The Cully Queens of Jamaica

[Ioanna]

At first I wanted to post this topic in the forum "What makes you sad today" but I wanted to give it a wider attention.
Look, read and judge for yourself about this Channel4 doentary ...
it makes me sad already.



A 'buggery' law still exists in Jamaica, harking back to colonial times, whereby anyone caught having anal sex faces 10 years of hard labour in jail - although homosexuality itself is not illegal


The Gully Queens, as they call themselves, have sought refuge in the drains after being forced out from shacks, derelict buildings, and sometimes by their own families

 

[Ioanna]

Unwilling to hide their sexuality, the sense of community and relative safety the gully provides acts as a welcome sanctuary


One of the inhabitants washes in the storm drain under a hydrant, from which clean water flows. Homophobia is rife in Jamaica, with 80 per cent of the population harbouring anti-gay sentiment

 

[Ioanna]

For most people, the threat of bottles, bones and stones gushing into their beds as they sleep is not exactly high.
But for one community in Jamaica, it is something they have to deal with every night - along with the risk of being assaulted, raped or even murdered... just for being gay.
Such is the life of one group of homeless LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) youths who live in a storm drain (or 'gully') in the country's capital, Kingston - as revealed in a short doentary made by VICE News.

The Gully Queens, as they call themselves, have sought refuge in the drains after being forced out from shacks, derelict buildings, and sometimes by their own families.
Unwilling to hide their sexuality, the sense of community and relative safety the gully provides acts as a welcome sanctuary.
For that reason, a hint of optimism pervades the lives of the Gully Queens, who go by such colourful names as Pebbles, Batman, Rihanna and Beyonce.

They try to live as dignified a life as possible, given their filthy cockroach/mosquito-infested surroundings: clothes are laid out to dry on the side of the drain; they shower with clean water that gushes from a hydrant; and sleep on makeshift mattresses crafted from pallets and carpets.

 

[Ioanna]

Homeless gay and transgender youngsters have made a home for themselves in a mosquito-infested storm drain (or 'gully') in Kingston, Jamaica


The Gully Queens do their best to scrape a living: selling biscuits, weed, alcohol and cigarettes, as well as engaging in sex work

 

[Ioanna]

Khloe, one of the Gully Queens, whose transgendered friend Dwayne Jones was murdered in 2013


Violent attacks against the LGBT group are commonplace, with little to no retribution or justice brought against those responsible

 

[Ioanna]

DEAD AT 16: KHLOE'S FRIEND

One of the Gully Queens is Khloe, whose friend Dwayne Jones - a transgender teen - was murdered in July 2013.
Dwayne was relentlessly teased in high school for being effeminate until he dropped out.
His father not only kicked him out of the house at the age of 14 but also helped jeering neighbours push the youngster from the rough Jamaican slum where he grew up.
By the age of 16, the teenager was dead - beaten, stabbed, shot and run over by a car when he showed up at a street party dressed as a woman.
His mistake: confiding to a friend that he was attending a 'straight' party as a girl for the first time in his life.
'When I saw Dwayne's body, I started shaking and crying,' Khloe told Associated Press.
She was one of three transgendered friends who shared a derelict house with the teenager in the hills above the north coast city of Montego Bay.
Like most transgenders and gays in Jamaica, Khloe wouldn't give a full name out of fear.
'It was horrible. It was so, so painful to see him like that.'

 

[gorgik9]

Thank you very much for this great post - informative and beautiful, but at the same time so sad.

 

[W!nston]

This story has a sadness about it but their resilience should be an inspiration to many.

 

[Shelter]

Thank you Ioanna for this great and interesting post.

I'm feeling sad and angry and helpless. As RockNLol said "Gay isn't a choice!" Why are so many straight people so hateful against gay people? Surely it will be true that there are some gay people who provoke straights (which is not correct!) but I've never heard that a group of gays has ever beaten up a straight man or killed him because he is straight!

After seeing this little doentation I really feel happy and rich where I live. That I've friends and a good and strong family behind me. No German gay has to go to the gully to live in but nevertheless to live openly as a gay here in Germany could be dangerous too. Dangerous in another way than this in Jamaica but dangerous too.

But to be beaten up in Jamaica or in Germany or wherever in the world - no there is no difference.

The "straight world" will see us as outcasts.

 

[Ioanna]

Thank you Ioanna for this great and interesting post.

