Hi SF LGBT Activists,

Thanks for your efforts.

I don't doubt the good intentions of the LGBT activists who attended the meeting with Buju Banton in San Francisco, but they appear to have come away with nothing from Banton. Not even promises.

I was shocked to read this SF Weekly article.

Despite their failure to secure anything from Banton, LGBT activists reportedly agreed to allow his concert at the Rock It Room to go ahead. If true, I am stunned that Banton's demand for a concert was conceded in exchange for nothing tangible from him.

Contrary to his claims, Banton has part performed Boom Bye Bye in recent years and he profits from continuing sales of this song. He still makes money from urging the killing of faggots. Did no one make this point to him? He has used these PR and divide-and-rule tactics before - and LGBT Jamaicans were the losers.

This is not what LGBT Jamaicans in Jamaica and London wanted. I am shocked that no one seems to have asked Banton to sign the Reggae Compassionate Act (RCA copy attached). This was the least that he should have been asked to do.

Just look at Banton's record of lies and broken promises. See my briefing here.

Contrary to what the article says, this campaign not about Banton's homophobia. It is about his incitements to murder LGBTs, which is a criminal offence in Jamaica and the US. No one should concede an inch to people who incite the murder of other human beings - and who refuse to apologise.

I urge you to issue a news statement making at least some of these points, and urging concrete action from Banton to show that he has changed, such as him apologising to the LGBT communities (especially in Jamaica) and signing the RCA in public in front of you and the media (so he can't deny doing so in future).

Thank you for considering this representation.

Yours in solidarity!

Peter Tatchell, OutRage! London, international coordinator, Stop Murder Music Campaign

For information about Peter Tatchell’s campaigns: www.petertatchell.net
Reggae Compassionate Act- FINAL Sep 07

Rockit Room

406 Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94118

(415) 387-6343

http://www.rock-it-room.com/event_details.php?EventID=102

Rockit Room & Angel Magik Buju Banton featuring (playing with a full band)

Monday, Oct 12, 2009 9:00 PM PDT (9:00 PM Doors)
- Tuesday, Oct 13, 2009 2:00 AM PDT
at Rockit Room
in San Francisco, CA

http://www.rock-it-room.com/

CANCEL BUJU BANTON "RASTA GOT HATE" TOUR 2009!

Buju Banton CONT’D UPDATE: Rock-It Room Comes to a Decision

Monday, October 12, 2009

Meet with the gay community or your show is canceled!

In essence that’s what Rock-It Room management told reggae star Buju Banton this evening, the latest in a day of twists and reversals in the fight by Bay Area LGBTQ leaders and public officials to meet with the artist whose work has been labeled “murder music.”

When controversy flared up over the weekend regarding a scheduled Oct. 12 performance by the Rasta Got Soul star at San Francisco’s Rock-It Room, the club’s management suggested a sit-down meeting between the performer and local LGBTQ leaders and representatives. In an email dated Oct. 10, the singer’s management seemed to agree.

“I look forward to building further and hope to bring some overdue closure to this situation,” says Tracii McGregor, who represents the performer known as “Gargamel.” McGregor, of course, is talking about the controversy which has plagued Banton since the 1992 release of his song “Boom Bye Bye,” which calls for gays to be either shot (with an uzi) or burned “like an old tire wheel.”

Around the country, LGBTQ groups have protested Banton’s performances and pressured venues to cancel his shows (as happened just last week with a scheduled performance in San Jose). According to McGregor, the onslaught is unjustified. She goes so far as to contend her artist has changed and embraced a new, more loving way of life, a fact the LGBTQ community might see if only they were open to it.

“I can count on one finger the amount of times any gay rights group has reached out to us for clarity or finding a resolution,”
stated McGregor in the same email, “And why should they when they get so much more mileage from harassing local promoters and venues and feeding their one-sided, sensational drivel about Buju to their community and to the media?”

Quite in contrast, egged on by promoters at the Rock-It Room, Bay Area LGBTQ leaders and elected officials proposed just such a meeting with Banton and his representatives in hopes of moving beyond such misunderstandings. Both District 8 (Castro/Noe Valley) Sup. Bevan Dufty and District 1 Sup. Eric Mar, who presides over the neighborhood which houses the Rock-It Room, offered to open San Francisco City Hall on a public holiday to accommodate the dialogue.

