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Gay and Lesbian Alliance to protest “hate” singer

February 11, 2010

Capleton

By KAREN VELIE

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Central Coast (GALA) plans to protest the appearance of a Reggae singer known as “Capleton” because of his violent hate lyrics toward gays.

Capleton is scheduled to play at the San Luis Obispo Downtown Brewing Company on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. GALA is asking for the community to come together and help them picket the event.

“I do believe that disliking something and voicing your opinion is alright,” said Sheryl Flores, GALA vice president. “But to promote the killing of bisexuals and gay people is very disconcerting.”

GALA is asking supporters to meet at the GALA Center at 1060 Palm Street in San Luis Obispo at 5 p.m. on Feb. 16 to help make signs. On Feb. 17, protesters will leave the GALA Center at 5 p.m. for a peaceful march over to the Downtown Brewing Company.

“We want to stress, it is a peaceful protest,” Flores said.

Capleton is from Jamaica, a country that has made homosexuality a crime and glorifies the killing of gays. The lyrics of “Give Har” provide an example of Capleton’s anti-gay music.

“Shoulda know seh Capleton bun battyman
You should know that Capleton burns queers

“Dem same fire apply to di lesbian
The same fire applies to lesbians

“Seh mi bun everything from mi know seh dem gay
Say, I burn everything as long as I know that they’re gay

“All boogaman and sodemites fi get killed
All queers and sodomites should be killed”

Capleton

Following escalating protests against Capleton’s music, which spurred a string of show cancellations including the Los Angeles House of Blues’ termination of Capleton’s scheduled 2004 performance, the controversial singer signed an agreement in which he pledged to condemn violence against the gay and bisexual communities. However, equal rights groups contend he has continued to sing anti-gay songs, which has again prompted cancellations of many of his concerts throughout the world.

“This type of hatred is so hard to erase especially for the youth,” Flores said. “People in our community already have so much trouble coming out and being themselves. This could put the youth back in the closet.”

Calls to the Downtown Brewing Company were not returned.


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Nightmare Video, nothing like a horror movie to make you appreciate the good old USA!

This guy is gay, not that it makes a dam difference, but he’s making the money on the lyrics and he’s secretly in the closet, and the lyrics in this country consist of a hate crime, called terrorist threats, wouldn’t be surprised to see him rolled up with some good old boy San Luis Obispo District Attorney charges, this is against the law. All they have to do is go there and hear it, call up our boys in blue and tell them to be at the concert, just like this singer, this county needs revenue too. If he wants to make money singing about killing people here, then we should roll him up with a couple of felonies, and make major bank off this qu**r, I’m not Gay, but what if I woke up some day and was gay? Would I want some one or many killing my *ss?

Screw this jerk and his views? Everybody has the right to be who they are, as long as they don’t go killing each other, This jerk sings, “All queers and sodomites should be killed” and makes money from stupid people doing it! Call our law enforcement! It’s Wrong! Take Action!


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Right on Chese. By the way I clicked the wrong box. You had a +1 and I wiped you out by mistake. You actually have a +2 as of now. I hope others will give you some good points.


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Don’t worry I’ll negative you every time from here on out, seems fair that’s what they do to different people! Just kidding you get +, +, ! And those aren’t hugs and kisses. Only a few are with us, you taught me about an ethic of saying,” jewwed me down, I have since, never said it again, and am quite proud of it.


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I know: Change the lyrics to Palin or Babies, and people will shut up! PC butt hurt problem solved!


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Bob Marley would NOT be in support of this joker’s music. Marley was a Rastafari convert and political activist, and preached peace and understanding. What is peaceful about singing about “killing” anyone (be it police, blacks, or gays)? Where’s the understanding here that all people should be treated the same?


Capleton calls himself a prophet, a Rastafari, well folks – he is wrong. These are the true beliefs of Rastafari – condemnation of European colonialism and slavery; return to Africa to defeat oppression, pacifism. This artist is a joke – a sham – and an uneducated baffoon.


This is an important story, an important topic. I’m glad the people of SLO feel strongly about this.


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Way to go SLO_hb. We need more allies like you in this community. It doesn’t matter what our sexual preferences are….what he’s preaching is wrong and he should be stopped.


How can we get his visa revoked? Isn’t this promoting a hate crime?


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slosb… really?


his visa revoked? 99.999998 of what we hear in America from Capleton is through the internet. So how would revoking his Visa do anything to stop the MANS message from reaching the delicate, sensative.. closed minded (though) ears of those in SLO… including yours.


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It would keep him further away from our children brilliance, and I like entertaining the thought.


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hb72… really what is your expertise in th I MAN (Rastaman) way and meditation. … please. elaborate.


