Submitted:
Rogerrie D. Harris is a 29-year-old gay man living in Kingston, Jamaica.
Growing up Harris has suffered multiple assaults for most of his life because of his sexual orientation.
These have ranged from homophobic slurs to physical attacks, and have come from police, community members, school mates, and complete strangers.
Harris has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of these unrelenting attacks.
The most recent jarring incident occurred on the morning of Feb. 23, 2020.
At around 1:15 a.m., Harris and two friends were sitting and chatting near the popular Emancipation Park in the heart of the business district of New Kingston.
They were facing the landmark Pegasus Hotel when suddenly a large stone landed at their feet.
Startled, they looked up and realized that the missile came from the hotel’s entrance and was quickly followed by several stones from the same direction.
Harris and his friends jumped up but instead of backing down they rushed to the source of the attack as they were tired of being subjected to this kind of unprovoked violence simply for existing.
When they entered the hotel’s gates, they saw two hotel security guards scurrying from the area where the stones were thrown. The guards tried to elude Harris and his friends by quickly making their way to the hotel’s main lobby. When Harris and his friends attempted to report the matter to another guard at the lobby entrance they were met with aggression and expletives.
But still livid that someone would try to hurt them for just sitting in public, Harris and his friends refused to leave and eventually a supervisor for the guards came over to speak to them. They made the supervisor aware of the guards’ dangerous and unwarranted actions but instead of sympathising with Harris and his companions, the supervisor sided with the guards and said that: “being a gay man violates Jamaican norms.”
Harris was understandably displeased with this dismissive response and so he demanded to speak with the hotel’s manager. However, the security supervisor and other security guards adamantly stated that this was impossible. The guards then proceeded to call Harris and his friends “battymen” and hurl other homophobic expletives at them before ordering them to leave the hotel compound.
Initially, Harris and his friends resisted but the supervisor then instructed two security guards to physically throw the young men out unto the street. The supervisor also called for five or six more nearby guards to assist their colleagues to forcibly eject Harris and his friends.
Facing overwhelming odds, Harris and his friends started to retreat but in vexation at this unjust turn of events one of Harris’ friends threw a bottle at a guard who then physically assaulted the young man.
The security guards then pulled out two firearms at Harris and his friends as they moved further from the compound, but the supervisor still commanded the group of security guards to chase them.
The guards chased Harris and his friends down Knutsford Boulevard to the Oxford Road intersection all the while throwing stones and even their batons at the trio.
Harris was severely traumatized by the incident and stayed barricaded in his home for four days. He then went to the New Kingston police station to report the attack, but the police were rude and discriminatory and offered no help to Harris.
Harris attempted to make a complaint to the Pegasus hotel management team. After waiting for hours in the lobby he was finally told that the manager on duty was too busy to deal with him because it was: “Only one of her.”
Feeling frustrated and defeated Harris left the hotel and went home.
