LGBT POV

UPDATED WITH ANDREA SHORTER’S RESPONSE BELOW.

Take this in slowly: “SF Gays Meet With Buju Banton; His First Sit-Down with Gays.”

Buju Banton – the Jamaican “kill gays” reggae singer who is on tour in the states and finding his gigs cancelled almost everywhere – met with gay and AIDS activist Michael Petrelis, openly gay and longtime politico San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty (who’s running for mayor), Andrea Shorter, the longtime social justice lesbian activist now with Equality California, Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the SF gay community center, and straight progressive Supervisor Eric Mar. Also at the meeting, according to Petrelis’s blog posting, was Tracii McGregor, president of Baton’s music company, promoter Jonathan Mack, and a few PR people.

Dufty arranged for the 40 minute meeting in the hotel lobby in Larkspur (in Marin Count), where the singer was staying before Banton’s concert at the Rockit Room Monday night.

Michael Petrelis has a good overview of what happened and the local TV station KPIX
covered the later protests outside Banton’s concert. The LA Gay & Lesbian Center, Chicago-based Andy Thayer and the Gay Liberation Network and Peter Tatchell, OutRage and Stop Murder Music in the United Kingdom have been working since 2004 to draw attention to violently antigay “dancehall singers” like Banton. There’s a whole website devoted to cancelling his shows during this tour.

Petrelis notes that Banton’s most famous antigay song “Boom Bye Bye” – where he talks about murdering gays and throwing acid in the face of a gay man – was written more than 20 years ago when he was a teenager.

Petrelis told the TV reporter:

“He made some awful mistakes, some awful anti-gay mistakes when he was younger. I was encouraging him to explain that this was his past and that now would be a good time for him to call for love and tolerance of gay people in America.”

Dufty told the reporter:

“It was a good meeting today. It was cathartic, I think for the artist because he had never met with representatives of gay organizations. Not in America, not in Jamaica.”

Petrelis noted that Banton had a motive for the meeting:

“His concerts have been cancelled, he is feeling the pressure.”

The TV reporter noted that Banton’s promoter (who apparently thinks the protests are unfair) said the singer took the meeting to heart, without making any specific promises.

Mack told the reporter:

“In Jamaica for example, it’s illegal to have homosexual activities in public. It’s an illegal crime. It’s not about lyrics to a song, it’s about changing a societal view.”

Excuse me? So since homosexuality is illegal in Jamaica, it’s OK to sing about killing gays and throwing acid in their faces? Anyone think that might lead to those apparently NOT illegal actions by someone inspired by the song?

And – not to let the US off the hook – how is it that Buju Banton is a four-time Grammy nominee? Is the beat more important than gay lives?

In his blog posting, Petrelis described the meeting as:

“very civil and productive, even though at times I had to play the “bad cop” activist, especially when Buju was dominating the discussion, and we made several suggestions for him to consider, in order to start to undo some of the problems he has in the gay community because of his past anti-gay lyrics.

We proposed that he think about making statements in Jamaica calling for love toward gays, donating to the JFLAG group, hold a town hall meeting in Kingston about the need to respect gays, and sing about loving gay people. All the suggestions were rejected, frustrating us…..

While there certainly was little movement on his part, and we didn’t agree to tell any other gays to stop protesting his concert tour or suggesting he do more to confront the terrible, and sometimes deadly, anti-gay violence in Jamaica, we felt it was a very positive step forward that the meeting took place.

Our hope is that we will continue to speak with him and his representatives to address the pervasive hatred gays face in Jamaica, and work together to reduce homo-hate. I believe Buju fully understands that today’s meeting was a beneficial first step and that the gay community will want more concrete steps taken, before our actions against his concerts cease.

Many thanks to Bevan for arranging this important first meeting, and thanks to Buju for taking the time to listen to us, and to let us hear his views. Let’s keep the communication going.”

