John Terry, a British honorary consul living in Jamaica, was strangled and beaten to death by someone police believe to have been close to John. A note found on his bed referred to him as a "batty man" {derogatory slang for gay man} and that read in part, "This is what will happen to ALL gays."
Since 1997 Amnesty International has recorded the murders of at least 35 gay men on the island, including that of Brian Williamson, founder of JFLAG {Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals and Gays} and of a man serving as the Choir Director of a Sunshine Cathedral MCC congregation in Jamaica. Thirty-two incidents of mob violence directed against LGBT people have been recorded in the last eighteen months alone. In many cases, the murders were followed by crowd celebrations around mutilated bodies.
THIS MUST STOP NOW!
"There is nothing politically correct or culturally sensitive about failing to name the realities that are violently claiming the lives of LGBT people and justifying those heinous acts," said Rev. Nancy Wilson, Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches, the world's oldest and largest global LGBT organization. "'Murder music' is neither artistic form nor cultural heritage. It is, along with cries from the pulpit for condemnation and execution, and proclamations from the Jamaican Parliament advocating life in prison for so-called 'acts of gross indecency,' the instigation behind and support for not only criminal and immoral behavior, but untold human suffering," she added.
Rev. Robert Griffin, liaison to Sunshine Cathedral's MCC congregations in Jamaica, added that, "Even church-goers live in fear of detection, knowing that the safety of the sanctuary does not extend to them, simply because they are LGBT. The persecution and violence in Jamaica must stop and it must stop now!"
Though it should not matter, John Terry was both a gentleman and a generous human being, whose charitable acts included individual assistance to the poor and volunteer work with agencies, such as those dedicated to serving the mentally ill. His death, and the countless recorded and unrecorded victims of hate crimes before him, must not go unprotested by the international community.
Change is possible. Violence is endemic to no society. Good will among all and living in just and right relationship are not "insider" or "outside" concerns or standards. — They are the business of all of us who care deeply about the safety and well being of all God's children, in particular, God's LGBT children around the globe.
Join me today in:
+ Praying for an immediate end to homophobic violence in Jamaica and around the globe.
+ Contacting Sunshine Cathedral MCC in Jamaica and JFLAG, who together are working to combat the homophobia and discriminatory attitudes behind the violence in Jamaica. For more information regarding Sunshine Cathedral in Jamaica please contact Rev. Robert Griffin.
+ Reaching out, if you are a Jamaican citizen, to local religious leaders and asking for their assistance in ending the violence by preaching acceptance and tolerance of diversity.
+ Writing to The Honorable Orette Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica at hpmgolding@opm.gov.jm.
Tell Prime Minister Golding that you are a person of faith demanding that the violence against LGBT people stop now. Tell him religious bigotry and social sanction must no longer be used to justify discrimination and criminal acts of violence against gay people. Laws that sanction discrimination must be eliminated, and laws that protect LGBT equally must be passed.
Tell him you are part of a global community of faith that believes in the value and dignity and worth of all God's children, and that you won't give up until all LGBT people are safe from persecution and violence in Jamaica.
We can make a difference. We must make a difference. We must not give up for the sake of the safety of our community in Jamaica.
//signed//
The Rev. Nancy L. Wilson
Moderator
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