our activism is continuing to evolve
when the next phase of where loves
illegal is endeavouring to leverage our
storytelling skills so we can further
amplify the voices of LGBT qi+
communities around the world
and we’re doing just that in Jamaica
last month we were recording stories of
survival so for the photo interested
people here you know we shifted here
from the four by five film list this is
now 8 by 10 that we use I just make my
life more and more difficult but we
asked everyone to write their own
testimonies and but we sort of also
moved up with technology as well and
rather than just writing them and like
me photographing their testimonies we
asked people to read them and I and I
filmed them so in the spirit of having
of amplifying voices we’re gonna listen
to my hi my name is Monique I like to be
called more I am an out member of the
Jamaican LGBTQ community Jamaicans are
very intolerant and homophobic
nonetheless I live my life fearlessly it
takes a lot of courage to live and open
the gay life in a place like Jamaica
where people are so violent towards gay
people to be honest I’m always on the
alert and really on the defensive
because when you have a predominantly me
look like I do you can never tell when
you may become a target
I am always cognizant of that and ready
to go in the fence mode I really love
Jamaica it’s a beautiful place it’s my
homeland I just wish it were a safer
place for LGBTQ Jamaicans to Live Love
Laugh be happy and to be free to be who
we are
so given that no we are witness change
and this that change part is an
important part of what we do we know
that recording these you know nice
stories it’s not enough and so we asked
ourselves what what more can we do
rather than other than just document
stories so this next phase also it’s
about working closer with LGBT groups on
the ground so we decided to do in
addition to portraits we’ve started to
do workshops in the country where we
where these stories are being recorded
and we’re working with the communities
there with the aim that we hope that we
can have stories start to come from the
community and not just be about the
community so furthermore we’ve there’s
more story making right and we still
need to have those stories make a
difference
so I set with the LGBT activist and we
talked about how how can these stories
make an impact locally so we
brainstormed about different different
ideas of how story making can impact on
the ground and came up with an idea so
many times when I was working in Jamaica
people you know this the reoccurring
theme was this conversation about
navigating safe places and I don’t know
what it meant at the time but they
explained means so the they talked about
there are places that they can literally
where they fear for their lives
and they just described this dangerous
mob mentality where one of two things
will happen if they face abuse in the
street which is really sadly so either
you’ll have someone call out homophobic
or transphobic abuse and everyone will
fall silent or worse people join in and
you have this mob mentality where you
know it becomes where things escalate
and becomes very very dangerous but what
there is not is people standing up for
them so there’s that on on one hand the
other thing which they complained about
a lot is that 10 years ago Time magazine
did a story
naming Jamaica is the most homophobic
country in the world ten years later
they’re still pretty pissed about it
and and so they would explain to me that
actually there are many allies in
Jamaica it’s just that they too don’t
want to come forward cuz they face
ridicule as well so they wanted to
create a campaign where they could use
the stories they write in a form of a
letter and photographs in order to
interact and engage allies and directly
request that these allies sign a pledge
to take a stand for them when they need
their help so we’re in the very early
stages of this work but what I’m gonna
do is share with you one story written
by Christina the the line is rubbish she
recorded it on her phone from Jamaica
and sent it to us it’s very kind of her
but what’s really interesting is it not
only is a request for allies but she’s
coming out in this letter to some of her
close friends and you know listen to her
already in her letter she she knows what
they’re going to say and she’s already
sort of pre-empting their argument so
you can it’s interesting to hear what
she how she expresses that
by the time you read this I will have
told you that I am bisexual to be
completely honest I cannot predict how
you will be responding or what thoughts
will be running through your minds
you’ll probably be asking why is your
friend bisexual what can you do to
change who I am will she ever be happy
what will everyone else think the first
thing I want you to know is that I have
always been bisexual this is not a
temporary phase and it is not something
I ever chose or decided to me I’ve
thought about it a lot and as best as I
can remember I first knew I was bisexual
at age 10 or 11 but even years earlier I
knew I was different I am completely
convinced that being bisexual is the way
I was born and nothing you or anyone
else ever did made me bisexual my
natural orientation and preference is
towards men and women and as for it
being a choice my only choice as I see
it has been whether to be open and
honest about my feelings
or to continue to deny and hide them
being bisexual is simply part of who I
am and the parts I’ve been longing to
share with you for quite some time the
question of telling you has been without
