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MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 26, 2013



CONTACT: Dwayne Brown
EMAIL: duanyex@hotmail.com
PHONE: 561-412-9924
RE: Jamaican LGBT Protesters Halt Prime Minister Simpson-Miller at Ford Foundation

New York-based LGBT activist group Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand halted Jamaican Prime
Minister Portia Simpson-Millers exit from a United Nations session at the Ford Foundation in
New York today. Shouting Gay rights are human rights! and Portia, shame on you! the group
of seven protestors greeted the PM as she began to exit the Ford Foundation offices on East 43rd
Street in Manhattan. Simpson-Miller stopped, waved at the protestors and blew kisses, then went
back inside the building. Video of the encounter can be seen here.

Protestors paced the sidewalk outside the Ford Foundation for one hour with signs reading Eight
Gays Killed in 2012 and Portia Protect Gay Citizens. The group called for an end to
Jamaicas anti-gay laws, which tacitly condone attacks and murders of members of the LGBT
community in Jamaica. Consensual sexual intercourse and interaction between homosexuals has
been illegal since 1864. Gays are imprisoned for 10 years with hard labor under Jamaicas
Buggery Law and often brutalized and killed by anti-gay mobs if caught or suspected.

Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand and its allies will stage another protest on Saturday morning as
Simpson-Miller speaks to the UN General Assembly. The September 28th protest takes place at
10 a.m. at United Nations Plaza on First Avenue and East 45th Street in Manhattan.

Since the internationally publicized brutal murder of Dwayne Jones, a 16-year-old transgender
woman, on July 22, 2013, a mob called for the head of an alleged gay constable on July 31st in
Kingston. On August 1st, two homosexual men were mobbed and wounded in St. Catherine. On
August 10th police rescued a transgender woman after a mob gave chase in Portmore. On August
22, five gay men were trapped and barricaded by an angry mob in Green Gully Manchester. On
August 23, two men were trapped by a homophobic mob for appearing gay. And on August 27,
a 41-year-old gay man was murdered by unknown assailants. Dean Moriah was stabbed several
times before his house was set on fire with him inside.

In the 2011 Prime Ministerial Election, during a public debate, Jamaicas current Prime Minister
Portia Simpson-Miller promised a conscience vote in Parliament on the repeal of the countrys
anti-gay laws and has yet to live up to her promise. In light of the increased attacks on LGBT
citizens she remains silent and defiant in activating the most basic measures for the prevention of
anti-LGBT violence and the acceptance of the LGBT community in Jamaica.

Jamaica Anti-Homophobia Stand is a direct action group dedicated to ending discrimination,
violence and repression against the LGBT community. Please go to the Facebook link below or
email the contact above to get involved with the group's actions.
Twitter @JamaicaAHS
http://www.facebook.com/Jamaica.AHS?ref=br_tf
Email: info.jahs@gmail.com

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