Yet more than 24 hours after the initial email from McGregor promising a meeting between all parties involved, no timeframe for the conversation had been set. When McGregor offered to call Sup. Dufty midday on the day of Banton’s Rock-It Room appearance in hopes of scheduling the promised meeting, drag queen Pollo Del Mar pushed back.

“That is simply not acceptable,” declared Del Mar, who with San Francisco’s reigning “Emperor” Paul Maka Poole started a Facebook campaign which kicked the protest of Banton’s show into high gear. Calling the move a “stall tactic,” she asked, “If reaching a resolution in this situation and clearing Buju Banton’s name and reputation, much less mending his relationship with the gay community is a priority, if he is indeed the ‘changed man’ they claim he is, why is arranging this meeting with local LGBTQ leaders in a timely fashion not a top priority his management?”

In an official statement released late Sunday night (Oct. 11), Rock-It Room management seemed to agree.

“The Rockit Room has gone to great lengths in the past few days to facilitate a dialogue between Buju Banton and leaders of the LGBT community, as well as city officials prior to the show scheduled with us October 12,” said Rock-It Room booking manager Ben Thompson via email. And to Thompson and the club’s credit, they have done exactly that. With considerable resources invested in Banton’s show — in excess of $5,000 nonrefundable, sources say — the Rock-It Room has pushed for the meeting in hopes it might result in an amicable solution and allow the show to go on as planned.

However, Del Mar made it clear to Thompson and Rock-It Room management through both email and telephone calls that if Banton does not make good on his promise to meet, the club faces not only protests on the night of the show but an on-going boycott by the local LGBTQ community and those who find booking an artist with Banton’s history morally questionable. Not to mention one would can only imagine the negative taste it would leave in the mouths of Sups. Dufty and Mar, both of whom personally called Thompson to make their opinion on the matter known.

Taking that into consideration, the Rock-It Room finally issued its decision. In the statement, they urge Baton to “present his case directly to the LGBT community and bring some degree of closure to the issues surrounding his character.”

“We feel this is an important step in order for us to proceed with this show,” said Thompson of the proposed meeting. “Should Mr. Banton choose not to take this opportunity, we will be compelled to cancel his performance.”

Gay murder lyric singer Banton faces Bay Area call for cancellation

October 10, 4:20 PMSF Showbiz ExaminerRobert Sokol

In Buju Banton's 1988 and 1992 recordings of "Boom Bye Bye," the Jamaican-born reggae singer asks for his Uzi to shoot gay men, after which he plans to burn them with acid. It is therefore not surprising that the San Francisco LGBT Community Center just published an Action Alert calling for the cancellation of planned Banton concerts in three area venues.

Scheduled for an appearance tonight (October 10) at Shattuck Down Low in Berkeley, the club does not list the singer on their website but mentions his name in their recorded message at 510-548-1159. Rockit Room did not answer their phone but has him shown prominently on their website for an appearance on Monday, October 12. The Casbar in Santa Rosa is also promoting Banton on their MySpace page. The front desk staff at the Days Inn, which houses the Casbar, was aware of the protest but could not provide further information. A message left for Days Inn management was not returned by the time of this posting.

An email sent today by Rebecca Rolfe, the Center's Executive Director, called on the management of the three venues to cancel the shows as a sign of zero tolerance for hate speech. "On National Coming Out Day weekend, we invite them to join us in becoming advocates for full equality for all people. We invite Buton Banton, during his visit to the Bay Area, to visit the Center and discuss with us the impact of hate speech."

The email continues: "All across America this weekend, on the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's brutal murder, tens of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied individuals have gathered in Washington D.C. to celebrate National Coming Out Day and advocate for our full equal rights. Many have traveled from San Francisco to share a message that a better way is possible. So it may come as a shock to learn that three Bay Area music venues have recently booked homophobic Reggae singer Buju Banton to perform at the same time."

The email mentions multiple court charges made against Banton in the last decade for participating in anti-gay violence that were later dismissed for lack of evidence. It also makes note that Banton was allegedly part of a group of reggae artists who publicly agreed to stop singing songs with anti-gay lyrics in 2007, though Banton later denied having made any such promise.

