Political Parties
Neither one of the two major political parties in Jamaica has expressed any official support for gay rights, though then-opposition leader Portia Simpson-Miller of the People's National Party has stated her personal support for them. At a televised debate in late December 2011 with then-Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness, she said she would consider appointing anyone she felt was most qualified for her cabinet regardless of sexual orientation and added that she wanted to see conscience votes allowed by the major parties on gay rights issues in Parliament. Although Simpson-Miller faced a backlash from social conservatives for her stance, the PNP went on to win a sweeping election victory days later. Prior to Simpson-Miller's campaign, the People's National Party referred to international criticism of its human rights record as "meddling", and either claimed that homophobia was not a serious problem or that gay rights violated the conservative social values of the Jamaican people. It is unclear whether the 2011 election results will lead to a significant change in the party platform.
The Jamaican Labour Party has likewise avoided the issue, although in 2004, the former Jamaican Attorney General and Justice Minister, Dr. Oswald Harding, stated that he felt that Jamaica law should follow the advice of the Wolfenden Committee in Britain and decriminalize homosexuality and prostitution when it occurred between consenting adults in private.
In April 2006, the Sunday Herald ran a front page headline "No homos!" in which then opposition leader and future Prime Minister of Jamaica Bruce Golding vowed that "homosexuals would find no solace in any cabinet formed by him". The statement was supported by several clergymen and a trade union leader. During the 2001 elections Golding's party used as its theme song "Chi Chi Man" by T.O.K., which celebrates the burning and killing of gay men. The purpose of the use of this song was an attack on the then Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, who at the time, was the subject of a whispering campaign on his sexuality, with some critics referring to him as "P.J. Battyson." (Batty boy or man, with a variety of spellings, is an extremely insulting Jamaican epithet for a gay or bisexual male.)
New or minor political parties, no matter their political philosophy, in Jamaica oppose LGBT rights on religious grounds. The conservative National Democratic Movement opposes LGBT rights on religious grounds alongside the more leftist parties such as the Peoples National Party and the New Nation Coalition that express strong support for "Christian principles".
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In Jamaica
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