torment from the society while in the streets. Others have been reported dead in the ongoing hunt of the members of the LGBT community. The situation in Jamaica has gained a global concern and that of the United Nations in a significant way as the enraged society keeps hunting the gays, lesbians, and transsexuals in the country. The rejection of the LGBT youth by their families has also caused pain in them and destroyed their future aspirations, as they have no support. The survival of the LGBT youths who are hiding in undisclosed locations all over Jamaica has been pegged on them working as sex workers and hoping that the authorities will not find them any soon.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework of the paper follows the queer theory and its applications to the project. The activists and writers introduced the queer approach in the early 1990s, which was as a result of the studies that targeted discrimination of women and the treatment of the members of queer sexuality in the society (Kirkman, Dickson-Swift & Fox, 2016). The theory elaborates various issues such as sexuality and the marginalization of women. Regarding the current project, the queer theory explores the various challenges that are faced by the LGBT community living in Jamaica (Kirkman, Dickson-Swift & Fox, 2016). According to the queer theory, heterosexuality is considered as a natural rule in society, which provides grounds for the hatred and negativity against homosexuality. The ultimate goal of the queer model is to change the social norms and monolithic thoughts regarding sexuality (Kirkman, Dickson-Swift & Fox, 2016). The usage of the queer theory in real life lacks clarity in Jamaica where the basic rights of the LGBT people have been placed on hold, and they constantly suffer from rejection and physical harm. The queer model is based on gender and sexuality. Owing to the relationship between gender and sexuality as explained by the queer theory, there emerges a debate between researchers in the field of sexuality and gender regarding whether sexual orientation is essential or natural to the individual. The researchers across the globe who identify as essentialists believe that sexuality and sexual orientation is a social construct and is subject to change over time and related to the circumstances that the individuals face in life. Digging deeper into the queer theory states that the feminists believe that genders have a particular essential nature. For example, people may be caring and nurturing or aggressive and selfish based on their gender. Of course, such traits are emphasized by the societies from which the individuals come. An example Is the association of the male gender with superfluous ego which leads to their aggressiveness and sometimes selfishness. On the other hand, the female gender is regarded submissive to the male gender which leads to their habitual caring and nurturing nature. The essentialist feminists will, therefore, differ with the arguments which state that genders are contributed to by accidental or contingent features which are brought about by social forces. Arguing in the same line of thought as the essentialist feminists, it would be correct to say that an individual’s sexual preference is natural and essential to the personality of the person. As a sub-branch of the queer theory, the social constructivism is a model that proposes that human beings produce realities and create various meanings in their lives as a result of the communication, social interactions and existing in a cultural context that relays the meanings to them. In other words, to the individuals, their world is a product of the labeling, making claims and the other processes of definition constituting their lives.  While that is the case, the theorists studying and explaining the queer theory have argued that there is no essential self. The queer theorists also state that human beings are objects of the social world and do not just exist as subjects in the world that they live. What is more to the explanations and discussions tabled by the queer theorists is that there is an implication of identity such as sexual identity is not born but instead constructed through the repeated actions that they perform and are informed by the social constructions of gender that already exist in the society. A more in-depth analysis of the sharing of gender and its historical constitution, the process of gender production can occur in different ways and be beyond the already constructed binary In the social lives of the human beings where the heterosexuality in the society thrives. In the limelight, the queer theory strives to maintain a critique of gender an sexual orientation rather than settling on a particular sexual identity. The approach allows the criticisms of gender and sexual orientation and identity In the world to shape its future directions that are currently unimaginable. Much of the queer theory activism developed from an AIDS crisis which led to an increase in the rate of homophobia in particular societies across the world. Much of the homophobia arose from the belief that individuals practicing homosexuality in society were known to have more cases of HIV/AIDS. Thus, most of the members of the community believe that the homosexual individuals were more prone to the virus compared to the heterosexual individuals which exacerbated the discrimination and hatred against the homosexual individuals in the society. The activists of the queer theory across the globe have thus advised the LGBTQ members to practice safe sex to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. The same case happens to the LGBTQ members in Jamaica as the society believes that they are responsible for the rapid spread of the virus to the whole country and thus worsens the persecution that they face in the community.