I'm feeling sad and angry and helpless. As RockNLol said "Gay isn't a choice!" Why are so many straight people so hateful against gay people?


I have made this "small doentary" with eagerly guys, but to answer your question Shelter: In the doentary I saw the people were stirred up by preachers that gay men of the worst and dirtiest things to blame.
Homofobi is in Jamaica ingrained in the culture.
The hatred is being bump by people with sight that must be believed by the masses, and this is not only in Jamaica but recently also in some African countries, remember the Uganda homophobia etc ...
Unfortunately, this YouTube clip is not complete enough to understandt the whole problem.
I'm happy for you Shelter that you have a good home an understanding family a nice friend and of course GayHeaven where you can ask all your questions and problems.
Good luck and have fun in life boys, but do think occasionally even to those who do not have it so good.

 

[frontlemon]

Thanks to you Ionnna. I feel so sad and at the same time a huge anger at the Jamaican state: instead to fighting poverty they are fighting the homosexuals: what a shame. And I am feeling that I must also say to RockNLol that even if being gay is a choice then also any kind of hatred leave alone persecution is completely inhumane, unethical and unacceptable.

 

[dargelos]

You can be queerbashed in any country, even the very nice ones. In most countries though you can go to the police and expect them to do something about it. In some countries, such as Jamaica, you'd be wasting your time, they won't a thing to help you. Some officers are homophobic thugs themselves and will show you how the professionals do a beating.
So it's no suprise the volume of hate crime in the country is grossly under reported. And if a problem doesn't exist in the official stats it doesn't exist, and there's no need to do anything about it.
Where Jamaica is unique is that as far as I know it is the only place in the world that has a whole genre of music dedicated to the promotion of homophobia.
Don't listen to this song if you are easily offended, it's horrible.

There's plenty more excrement where that came from.

In the film those poor people reduced to living in a drain were remarkable for their lack of self pity. Despite having so little they shared what they had and helped each other to have some kind of a life despite the grim cirstances. They are the tough ones, not the ones who think they're hard coz they are brave enough to shout 'faggot' out of a car window.

 

[frontlemon]

Now I am so angered that I am going to tell something which I don't want to:
There was a time where these people were hated, tortured or even persecuted for their skin color and now instead of learning from these events they just took it to a new level!!!
Nice examples of the animal species named "Homo Sapiens" who are more dumber than their evolutionary brethren who can at least learn from past events. (I was not thinking about correlating the skin color of the Jamaicans with the primates while writing the last sentence but after writing it I feel good at the correlation "naturally" arising!!!) :angry:
(you must have a :huge anger: emoticon)

 

[bigsal]

Ioanna thanks for putting these sad stories in evidence.

The Jamaican population is mainly composed of blacks (76.3% of the total), descendants of slaves from West Africa.

A population whose ancestors have known and experienced on their own skin discrimination and oppression. From victims have become executioners,

 

[frontlemon]

Human rights as I understand, is built on two disciplines: freedom and equality and most societies of this world show no basic understanding of human rights. These rights ensures the freedom of choice within an objective limit (to ensure equality amongst the individuals).
So in the light of this particular ethical standpoint I would rephrase RockNLol's statement that

NO human being deserves to be persecuted or to live in fear because of the way nature made them.

to read "NO human being deserves to be persecuted or to live in fear as long as they do not violate the "personal space" of a fellow human being."
I apologize if RockNLol meant the same in the post.

 

[dargelos]

By dictionary definition persecution is something that must be wrong in any case. If there is a valid reason for the punitive treatment a group or person recieves then it must be something else other than persecution. The trouble is, when the persecutor has a sincere belief, based on a faulty understanding of their own religion, or maybe obedience to authority, that their reasons are valid, how will you ever get them to understand that they are wrong?

 

[Shelter]

Never, Dargelos, never, never! And that alone is the tragedy.

 

[frontlemon]

See that is exactly what happens when you are angry... it stops you from thinking correctly... sorry RockNLol I apologize for reading your posts incorrectly sorry and a big - :big hug:
Never have I seen a homophobic song in my life. Now I am getting angry again :angry:

 

[dargelos]

I'm sorry if it's my fault the horrible music made you mad frontlemon. We need to know that these things exist as much as we wish they didn't.

 

[frontlemon]

Its not your fault Dargelos ... you have not made these videos, you have just shown the reality, its my bad that I seem to get sad and angry when I feel being hated...
its never your fault p :big hug: