Dear Editor,

The homophobic gang is Jamaica is one that is very mob-like and is similar to many gangs (mobs) that form just about anywhere. I spend a lot of time around them and realise this just from their actions – whom they look up to, their talking points and the slogans they choose to chant. Just read up on mob (crowd) psychology and you realise this.

The first thing that is common among mobs (gangs) is that they always have leaders or a group of leaders that they deeply respect and salute when they do a deed in their favour. Gangs like the “Shower Posse” have respected leaders like “Dudus/Presi” while the homophobic gang (mob) has its leaders in the government, the music industry and the church.

The first thing that is common among mobs (gangs) is that they always have leaders or a group of leaders that they deeply respect and salute when they do a deed in their favour. Gangs like the “Shower Posse” have respected leaders like “Dudus/Presi” while the homophobic gang (mob) has its leaders in the government, the music industry and the church.

From the sayings in government like “Not in my Cabinet”, which seemed to have improved Bruce Golding’s ratings among the church leaders who wield their enormous power to influence the media on whether or not to show the gay PSA and anti-gay dancehall artistes whom they worship and cry about when they mess up, it is quite obvious as to how the saviour or messiah mentality of the homophobic mob (gang) operates when a leader chooses to unleash his demagogy.

The second thing that is common among mobs is their heightened sense of defence; they launch into “attack mode” if they feel their gang is threatened. They defend their mob by taking advantage of the ignorance of their members. By telling their members the lie that all or most gay men are child molesters, wealthy, violence-prone, prostitutes or that they can “catch” homosexuality or be encouraged into the so-called “lifestyle”, they create this “us versus them” mentality that they use to keep their members in bondage on the homophobic plantation away from all sensible debate and reasoning. They readily launched into “attack mode” when the pro-gay public service announcement was to be aired by standing behind the bedroom-intruding buggery law (I don’t see what the PSA had to do with buggery) which their leaders defend.

They use chants and slogans to identify each other when in attack mode such as “Chi-chi man fi dead” similar to the Nazi mob with “Heil Hitler” to identify each other and to show one’s loyalty to the gang. If you dare to fathom, realise or imagine just one thing wrong or hypocritical about the gang, you are banished and labelled as gay or part of the enemy. The third thing about gang culture is their insatiable appetite for power, conquest and domination.

The homophobic mob in Jamaica loves and defends their useless and victimless buggery law because to them it holds the secret to the prevention of an upcoming tsunami of homosexuality, if the law were to be removed from the books. Nothing could be further from the truth. The buggery law isn’t even enforced and neither does it criminalise homosexuality. It criminalises anal sex which can also be done by heterosexuals. Homosexuality and anal sex are not synonymous as any dictionary will define homosexuality as “an attraction to a member of the same sex” and not just some sexual activity. The mob will also use its power and control of the media to make fun of gays and exaggerate and sensationalise things that only a few gay men will do. Their control over the media manifested itself the day the gay PSA was rejected. I’m sure if a PSA were to be made denouncing homosexuality it would be accepted as only the mob is allowed to speak and have a voice. All mobs are dangerous and the homophobic one will fall one day.

David Thomas

May Pen, Clarendon