So as the carnival season rolls along also deemed as gay pride incognito MSMs everywhere despite social standing seem to take it as a license to let their hair down several cross dressers and cruisers and some homeless same gender loving brothas were said to be having a ball along the Oxford Road thoroughfare on Friday April 29th last around 10pm onwards as several events with soca themes took place nearby.
The behaviour of the men apparently aroused suspicion by some passersby according to reports from several taxi drivers of whom I am familiar with and also who know some of the homeless population as they have developed not so wonderful notoriety in the business district of New Kingston and its environs. So much so that sections of Trafalgar Road nearing the Island Car Rentals where they once congregated and also where the old Super Plus Supermarket used to be has been patrolled heavily now by the police, the car rental company is said to have instituted new security arrangements barring the men from loitering nearby. The gardens and park immediately across the road as well is also being monitored by cops every now and again but seeing it is a public space it is harder to have the men removed I am told unless they are found loitering and maybe charged for such.
Their ruckus behaviour, sometimes vulgar outbursts and fights in open view of the public coupled with their effeminate entertainment and dancing sometimes supported by friends who park their posh top of the line vehicles with loud dancehall music blaring has not helped their situation any, even as I have carried previous entries on this population they have still been ignored to a certain extent save and except for the once a week drop in for showers at a Non Governmental Organizations property and offices and some food items distributed on some Fridays the men have very little sympathy from the rest of the LGBT community, even allies who had supported some of my calls for more to be done for them have since rescinded their stance due to the intolerance of their improper public conduct. The cross dressing and very skimpy clothing used in the transvestite activity has not found favour either with both community and mainstream alike.
So it seems members of the public have also had their share and were not willing to stomach it anymore seeing that the men were dancing wildly and were loud on the Oxford Road stretch all the way passed Emancipation Park onwards, it is believed they were followed by unscrupulous characters who laid siege on them just beside the Police post in New Kingston on Knutsford Boulevard where the final showdown happened, several of the infamous “biker boys” who have been known to attack homeless and other perceived MSMs before in New Kingston as they often congregate on the Hip Strip near the former Asylum Night Club known reopened and known as the Building.
As the men pranced about some taking on the latest dancehall move positions in public literally gyrating on the hands and heads down came the attackers said to be seven in all with two on bikes the men gave chase and the gyrating MSMs scattered, many were badly bruised while two who were caught directly by their attackers were treated to severe blows drawing blood, one person was thrown directly into a Jamaica National Money Shop complex just across from the Police post which was said to be almost empty as the cops monitored the events and pedestrian raffic patronizing them. The property was damaged as the glass windows and doors shattered due to the impact. The two brothers were bleeding and finally made good their escape as others in the group ran in a zig zag form to create diversions and deliberately confuse their attackers, many onlookers who were passing cheered and urged the attackers to exact their hate. One taxi driver said other taxi drivers many of whom were not regulars on the strip but who were waiting for business chanted words to the effect that battyman fi dead.
It is also speculated by the taxi community and others some of the bikers themselves are homosexuals or bisexuals and that the attack may not have been homophobic but made to look so so as to legitimize it and not face criticisms as well from a curious public, it is reported that the men have been threatened before by the bikers et al that they should stop acting too effeminate in public and “showing up the ting dem” or being too revealing in public, under the guise of homophobic slurs. Could this have been out of effemophobia? as hinted in a recent post on Gay Lesbian Bisexual Queer and Intersexed (GLBTQJA) blogger edition on cruising and the problems that section of the same gender loving community faces where downlow gays also use very public homophobic typed attacks to blackmail or enact revenge on other more open effeminate MSMs. This particular problem is not new to our community. One of the men was called by name by a victim in the group and the cronies of the attackers almost turned on him inquiring as to how the man came into knowledge of his name.
Also see: Other cruising challenges entries on Gay Jamaica Watch
Several of the injured men have since sought help from friends while others have sought medical attention to nurse their bruises and pain from the brawl. Feedback so far from within the community has not been good as many also concur with the popular mainstream view that the men are just too open and attract unneeded attention to themselves while it is also a plus some say to which I also subscribe that they serve a useful purpose as they through their outward and openness in effeminacy and the popular stereotype of male homosexuals remind the rest of the Jamaica we are here and are not going anywhere, maybe there ought to be and are martyrs amongst us whether we like it or not.
Meanwhile a popular drag queen also had to beat a hasty retreat from The Mass Camp the same night as she was dancing with a man who eventually detected she was in fact a he and a disturbance ensued stopping the music for some time a leaving patrons in shock at the discovery, she reportedly also received several blows before the security detail and the police quelled the uproar.
Peace and tolerance
H
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans-gender & Queer Jamaica 
Thanks for posting this. The more things change the more they remain the same. We have to remember it was the drag queens who started the Stonewall rebellion. It takes great courage and balls, if i may so, to flame the way these people do. The SGL street people are more men than the bikers, homophobes and middle class LGBT who condemn them. It would be a turning point if these queens could organize themselves to make a political statement, defend themselves, strike a blow for tolerance and diversity, and celebrate our fabulousness all at once. It is the homeless, runaways, addicts and sex workers who have already transgressed and so have nothing much to lose who can lead the revolution.
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