10 Nice facts i've found this week

I love to learn new things so i'm constantly scouring the internet and beyond for interesting new snippets of information, basically here's the ten best fact i've found this week:

1. Kangaroos have three vaginas.
2. In Australian law courts you can be ruled guilty, not guilty or 'lad'.
3. In China you have to visit your parents by law, under the "Elderly Rights Law".
4. In Sonora, Mexico, it is illegal to call your child Burger King.
5. When your second toe is longer than your big toe this is known as "Greek Toe". The statue of liberty has this.
6. Many Ancient Greeks didn't have pockets in their clothes and so would carry small change in their mouths.
7. In 1967 in the town of Picoazá, Ecuador, the townsfolk elected a brand of foot-powder as mayor.
8. 98% of adoptions in Japan are men in their 20s and 30s.
9. Adult nappies outsell baby nappies in Japan.
10. In Iran a thumbs up gesture means something along the lines of "sit on my phallus, asshole".

Homophobia in Jamaica

I find it difficult to sustain any amount of semi-national pride when one's principle views are challenged beyond measure. I was born of a Jamaican father, I've lived in Jamaica briefly and even attended a primary school there before returning to England. For most of my life i've embraced this part of who I am, but since the turn of the year i've become increasingly conscious and concerned by the institutionalised homophobia in Jamaica.

To my mind it is almost inconceivably hypocritical and contradicts most Jamaican values that they claim to be defending.

"The unity must have to start now
Because I mean, how long would we have to suffer?
Let us learn these things that we must be united"

The quote above is taken from the song 'Johnny Was', by Bob Marley, the face of Jamaica to the rest of the world. The list of quotes from Bob Marley that contradict Jamaica's intolerance of homosexuals is enormous, though he never directly commented on the subject, his message was love, tolerance, peace and unity of/for everyone. And why should this not include LGBT people? There is no answer to that question, and Jamaica has stammered it's arrogant ignorance in self justification for far too long.

I feel it necessary to give example of this homophobia, and detail to what extent it is institutionalised. I feel law is a good a place to start at any;

Section 76. Unnatural crime. Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery ... shall be liable to be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for a term not exceeding ten years.


Section 77. Attempt. Whosoever shall attempt to commit the said abominable crime, or shall be guilty of any assault with intent to commit the same, or of any indecent assault upon any male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding seven years, with or without hard labour.


Section 79. Outrages on decency. Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof shall be liable at the discretion of the court to be imprisoned for a term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.


It is perhaps worth pointing out that sexual acts between women are not illegal, I think because they offend the public the least, however life isn't easy for lesbian Jamaicans, "corrective rape" is rampant in Jamaica, just as it is across Africa and the middle-east in countries with similar attitudes.


Many Jamaicans feel homosexuality, particularly between men, warrants punishment by death, evident in the case of Brian Williamson. Co-founder of J-FLAG (Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays), he was a well known gay rights activist. Known for personally housing and looking after gay people in Jamaica, he was brutally murdered with a machete in his home, June 2004, suffering multiple stab wounds to the face and neck.


HRW (Human Rights Watch) researcher Rachel Schleifer had arranged a meeting with Brian at his house later that day, she arrived not long after his body had been discovered, and described the scene she found:

One man called out, "Battyman he get killed." Others were celebrating, laughing and shouting "Let's get them one at a time", "That's what you get for sin". Others sang "Boom bye bye", a line from a well-known dancehall song by Jamaican star Buju Banton about shooting and burning gay men. "It was like a parade, they were basically partying."

I am of firm view that Jamaica should be challenged on these views. Homophobia is embedded in the culture of Jamaicans, I fear that if left to it's own devices it will prove itself stubborn. The United Kingdom and the United States of America are two of Jamaica's top traders, in 2011 alone they imported and exported goods in excess of $2,000,000,000 with the US. Putting Jamaican politicians under pressure to work with human rights groups on improving the standard of living in Jamaica is vital to its progress, I will be writing to foreign secretary William Hague addressing the issue as well as the shadow foreign secretary and members of various parties across Britain to ascertain their current views and plans (if any) for moving forward. Quixotic at most, proactive at least.


Thank you for reading this drivel.