I’ve known Michael Petrelis for years and though we don’t always see eye to eye over some of his more outrageous tactics, I’ve always known him to speak the unvarnished truth as he sees it.  I’ve applauded his major open government/sunshine activities and will never forget that he was the one who originally raised holy hell about the murder of gay sailor Allen Schindler in the early 1990s.

So I don’t doubt his good intentions, nor those of Bevan or Andrea, who I also know.

But frankly, when I read the headline and then Michael’s story, I felt sick to my stomach. After all, as one of the comments on Michael’s blog points out, a Time Magazine article asking if Jamaica is “The Most Homophobic Place on Earth?” also

“contains information about Buju Banton’s arrest for an alleged armed assault on six gay men in Kingston, Jamaica in 2004. Buju was later arrested for this assault. No trial was never (sic) held. Despite claims, Buju was never “cleared” or “acquitted” of the crime. One victim, who lost his sight in one eye identifies Buju Banton as his assailant.”

There’s no mention of this. There was no apology. From what I can tell, there was no movement of any kind on his part. Only the meeting – and for what purpose? His PR, I fear.

I contacted Michael to discuss all of this – beseeching him to search his brain for any sign, any feeling he can recall that the atmosphere in the room (lobby) changed – say from extreme tension to something more relaxed – or Banton smiled in some sincere way as if a light bulb had gone off that gays are human beings, too, and not just obstacles to a successful and rich career.

Michael said:

“We went into the meeting thinking all we would get from Buju would be a frank dialogue. None of us expected him to immediately agree to our suggestions, but we at least wanted to make them directly. Is the dialogue enough? Absolutely not and we made it clear the pressure on concert promoters would continue.

I don’t see anything wrong with having the meeting and talking with an adversary.”

I asked if he felt any hatred coming from Banton.

“No, I didn’t feel hatred from him, but neither did I feel any love either. And no sense of anxiety on his part because he was meeting with gays and lesbians. But as we left, I can’t say I thought he would immediately look at gays differently.
I did sense, very strongly, a lot of concern from Buju and his team that money money money and the loss of revenue from the canceled concerts was _very_ much at the top of their agenda…..

I want to say that Buju and his team sat down with us, had a productive discussion, and then a few hours later, dozens of activists were out protesting his SF appearance. In other words, the gays are meeting with him and keeping up the public pressure.

What’s wrong with that?”

Right. My brain is saying that’s a good thing. Meeting with adversaries, I understand that. Like Soulforce trying to meet with James Dobson. But my gut is screaming “revulsion.” I mean, this man advocates killing and maiming gays – and why do I say “advocates” even though his promoter said he hasn’t sung “Boom Bye Bye” in California? Because “Boom Bye Bye” is still out there – it hasn’t been withdrawn, to my knowledge.  To me, then, the meeting is akin to a gay concentration camp survivor meeting with a Nazi commandant who wants to make money in the district in which the survivor lives.

I expressed my difficult response with Michael, to which he replied:

“I hear you loud and clear. Our exchanges and your questions make me think of the problems
between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel won’t agree to negotiations until X happens and the Palestinians won’t sit down for talks until Y takes place.

How to get both sides to at least come to the Middle East peace table?

And what if the PLO doesn’t get a full state? Are the meetings bad for them?

How about the Israelis not securing an agreement to stop rockets from Gaza?

Maybe where I’m going with this thinking is that if there are more meetings with Buju and gays, there should be a mediator.”

In the meantime, Jim Key from the LA Gay and Lesbian Center is concerned that Banton’s PR people will spin the meeting to their advantage:

“If I were in the group of folks who met with him, I’d be very cautious about touting that meeting as an important first step, since Buju apparently offered no apology and not even a promise to never again sing “Boom, Bye Bye.”

Now, however, Buju’s management can tell promoters and club owners who are considering whether or not to cancel his concerts, that the singer is meeting with gay activists to make amends. I hope the meeting doesn’t become a PR victory for a singer desperate to perform here, while maintaining his anti-gay cred back home.”

