Homosexuality in the Jamaican Police Force
Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of homophobia, homophobic language, murder and police brutality. There are also brief mentions of slavery and rape.
By no stretch, is the Jamaica Constabulary Force the most loved civil servant organisation. However, the organisation colonial roots, anti-black mode of operations and the nation’s homophobia lead to a rumour that the organisation is been overrun by queer male police officers; and despite being untrue, this rumor has lasted for almost a century where at one point, it even prompted a government inquiry into the force for their alleged "homosexual behaviours".
Additional Knowledge
BOOKS
Bending the Trend Line : The Challenge of Controlling Violence in Jamaica and the High Violence Societies of the Caribbean by Anthony Harriott
Crime and Criminal Justice in the Caribbean by Anthony Harriott, Farley Brathwaite, and Scot Wortley
Exceptional Violence: Embodied Citizenship in Transnational Jamaica by Deborah Thomas
Fractal Repair: Queer Histories of Modern Jamaica by Matthew Chin
Freedom's Children: The 1938 Labor Rebellion and the Birth of Modern Jamaica by Colin A. Palmer
Inna Di Dancehall: Popular Culture and the Politics of Identity in Jamaica by Donna Hope
Killing Time: Morant Bay Rebellion Jamaica by Gad Heuman
My Political Journey: Jamaica's Sixth Prime Minister by PJ Patterson
Noises in the Blood: Orality, Gender, and the"Vulgar" Body of Jamaican Popular Culture by Carolyn Cooper
Police and Crime Control in Jamaica: Problems of Reforming Ex-colonial Constabularies by Anthony Harriott
Political Life in the Wake of the Plantation by Deborah Thomas
Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchick
Sexuality, Social Exclusion and Human Rights: Vulnerability in the Caribbean Context of HIV by Christine Barrow, Marjan de Bruin and Robert Carr
The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government by David K. Johnson
Towards Decolonisation: Political, Labour and Economic Developments in Jamaica 1938-1945 by Richard Hart
ACADEMIC PAPERS
Antecedents of Trust in the Jamaican Police: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Study by Daniel K. Pryce and Lorna E. Grant
Antihomosexuality and Nationalist Critique in Late Colonial Jamaica: Revisiting the 1951 Police Enquiry by Matthew Chin
Black Police Power: The Political Movement of the Jamaica Constabulary by Dr. Eilat Maoz
‘Bullers’ and ‘Battymen’: Contesting Homophobia in Black Popular Culture and Contemporary Caribbean Literature by Timothy Chin
Casting the First Stone! Policing of Homo/Sexuality in Jamaican Popular Culture by Cecil Gutzmore
Homosexuality and HIV/AIDS Stigma in Jamaica by RC White
Our Own Gayful Rest: A Postcolonial Archive by Kanika Batra
‘Such a Mass of Disgusting and Revolting Cases’: Moral Panic and the ‘Discovery’ of Sexual Deviance in Post-Emancipation Jamaica (1835–1855) by Dr. Jonathan R. Dalby
REPORTS
Human Rights Watch: Hated to Death: Homophobia, Violence, and Jamaica's HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Police Force
ARCHIVES
Equality Jamaica Archives
FICTIONAL BOOKS
Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon
Kingston Noir edited by Colin Channer
POETRY COLLECTION
Constab Ballads by Claude McKay
Crossfire: A Litany for Survival by Staceyann Chin
Providential by Colin Channer
PODCAST
Checkmate Podcast: Crime and Policy in Jamaica
Lest We Forget: The Fight To Own Land In Jamaica
Throughline: The Lavender Scare
DOCUMENTARIES
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Where's My Roy Cohn?
TV SHOWS
PLAYS
Bashment Granny 2