EXPOSED TO HOMOPHOBIA IN TORONTO TODAY: Tom and I were holding hands and walking in Jamestown, Toronto this morning at about 11: 15 a.m. We had just been at the internment of the ashes for a phenomenal former Pride Toronto volunteer, Rosemary Hardwick, and Tom was therefore wearing his clerical suit and collar. Apparently a cleric holding hands with another man displeased the dreadlocked black driver of a MultiCity Moving Inc. van license number 3405ZP, which was passing by. He stopped across the road and blocked traffic to shout F..K, God hates that! I waved. Eventually, his van pulled over and we caught up to him. So, I went up and asked if he had a problem with me holding my husbands hand. He said yes because being gay is an illness. I asked him why he thought so, and he said that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve (how original). I asked him how long he had been in Canada and in a thick Jamaican accent he said that he was born here. Stereotypes aside, this incident reminds me of why I was so reluctant to be in crowds when I first came to Toronto. It was because I feared being surrounded by Jamaicans (there are MANY in Toronto) as I felt that I would always have to check and correct my actions. I also realize that I avoided the established Jamaican community in Toronto for this same reason. This has to change. My people will only stop fearing gays if they get to know us. I owe it to my people to help them unlearn the prejudices they have been taught by imported religious ideology. For a black, Rastafarian, who is clearly of Caribbean descent and is quite possibly earning very little as a poorly paid moving man, NOT to get the tragic irony of his discrimination against another minority is truly sad.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 19:11:42 +0000