Stonewall Inn Owners To Dump Myers Rum and Red Stripe Beer in Sewer As Gay advocates are launch national boycott of Jamaica

Human rights activists have given Jamaica the infamous title: “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth.” Gay people have regularly been beaten and murdered on the island, while authorities do little to stop the violence.

“We, as the owners of the Stonewall Inn, birthplace of the Gay rights movement, refuse to support, in any way, shape or form, the oppression of any people especially our gay brothers and sisters in Jamaica,” the Stonewall Inn said in its statement. “We ask all people of all walks of life to send a clear message to the Jamaican people and their government, that as long as they continue to allow and condone violence and hatred toward the

“If you love your gay friends and family members, you won’t visit Jamaica,” said boycott co-organizer Wayne Besen. “If you care about the human rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, you won’t buy Jamaican products. We hope that all gay and gay friendly bar owners and restaurateurs across the nation will participate in ‘rum dumps.’ We can no longer subsidize our own slaughter.”

GLBT activists Michael Petrelis, Wayne Besen and Jim Burroway launched this boycott after a State Department report highlighted the violence faced by GLBT people. According to the report:

The Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All Sexuals, and Gays (J-FLAG) continued to report human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, mob attacks, stabbings, harassment of homosexual patients by hospital and prison staff, and targeted shootings of homosexuals. Police often did not investigate such incidents.

The West Coast portion of the boycott took place earlier this month with a rum dump in San Francisco that featured Petrelis and city Supervisor Bevan Dufty. Learn more about the boycott at www.BoycottJamaica.org.

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/stonewall-inn…

Police accused of ignoring transwoman’s pleas for help

(Istanbul, Turkey) Human rights groups say a Turkish transwoman would be alive today if police had taken seriously her pleas for help.

The body of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist, was found in her Istanbul home on March 10. She had been stabbed to death, according …

Prince Harry has homophobia licked: gay rights campaigner

Prince Harry, under fire over alleged racism, received rare praise from a leading gay rights campaigner Wednesday who said he was “liberated and enlightened” for kissing and licking a male friend.

Harry, a serving army officer, was widely criticised earlier this week after footage emerged of him describing a colleague as a “Paki” in 2006.

The video, obtained by the News of the World tabloid, also includes images of Harry on a night out with friends in which he mouths to one soldier: “I love you” before kissing him on the cheek and licking his face.

Another extract shows Harry asking a colleague how he felt after an army exercise, adding: “Gay, queer on the side?”

But Peter Tatchell, an Australian-born human rights activist who made his name focusing on gay rights, said he had no problem with Harry’s use of the word “queer” and praised his show of affection.

“For him to happily give his soldier friend a public kiss and lick his face strikes me as rather liberated and enlightened, for a straight man,” he said.

“If only more heterosexual men were relaxed about same-sex affection like Harry, the world would be a better place.”

Tatchell added: “The context and intention of words is crucial in deciding whether they are offensive or not. I don’t find anything objectionable about the context in which Harry used the word queer.”

See Prince Harry has homophobia licked: gay rights campaigner
AFP