|
A
LOT
OF
PEOPLE
COMPLAIN
that
the
gay
male
and
lesbian
communities
are
separate
and
do
not
interact
with
each
other
enough.
That
certainly
is
not
the
case
with
the
local
band
Out
Loud.
The
band
features
lesbian
singer
Heather
Craig,
lesbian
drummer
Linda
Jain
and
gay
male
bassist
Sean
Muldoon.
“There’s
such
good
energy,”
singer
Heather
Craig
says
of
the
band.
The
band
will
bring
that
energy
when
they
perform
at
New
Moon
Bar
on
Wilton
Drive
on
Tuesday,
March
6.
The
performance
will
be
a
part
of
Art
Explosion,
the
two-week
art
festival
produced
by
ArtsUnited,
a
local
gay
and
lesbian
artists
group.
OUT
LOUD
CAME
together
for
their
first
performance
this
past
October.
The
group
formed
when
Craig,
a
mortgage
banker,
was
at
a
networking
event
and
met
realtor
Linda
Jain.
The
two
music-oriented
ladies
decided
to
start
a
band.
“It
was
Linda’s
idea
to
have
an
all-gay
band,”
Craig
explains.
The
two
put
an
ad
in
a
local
newspaper
looking
for
other
gay
musicians.
The
talent
of
Sean
Muldoon
blew
them
away.
There
have
also
been
unconfirmed
reports
of
a
possible
gay-related
murder
on
the
island.
“Since
the
Valentine’s
Day
attack,
the
tragedy
and
violence
have
continued
to
grow,”
the
MCC
Sunshine
Cathedral
said
in
a
press
statement.
Jamaican
police
confirmed
the
incident
at
the
pharmacy,
but
did
not
confirm
the
other
attacks
that
allegedly
followed
it.
The
Sunshine
Cathedral
in
Fort
Lauderdale
launched
an
affiliated
MCC
church
in
Jamaica
in
December.
Church
officials
have
been
working
with
Jamaican
gay
activists
to
try
to
stem
the
anti-gay
violence
on
the
island.
The
peaceful
launching
of
the
church
Dec.
3
and
Jamaican
TV’s
airing
of
a
documentary
on
anti-gay
violence
Jan.
9
offered
hope
that
the
tide
may
be
turning
in
Jamaica.
The
TV
documentary,
in
which
MCC
officials
from
Fort
Lauderdale
were
interviewed,
was
the
first
such
program
to
air
in
Jamaica.
Rev.
Robert
Griffin,
program
director
at
the
MCC
Sunshine
Cathedral
in
Fort
Lauderdale,
said
he
didn’t
think
the
launching
of
the
new
gay
church
in
Jamaica
had
anything
to
do
with
the
attack
on
the
men
in
the
pharmacy.
Witnesses
said
the
woman
in
the
pharmacy
sparked
the
incident
because
she
objected
to
the
men’s
appearance,
according
to
Griffin.
“They
didn’t
do
anything
to
incite
it,”
he
said.
Griffin
said
one
of
the
men
inside
the
pharmacy
contacted
the
Human
Rights
Watch
Office
in
New
York
“We
think
that
is
what
brought
the
police
to
the
scene,”
Griffin
said.
“If
it
had
not
been
for
HRW
being
contacted,
we
are
pretty
confident
that
these
three
guys
would
have
been
killed.”
According
to
a
report
in
the
Jamaica
Observer,
the
men
in
the
pharmacy,
which
the
newspaper
described
as
being
“branded
as
homosexuals,”
were
“displaying
effeminate
behavior.”
“The
approximately
2,000
people
gathered
outside
the
Kingston
pharmacy
hurled
insults
at
the
three
men,
with
some
calling
for
them
to
be
killed,”
the
Jamaica
Observer
reported.
According
to
the
newspaper,
the
men
“all
had
bleached-out
faces”
and
were
dressed
in
“tight
jean
pants
and
skimpy
shirts.”
In
November
2004,
Human
Rights
Watch
released
a
report
on
anti-gay
violence
in
Jamaica
titled
“Hated
to
Death:
Homophobia,
Violence
&
Jamaica’s
HIV/AIDS
Epidemic.”
Since
2004,
two
of
Jamaica’s
most
prominent
gay
activists,
Brian
Williamson
and
Steve
Harvey,
have
been
murdered.
In
2004,
Victor
Jarett,
24,
was
beaten
to
death
in
Montego
Bay.
According
to
the
Human
Rights
Watch
report,
“several
witnesses
told
Human
Rights
Watch
that
police
participated
in
the
abuse
that
ultimately
led
to
this
mob
killing,
first
beating
the
man
with
batons
and
then
urging
others
to
beat
him
because
he
was
homosexual.”
Karl
Angell,
director
of
communications
for
the
Jamaican
Constabulary
Office,
said
police
“extricated
the
three
men”
from
the
pharmacy
to
save
them
from
harm.
Angell
confirmed
that
the
woman
in
the
pharmacy
“accused
the
men
of
being
gay.”
He
also
confirmed
that
an
angry
crowd
had
gathered
outside
the
pharmacy.
Asked
about
the
Human
Rights
Watch
report
on
anti-gay
violence
and
murders
in
Jamaica,
Angell
said
most
of
the
gay
murders
on
the
island
are
“crimes
of
passion.”
The
perpetrators
are
“mostly
ex-lovers,”
he
said.
Rev.
Griffin
said
MCC
officials
had
offered
the
men
and
other
gays
who
may
feel
threatened
in
Jamaica
temporary
refuge
in
Fort
Lauderdale.
He
said
one
of
the
men
in
the
pharmacy,
who
is
also
a
member
of
the
Jamaican
MCC,
will
be
arriving
in
Fort
Lauderdale
this
week
for
a
visit.
The
MCC
activist,
named
Gareth,
vowed
to
continue
to
fight
for
gay
rights
in
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