Page 12 - My Scrapbook project 2 Citizenship

penis in a vagina”. During the question and answer session, the denigration continued. A surgeon
went up to the mic and spoke about a woman delivering an 8lb baby through her vagina and

asked us to “imagine that coming through an anus”. There was laughter from the gathering.
Another gave us some “homework” and told us to go home and stick a finger in our anus, and

then in our mouth, adding “that is what homosexuals do”. Again, there was laughter from
sections of the audience. The ballroom at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel was filled to capacity,

mainly with medical practitioners, but only me and one other colleague approached the mic to
challenge the homophobic and insulting comments being spewed from the bully pulpit and

defend our LGBT brothers and sisters. Based on the large number of attendees, I knew that there
must have been several LGBT persons in the crowd, and I wondered how they must have felt.

Interestingly, not long after the symposium, the priest was attacked and injured by a man who
caught him having sex with his wife, demonstrating that a penis in a vagina can be risky as well.

I feel it for LGBT folks in Jamaica. Many of our teachers and lecturers, chefs, fashion designers,

entertainers and members of our security forces are queer, and we do not even know it. They
educate us and our children, prepare our food, design and make our clothes, entertain and protect

us, and we turn around and debase, reject and abuse them.

For LGBT people, pride is not just about being proud of who they are. It is about not allowing
others to cause them to be ashamed of their orientation or who they identify as. It is about not

allowing others to define them based on their sexuality. It is about validating their relationships
as being as legitimate as those of cisgender heterosexuals.

Happy Pride Week to the Jamaican LGBT community.

- Michael Abrahams is a gynaecologist and obstetrician, comedian and poet. Email feedback
to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or tweet @mikeyabrahams.