In this thing called advocacy, especially in a repressive regime such as Jamaica, very often one is met with the kind of nonsense that not just puzzles your brain but disrupts your whole spirit. Perfectly sensible people that in another context would have garnered immense respect suddenly morph into illogical fear-mongers, spewing venom as they seek to push their agenda of exclusion.
This Letter to the editor ordinarily wouldn't move me as I'd simply roll my eyes as far back into my skull as humanly possible and fire off a scathing response that would be sure to make this nutjob look as silly as he sounds and also generate a slew of death threats, negative mumblings among my hypocritical associates, and faux praise from "colleagues" and "friends". I think my true friends and genuine sympathizers are now as fed up with our approach to advocacy and results from the "movement" as I am, and as such this kind of cynicism is spreading.
I take my hat off to persons like Maurice Tomlinson who despite the lack of gumption consistently displayed by the gatekeepers continue to press forward and challenge the ignorance of the seeming majority. That kind of fearlessness has not been seen since the late Brian Williamson penned his final letter and yet I am unmoved.
I am beginning to wonder whether all this talk really amounts to naught.
Forgive me, I'm a little apathetic this time of year and it's high season for my cynical nature so I'm having a hard time perceiving the motivation of others as genuine but no amount of convincing is going to make people decide to like gays any more than they already do (not). That is a process of self-realization that no one can force.
This is said not to discredit the work of brilliant advocates the world over and neither is it said to make light of the impact of persons such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Malcolm X on the perception of their own constituents and the resultant changes in the broader global society. What I am saying is that there will always be opposition to whatever position one holds to be true (especially something as titillating as human sexuality) and not every utterance of opposition is worthy of a response other than my trusty side eye.
Jamaican people will have to come to the realization, of their own volition, that violent homophobia is silly and accomplishes nothing. I think to a great extent we as advocates underestimate the sophistication of the average dutty foot Jamaican, as these debates only occur among the intelligentsia in newspapers that the common Jamaican does not (or cannot) read, or fora that ordinary people cannot (or don't want to) attend.
Gay rights is anathema to ordinary Jamaicans because gays are pariahs that are tolerated as long as they keep themselves to themselves. Gay rights is framed within the minds of those that are sufficiently exposed (read anyone with Cable television) as prancing queens, leather bears, and kissing dykes on bikes...none of which relate to the Jamaican context as as such are seen as a foreign imposition. In recent times the major push for inclusion comes not from the desks of advocates, but the loins of young people as their hips sashay through the streets of Kingston, or kin puppa lick on the theatre stage: unapologetically fabulous.
I am optimistic about the progress made thus far, cynical about the results of those at the forefront of advocacy, and curiously observing the grassroots movement of the new generation of gays.
Let us see what will be...
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