TV documentary on Jamaica’s ‘endemic anti-gay violence’ to air
NEW YORK, United States —The seventh season of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange concludes with The Abominable Crime, a film that gives voice to Jamaican homosexuals who have fled their island due to endemic anti-gay violence.
The film is set to air on WORLD Channel on Monday, February 16, at 8:00 pm ET/10:00 pm PT as the final episode of the documentary series on contemporary art, life and culture in the African Diaspora.
AfroPoP is hosted by actress Yaya DaCosta, executive-produced by National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and co-presented by American Public Television (APT).
In 2006, TIME Magazine posited that perhaps Jamaica was “the most homophobic place on Earth”.
Micah Fink’s The Abominable Crime, named after the Jamaican law that criminalises homosexual acts, attempts to take viewers beyond the headlines to the real-life individuals affected by anti-gay violence.
Simone, a single mother shot for being a lesbian, faces the heartbreaking choice of hiding with her daughter in Jamaica in constant fear for their lives or escaping alone to seek safety and asylum abroad. Maurice, one of Jamaica’s leading human rights activists, challenges his country’s anti-sodomy law, only to receive a flood of death threats that force him to flee to Canada. But, with other lives at stake, will he risk it all to return to continue his activism? “My hope is that The Abominable Crime will help shatter stereotypes about gays and lesbians”, said Fink. “We encourage viewers to take a deeper look at homophobia, including some of the long-term impacts of it on individuals and on the Jamaican society at large, including on the battle against the HIV pandemic.”
“Micah has brought an extraordinary human touch to the issue of anti-gay sentiment and attacks in Jamaica by introducing audiences to two brave souls deeply affected by it,” said NBPC Executive Director Leslie Fields-Cruz. “Their courage in the face of life-threatening violence will be an inspiration to all.”
The film was made possible by a grant from The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
