Introduction
What has inspired my collections of LGBTQ-themed short stories Centipede: A Trilogy and My Sister’s Voice? I’ve written about being a sexual minority in Barbados in Outlaw by Nature and Nationality, and my short stories do the same. Containing perspectives that draw upon personal experiences, while they don’t proclaim to be representative of every Barbadian GSM (Gender and Sexual Minority’s) point of view, it might not be difficult to understand that, in small places, there are common themes related to pressure towards conformity.
Background
I started journaling as a teenager as a form of self-reflection. In 2005, at a time I was a fan of the homoeroticism of Ann Rice’s novels, I wrote a short story about a vampire, Heart Man, (based on the Barbadian bogeyman by the same name) which won a silver medal in Barbados’ National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA). This encouraged me to enter the competition biennially. I’ve won eighteen medals, a few trophies and cash prizes to date. Initially, I wrote poetry as well, but, after some consideration, dedicated my writing to this theme that has largely been ignored in Barbados, where buggery is a punishable offence and members of the LGBTQ+ community are often the objects of derision and verbal attacks.
Atmosphere of Fear
It is sometimes still a worrisome decision, while residing in Barbados, to attach my name to these stories in which I speak openly about homosexual attraction. However, intellectually, I know some of my anxieties are unfounded because I have survived my unwillingness to fit in at any cost since my adolescent years, “refusing the queer mainstream’s hegemonic vernacular”. This has freed me to be who I am, my sexuality being a very small part made large by a society comprised of members obsessed with other people’s business. Admittedly, I carry around a real fear (for the fear is real whether founded or not) of physical assault because ignorant people, with whom you cannot reason, will do ignorant things. This fear is like that of an elephant which, owing to being tethered as a calf, may not even consider attempting to break its chains as an adult.
It is in this atmosphere that I give you Centipede: A Trilogy and another Barbadian-based short story collection My Sister’s Voice. Silence may mean invisibility, but doesn’t equal absence. People should be free to live their own lives, lives that are not hurting anybody.
Acknowledgement of a Variety of Sexes, Genders & Desires
Honesty can be Shocking
One criticism of my work is the relevance of what some literary judges have found shocking. However, honesty often is, especially when framed within persistent Victorian sensibilities that thrive on hypocrisy and puritanism. My work acknowledges a variety of sexes, genders and desires often ignored by writers who may wish to appeal to a wider audience. Different types of people have different types of sex and the human animal does so for pleasure. If you consider where that stranger’s hand you shook has been, it’s been on a penis or vagina or in the shower, one leg on tip toe cleaning the person’s asshole. Far from an intention to shock, mine is to speak plainly about what is common to humankind, despite our persistent attempts to feign otherwise.
Homophobia and Violent Response
An actual concern is my contribution to the perpetuation of the vilification of homosexuals as criminals and hyper-sexualised people whose story is only one of suffering. In Barbados, as in other places with marked homophobia, discrimination is associated not only with anxiety and depression, but anger in these citizens who may be assaulted in their daily lives. Depending upon socialisation and the extent to which an individual has the tools to respond in an ideal way, there will be fights. However, people fight regardless of their sexuality.
Homophobia and Hyper-sexuality
The fear of being discovered to be a sexual minority encourages hookup culture since there are no openly LGBTQ+ safe spaces to sit and have a conversation over a rum punch, no rainbow flags to be seen stuck anywhere suggesting this place or that is an “ally”, no place but those virtual rooms which allow for anonymity leading to a quick release. However, people are sexual regardless of their sexuality.
Homophobia and Loneliness
Loneliness is a defining feature of the human experience. Imagine then how this is compounded by laws creating barriers to how consenting adults interact with each other. Homosexual acts being illegal encourages homophobia and emboldens homophobes by justifying a position of judgement resulting not only in targeting of individual members of the LGBTQ+ community, but increasing hostility towards gatherings – the reaction towards two non-heteronormative men walking down the street will inevitably be worse than to one. In a country like Barbados, loneliness from isolation has worsened since COVID-related restrictions result in sexual minorities being confined to spaces with their homophobic abusers.
While the issue has been the predominant portrayal of members of the LGBTQ+ community in the above and other negative ways, this is the prevailing reality of the majority in places like Barbados. It must be represented while also celebrating those minority cases that are the exception.
Character Evolution
My protagonists evolve, accompanying my evolution, and, although some are challengeable (conflicted, naive or unreliable) lending to their believability, others are more sophisticated and courageous, even taking advantage of public perception to achieve their own ends. In this way, they successfully manoeuvre within a system which is against them.
Conclusion
There will be increasing pressure towards addressing human rights concerns in Barbados regarding laws encouraging discrimination based on sexuality and gender non-conformity. As bad as things are, there has been increasing acceptance through American cultural penetration with even corporate commercialisation of Pride (albeit at the expense of genuine support offered the community). The second Pride march in Barbados in June, 2019, increased by about 75 participants, from 200 people the year prior, according to a representative of Pride Barbados. With increasing exposure, sensitisation will result in greater acceptance and a growing market for LGBTQ+ stories. This project will hopefully assist in paving the way for other LGBTQ+ artists to express themselves in this and other mediums, and help address the desire for equal representation of the Barbadian LGBTQ+ community.
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