The LGBTQ Community in Jamaica

Published 08/23/2023 in Scholar Travel Stipend

Written by Noreen Mohsin | 08/23/2023

From April 17th - April 23rd, I had the privilege of being able to travel to Jamaica to learn more about the lived experiences of the LGBTQ community. This experience was eye-opening for me because it helped expose me to the insights and lives of both Allies and members of the community, through a variety of different events throughout the trip.

The purpose of this trip was to interview members of the community in Jamaica to learn more about current LGBTQ advocacy and how support could be improved. Jamaica was coined by Time Magazine in 2006 as “the most homophobic place on Earth,” and where sexual intercourse between same-sex partners is legally punishable by imprisonment. Attitudes towards the LGBTQ community in Jamaica have made life for this community extremely difficult - in 2013, a poll found that the majority of LGBTQ people in Jamaica said they were subject to violence in public.

The purpose of the Milken Family Foundation is “to discover and advance inventive, effective ways of helping people help themselves and those around them lead productive and satisfying lives.” As such, I believe my trip to Jamaica was extremely beneficial in helping advance this mission. During the trip, I helped complete two interviews - one with Equality Jamaica (J Flag), the primary LGBTQ+ advocacy organization in Jamaica, and second with the director of the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law Rights Project (U-RAP), Tracey Robinson. My responsibilities included setting up the interviews and recording them in a way that they can be seamlessly converted to transcription. 

The trip to Equality Jamaica was extremely informative. From the moment I walked in, I could tell that this was a group of extremely passionate individuals who wanted to be able to make a difference for their community. We met Nickoy Wilson, the Policy and Advocacy Manager at Equality Jamaica, who greeted us excitedly and was very happy to make time to speak with us. We were supposed to have a 30 minute conversation, but it ended up being over an hour and a half. 

Our conversation touched a variety of topics, starting with the history of the group and how Nickoy had joined the organization. He discussed how it took many years for the group to gather momentum, and that membership didn’t really kick off for about 4 years until 2016, mirroring the lack of momentum in LGBTQ advocacy during that time. He then transitioned to the idea that there has been a lot of increased visibility of his group that has resulted from the increasing awareness that members of the community created, such as one individual publishing articles anonymously about same sex relationships and queer issues. Then other prominent figures started these conversations in the media and TV as well. Nickoy also pointed out the shift in attitudes that have occurred during Carnival, an annual festival in Jamaica, as people in the community were increasingly able to “be themselves” and dress in whatever costumes they wanted. He also added that Equality Jamaica was now also working with a USC funded project, showing the additional support that their community was receiving internationally. 

However, Nickoy then touched on current barriers to improving the legislation within the country to be more in favor of LGBTQ rights. He claimed it would be “political suicide” for certain politicians to support same sex relationships even though they have the power to do so. He even said that one politician came out and claimed it wasn’t even the wider public coming at politicians for these beliefs, but Jamaicans themselves, using means like Twitter. 

Nonetheless, I was really surprised when Nickoy pointed out that Time Magazine’s characterization of Jamaica in 2013 as the “most homophobic place on earth” was actually inaccurate. He said that the phrase actually diminished the efforts of those who were making change and all that has happened to create a more inclusive environment. One point he mentioned that really stood out to me was that his group was working on creating manuals for the police to help educate them on working with the LGBTQ community. I found this to be a particularly powerful point because I didn’t expect that the police force in Jamaica would be receptive to receiving outside support, and I felt that this was instrumental in furthering the efforts of inclusivity of the community. 

I realized that this point actually helped change my preconceived notions of Jamaica that had been created by the mainstream media, and reinforced the idea that advocacy groups like Equality Jamaica were actually helping change the attitudes and narratives around the community which would in turn bring more awareness. It would also enable people to want to help the community more rather than view it as a “lost cause.” 

The second interview we did was with Professor Tracey Robinson. One of the key issues she touched on was the lack of legal support that queer folks are able to receive in Jamaica given that lawyers often fear social repercussions for helping the community.  She also discussed other barriers that these individuals have experienced with regards to the prohibitive legislation enacted by the Jamaican government over the many years. 

Overall, I am thankful for the opportunity to help give the Jamaican LGBTQ community a voice and visibility from the rest of the world. The Milken Institute has consistently emphasized the importance of education in advancing its goals, and I don’t think there’s a more effective way to educate the broader public on these pressing issues aside from relaying first-hand perspectives. This was an extremely eye opening trip and I am glad I was able to help contribute to furthering the understanding of this space. I am also grateful to have been able to learn more about the issues faced by the LGBTQ community firsthand, and to have the opportunity to help organize and record the interviews. The members of Equality Jamaica mentioned that they were thankful for the work we were putting in to help them with the upcoming creation of the database to compile the insights we have gathered from the trip.