Statement of the Purpose

One of the goals of the research on the LGBT issues in Jamaica and persecution is to sensitize the global society on the evils that are brought about by the oppression of the members of the gay, lesbians, and the transgender community. The sensitization of the society is expected to contribute to the willingness to support the LGBT community from Jamaica by the whole world (Cheng, Klann, Zounlome, & Chung, 2017). The sensitization of the society will also lead to the advocacy of fairness in the human rights efforts in Jamaica, regardless of the sexual orientation of the citizens. The sensitization of the global society on the issue that Jamaican LGBT community faces will also be relevant to the realization of the bigger picture regarding the administration of human rights even in the other countries across the globe (Cheng, Klann, Zounlome, & Chung, 2017). The other purpose of the research is to draw the attention of the global LGBT friendly organizations to extend their help to the Jamaican LGBT youth who are suffering the open persecution by the government and the society. Some of the organizations such as the United Nations may be influential to the Jamaican government by pressing for the administration of the human rights to all the Jamaican citizens without considering their sexual orientation. That will help the Jamaican youths who identify as members of the LGBT community to regain their self-confidence and sense of belonging to the society. The drawing of the attention of the global organizations will also be instrumental in the earning of living among the Jamaican LGBT youth (DeFilippis, 2016). With the lifting of the ban on homosexuality and transsexuality in the country, the labor rules will also be more flexible thus allowing members of the LGBT community to work just like the rest of the population and live a comfortable life (DeFilippis, 2016). 

Limitations of the Project

The project involving the research on the issues faced by the LGBT in Jamaica and how most of the members have fled to Canada and the United States of America has various challenges. One of the pitfalls of the project is that it is laborious to identify the research respondents since most of the LGBT members in Jamaica either have migrated to the other countries or are hiding from the persecution of the highly homophobic society. The other pitfall of the research is that there are few publications and journals talking about the issues that the LGBT members face in Jamaica and how they affect their lives and social interactions with the other members of the society. Therefore, it becomes hard for the researchers to collect more data regarding the issues that the LGBT face in Jamaica and how the various bodies are working towards reducing such problems.

Research Questions

Does Jamaica have any rights that apply to the treatment of the members of the LGBT community? How does the Jamaican society view the issue of homosexuality among the country's youth? What are the various challenges that the LGBT community faces in Jamaica? What are the effects of the persecution of the LGBT members on the development of the country? What are the various solutions that may be used to address the issue of persecution of the Jamaican LGBT population?

Definition of Terms

Some of the terms used in the paper and their meanings are as follows. LGBTQ- the term stands for the members of the society who are lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. They are the group mostly targeted by the homophobic approach of the Jamaican society. Homophobia- the term has been used to denote the fear of homosexuality among the society. Persecution- the acts of violence against the members of the LGBT community in Jamaica.  Community- a community is described as a particular group of people with particular characteristics that they identify with or share same interests. The LGBT members in Jamaica can be referred to as a community.  LGBT discrimination- It refers to the different treatment of the members of the LGBT, such as in Jamaica, mostly negative.   LGBT friendly countries- these are the countries that have legalized same sex marriages. Examples are Canada and the United States of America where the members of the LGBT persecuted in Jamaica have been relocating. 

Section 2

Introduction to the Literature Review

The research paper largely addresses the various issues that the members of the LGBT in Jamaica are facing and the various solutions that have been considered to solve their problems in the country. The members of the LGBT in Jamaica normally make connections and interact with one another despite the various setbacks they go through. Typically, they do so on social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and Instagram, and on the various dating apps. The interactions offer a window of opportunity for the Jamaican LGBT members to maintain their unity. Nonetheless, the Jamaican LGBT members face various challenges such as police harassment and the vulnerability to HIV infections significantly contributed by having unprotected sex and the increased practice of prostitution. Due to the challenging lifestyles that the members of the LGBT community face in Jamaica, they have sought solutions such as staying away from the public view to seeking refuge in other gay friendly countries in the world. 

