Jamaica: LGBT advocates interrupt Jamaican prime minister’s speech

Members of Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand, a group that advocates for LGBT Jamaicans, interrupted Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller as she spoke in Manhattan.  A video of the confrontation that shows Simpson-Miller challenging the protesters then leaving the stage from where she was speaking.

The advocates challenged the prime minister over perceptions of the government’s insufficient response to rampant and headline grabbing anti-LGBT violence, including the a video this month showing a gay teenager being stoned to death in a street. A report from Jamaican LGBT advocacy group J-FLAG notes at least 30 gay Jamaicans have been murdered between '97-'04, including J-FLAG co-founder Brian Williamson who was stabbed to death inside his home in 2004. 

Jamaica is among the English-speaking countries in the Caribbean in which consensual same-sex sexual acts remain criminalized. Read More