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I will, sorry blog hog, nobody else applied or replied, so I’ll tell the real story, it’s a hype, bullshit, half these rat haired mongers couldn’t even smoke a real joint, and the stupid thing the little cute hippie chicks buy into this crap, follow Van Carraza’s lead and get a new doo. It will do wonders for you, less drag in the barrel, surfer talk. Worked for him.


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I don’t know what to think. Maybe the Brewery didn’t know because it was an agent that booked him or maybe he has changed his lyrics? Either way, I don’t see this as a “bad thing”. Let him see the peace that exists between herto and homo sexual’s and that we all symbiotically coexist within and without with ease and not necessarily even with tolerance (but ease). Let him see that there will be protest without violence. Let him see the people speak and express thought about his angry words. Let him come and see how things really are.

Here’s the part that’s going to get my post lots of thumbs down. I wish the gay’s would be happy with equal rights (same as afforded married heterosexual couples) and quit with the controversial marriage stuff. They have done considerable damage to the DEM’s and I doubt that Bush would have been elected if it wasn’t for this lobbying.


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I’ll be happy with equal rights once I get them…no segregation…no different “name” but marriage. Once we’re treated equally then we’ll be happy. We’re still being treated as second class citizens.


Do you even KNOW what my partner goes through when she goes to the doctor and gives them our insurance card? It’s like she’s got horns coming out of her head because the other person’s name on the card is female. Yeah…really equal.


Or how about when we try to get renter’s insurance? Guess what…NO insurance will give us a single renter’s insurance policy that covers all of our possessions because…drumroll please…WE’RE NOT MARRIED! We have to pay for two seperate polices for twice the amount that a married heterosexual couple pays. Yep…really equal…and you wonder why we’re not happy.


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Cindy, you think the gays should be content with equal rights but lay off the marriage stuff. Hmm, usually your posts are sensible. Take a look at your words, they are illogical. If gays had equal rights there would be controversy, but they don’t.

Our constitution says all men are created equal. 80 years later it took a civil war and a Presidential proclamation to ‘free’ the slaves. Then it took another one hundred years to begin to dismantle the rabble of discrimination and crappy laws that continued to oppress our black citizens. And now, 45 years AFTER THAT (1965), we still have many lingering unequal situations in our society. That is our black history, and in some ways the gay community fears a similar nightmare of centuries old discrimination and being told to ‘lighten up, be glad you have equal rights”. That is bull, we only HAVE equality for our citizens when society recognizes that in every way.

I think you should rethink, and then rewrite, your comments.


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The government is willing to give the gays equal rights. They can enter into a civil union and the gov has already said they can have all the rights as a married couple. The fact is that they don’t really “only” want equal rights, they want to take the word marriage which is an institution that has existed for over 2000 years between a man and a woman and apply it to themselves. They want to say that they are the same as a heterosexual couple. WELL THEY ARE DIFFERENT. Leave the word marriage alone, and get your own word.


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Well I guess I am different. How am I different? I’m willing to accept everyone for who they are and give them the EXACT SAME rights as I have and want.


The California government recoginizes same sex couples by giving them “domestic partnership”…you obviously didn’t read my first comment. Because we are not LEGALY married, many institutions…including insurance companys, will NOT recognize us as partners and will charge us double for the same thing that you and your husband get. How is that fair Cindy? Tell me seriously??? How is that fair??? Civil unions are not fair they are not equal and they may be recognized by the state of California but what about the rest of the nation? What about your marriage?Oh yeah…I forgot, it is recogonized in the rest of the nation. Do you see what benefits you get just by being heterosexual?? I will not be segregated I will not be told that I’m not good enough to get married and I will not allow someone like YOU to tell me how different I am.


I am different, I’m a hell of a lot more open minded then you apparently are.


Thanks for your support Cindy. You’re definitely an ally I can count on.


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Well Geeez Slosb33, I know you don’t have all the rights of married people yet. I said that you should have all the same rights, I simply think that same sex couples should use a different word other than marriage. It’s not because your not “good enough”, it’s because marriage is one of the oldest institutions on this planet and it is considered sacred to many men and woman. I don’t know anyone who voted down same sex marriage because they didn’t think same sex couples who wanted to form a legal commitment shouldn’t have all the rights afforded married couples. They voted against it because the gay’s insist that they want to use the word marriage. This isn’t in the courts right now over equal rights, it’s in the court over gay’s insisting that they want a “marriage license” and no other word but marriage will do.


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yep…because we’re just as equal as you are.


should we get seperate bathroooms while we’re at it?


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The last I looked, there are separate bathrooms in this country. One for men and one for woman. I guess that’s because men and woman do things a bit different. They are equal but different, just like the bathrooms.

