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Abstract
This paper reports on a study of the relationship of homophobia to HIV/AIDS‐related stigma in Jamaica. Ethnography, key informant interviews and focus groups were used to gather data from a sample of 33 male and female adults during the summer of 2003. The sample included health and social service providers, HIV positive men and women, and men and women with same sex partners in urban and rural Jamaica. A strong and consistent relationship between homophobia and HIV/AIDS‐related stigma was reported, but the relationship varied according to geographic location, social class, gender, and skin colour (complexion)—to the extent that this coincided with class. Stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS and homosexuality was implicated in low levels of use of HIV testing, treatment and care services and the reluctance of HIV positive people to reveal their serostatus to their sexual partners. Data reveal a pressing need for anti‐stigma measures for both homophobia and HIV/AIDS, and for training for health and human service professionals.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Society for the Study of Justice in Society at Seattle University (SU) and the SU Department of Arts and Sciences for their financial support for the study on which this report is based. Elements of the data in this paper were reported at the November 2003 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco California and at the July 2003 biennial conference of Caribbean and International Social Workers in Barbados. The authors would like to thank Ian McKnight, Novlet Reid and Rohan Manboard of Jamaica AIDS Support for their assistance with this study. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Everton—who died of AIDS in 1985 and was the inspiration for this study.