BY ROB SALERNO – A Jamaican TV station has rejected an ad from the Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG) that calls for tolerance of queers, and a Jamaican newspaper has headlined the story with an awkwardly suggestive headline.
The ad, titled “Unconditional Love for LGBT Jamaicans,” features a former Miss Jamaica with her gay brother calling on Jamaicans to accept their queer family members. It can still be found on YouTube:
Television Jamaica has rejected the paid PSA, citing concerns that it would look like TVJ was sponsoring or endorsing its message, and they wouldn’t want that.
Before the ad was even submitted, a group of Jamaican clerics were quoted denouncing it in the Jamaica Observer — not surprising for “one of the most homophobic places on earth.”
TVJ is also hiding behind the law, which criminalizes “buggery” in Jamaica, saying it doesn’t want to endorse illegal activity. I could understand that if the ad featured full-on anal penetration, but the most extreme action is a warm hug between a brother and sister. Homosexuality, of course, does not necessarily imply “buggery” — and certainly lesbianism doesn’t at all.
For now, J-FLAG is concentrating its efforts on convincing other television stations to air the ad, while hoping that TVJ reverses its decision once other stations accept it.
Because seriously, how homophobic could Jamaica really be? When Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding met our prime minister, it looked like the cover of the world’s worst gay erotic novel.
What is going on with their hands there? Is Golding restraining Harper, or directing him?
(What’s that? Jamaica’s still pretty homophobic? Oh.)
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