The same thing applies to same sex marriage, they are equal but do things a bit different. They can not do what “married” people do, but they insist that they want to call themselves “married:. I agree that this isn’t really about equal rights, it’s about getting in people’s faces. About what?


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Slosb33 – I have and will continue to support your rights and all the rights of any individual who was born on this planet . As an American I also support the rights afforded all of us by our constitution. I will even take up signs and engage in protest against all those who seek to exploit, defame and discriminated against harmless humane beings (ie: those who have different ideas but bring no harm to others).

So to set the record straight (no pun intended) I will elucidate as I reiterate. “Marriage is an institution that has been well established as being a legal (or religious) contract between a man and a woman or between a woman and a man”. Marriage incorporates an act of sexual intercourse which is considered to sanctify that union. For all intense and purpose if a marriage has not been “consummated” then it is not even legal. So since you and your gay friends want to push the word “MARRIAGE”, I point out to you that same sex couples are DIFFERENT and they need a different word. I’m all for same rights but different WORD. I know you get it, you know what I’m saying but for some reason you think that you need to be “married” so you and your girl friend can say (pretend) that you are the same as the mommy and daddy across the street. Just stop playing with semantics. Over 60% of the people of this liberal state of California are getting very irritated.


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Interesting question on the separate restrooms.


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that dosen’t make sense.


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Cindy- It is simply NOT TRUE that marriage has been defined for the last 2000 years as between a man and a woman. 2000 years ago their were no Catholic priests. Then, when Catholicism was born, priests married. Gay couples were normal in many countries. It was ok to be straight or gay in many areas of the world. Marriage became a way to control you, a woman, it was not about protecting some spiritual form of union between two people. It’s very astonishing that people who purport to know history simply do not know history.


Back to the books with you. And, shush on it until you do.


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From an earlier post,. “Marriage is an institution that has been well established as being a legal (or religious) contract between a man and a woman or between a woman and a man”. well there you have it, and this is new, why should there be so dam much difference between a couple of the same sex or couples of the opposite sexes being married or not, in tax returns insurance policies, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense, to riot about it while we are at war, equal marriage rights to all? You got it, just sign here __________ and you go serve your country, getting shot at, and seeing things you wish you never did, then you can have all the equal opportunities the paper-world presents. People make money off of nothing but the paper they produce and that’s very wrong. To be married or.,, not to be Married, ever watch married with children? Wonder what the gay satire would look like, a pretty picture, back to the present, my personal opinion is go out and con-cor all forms of discrimination everyday and the time will come when you shall prevail! Or paddle real hard stand up and ,,,,,,,,,pray for a better vote next time. ,thanks Zaphod, I think this is me,,, “you’re projecting, tell us how you really feel.” on the money! Some how this hate crime got turned into gay rights debate.


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Domestic Partnership although similar to marriage, a domestic partnership does not confer any of the 1,138 rights afforded to married couples by the federal government.


Do you even know all 1,138 of these rights? If not I will be more then happy to inform you of all of them. But you, just like most people have NO CLUE what they (GAYS) are denied every single day.


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I am willing to vote yes on giving homosexuals all the rights that married heterosexuals have. I am not willing to agree that homosexuals should be allowed to say they are legally married. I’m sure they can come up with another word like “partnered” or anything they like. There is a clear distinction between a man and woman who are joined and a same sex couple that are joined. Have some respect.

The way England solved this is exactly the way that I suggest. Legal partnerships can only be entered into by same sex couples in England. It all sounds very fair to me and the idea of the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman is preserved.


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Nancy, I agree with you.I do understand that “marriage” is a religious ceremony and one that I can respect; having been raised Catholic. All I would like to see are the same rights a man and a women would have, all 1138 of them.


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Leslee, what planet are you from? “Marriage is a religious ceremony and one that I can respect”. Bull, bull, bull. Where do you get your marriage license? What taxation rules do you follow when filing a joint return? Who sells you insurance? Those and other aspects of life are run by the government or private corporations. The church has nothing to do with marriage other than renting you some space to have a ceremony and someone to perform a service. And even for that a government person can do the service outside the church. Jeez, you ladies are wigged out on tradition (used to be quite fashionable to have slaves) and the church (that often sanctioned slavery, mayhem and persecution).

I think you should begin to think in a modern way and quit looking for ways to persecute our gay population. What gives you the right to monopolize the word or meaning of marriage?

Let’s compromise-no one gets to use that word. All consenting adults who want to be recognized by the government as legally joined as a couple will use another word and that old archaic and discriminatory word can die from disuse. Fine, you want to hog the word-then no one gets to use it. How’s that?