Rolfe's email calls on the performer to explain why, over a decade later, he continues to perform and promote the incendiary number. "While Buju Banton's song collection is vast, and the lyrics many find most offensive were written years ago, his record label continues to profit from the sale of 'Boom Bye Bye.' More importantly, Banton has continued to perform it - in 2006 in Miami and as recently as 2007 at the Guyana Music Festival. While his manager's claim it is 'not a call to violence,' we must ask along with others, what exactly does Banton mean when he sings, 'faggots... have to die' and that he will shoot them in the head and 'burn them up bad?'

Banton is currently engaged in a U.S. tour and the outcry has followed him from stop to stop, resulting in concert cancellations in San Jose, Detroit, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Cincinnati, Minneapolis and more cities. A website called Cancel Buju Banton tracks these activities and provides further details, including the reggae lyrics and a plain-English transliteration of the offending song.



Buju Banton UPDATE: Our Action Is Paying Off!
Saturday, October 10th, 2009

In a whirlwind of activity on Facebook, Twitter and the internet in general, opposition to an Oct. 12 San Francisco performance by “murder music” star Buju Banton has taken traction. A representative for Banton now promises a meeting between the reggaeton performer known for lyrics encouraging violence against gays and leaders of the city’s LGBTQ community before his scheduled appearance.

Already on-board to meet with Banton are Sups. Bevan Dufty (District 8, The Castro/Noe Valley) and Eric Mar (District 1, which houses the Rock-It Room, where Banton is scheduled to play). Additionally, Sup. Dufty has contacted such LGBTQ leadership fixtures as Equality California’s Andrea Shorter, GLAAD representative Juan Barajas, the HRC’s Theresa Sparks, Susan Christian and Julius Turman of the Alice B. Toklas Democrats Club, Positive Resource Center’s Brett Andrews and SF Pride’s Lisa Williams. Reigning San Francisco Grand Duchess Pollo Del Mar and Emperor Paul Maka Poole, who together spearheaded this particular campaign against Banton, will also appear.

The direct result of an online Facebook and email campaign launched early Saturday morning, promoters at the Rock-It Room were overwhelmed by telephone calls and emails regarding Banton, whose 1988 song “Boom Bye Bye” calls for gays to be murdered or maimed. Initially, the Rock-It Room issued a uniform statement to all complaints against Banton, largely defending the artist.

In the initial blanket response, Rock-It Room booking manager Ben Thompson said the venue is “sorry” the Buju Banton show is being perceived as an offense against the LGBTQ community. He goes on to state: “The Rockit (sic) Room and its management do not support intolerance against any group of people.”

However, Thompson stopped short of canceling Banton’s show, and even stood up for the star. While acknowledging “Boom Bye Bye,” which suggests shooting gays or burning them up “like an old tire wheel,” Rock-It Room management contended Banton wrote the song as a child and was simply the product of and reflected the oppressive community in which he was raised. His more recent music, they suggested, promotes “political awareness, respect, and spirituality.”

After speaking to Del Mar on Saturday afternoon, however, Thompson urged Banton’s management to arrange a meeting between the singer and LGBTQ leaders. By midday, the performer’s management agreed and was provided contact information for both Sups. Dufty and Mar to finalize plans. Despite the fact that Monday is a city-recognized holiday (Columbus Day), Sup. Dufty has promised to make special arrangements for the meeting to be held at City Hall.

San Francisco’s outcry is only the latest in a long history of similar hurdles faced by the beleaguered artist. Citing Banton’s lyrical history of homophobia and hate, just last week San Jose became the most recent city to cancel one of Banton’s performances.

“Surely if San Jose can make such a decision, San Francisco should too,” Del Mar told Thompson during their telephone conversation. “It seems crazy that a city known around the world for tolerance and acceptance for all should have to look outside itself for a moral compass on a matter like this.”

Compounding San Francisco’s outrage is the date of Banton’s show, coincidentally the 11-year anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death. In 1998, the openly-gay 21-year old college student was beaten and left to die outside of Laramie, Wyoming, in just the sort of hate crime the reggaeton star seems to encourage through his music.

Thompson said he was particularly surprised to hear about this. Management at the Rock-It Room had no idea about the date’s significance to the LGBTQ community, he said.

To see an appeal by San Francisco’s LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe to have all of Banton’s scheduled Bay Area performances canceled, please click here. Be aware, this will download a .PDF file to your desktop.