Literature Review

Harris & Jarrett (2018) go beyond the exploration of the topic of homophobia in Jamaica to the discussion on how the LGBT community members make communities and develop them by interacting with one another. In as much as the Jamaican men who have sex with the other men in Jamaica have been isolated from the mainstream society, research performed in the country provided an analysis of a window of opportunity for the homosexual people in Jamaica. The findings of the study indicated that the female parents and guardians were said to display better support of their sons who identified as gay than the male parents (Harris & Jarrett, 2018). The research also indicated that the presence of close friends, members of the LGBT community or not, makes the life for the LGBT community much more comfortable. That is because they have someone to turn to when they have a problem and the fact that the LGBT members can count on somebody to give them the support the LGBT require to overcome to homophobic attacks they have to face from the society. The building of the safe space or an LGBT community such as having pages and fora on the social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and twitter improves the confidence of the members of the LGBT community and reduces their plight. That comes with a reduced LGBT fleeing rate from the country, and therefore the society in the country will have changed. According to the findings of the research performed on the men who have sex with the other men in Jamaica, the close connections among the LGBT people in the country are set to provide them with some advantages as far as their situation is concerned (Harris & Jarrett, 2018). The first advantage is that the LGBT people's unity surpasses the effects of the homophobic outlook of the society. The other advantage that keeping in touch has brought to the members of the LGBT community is that they have been able to interact with the rest of the LGBT community in the world. That serves as a revelation for them and provides comfort to the affected members of the Jamaican LGBT community (Harris & Jarrett, 2018). Logie et al. (2017) provide the other side of the approach given by Harris & Jarrett (2018) on the lives of the LGBT in Jamaica. Police harassment and the HIV vulnerability among the LGBT in Jamaica have affected the community adversely. The criminalization of the same sex practices in Jamaica has provided an opportunity for the Jamaican police to take advantage of the law and harass the LGBT members. That has been evidential in the police extorting the little money that the homosexuals in Jamaica, and especially the youth, earn from activities such as prostitution. The police, in some cases, have also been reported to harass the members of the LGBT society sexually. That has contributed to an increase in the emotional suffering of the community, which has further aggravated their challenges (Logie et al., 2017). The Jamaican society views the same sex practices as unnatural. Therefore, the ignorant society has believed that the spread of the HIV and aids infection could be the punishment to the members of the LGBT community. The society has thus been reluctant to taking care of the LGBT people who have contracted HIV. The hospital system in Jamaica does not also provide the prevention and treatment plans for the urinary tract infections that affect members of the LGBT community. That has been because of the criminalization of the same sex practices and marriages among the Jamaican citizens. That is where the international community would chip in and help he affected LGBT members across Jamaica. The spread of HIV among the Jamaican LGBT community has been increased exponentially by the practices in the country such as prostitution, which has been prevalent as the victims of discrimination based on sexual orientation find their way in the Jamaican economy to earn a living and sustain themselves. The increase in the levels of family and social seclusion of the LGBT members in Jamaica may also contribute to their contraction of HIV since they are under depression and are hurting emotionally (Logie et al., 2017).  In agreement with the discussions described by Harris & Jarrett (2018) and (Logie et al. (2017), Lovell (2016) explains the challenging lifestyle that the homosexuals in Jamaica have to go through in their day-to-day lives. According to Lovell (2016), Jamaica is one of the eighty countries in the world, which have criminalized homosexuality. As such, the Jamaican LGBT community is always as a risk from the persecution of the society. That has pushed a significant number of such people into other countries such as the USA and Canada in North America. One of the challenges that the homosexuals face in Jamaica is the danger of mob violence owing to the cultural intolerance of the same sex practices. The homosexuals in the country have been faced with such challenges in the past where the enraged members of the society have