Firstly, before we get started, I'd just like to say that I have been dead. Well, okay now that that's done I guess I've just been too lazy to actually write anything here. But I'm trying again here, so wish me luck. Today, I want to try and rank up some buzz for the demographic that I want to aim at. People in Trinidad who might be gay or on our side. I don't want this blog to be hidden behind hundreds of pointless search results if someone is looking. So in that spirit I'm gonna do a little piece on my country itself and see if that won't drum up some um...I don't know what exactly, this whole traffic thing is bit confusing.
Trinidad & Tobago. (Trin-ee-dad & Ta-bay-go) Most of you out there in other, non-Caribbean, countries probably won't even know who we are. T and T (hereafter referred to simply as Trinidad) is a small tiny island somewhere near to Venezuela (sorry, geography isn't my strong suit.) Well, to be truthful we're two main islands. Trinidad, the larger of the two, and Tobago. We're also surrounded by various other tiny, tiny islands. When a small island calls you tiny, you know you're tiny. But yes, moving on. If you've been paying attention lately here's what we may have been (in)famous for:
1: Summit Of The Americas (waste of time and resources...)
2: Crime
If I'm right I believe Europe or some country warned their citizens against visiting our country because of the crime rate and I think it was unanimous among international journalist that the summit had been a fiasco of ridiculous proportions. Doesn't that make us amazing? I'm not our country's biggest fan. Since this is suppose to be a blog on gay issues I'll be sure not to go completely off topic and talk about the gay issue in Trinidad.
Now, I'm no expert so I can only say my personal experience. If you've been active and up to date in your current gay-issues you may have heard about the ban on Jamaican products (Jamaica: The most homophobic island or something like that. I agree. But more on that at another time.) This was because Jamaica is infamous for it's homophobic nature and all that. Trinidad isn't like that. Let me go off topic to explain.
Homophobia: in my opinion is like a disease. It's culturally transmitted (and indoctrinated but let's not go there) and has symptoms which range from confusion and disgust to hatred and violence. It's an interesting thing, much like every person in the world, some homophobes are totally twisted individuals while others simply don't know better. Some people are sick with homophobia like if it's a flu, some people have, and spread it, like if it's AIDS.
Back on Track. In the scale of things Jamaican homophobia would be like AIDS. It's widespread, it's deadly and people are getting hurt left, right and center. Trinidadian homophobia, however, is more like a flu. It is disgusting and vile and everyone gets it at one point or another. Trinidad is full of very religious people. But they don't know it. Scratch that, they're hypocrites. See, you'll see someone walking down the street cursing, drinking, smoking doing everything "un-christian" like, to use that particular religion, and then this person will turn around and be homophobic. Even using scriptures and religion to defend himself. People in this country are so stuck in their ways that they end up using religion as a prop to keep things the way they are. (We still have our laws from when we were ruled by the British. ie: buggery is illegal.)
I've run out of fumes, I don't know what else I can say about my country. I'll try to rap up some points and continue this in another part. In Trinidad the gay life is invisible. It's there, I know it is but finding it is nearly impossible. No one is going to come out and tell you that they're gay (no one that I've met, anyway.) If I'd have to use another metaphor, Trinidad is one big, giant closet. Where everyone hides who they truly are. Because no one is perfect enough to meet up to our old, outdated standards of judgment. It's time for a change, Trinidad, really it's time for a change in the entire world.
"Fixing the world isn't about fixing society, it's about fixing ourselves so we can find the strength to help each other to help society." - Me, on painkillers and not nearly enough sleep.
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