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GAYS SILENT - Mum since guilty plea by Williamson's accused killer

THE GAY COMMUNITY and their supporters do not have much to say now after a man who pleaded guilty to murdering gay rights activist Brian Williamson, said the slaying was not a hate crime.

Shortly after Williamson, 59, was found hacked to death in his New Kingston flat last month, both J-Flag (Jamaican Forum for Lesbians All-Sexuals and Gays) and Amnesty International (AI) alleged that the murder was a hate crime.

However, Dwight Hayden, a 24-year-old newspaper vendor who pleaded guilty to the murder when he appeared before a judge in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court last week Tuesday, said otherwise.

According to Hayden's statement, which was read in court, Williamson was murdered because he refused to acquiesce to demands made by him (Hayden) and an accomplice. The two had gone to Williamson's home seeking money for a business they wanted to start. However, they were not satisfied with the $400 the gay-rights activist was giving them. They wanted $3,000. When the sum was not forthcoming, they chopped and stabbed Williamson, eventually killing him.

Hesitant

Now, following news of the guilty plea and the statements made by the accused man, J-Flag seemed hesitant in commenting on the case. A spokesperson for the group told THE STAR yesterday that the motive of the other assailant is still not known. "The killing was quite brutal and its hard to say what the motive was," said the spokesperson.

The J-Flag mouthpiece also added, "The situation in Jamaica is still very dangerous for gay people in general."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for AI told THE STAR, "We have no comment at this time."

In a release issued by J-Flag, the day of Williamson's murder, the group said: "While the details of his death are not immediately known, the condition of his body suggests a violent death and his visibility as a gay man leads us to suspect this is a hate-related crime."

Worldwide human rights watchdog group, Amnesty International (AI) also seemed to believe the hate crime theory. "There remains a strong possibility that Brian Williamson's profile as a gay man and advocate of homosexual rights made him a target for those with homophobic views. The taking of money or other items may have been an afterthought by the perpetrators of the killing with the primary motivation for the murder being hatred of homosexuals," said a release from the group shortly after the murder.

Williamson's murder was also used by gay rights activists in the United Kingdom as fodder for their campaign to pressure the Jamaican government to change laws that make homosexual acts illegal.