Confirmed May 11th via a very interactive discussion last evening at a meeting a report that has been making the rounds that several patrons of a popular gay club in Kingston were attacked at a gas station last weekend following a previous encounter with men aligned to dancehall DJ Mavado who were said to be members of his entourage. It was further suggested by the source that two of the men in the group were in fact gay themselves but that is unconfirmed. The dancehall act was reportedly having his hair done at a popular salon where many other gay men also frequent the men reportedly walked into the establishment and were said to be “flamboyant” which displeased the members of Mavado’s entourage who were also present. The men accompanying Mavado reportedly made comments about gays which drew a response from their targets the gay men who chanted their open support of former rival DJ Vybz Kartel who is of the Gaza Camp stemming from a public feud that ended in a peace treaty of sorts signed by both artistes. Mavada camp is known as the Gully.
The supposed flamboyant men came into contact with the DJ and his crew once again after they both left the salon and different times before, here the anti gay pronouncements were even louder as both parties were at the all night gas station making their purchases, things allegedly came to a head according to my sources and a subsequent review of the video camera present at the station by one of them which showed one of the party goers allegedly deliberately crossing the path of the Mavado entourage who were in another isle away from but in view of the gay men. A brawl erupted as the Mavado crew did not take kindly to the passage and touching with rebuttals of the gay party goer, the men proceeded to beat and chase in and around the mart at the gas station where they gay men jumped the counter to seek refuge while the Mavado crew gave chase, several items were destroyed and a female employee suffered some minor bruises as she was bumped into by one of the fleeing party goers.
The mobile security detail that was assigned to protect the facility and arrive when summoned via a panic button system arrived but were said to be unapprehensive and slow to stop the madness still happening upon their approach. Onlookers were said to be in shock while others prompted the attack and said the men should have gotten worse. Not surprisingly Mavado himself had left the crew members just before the onslaught began one can conclude that was done to avoid any association with him being present at the scene similar to a beating which took place in the early 2000s where controversial dancehall act Buju Banton was said to have instigated and participated in a direct assault on several gay men in a house near his studio at the time.
The situation was diffused eventually by the same slow to act mobile team and the police were also called in, items were scattered from the shelves as staff conducted clean up operations afterwards. It was concluded that the man who crossed the path of the Mavado crew was the one who caused the issue to have gotten blown up that it might have and that we as gays need to be cool about it. The gas station’s management was said to be an equal opportunity employer as there are other same gender loving persons on staff who were said to be distraught at the whole affair as it has left a bitter taste for them to deal with the aftermath.
But let’s pause a minute here:
Judging by what has been reported according to the source there was some element of unease between the parties but did the party goers attract unneeded attention to themselves?
Could all of this have been avoided?
Did the men bring this on themselves here?
Couldn’t the men just have purchased what they needed and left? as they always do as they are known by the staff there
Do we need to learn how to choose our battles?
What else can we gleam from this latest report?
Probably the answer is it may have had elements of hate by virtue of how the Mavado entourage behaved at both encounters but the energy the party goers placed in the mix led to the ultimate attack, we must be careful how we attract negativity to our space and person.
Peace and tolerance
H
Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans-gender & Queer Jamaica 