doubt the ultimate pressing issue and my
mind for quite a few years I knew it was
something that would eventually have to
be done of course there was always the
possibility that I could just never tell
you and keep that part of my life
permanently hidden from you for one you
are too close and too important to me
for me to keep such an important part of
my life from you up till now I have by
default excluded you from this part of
my life but it has become painful to
keep something so important to me hidden
from you I love and appreciate you Trish
on Kristin Chantal and I want to give
you the opportunity to share this part
of my life with me I would really
appreciate our continuous love and
support to cushion the blow
and discrimination from the wider
society understand with me and publicly
say you will support me despite me being
bisexual my greatest fear is to be
rejected by the people I expect to be
there for me so I’m really hoping that
you don’t I want you to remember to shun
christen and shun tile that I’m the same
person to be that I was yesterday
I still want to enjoy being with you
only know you know a little bit more
about me and we know have before us a
tremendous opportunity to become closer
than we ever have been a chance to share
all my hopes and aspirations for my life
I still love you and will always love
you just the same and I hope you’ll be
there for me will you be my Ally so
here’s our group in Jamaica and they and
we are very excited about making this
project a reality so but you know
despite the success that we’ve had as
where love is legal and disseminating
and sharing these voices and amplifying
voices one of our continuous struggles
is funding so this is the one and only
plug I’m gonna make tonight and that is
that you know we need fifteen thousand
dollars to make this happen and if
anyone is feeling particularly generous
please let me know we’re a registered
charity and 501 C 3 tax deductible we’ll
make good use of your money so we keep
you moving on with this with this idea
that you know if we can create locally
produced anti-stigma campaigns that’s a
really effective way that we can be
using storytelling so next week on
Wednesday I’ll be going to Tunisia where
this work will continue the other thing
that I just want to point out is that
most of this work that we’ve been doing
so far has been in developing countries
and most of this work has been done in
the 75 countries where same 6x are
illegal but we are acutely aware that
the struggle goes on in many countries
around the world including this one
and one of the I mean you know we are
aware because we we read the news and
but also we’re aware because many of the
people who share their stories with us
people like CJ from here in this country
so the next country after day after
Tunisia the next chapter is we would
like to do where loves illegal USA you
know there’s been some really great
gains in this country but those gains
are fragile and we think it’s really
important that lgbtqia+ voices continue
to be heard in a significant way in this
country so that those we don’t risk
having those gains disappear
not only that while there are gains
there’s also massive progress still in
many many areas for many people so we
think in particular you know we want to
be able to make some strong work about
transgender people of color and homeless
use and other issues that other very
vulnerable groups so okay second plug if
you’re interested in doing anything on
where loves legal USA let me know we
need funding for that as well so you
know we’re proud of the work that we’ve
done but we also recognize it it’s just
been a beginning and we know it’s just
the beginning because most days we
receive messages from people around the
world you know sharing their experiences
and we actually feel like we’re in a
desperate rush because we know that
every day today this week last weekend
next week every single day people are
dying because some consider who they are
or who they love to be unacceptable
unfortunately our intervention was too
late for be be died just three months
after this photograph was taken
he wasn’t executed or murdered like many
others in his situation he was killed by
poverty so we have to understand that to
be LGBT in many countries is to be this
really poor it means to be thrown out of
schools and jobs abandoned by families
forced to flee abuse and so many end up
on the margins of society
I met be in the the tin shack that was
his home in Cape Town South Africa he
fled to Cape Town from Kenya I sat with
him on this tiny little bed with my arm
around him trying to comfort him as he
wept about the man he dreamed of
marrying a man who was now did he told
me about the his relationship with this
man he told me how it was a first sight
love and he told me about the
apprehension of introducing his partner
to his family and he told me about
running away from the mob at his
engagement party who were intent on
killing them and he told me about his
fiancee being stabbed in the chest and
he wept because he was heartbroken and
he wept because he was too poor to pay
his rent and would be evicted any day
and he wept because he saw no future and
in the end this lovely man died because
bigotry had made him too poor to be able
to afford the medical care he needed one
of his friends informed me of his death
and he told me that there was nothing to
remember me by
except for his story and he begged that
I tell it so that we would remember be
even if it was only a sad memory so here