worked hand in hand with the government to make the lives of the LGBT population a living hell (Lovell, 2016). The rights of the LGBT people, including the universal rights that everyone in the world is entitled to have been revoked. For instance, a large number of the victims involved in the mob violence in the various parts of Jamaica have lost their lives in the process. According to the international human rights advocators, the country has proven to have some of the most intolerant policies to the presence of the LGBT in the country (Lovell, 2016). Lovell (2016) also offers the opportunity that the LGBT people living in Jamaica may have. An organization named Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexual, and Gays has provided the once-persecuted LGBT community with a voice to try to change the rigid society. The organization has also made it possible for a once oppressed Jamaican LGBT identity can find a voice soon despite the cultural and legal barriers. That has provided a national relaxation and hope to the LGBT members in the country who have been living in denial, closeted and having a fear of being associated with the practices related to same-sex (Lovell, 2016). West & Cowell (2015) provides a different approach to the issues that Jamaican LGBT members face in the homophobic and transphobic society. The authors talk about the effects of the criminalization of homosexuality in the entire country. That provides a bigger picture of the role and importance of the LGBT society to the mainstream culture. One implication of the criminalization of homosexuality is that Jamaica has acquired a tarnished international image in the issues of anti-gay violence and intolerance of the society to the members of the LGBT. The global gay rights groups have tried to improve the situation by reaching out to the Jamaican government, the broader community, and the members of the LGBT society who are involved in the violence scenarios in the country. The country has also received global attention in the persecution of the members of the LGBT community. That has not worked well for Jamaica since it is one of the signatories to the human rights declarations in the United Nations. That may be an opportunity for the situation to change for the better soon (West & Cowell, 2015). The country has also lost resourceful members of the society who have fled to Canada and the United States of America. That has been expected to lead to the economic setback of the country owing to its stringent anti-gay policies. The other sectors of the Jamaican economy have also been affected. For instance, education and healthcare in the country have been administered to the Jamaican populace with a discriminative motive behind them. For example, the gay men who live in Jamaica may have a hard time visiting the hospitals for a checkup for the fear that the stigmatization they face in the society may lead to their suffering and probably be involved in mob violence. That has affected the country in the development based on such spheres of the economy.  West (2018) provides an overview of the solutions that would possibly be implemented in Jamaica to reduce the effects of the criminalization of same-sex practices on the lesbians, bisexuals, gay and transsexual members of the Jamaican populace. With the reputation that Jamaica has gained across the globe for its inhumanity to the homosexuals, various organizations have come forward in the country to help the victims of the discrimination based on sexual orientation. Their efforts have started bearing fruits as more Jamaican youth who identify as LGBT go on with their normal life and fit into the society to some extent. One of the solutions that have been used to deal with the issue of homophobia in the country before has been the seeking of asylum by the LGBT people in Jamaica into the other gay-friendly nations such as the USA and Canada (West, 2018). It has also been difficult for the organizations to reduce the prejudice against the homosexuals in Jamaica, as the society has primarily remained inflexible to the issue of the human rights for the people who have identified as LGBT. The other solution that may be used to address the problems facing the LGBT population in Jamaica is the continued advocacy of the human rights and especially the universal ones such as the right to life. That is expected to bring about the change in the mindset of the Jamaican society particularly in their attitude to the members of the society who identify as gay. The transformation of the societal approach to homosexuality in Jamaica would favor the lives of the LGBT community, which has been living a difficult life in the country. The other solution would be the advocacy of the formation of online communities that let the members of the LGBT community interact with one another and with the other communities in the various parts of the world. That would also alleviate their suffering in their home country (Harris & Jarrett, 2018).

