The macabre story of the deranged man who last week dug out the two eyes of his straying lover has a decidedly Old Testament ring to it: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In this instance, it's more like two eyes for a piece of forbidden fruitcake. Instead of crooning, "I only have eyes for you," the vengeful lover can now rightly declare, "You'll have no eyes for anyone else."

Mi no waan nobadi lov mi tu dat. That's not love; it's pathology. And it's not because the lovers are homosexual. Heterosexual crimes of passion can be quite vicious. Sexual 'love' makes people engage in all kinds of hateful behaviour. It must be true that the line between love and hate is rather thin.

But as bad as things are in Jamaica, our crimes of passion are not usually so primitive. I can't remember ever hearing of a case of eye-gouging. And not even one eye; but two? What could so enrage you that you could condemn your 'lover' to total blindness? Because he slept out?

We use the vivid image of digging out the eye as, symbol of rapacious greed. The metaphorical weight of the language implies that this is not an action to be taken lightly or literally. The image is routinely applied to situations in which we feel grossly victimised: 'Mi naa mek nobadi dig out mi yai.'

MUDDYING THE WATERS

According to an observant account of this torrid love/hate story, the now eyeless man had earlier been shot in his bottom. It's not clear if it's the eye-gouger who also fired the shot. What is particularly surprising is that the victim is allegedly quite upbeat about his loss of vision. Perhaps he is so accustomed to abuse that this is just one more tribulation he will have to learn to bear with fortitude.

Jamaica has an undeservedly bad reputation as the most homophobic place on Earth. But I suspect that most crimes of abuse committed against homosexuals are perpetrated by their own lovers. Sexual jealousy seems to be particularly acute in this subculture. Perhaps it's because the pool of potential partners is relatively small. But these days, more and more supposedly heterosexual men are dipping into the pool and muddying the waters.

In these predatory circumstances, betrayal crosses all kinds of lines. And acts of revenge can assume a quite perverse nature. The gruesome business of cutting off genitals and stuffing them in the mouth is a recurring theme. What explains the viciousness of some of these murderous acts?

The typical 'religious' answer is likely to be rather dismissive. 'Can anything good come out of Naza-reth?' Homosexuality is so comple-tely pathologised in our culture that we expect the worst. With self-righteous zeal, we enjoy the sensational media accounts of 'gay' crimes.

A much more sophisticated explanation is that the criminalising of homosexuality itself perpetuates a culture of abuse. It's like that old calypso, 'back to back, belly to belly, I don't give a damn for I done dead already.' If your own family - your mother, father, brother, sister - all the people you are supposed to care about and who are supposed to care for you - tell you that you are damned because of your sexuality, then why should you give a damn? You might as well live an outlaw life.

DEPORTING QUEERS

I'm no psychiatrist, but I've read enough literature from all over the world to have a reasonably good understanding of human nature. There are so many instructive stories about angry social outcasts that warn us about the dangers of deporting queer people of all sorts from the fold of humanity.

But most homosexuals in Jamaica are not maladjusted social misfits. They live quite exemplary lives as decent citizens minding their own business. They will never become the subject of eye-catching newspaper headlines. At the risk of seeming patronising, we must acknowledge that homosexuals are us.

'NATURALl' AND 'NORMAL'

Is high time to decriminalise homosexuality in Jamaica. And it's not because we want Amnesty International to get off our backs. It's about accepting the possibility that what is 'natural' and 'normal' may be much less certain than we have been taught to believe. We can't just rock back and take comfort in the clear-cut simplicity of Old Testament justice. As one of my favourite hymns puts it, 'Time makes ancient good uncouth.'

There is a line in the 23rd Psalm that I've simply deleted from the text. It only recently struck me how malicious it is: 'Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.' Why would I want to be gorging myself in the presence of my envious 'hongri beli' enemies? It's a recipe for a terrorist attack. Just look at Gaza.

And by the way, it has been widely reported that Mr Gaza is asking for US$100,000 to clash at Sting with Mavado and Bounti Killa. It's clear that I'm wasting my talent writing newspaper columns. I need to finish up my Condom CD 'an mek Misa Laing bos mi a Sting neks ier.'

Seriously, though, we need to take a long, hard look at the ancient holy books that have shaped the secular laws of many modern states. In some cultures today, a woman can be condemned to 40 lashes for wearing pants. She can either accept religious tradition or revolt against it.

Here in Jamaica, we have to examine critically the Bible and ask ourselves if we can really take literally all the stories it tells. In these enlightened times, can we in good conscience advocate the legitimacy of outdated Levitical laws that pass the death sentence on adulterers and homosexuals? In any case, even the stern God of the Old Testament warned us in unmistakably clear language: 'Vengeance is mine.'

Carolyn Cooper is professor of literary and cultural studies at the University of the West Indies, Mona. Send feedback to: karokupa@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.