Feature image created by Janine Mendes-Franco using Canva Pro elements.

With the global observation of Pride Month in June, LGBTQ+ communities and allies in Jamaica continue to celebrate queerness, and individuality while advocating for the equality and equity that many other heterosexual communities enjoy. Yet, amid the celebrations and year-round community work, homophobia continues to impact the daily lives of queer people, who just want to be treated fairly and without discrimination.

At a political rally just last month, Daryl Vaz, Jamaica's minister of science, energy, telecommunications and transport, endorsed the playing of a song that was popular circa the year 2000 – the dancehall group T.O.K.’s “Chi Chi Man,” the lyrics of which promote violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

The minister has since been criticised by human rights groups, including Equality for All Foundation (EFAF) (formerly J-FLAG), and they are demanding an apology, saying that his actions undermined inclusivity. So far, no apology has been forthcoming.

This is not the first time that anti-gay rhetoric has found a place on a Jamaican political platform. During the campaign for the country’s 2007 general election, Bruce Golding, then leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – the party currently in office – swore on the hustings that “Homosexuals will find no solace in any cabinet formed by me.” His party went on to win the election.

Vaz, like many other government and opposition politicians, is in full “silly season” swing. General elections in Jamaica must constitutionally take place this year, though the election date is still to be announced. In the country’s previous elections, however, according to EFAF’s Executive Director Glenroy Murray, “both political parties very publicly declared that homophobia was inappropriate on the campaign trail”:

Fast forward five years, and we’re seeing a homophobic song being teased at another rally. There is a clear need for stronger guidelines on what is to be expected on the campaign trail. And the question we must ask ourselves, why is this kind of rhetoric needed at all?

The symbiotic relationship of political rallies and the use of carefully curated music playlists is a trend the world over, whereby political leaders associate themselves with songs they feel will get their constituents energised for speeches on the campaign trail, or tunes they believe send a message about the values they stand for.

In Jamaica, using songs and “dubs,” in which performers’ musical offerings may be played in support of particular parties at political rallies, is not new. In recent years, however, there have been pleas to cease exploiting artists in the name of political campaigns, added to which, depending on the song being used, sometimes the practice also happens at the expense of vulnerable communities.

A 2011 article by the Alabama, US-based nonprofit civil rights and public interest law organisation Southern Poverty Law Center observed that “even politicians at times have conferred legitimacy” on what it termed “murder music,” claiming that “dancehall group TOK’s track ‘Chi Chi Man,’ about killing and burning gay men, was the Jamaican Labour Party’s 2001 theme song.” The article also noted that the trend wasn’t limited to just the one political party: “In 2002, the People’s National Party took on the slogan ‘Log On to Progress’ — a reference to the dancehall song ‘Log On’ by Elephant Man […] which also features violent anti-gay lyrics.”

In Jamaica, song choices are often geared towards poking jabs at political opponents and addressing trending topics. Colloquially, calling someone gay — or in Jamaican vernacular, “battyman” or “chi chi man” — isn’t always used as commentary against someone’s sexuality. There are times it is said with the sole purpose of disrespecting people and getting under their skin, which may further encourage nonchalance about the use of the song, its lyrics and original context, and perpetuate continued discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

Activists often call out Jamaican politicians for their failure to address such discrimination, which contributes to everything from social exclusion to violence. Against the backdrop of the church’s influence on the island, politicians, for the most part, appear to stay silent on the issue, positioning themselves as anti-reform.

However, in 2018, the then government — the same administration currently in office — barred a fundamentalist pastor from entering the country. Just as encouragingly, in response to Vaz’s and other politicians’ behaviour on the campaign trail, and despite the country’s strong Christian beliefs that shun queerness, the Jamaica Council of Churches condemned political figures for actions that they said contribute to divisiveness.

Such strides make Minister Vaz’s utterings seem all the more dissonant, despite other politicians perpetuating anti-gay rhetoric over the years. In 2009, then JLP member Ernest Smith said, “We’re not saying that gay should be obliterated from the face of the earth … but because your behavioural pattern is in breach of all decency … do not try to impose your filth on others, and don’t force others to accept you and your filth.”

That same year, Smith railed against J-FLAG, saying it should be outlawed: “How can you legitimise an organisation that is formed for the purpose of committing criminal offences?” “Buggery,” as it is called in the legislation, is illegal under Jamaica's Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA). This has long been a contentious issue in Jamaica and the wider region, with debates about its repeal and LGBTQ+ rights.

Is decriminalisation of the buggery law and equity for the LGBTQ+ community in Jamaica’s future? Advocacy groups argue that more needs to be done, especially in light of leaders’ remarks on public platforms. In 2018, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on the Good Morning Britain show, “What I want the rest of the world to recognise is that there is a legal process that we’re going through [with regard to decriminalisation], and it helps really when we have this kind of conversation, and it is done in a way where there is also respect for the process.”

Three years later, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) ruled that Jamaica violates the rights of LGBTQ+ persons through its criminalisation of same sex intimacy. The ruling urged a repeal of the buggery law, but Jamaica did not comply, and in 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to the legislation brought by local LGBTQ+ activist Maurice Tomlinson, who cited the controversial “savings clause” that protects colonial-era laws from being overturned on constitutional grounds.

Given the continued use of anti-gay rhetoric and the failure, thus far, to repeal homophobic laws in the country, it may still be somewhat of an oxymoron to say “Happy Pride” in Jamaica.