I am telling you about be like I do
whenever I get the chance to talk about
this work in the hope that his memory
will survive and the tragic story of his
life can serve to save the lives of
others as sad as B’s story is the more
sad thing is that there’s thousands like
being but that doesn’t have to be the
case I believe that we cannot care less
for people because they are further away
of a different religion nationality skin
color gender or sexuality with
witnessing comes responsibility and with
privilege comes obligation and none of
us lesbian gay trans by intersex
straight and none of us are free until
we are all free
the survivors whose stories I’ve shared
with you tonight told them in the hope
that people would listen and their lives
in the lives of people in their
community would become more free for
many as the first time their shared for
many of their first step into activism
do you know shared their story because
they hoped people would hear their
voices before they were attacked they
were not activists appearing in this
photo was the their first act to defy
those who would deny their love this
young Russian couple were attacked
because they dared to walk in the street
holding hands they wrote the as everyone
did they wrote their testimony but they
wrote it as a dialogue between each
other a paragraph each describing the
night as it occurred but something
unexpected happened there’s this
testimony of violence turned into a love
letter and I’m going to read you the end
of it with with Oh
reading to her partner after the attack
I felt even more strongly how dared the
years to me
and how scary the thought that I could
lose her the worst thing that I felt was
an absolute inability to protect the one
I loved or even myself yes now I look
back on the street and look at every
passing male as a possible source of
danger but every time now when I’m in
the street when I take you by the hand I
do it consciously it is my choice D hold
my hand this is my reward for your
courage
in the course of this social media
campaign hundreds of thousands of people
have light and followed in places like
this for survivors like this that barely
conscious action is like a hand reaching
out offering support in a sign that says
that you’re not alone the sign that says
I acknowledge your courage it says who
you are is natural normal and moral you
deserve to be seen and you need to be
heard it is in these stories that have
the silenced heard and the hidden scene
that we can connect we can connect
online we can connect through brave
organizations fighting for equality and
we can connect through here and it is in
that connection that there is a chance
there just maybe maybe there is a better
future a future where no one needs to
cover their face or change their name or
hide who they are a future where
everyone’s story matters in a future
where love is never illegal I’m very
grateful to be given this opportunity to
talk to you tonight because you helped
me to fulfill my promise to the people
whose stories I said I would tell today
I act as their immediate intermediary
they allowed me to photograph them and
record their words in the hope that they
will be heard I’d like to thank you for
listening thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
when the next phase of where loves
illegal is endeavouring to leverage our
storytelling skills so we can further
amplify the voices of LGBT qi+
communities around the world
and we’re doing just that in Jamaica
last month we were recording stories of
survival so for the photo interested
people here you know we shifted here
from the four by five film list this is
now 8 by 10 that we use I just make my
life more and more difficult but we
asked everyone to write their own
testimonies and but we sort of also
moved up with technology as well and
rather than just writing them and like
me photographing their testimonies we
asked people to read them and I and I
filmed them so in the spirit of having
of amplifying voices we’re gonna listen
to my hi my name is Monique I like to be
called more I am an out member of the
Jamaican LGBTQ community Jamaicans are
very intolerant and homophobic
nonetheless I live my life fearlessly it
takes a lot of courage to live and open
the gay life in a place like Jamaica
where people are so violent towards gay
people to be honest I’m always on the
alert and really on the defensive
because when you have a predominantly me
look like I do you can never tell when
you may become a target
I am always cognizant of that and ready
to go in the fence mode I really love
Jamaica it’s a beautiful place it’s my
homeland I just wish it were a safer
place for LGBTQ Jamaicans to Live Love
Laugh be happy and to be free to be who
we are
so given that no we are witness change
and this that change part is an
important part of what we do we know
that recording these you know nice
stories it’s not enough and so we asked
ourselves what what more can we do
rather than other than just document
stories so this next phase also it’s
about working closer with LGBT groups on
the ground so we decided to do in
addition to portraits we’ve started to
do workshops in the country where we
where these stories are being recorded
and we’re working with the communities
there with the aim that we hope that we
can have stories start to come from the
community and not just be about the
community so furthermore we’ve there’s
more story making right and we still
need to have those stories make a
difference
so I set with the LGBT activist and we
