Gay rights campaigners have highlighted the lyrics of some of reggae’s biggest stars in their campaign for a new offence of inciting gay hatred.

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, the gay rights group, said that although there was protection against racial and religious hatred, there was no such law specifically for gay people.

He told MPs last month: “We are mindful that there has been an increase in the incidence in recent years of what seems to us to be very obvious examples of incitement to hatred that would not be otherwise caught by the criminal law.” He said that a key area of concern was the creation and distribution of some reggae music.

Mr Summerskill gave MPs an example from a record called Hang ‘em High by the popular Jamaican artist, Beenie Man. The song included the lyrics “Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece of rope”. Mr Summerskill explained: “The key lyric in that means, ‘Hang lesbians with a long piece of rope’.”

Mr Summerskill said that Beenie Man had also released a single called Batty Man Fi Dead, which means, essentially, that gay men should die.

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