“Oh no”, you say. We want just those of us ‘privileged’ folks to be able to use it and benefit from the perks it brings us. The dreaded ‘others’ can use a lesser word, with lesser rights. Because we throw them that bone they should be glad and quit whining. That is exactly what you propose; and exactly what our black, brown, yellow and native (the rest of us are illegal immigrants) citizens have been told for centuries. ‘Here, take this token and shut up’.

Well, it wasn’t good enough and it isn’t good enough.


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It’s clear that the gay’s are not fighting for equal rights, if they were then that’s what theses discussions would be about. They are fighting for a word. A word that means a union between a man and a woman and they want that word. FAT CHANCE unless someone gets a sex change.


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Being married to a woman from another country, she being quite beautiful and young, specifically drop dead gorgeous, the crap I put up with, to be gay would be easy, guess I’m just a glut-in for punishment, but I still feel the whole marriage thing is a sham, and with Clinton, Tiger, and my dad all telling me that’s what all men do, I truly feel marriage is nothing more then a legal contract and should be freely given out by our government, just like all the other things they give to those who pay for them, how can we change this? We can’t the only thing this country understands is money, the gays unfortunately will at some point or another have to buy there rights, just like the straight people, only because they are two of a kind. they will have to pay double, instead of winning the hand, and walking down the isle.


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No, I really must differ here… gays do NOT have equal rights. Civil unions are NOT the same thing as marriage. They are not equal in any way – it gives them SOME rights that married people have, but not ALL. Gays should have the same right to tax benefits, insurance coverage, and the like that are automatically given to heterosexual people. THEY ARE NOT DIFFERENT. Being gay is not a lifestyle choice – it’s just how you are.


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What would Bob Marley say?? Probably a disgrace.


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I think Bob would be horrified and condemn this guy as way out of step with the whole Reggae movement. I hope all who find great fault with this guy will call BooBoo and tell them not to sell tickets, and picket the Brewery. What a disgrace to have this clown in our town.


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hotdog.. please describe your opinion of the “reggae movement”?


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Niceness, instant suck up name, change it to spiciest, or something without the creepy effect, anyway if hotdog doesn’t want to explain his take on the reggae movement, the cheseburger will and no that’s not spelled wrong if you think it is you are new, here’s my opinion and I feel a hell of a lot safer speaking out about this then past issues. They suck, a creepy crowd, surfers don’t even like and trust me we are the bottom of the barrel, or in it! We get a lot of surfer wanna bees with dread locks, I think we call them dead locks cause if we get a hold of them in the water,,,, well you guessed it! This Reggae Movement is another movement with good intentions but has been belittled by conspirators with dollar signs in their eyes. And to be proud of not bathing one’s hair just seems down right dirty to me, and their chicks look all torn back after a year or two, what’s up with that? Bring it on Van Carraza, who?,, cut off your dead dreads? For the book worms he’s the central coast most famous tow in surfer and if dreads were in he would still have em? What say the KooKs! That’s surfer lingo for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing!


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Not at all… have you listened to the BOB MARLEY interviews? you have no idea what BOB would say.


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Do rappers who talk about killin’ cops and sordid mayhem of all kinds elicit this response? Why or why not?


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They do…it’s a matter of people actually standing up to protest them. People in SLO obviously are upset by this, as they should be. If a rapper were to come into San Luis saying that people should be killed, I would have the exact same reaction as I have had to this. Killing anyone and telling people in lyrics to kill people REGARDLESS of who they are is WRONG…ALWAYS wrong. The only difference with this circumstance is that people are actually standing up against this guy.


Granted, Downtown Brew very well may not have known who this guy was and what he says in his lyrcis. I give them that. I don’t not believe that they would blatantly have a performer here who says such things, especially since Downtown Brew has such a strong relationship with the gay community in San Luis. DTB has done so much and hosted so many events. HOWEVER…even though they didn’t know about it when booking the artist doesn’t mean that it’s ok now. The man preaches vile in his music. The least DTB could do is say that they don’t agree with this man, his lyrics or his beliefs and cancel the show.


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no, they do not get the condemnation that they deserve. The rank and file still feel guilt about the slave days and thus, a free ride is given.


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Exactly my point, sorry I missed your post, I would of included it as evidence, in mine.


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No they don’t elicit this kind of response because they stick to their own venues. This guy is out of his element here in SLO. Folks here are a bit more evolved.


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I agree, free speech is one thing, but to condone violence towards people just because you don’t agree with them is wrong.


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Shame on Downtown Brew. I’m all for free speech but this is hate speech intended to incite violence. I think this march will be a great opportunity to teach my children the value of peaceful protest.


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Thank you for covering this story; it is very important that we DO NOT ALLOW someone like this in our community.


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