McFadden/AP

A gay Jamaican man shows scars on his back from a near-fatal Oct. 2006 knife attack.

A growing number of gay and lesbian Jamaicans are finding safe haven in New York after being persecuted – sometimes by family members – back home.

Jamaicans in the New York area made up nearly a third of the 105 gay and lesbian immigrants who won asylum last year with the help of the legal aid group Immigration Equality.

“Being in Jamaica and being gay is like, suicidal,” said Anthony, 30, a Crown Heights folk dancer who won asylum last month.

Steve Ralls of Immigration Equality said the danger in Jamaica for gays is “pretty much undisputed” and pinned the blame on conservative religious views, anti-gay dancehall culture and police force.

The Jamaican government has denied there is persecution, though gay sex is illegal there.

Anthony, who did not want his full name used, left the southeastern St. Catherine Parish in 2008 after he was viciously attacked by men yelling “batty boy” – the Jamaican slur for gay.

He woke up in the hospital with broken arms and cuts all over his body. Three police officers were in his room, and one said, “Oh, batty boy, you are getting what you deserve,” he said.

He believes his own sister set him up.

“They think it’s a disgrace on the family,” said Anthony, who has a three-inch scar on his forehead from being pistol-whipped in a previous attack.

Ralls said several of his group’s lesbian clients were attacked by men hired by their families to “cure” their homosexuality.

Anthony came to New York on a tourist visa a month after the attack. He read about recent hate crimes here with worry, but not the same dread he felt in Jamaica.

“Being here, you know that if you call the cops and say ‘Someone beat me because I’m gay’ – they will come. That’s a big difference,” he said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/29/2011-03-29_gay_and_lesbian_jamaicans_find_refuge_in_new_york_from_persecution_in_home_count.html#ixzz1I2bxg07K