The terror of living as a lesbian, all-sexual, or gay man in Jamaica is very real. In the past five years, more than 30 gay men have been murdered. In 2001, a gay man was shot and killed as he sought refuge in a churchyard. A man's throat was slashed and his arm cut by a machete. In 1997, a condom distribution plan at a Kingston prison so enraged inmates, that they set fire to and murdered 16 of their fellow prisoners. J-FLAG was established the next year.

J-FLAG is the only political and legal advocacy group working for lesbian, all-sexual, and gay human rights in Jamaica. They operate a peer education hotline and run a lending library. Women for Women, their safe educational space for lesbian, bisexual and straight women, celebrated its first anniversary. When J-FLAG staff learned that people were fearful of being caught with the quarterly newsletter, they halted publication, and decided to publish its contents on their website.

J-FLAG made history in 2001 when they formally lobbied the Joint Select Committee of Jamaica's Parliament to add "sexual orientation" to the anti-discrimination clause of the Charter of Rights Bill. The proposed change was denied, but the Committee did issue a non-binding recommendation urging the Parliament to consider repealing the Buggery (Sodomy) Law. Repeal of that law and the Gross Indecency Law, which can be used to make any acts of intimacy between members of the same sex illegal (including holding hands), has become the primary goal of J-FLAG's legal reform efforts.

J-FLAG is also active in helping lesbians, all-sexuals, and gay men seek legal asylum. In 2002, their work paid off when the British Government granted asylum to two gay men, ruling that remaining in Jamaica would endanger their lives. A bittersweet win, perhaps. But the more cases that are won, the sooner external governments will pressure the Jamaican government into improving their human rights.

J-FLAG works toward a Jamaican society in which the human rights and equality of lesbians, all-sexuals, and gays are guaranteed. Astraea's grant of $20,000 was made through the Social Change Opportunity Fund for a three-year campaign to raise public awareness of issues faced by lesbians, all-sexuals, and gay men in Jamaica.

* "All -sexual" is a term that considers all-sexual behavior to be part of a continuum in which classifications such as "gay," "lesbian," and "bisexual" often cannot be rigidly applied.

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