I thought I'd post this in Gays in Sports because I think homophobia leads to closetedness which makes it more likely athletes and others will be gay.

I'll be keeping that in mind while watching the Olympics.

Maybe Jamaica's are good teams to start with.

From the article:

"A spokesman at J-Flag said he believed that, at the same time, Jamaican men felt marginalised within a hyper-masculine society. “In tertiary education, only 25% of the students are men; 75% are women. Many men are unable to get good jobs because they are less well-educated. When they are brought up, girls are subjected to more discipline than boys—which is one of the reasons they are more likely to go on to higher education. Boys are more likely to be allowed to run free. We have a real problem with male role models, too. A lot of children grow up in single-parent families with no father present."

Also some interesting comments on the treatment of lesbians.

Hmm, wonder what Terrell Owens, being discussed in another thread in this section, would think of this?

Are you saying that you think being <gay> in the closet makes it more likely that others will be homosexual???

I am sorry - I don't follow that at all?

I don't understand sportinlife's complete statement either. But anyways, a good friend of mine has been involved with J-Flag, and worked closely with the recently-slain leader of the group, Brian Williamson. This poor man--the slain leader--was supposedly found horribly mutilated in his home. And supposedly some of the police and politicians laughed about it.

There is a longstanding rumor that that PM, P. J. Patterson, is gay (or at least bisexual).

Also, I've heard from friends who visit Jamaica regularly that if you're either upper-class Jamaican or foreign, they don't bother you if you flaunt your homosexuality, but if you're working-class or poor, you are signing your own death warrant if people find out about you.

[ August 11, 2004, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

I'm saying that homophobia makes it more likely that one will have to remain in the closet. Assuming homosexuality occurs naturally at about the same rate in all of humanity, those societies that are more homophobic would force more into the closet. Does that make more sense?

Thank you for clarifying. I think I agree with you that where anyones basic freedoms are oppressed, people are generally more secretive and keep things to themself.

Interesting topic. My one and only experience with Jamaica came in 1991. I went on an RSVP cruise that had Ocho Rios as one of it's stops. Imagine 700 gay men coming into town all at once. Nobody on the cruise really even considered the possibilty that homophobia might exist.

Basically nobody got hurt, but insults were heard particulary if you did not buy from the merchants/peddlers. It seemed that as long as you were spending money you were tolerated.

My personal experience seemed quite weird at the time. Upon landing on the island I and 3 friends hailed a cab (beatup vw beetle)for a ride into town. While riding the driver asked, "are you from the ship of men who does not love woman" My friend in the back responded "oh we love women but not the same way as you" The driver then went on to tell us "you are an abomination" I
responded you don't like us but you like our money right? He said "money is good". After we arrived at our destination he asked that we come back and look for him when we need to return and "Have a happy day"

Such was the flavor of the island. The MC of the cruise stated that Jamaica would be taken off all future cruise itineraries due to homophobia. I guess not much has changed in 13 years.