Homophobia – the west indian truth!! (AS I SEE IT)
here goes it, the truth about homosexuality and my community as i view it. this is not and cannot be percieved as absolute truth because it is completely opinion and observation based.
Peter tachell thinks my whole community habours an inate hatred of homosexuals, he campaigns against music stars from my (ancestral) part of the globe. he pickets and makes a large fuss. he never does so against eminem (he is a white american petitioning him would never do) even when he too has made inflamitory remarks of his own.
But i digress, what is the truth as i see it. well here goes. i have lived here in england and soujourned in the caribbean for many a month and well lets talk about modern history. the british society in the 1960’s was a secular one largely, it had a political and social epiphany. they made contraception available to unmarried women ( unleashed the swinging of the sixties presumably), politically we had enoch powell and the turning of public opinion against the K(eep) B(ritain)W(hite) posse that were his supporters and the society became open and accepting of difference and different lifestyles.
Contrast that with the caribbean then( or even now) we have a very conservative and VERY religious community, ( today when ski lanka and west indies play in trinidad on sunday the stalls were mostly empty) we have the reminants of a very stiff and conservative calvernist christianity brought to the islands after emancipation to give religious stewardship to the ex-enslaved. go to most churches you will still find the christianity of not modern cuddly anglican world of Rowan williams. but of Fire, brimstone and the wrath of god.
all this is so rudimentary, we should be talking about the simple passage of time. Last year in my hometown here in england one man was followed home from the local gay pub and battered so badly it was feared he would be brain damaged, we all were disgusted (even the west indian community). here in england it has been about 40 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality. in most caribbean countries the decriminalisation of homosexuality has only been about 10-15 years. so work it out the attitudes you will find are similar to those you would have found in the 1970’s-1980’s, if you remember it was probably not a friendly place for homosexuals of any variety.
I know of one homosexual church minister in the caribbean, he is acknowledge publically as a “bulla-man” and has been a church minister since the 1990’s and has never been asked to resign nor has he ever been beaten up, burned or any other foolish nonsense. he is discreet with his affairs and had a steady partner most of the time. all of this counts for nothing. a church man should always conduct himself discreetly and keep a partner ( it is a basic human requirement , so there mr lonely pope).
What i feel harms the image ( therefore acceptance) of homosexuals in the west indies, is the portrayal of homosexuals in the media. i am talking about the cariture of male homosexuality that is surely offensive to male homosexuals, the jumping up and down camp as christmas gay man, if gay men were really like this then iran could really claim to have no homosexuals because they would be recognised and stoned.
To be honest we all ( even we here in the west) could do with acknowledging that homosexuality is something that lives outside stupid stereotype. to be brutal , my community is not cuddly, it is a place that sodomy is still illegal. ( even an enlightened girl like me won’t do it).
the truth is the west indian world, is a tiny drop in the ocean start with the world at large, i know that it is simple to blame us , the rambuncious black people, conservative to the last ( despite people believing the opposite ).
what about conservative christians in the bible belt of america who believe that homosexuality is wrong? what about people who believe that the holy koran instructs them that homosexuality is wrong?
it is easy to take apart a small fragmented community and claim you have struck a blow against homophobia, but start with the titans and the world will follow.
Lets all tackle the hatred together with honesty, it something that still exists here. lets all be balanced.
