South Florida religious leaders met with Jamaican officials Thursday morning at the Jamaican Consulate in Miami to discuss recent attacks against gays, lesbians and transgender individuals on the Caribbean island.

''I'm encouraged,'' the Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson said after the almost hour long meeting. ``This is the beginning today of a global movement to stop the violence against gays in Jamaica.

Wilson and other religious leaders pressed Consul General Ricardo Allicock and his staff to launch a public awareness campaign about gay rights in Jamaica, and also to see authorities investigate gay-related hate crimes.

Homophobia has long been a concern in Jamaica, but it has been especially worrisome in recent years as the number of mob-related attacks have grown.

According to Human Rights Watch in New York, a mob broke into a house in the central Jamaican town of Mandeville last month and slashed the occupants inside, sending two to the hospital. One went missing and is feared dead, the advocacy group reported.

The attack echoed another that happened in Mandeville last year, the human rights group reported. A mob crashed the funeral of a gay man, breaking church windows with bottles and threatening the mourners. Police showed up but did little to intervene, the rights group reported.

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