By the end of the 19th century, the so-called "sciences" of Europe and the United States had categorised gay men and women as mentally ill and they were increasingly at risk for being locked away. Since the Middle Ages, when gay men and women were burnt at the stake, social and physical violence against them has been seen as central to the establishment of an ordered society. In 21st century Jamaica, as in the rest of the world, violence against gay men and women – sometimes to the point of murder – is a part of daily life, although often unreported and unrecorded. The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals*, and Gays (J-FLAG) was founded to address the issue of violence against sexual minorities and to foster a safer social and physical environment for gay men and women.

As research on gender identity in the Caribbean has shown, regionally-defined gender roles are delineated fairly sharply. Homophobia permeates Caribbean societies. Because of the publicly promoted intolerance of homosexuality, many gay men and women face social, psychological and physical violence. Appeals to the justice system are often met with ridicule, from the local police to the court system itself.
Violence against gay men is considered part of "public justice and moral order": community members beat, harass, stab or stone them. In contrast, public lesbian sex acts seem to be more accepted, as they are a highly popular component of strip-club culture, where many dancers are reported to be lesbians. The potential for public violence in this situation is quite real, however, and violence against women, especially in the defence of men's sexual and social power over women, is also part of Jamaica's daily life. Male violence has been found by many social scientists to be central to male socialisation and masculine ideals, promoted by both men and women to ensure that men are "real" men, and not gay men. Women are similarly expected to marry and produce children to prove their fertility and heterosexuality.

In this context, many gay men and women are reluctant, to the point of fearing for their lives, to reveal their sexual identity. This has clear implications for their mental and physical health, as well as for the context in which the battle for their human and civil rights can be fought. Due to the publicity surrounding J-FLAG's work, many eyes are on our organisation to see what is possible in ensuring human rights for sexual minorities in the region.

Advocating for gay persons' rights in Jamaica

J-FLAG's mission is to work towards a Jamaican society in which the human rights and equality of gay men and women are guaranteed, and to foster the acceptance and enrichment of their lives, since they are an integral part of society. In order to achieve this, we are active on at least three fronts: at the grassroots level, in support of gay men and women living in violent environments; in the corridors of power, to change laws and practices; and in building key alliances with other local and international groups fighting for human rights and societies free from gender-based violence.
One of our first major actions sought to amend the non-discrimination clause of the Jamaican Constitution to include 'sexual orientation' among its protected categories. Although eventually denied, this resulted in an ongoing debate about the civil rights of sexual minorities in Jamaica. Since then, J-FLAG has expanded the scope of its legal reform and advocacy efforts (to include the repeal of laws that criminalise same-sex intimacy), and initiated educational and social service programmes through a helpline, website, workshops, mass media presentations and other activities.

J-FLAG also does significant personal development and community building in the gay community. We offer counselling and legal, medical, psychological and vacation referral services to gay people and their families. We work together with noted local and international figures and human rights, health and political interest groups, in the process of working for constitutional and other legislative changes. We also maintain a library and archive for academic research and, increasingly, to provide documentation for asylum cases based on sexual discrimination and violence in Canada, Great Britain and the United States.
The right to a life free from violence based on sexual or gender identity is the foundation for our fight for gay men and women's human and civil rights. We know that Jamaica is not alone in this: at J-FLAG we believe that this century will see a breakthrough in decriminalising sexuality-based violence in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

* "All-Sexual" is a term used to indicate that we consider sexual behaviour to be part of a continuum in which classifications such as "gay", "lesbian" and "bisexual" often cannot be rigidly applied. The term "all-sexual" refers not only to biological and sexual characteristics, but also to social attitudes related to them. "All-Sexuals" therefore refers to same-gender-loving persons whose actions are not in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, i.e., not abusive to minors and other persons who are in dependent circumstances or of diminished capacity, or otherwise in violation of the rights or personal dignity of any person.