Homophobia has no place in reggae

Today, I learned about Buju Banton. A friend of mine CC'd me his email to a club in Los Angeles protesting his appearance there. Didn't know much about Buju, so I did some internet searching. Man, this Buju dude sounds like a loser. What happend to "one love"? Wassup with the homophobia thing? The Rasta-Leviticus excuse for homophobia is such BS. Doesn't Buju know about the famous Dr. Laura letter, the best refutation of "Biblical" authority I've ever seen.

I'm happy to say that Buju's Los Angeles and San Francisco shows have been cancelled. Dunno why hate seems to be popular. "It's, like, got a cool groove dude, I cn dance 2 it." Like ain't there about 3,000 other artists out there with a "cool grove" that ain't about hate? Like, say, Michael Franti & Spearhead

From Wikipedia

Banton has incited a considerable amount of international controversy because of his 1992 song "Boom Bye Bye" which calls for violence against homosexuals — including shooting them in the head, pouring acid over them and setting them on fire. As a result, Banton was forced by his label to issue a statement; nevertheless he refused to apologize, citing his Rastafarian religion, citing the Bible (Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13) as the basis for his beliefs. Banton still performs the song, notably at the Smirnoff Festival in Negril, Jamaica 8 August 2004. As a consequence, Banton's concerts are often met with protesting crowds and calls for cancellation. His most recent scheduled performance in Seattle in the diverse neighborhood of Capitol Hill was canceled due to local outrage from the LGBT community.

Footnote: Apart from the homophobia, I enjoy Jamaican music and culture. Among other things I'm happy to be friends with the great artist Keith Morrison. Gratuitous plug for Keith's site, which I created for him.