WHY GAYS ARE SO SAD...

I travelled yesterday morning from the Savannah to downtown Port-of-Spain. The sun was hot. So, I dressed in an all black skirt suit and heels did not discriminate and chose the first car that stopped for me. It was not a registered taxi, but a PH ‘pulling bull’, what we locals call a private car running for hire. When I entered the car the only other passenger, who sat in front, and the driver were discussing women. I sat back and listened to the exchange. We West Indians love to ‘ole talk’. And I’ve learnt more about life while travelling in taxis and maxis than I ever could from my high school biology teacher.

The driver, a young man in gorgeous Rastafarian locks and a jersey, declared his preference for West Indian women over foreigners. The other passenger in a long sleeved shirt with a briefcase propped on his lap concurred but with less strong conviction. The driver grinned at me through his rear view mirror to draw me in to the debate. I returned his smile, content to hear them.

The basis for the driver’s indictment against foreign women was the prevalence of technology aboard. ‘Abroad’ for the average West Indian means America, unless stated otherwise. He said, ‘Dem women away does shave down dey nose, dey belly, it have technology dey does use to change dey entire appearance.’ This bothered him because that same ‘technology’ he knew for a fact was used on ‘batty man’ (homosexuals). The discussion plunged into the ‘abomination’ caused by western technology’s ability to change a man into a woman and vice versa-‘zombies’. He quoted scripture and called for their annihilation. He wanted ‘blow them away’. I laughed although I knew he was serious. Homophobia is accepted in the West Indies. It’s worse in Jamaica where entire mobs have beaten persons to death.

But it also made me think. What is wrong with being gay, or a transvestite? Yes, there is scripture to support one’s abhorrence of it if you are Christian, but what about Atheists? Is it that we think it threatens society by limiting our ability to procreate the race or that we just find the mechanics of the lifestyle too repugnant. I say yes, but the above rational opposing gays, parallels other historic forms of discrimination against Africans and Jews. The church’s view and prevailing social tastes at the time were used as catalysts to promote racism. I think the issue requires consideration. Let the debate begin.