Police use the laws to justify harassment of homosexuals, refusal to respond to attacks against them, and impede the work of HIV and AIDS educators and outreach “Know your epidemic” has long been a mantra of international AIDS organisations and it makes sense. In the Caribbean and other regions with concentrated epidemics, this mantra must mean not just understanding (and often blaming) those living with the disease, but knowing what makes certain populations, such as sexual minorities and women, particularly vulnerable to HIV infection.

Stephen Lewis and Julia Greenberg, AIDS-Free World’s Co-Director and Associate Director, traveled to Barbados and Jamaica from February 16-20, 2009.

Stephen Lews visits Jamaica and talks about the dangers of homophobia and how it fuels AIDS in the Caribbean. In a radio interview, he discusses "the stupidity, the sadness, the tragedy" of vicious bigotry and the needless suffering it causes.