Dear Editor,

On the weekend I watched a documentary looking at the constitutional challenge of Javed Jaghai. The documentary touched a bit on the issue of reparative treatments to cure homosexuality. It featured Wayne West, who said that homosexuality can be cured through reparative treatment.

However, I can say that, based on my experience, it does not. I can also state that it is very much a practice in Jamaica for parents to utilise such treatments when their kids “come out” to them.

I came out to my parents when I was 16 years old. My father attempted to cure me. His method was to go to an ‘obeah’ woman, who gave him a potion, told him to place something at the head of my bed and instruct me not to eat from anyone. She also told him that I was not gay but I was being obeahed by someone who had a grudge against the family. So he proceeded to pour the concoction in my head, spin me around a few times, then place the rocks at the head of my bed.

Here I am. Still gay. There he is. Still the father of a gay son who lost his money to an obeah woman.

I write not in jest, but to highlight the traumatic realities of many young gays in Jamaica. There are many who go through worse than myself in the process of being cured. Reparative treatment is no joke, nor is it effective. It has serious consequences on the mind and bodies. The methods used include shock treatment, administering nausea-induced drugs, beating and other inhumane treatment to exorcise the inherent gayness out of someone. Gays aren’t animals. If we treat our own like that, how do we expect to be treated?

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” — MLK

Roger Stokes

roger.stokes88@gmail.com