On the other hand, with the continued boycott of Jamaica and Red Stripe beer, perhaps there is a way for smart people to spin this to the Jamaican government that if so proud a gay-hater as Buju Banton was willing to meet with gay people, surely governmental officials can meet with gays to find a way to end the murders. Then this would be a good first step.

ANDREA SHORTER just commented:

Andrea Shorter
EQCA Deputy Director Marriage and Coalitions
Immediate Past Chair, Bayard Rustin LGBT Coalition

By all accounts, yesterday was already an extraordinary Indigineous People’s Day:

Harvey Milk Day Bill was finally signed into law; the 10th Anniversary of the slaying of Matthew Shepard; a few days after the first Black President received the Nobel Peace Prize AND promised before the LGBT community to get rid of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell; a national march on Washington, DC for LGBT Equality.

What else could possibly happen during such heady times?

A face-to-face meeting with Buju Banton, the controversial Jamaican Reggae artist whose music was incited hatred and violence against LGBT people.

It wasn’t exactly a ‘Beer Summit,’ but this first meeting ever of LGBT people with Mr. Banton was a good, healthy step towards opening dialogue about stopping all forms of hate, violence, and discrimination against LGBT people in Jamaica, and the world over.

When we sat down at the table to talk, the first words that Mr. Banton said were “For me, I see this as an opportunity to dialogue…And, for me, it has been a long time coming for this dialogue.” He went on to tell his story about his youth in Jamaica, and the social and contractual circumstances resulting in recording the song in controversy,”Boom Bye Bye” at age 19, not having ‘made a penny from it’, and reportedly not having sung the song on stage for the last 17 years.

Given that it was his first time meeting with gay folks, this was clearly a charged moment for Mr. Banton. I’m not sure what he expected to see when he met with us, but it was clear to me that he might not have expected to see a diverse contingent of LGBT people and allies, least of all an African American lesbian, and a straight Chinese ally in City and County Eric Mar.

The dialogue progressed into exchanges ranging from the effects of his music and conduct towards LGBT people in Jamaica and beyond; that while the song was made nearly two decades ago as a youth, his accountability and opportunities as an adult to use his power as a major Reggae recording artist to stand against all forms of hate and violence. Michael Petrelis presented a few suggestions for him to take a more public stance, that included issuing an affirmative statement about love and acceptance of LGBT people, and making a charitable donation to J-FLAG in Jamaica.

He told us of his work as the founder of Operation Willy, an HIV-AIDS education and prevention project he started in Jamaica, and other actions that he was taking in Jamaica that were not being reported outside of Jamaica. I commented that if IN FACT he was doing such great work for Jamaican LGBT people for all of these years that goes unnoticed, and his show is being shut down left and right across the United States, then he clearly has a big PR problem.

Whatever the case, we pressed on that we were interested in engaging him in “meaningful ways by which we could stand together against LGBT hate.” While he declined to commit to either of these specific suggestions, he committed to continuing the dialogue (through his manager) about ideas by which he could more resolutely take a stance.

Afterward, a good friend remarked to me last night that “with you in the room, perhaps it was more ‘Dread Summit’ than ‘Beer Summit’ “, to which I remarked, “well as long as it wasn’t a ‘dreaded summit’ for Mr. Banton, and we were able to open his heart and mind.”

Ultimately, I think  our contingent presented well that the LGBT community stands in solidarity against hate and intolerance, and that it is not a monolithic experience.

The evenings show was not canceled, but the protest outside of the venue continued in full force.

I just received a phone call from my friend and fellow Harvard-David Bohnett Fellow, Dave Roberts in San Diego. Apparently, there is a push for a similar meeting with local LGBT advocates in Solano, Banton’s next stop.

The pressure is on, Mr. Banton. But the door for that “dialogue a long time in coming” has now been kicked open.

In December, San Francisco will host the Victory Fund’s 2009 International Lesbian and Gay Leadership Conference. Along with Bevan Dufty and others, I now especially look forward to welcoming and coalescing with a Jamaican LGBT contingent.