From: salu@jx.co.az   
      
   The Sunday Times   
      
      
      
   September 26, 2004   
      
   Yardies threaten to shoot Tatchell   
   Maurice Chittenden   
      
      
      
   THEY call him the Batty Man in Jamaican patois. Peter Tatchell, the gay   
   rights campaigner, has a bounty on his head after declaring war on reggae   
   artists who advocate the killing of homosexuals.   
   Tatchell, who has previously taken on opponents such as President Robert   
   Mugabe of Zimbabwe, has put himself in the firing line by targeting the   
   likes of Beenie Man, Bounty Killa and Elephant Man, whose lyrics preach   
   death to gays.   
      
      
   His campaign, often resulting in concerts being cancelled at short notice,   
   has cost performers, promoters and venues an estimated £2m in Britain and   
   the United States.   
   Last week police in Manchester intervened to secure the cancellation of a   
   concert by another singer, Buju Banton, amid concerns about possible public   
   disorder and threats to local lesbians and gays by his fans.   
   Banton's song Boom Bye Bye suggests shooting a "batty bwoy" (a derogatory   
   term for homosexuals as batty means bottom in Jamaican slang) in the head,   
   pouring acid on him and then setting him on fire to "burn him up bad like an   
   old tyre wheel".   
   Scotland Yard is giving Tatchell special protection after he was told Yardie   
   gangsters might have sent a hitman from Jamaica to "bump you off".   
   Tatchell, once a Labour parliamentary candidate, says he has received 20   
   death threats in the street, on the telephone or by e-mail. A message posted   
   on a dancehall reggae website by a man calling himself Killarock says:   
   "Where are the shottas (gunmen) over in England, I bet if the shottas dem   
   kill a few a dem they will calm down, cause right now England battyman dem   
   ago start a world movement."   
   An e-mail sent to Tatchell's Outrage! organisation in southeast London by a   
   man called Rabid Monk said: "I warn you if you go to protest at any large   
   rasta-based festivals you may not leave standing."   
   Whereas reggae music's only world superstar, the late Bob Marley, once sang   
   of One Love, some of today's reggae artists sing songs full of violence   
   towards their fellow man.   
   Elephant Man was dropped from the Music of Black Origin awards in London   
   earlier this month after refusing to apologise for his anti-gay stance. One   
   of his songs urges: "Shoot dem like bird."   
   A Bounty Killa song has the lyric: "Bun a fire pon a puff and mister fagoty"   
   (Burn a fire on poofs and faggots).   
   Beenie Man's lyrics include lines such as "Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece   
   of rope" (Hang lesbians with a long piece of rope).   
   The translations are Outrage!'s own. Tatchell has been instrumental in   
   getting 26 of Beenie Man's concerts cancelled at a loss of at least £10,000   
   a show.   
   Last Sunday Tatchell protested with 15 supporters outside a packed Bujo   
   Banton concert in London. "If it hadn't been for police protection we would   
   have been attacked and seriously injured," he said.   
   "We have heard at least 20 explicit threats to kill us. I have been abused,   
   threatened and shoved in the street. But if a singer had advocated gassing   
   Jewish people or lynching black people they would not be allowed into this   
   country."   
      
   Tatchell, who has been given a special 999 code to summon help, added: "I   
   like reggae singers like Marley and Sean Paul. Marley's message was one of   
   love and social justice. But dancehall artists have dragged reggae music   
   into a cesspit of homophobia and misogyny."   
   Homosexuality is still illegal in Jamaica and punishable with up to 10 years   
   ' hard labour. Brian Williamson, a gay rights campaigner on the West Indian   
   island, was hacked to death with more than 70 blows in June in what police   
   said was a robbery but his supporters believe was a hate crime.   
      
      
   Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll of Scotland Yard's race and violent   
   crime task force said: "I regularly assess Peter Tatchell's safety. I am   
   hoping to bring everybody around a table to bring a solution to this."   
   But although Beenie Man's record company issued a statement on his behalf   
   apologising for lyrics that "may have caused distress and outrage", he has   
   since denounced it on stage.   
   Glen Yearwood, spokesman for Apollo Entertainments, which has seen its   
   Reggae in the Park concert postponed until next year as a result of Tatchell   
   's protests, said: "We are happy to have dialogue with Peter Tatchell, but   
   if he wants to select which artists come in from Jamaica, it is a show   
   stopper."   
      
      
      
   C/O ROBBIE   
      
      
      
      
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