talked about how how can these stories
make an impact locally so we
brainstormed about different different
ideas of how story making can impact on
the ground and came up with an idea so
many times when I was working in Jamaica
people you know this the reoccurring
theme was this conversation about
navigating safe places and I don’t know
what it meant at the time but they
explained means so the they talked about
there are places that they can literally
where they fear for their lives
and they just described this dangerous
mob mentality where one of two things
will happen if they face abuse in the
street which is really sadly so either
you’ll have someone call out homophobic
or transphobic abuse and everyone will
fall silent or worse people join in and
you have this mob mentality where you
know it becomes where things escalate
and becomes very very dangerous but what
there is not is people standing up for
them so there’s that on on one hand the
other thing which they complained about
a lot is that 10 years ago Time magazine
did a story
naming Jamaica is the most homophobic
country in the world ten years later
they’re still pretty pissed about it
and and so they would explain to me that
actually there are many allies in
Jamaica it’s just that they too don’t
want to come forward cuz they face
ridicule as well so they wanted to
create a campaign where they could use
the stories they write in a form of a
letter and photographs in order to
interact and engage allies and directly
request that these allies sign a pledge
to take a stand for them when they need
their help so we’re in the very early
stages of this work but what I’m gonna
do is share with you one story written
by Christina the the line is rubbish she
recorded it on her phone from Jamaica
and sent it to us it’s very kind of her
but what’s really interesting is it not
only is a request for allies but she’s
coming out in this letter to some of her
close friends and you know listen to her
already in her letter she she knows what
they’re going to say and she’s already
sort of pre-empting their argument so
you can it’s interesting to hear what
she how she expresses that
by the time you read this I will have
told you that I am bisexual to be
completely honest I cannot predict how
you will be responding or what thoughts
will be running through your minds
you’ll probably be asking why is your
friend bisexual what can you do to
change who I am will she ever be happy
what will everyone else think the first
thing I want you to know is that I have
always been bisexual this is not a
temporary phase and it is not something
I ever chose or decided to me I’ve
thought about it a lot and as best as I
can remember I first knew I was bisexual
at age 10 or 11 but even years earlier I
knew I was different I am completely
convinced that being bisexual is the way
I was born and nothing you or anyone
else ever did made me bisexual my
natural orientation and preference is
towards men and women and as for it
being a choice my only choice as I see
it has been whether to be open and
honest about my feelings
or to continue to deny and hide them
being bisexual is simply part of who I
am and the parts I’ve been longing to
share with you for quite some time the
question of telling you has been without
doubt the ultimate pressing issue and my
mind for quite a few years I knew it was
something that would eventually have to
be done of course there was always the
possibility that I could just never tell
you and keep that part of my life
permanently hidden from you for one you
are too close and too important to me
for me to keep such an important part of
my life from you up till now I have by
default excluded you from this part of
my life but it has become painful to
keep something so important to me hidden
from you I love and appreciate you Trish
on Kristin Chantal and I want to give
you the opportunity to share this part
of my life with me I would really
appreciate our continuous love and
support to cushion the blow
and discrimination from the wider
society understand with me and publicly
say you will support me despite me being
bisexual my greatest fear is to be
rejected by the people I expect to be
there for me so I’m really hoping that
you don’t I want you to remember to shun
christen and shun tile that I’m the same
person to be that I was yesterday
I still want to enjoy being with you
only know you know a little bit more
about me and we know have before us a
tremendous opportunity to become closer
than we ever have been a chance to share
all my hopes and aspirations for my life
I still love you and will always love
you just the same and I hope you’ll be
there for me will you be my Ally so
here’s our group in Jamaica and they and
we are very excited about making this
project a reality so but you know
despite the success that we’ve had as
where love is legal and disseminating
and sharing these voices and amplifying
voices one of our continuous struggles
is funding so this is the one and only
plug I’m gonna make tonight and that is
that you know we need fifteen thousand
dollars to make this happen and if
anyone is feeling particularly generous
please let me know we’re a registered
charity and 501 C 3 tax deductible we’ll
make good use of your money so we keep
you moving on with this with this idea
that you know if we can create locally
produced anti-stigma campaigns that’s a
really effective way that we can be
using storytelling so next week on
Wednesday I’ll be going to Tunisia where
this work will continue the other thing
that I just want to point out is that