Summary

In conclusion, research paper talks about the various issues that the members of the LGBT in Jamaica are facing in length. The research paper also expounds on the various short-term solutions that the Jamaican LGBT have implemented to ensure that they are safe from the persecution of the homophobic society. The members of the LGBT in Jamaica have been said to make connections and interact with one another despite the various setbacks they go through in their day-to-day lives as LGBT members. The interactions help the members of the Jamaican LGBT members to maintain their unity. Notwithstanding, the Jamaican LGBT members face many problems including the harassment by the police and the vulnerability to HIV infections significantly contributed by having unprotected sex and the increased practice of prostitution. Owing to the lifestyles that the members of the LGBT community have been leading in Jamaica, they have focused on solutions such as staying away from the public view to seeking refuge in other gay friendly countries in the world.

Section 3

Methodology

The research on the LGBT issues in Jamaica and the persecution in the country follows a qualitative approach with the method of data collection used being the interviewing method. The interviews provided advantages to the researchers in the exploration of the research topic. One of the benefits of the interviews was that they offered a one to one interaction between the researchers and the respondents of the research. That enabled the researchers to collect the feelings and the attitudes of the respondents of the study alongside the answers they provided in the study. The physical presence of youth the interviewers and the interviewees were prominent in the rectification of the errors made in the speech by the interviewees as they gave the answers to the interview questions. The interviewers were also able to observe the physical conditions of the respondents in the Jamaican LGBT community. That was important since some of the members had physical injuries that they would attribute to mob violence based on discrimination against their sexual orientation. Nevertheless, the researchers consumed a lot of time with the physical interviews administered to the LGBT community members in Jamaica. A significant amount of costs was also used up in the research since the research team had to do considerable amounts of traveling to Jamaica and around the country. The interviewers had to have ethical considerations while interviewing the members of the LGBT community in Jamaica. Firstly, they had to treat the identity and the information given by the interviewees confidentially. In situations where they had to characterize the interviewees, they gave them pseudonyms. The participants of the study in Jamaica had to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity to allow them to be free to talk about their experiences as they answered the interview questions. The interviewers had to be keen on this as most of the gay members of the Jamaican society had earlier been abused and disrespected. The interviews had to be conducted in undisclosed locations in the various parts of Jamaica. The researchers did not reveal the interviewing location owing to the experiences that the LGBT community had with the society earlier in their lives. Accordingly, some of them were living in undisclosed locations, which made it possible for them to escape the societal wrath against them. The interviewers had to ensure that the participants of the study were not exposed to any form of harm whatsoever. The interviewers had a friendly approach to the interview questions that assured the participants of their safety and made them talk about their experiences and answer questions openly. The interviewers physically traveled to Jamaica to conduct the interviews of the LGBT members who were victims of oppression and persecution in the country. The interviewers also arranged to contact some of the Jamaican youth who had already fled the country to talk about their experiences. Therefore, there were both physical and telephone interviews. The sample size was fifty LGBT community members of Jamaican origin. The interviewees comprised of thirty LGBT members who live in the various parts of Jamaica. The other twenty were divided equally into the Jamaican citizens who sought asylum in both Canada and the United States of America. All the interviewees began the interviewing process with a short introductory quiz that prompted them to describe their feelings and attitudes of their sexual orientation. Then, the research questions were administered to them in a consistent order. Their responses were recorded on tape recorders, and some of the interviewers took down a few notes to identify the main themes of the LGBT issues in Jamaica and their lives of persecution. The interviewees who had already fled the country were requested to state the reasons that made them flee the country, how they did it, and how their life has transformed since then. The calls were recorded for sampling and analysis purposes.

Section 4

Conclusion

Summarily, the LGBT members in Jamaica lead lifestyles characterized by unsafety, lack of surety and the imminent danger of persecution by the mainstream society. The Jamaican LGBT youths also face more challenges including the harassment by the police once they learn their sexual orientation, and the practice of prostitution to provide their daily living, which exposes them to the vulnerability of HIV in the long run. A good number of the members of the LGBT from Jamaica have sought refuge in the other countries such as the United States of America and Canada. However, Canada has recently been stringent on accepting the relocation of Jamaican LGBT community through asylum on the grounds that they should have particular qualifications to be in the country. However, research has further indicated that Jamaica is adamant of granting the LGBT members their rights due to the conservativeness of the mainstream society.

Recommendations

One of the recommendations to solve the denial of rights for the LGBT members in Jamaica is to morally and financially support the LGBT members facing persecution in the country. Various charity organizations can come up with the various opportunities of learning for the Jamaican LGBT members so that they can have careers and be financially stable since some of them have been cut off from their families. Researchers can also expound on the deeper issues that the LGBT members of the society in Jamaica face to provide a leeway to the action by the LGBT support organizations in empowering the alienated members of the society. The other recommendation is the creation of more organizations that support the LGBT members with contraceptives to reduce the cases of HIV transmission among the LGBT. 

References

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