most of this work that we’ve been doing
so far has been in developing countries
and most of this work has been done in
the 75 countries where same 6x are
illegal but we are acutely aware that
the struggle goes on in many countries
around the world including this one
and one of the I mean you know we are
aware because we we read the news and
but also we’re aware because many of the
people who share their stories with us
people like CJ from here in this country
so the next country after day after
Tunisia the next chapter is we would
like to do where loves illegal USA you
know there’s been some really great
gains in this country but those gains
are fragile and we think it’s really
important that lgbtqia+ voices continue
to be heard in a significant way in this
country so that those we don’t risk
having those gains disappear
not only that while there are gains
there’s also massive progress still in
many many areas for many people so we
think in particular you know we want to
be able to make some strong work about
transgender people of color and homeless
use and other issues that other very
vulnerable groups so okay second plug if
you’re interested in doing anything on
where loves legal USA let me know we
need funding for that as well so you
know we’re proud of the work that we’ve
done but we also recognize it it’s just
been a beginning and we know it’s just
the beginning because most days we
receive messages from people around the
world you know sharing their experiences
and we actually feel like we’re in a
desperate rush because we know that
every day today this week last weekend
next week every single day people are
dying because some consider who they are
or who they love to be unacceptable
unfortunately our intervention was too
late for be be died just three months
after this photograph was taken
he wasn’t executed or murdered like many
others in his situation he was killed by
poverty so we have to understand that to
be LGBT in many countries is to be this
really poor it means to be thrown out of
schools and jobs abandoned by families
forced to flee abuse and so many end up
on the margins of society
I met be in the the tin shack that was
his home in Cape Town South Africa he
fled to Cape Town from Kenya I sat with
him on this tiny little bed with my arm
around him trying to comfort him as he
wept about the man he dreamed of
marrying a man who was now did he told
me about the his relationship with this
man he told me how it was a first sight
love and he told me about the
apprehension of introducing his partner
to his family and he told me about
running away from the mob at his
engagement party who were intent on
killing them and he told me about his
fiancee being stabbed in the chest and
he wept because he was heartbroken and
he wept because he was too poor to pay
his rent and would be evicted any day
and he wept because he saw no future and
in the end this lovely man died because
bigotry had made him too poor to be able
to afford the medical care he needed one
of his friends informed me of his death
and he told me that there was nothing to
remember me by
except for his story and he begged that
I tell it so that we would remember be
even if it was only a sad memory so here
I am telling you about be like I do
whenever I get the chance to talk about
this work in the hope that his memory
will survive and the tragic story of his
life can serve to save the lives of
others as sad as B’s story is the more
sad thing is that there’s thousands like
being but that doesn’t have to be the
case I believe that we cannot care less
for people because they are further away
of a different religion nationality skin
color gender or sexuality with
witnessing comes responsibility and with
privilege comes obligation and none of
us lesbian gay trans by intersex
straight and none of us are free until
we are all free
the survivors whose stories I’ve shared
with you tonight told them in the hope
that people would listen and their lives
in the lives of people in their
community would become more free for
many as the first time their shared for
many of their first step into activism
do you know shared their story because
they hoped people would hear their
voices before they were attacked they
were not activists appearing in this
photo was the their first act to defy
those who would deny their love this
young Russian couple were attacked
because they dared to walk in the street
holding hands they wrote the as everyone
did they wrote their testimony but they
wrote it as a dialogue between each
other a paragraph each describing the
night as it occurred but something
unexpected happened there’s this
testimony of violence turned into a love
letter and I’m going to read you the end
of it with with Oh
reading to her partner after the attack
I felt even more strongly how dared the
years to me
and how scary the thought that I could
lose her the worst thing that I felt was
an absolute inability to protect the one
I loved or even myself yes now I look
back on the street and look at every
passing male as a possible source of
danger but every time now when I’m in
the street when I take you by the hand I
do it consciously it is my choice D hold
my hand this is my reward for your
courage
in the course of this social media
campaign hundreds of thousands of people
have light and followed in places like
this for survivors like this that barely
conscious action is like a hand reaching
out offering support in a sign that says
that you’re not alone the sign that says
I acknowledge your courage it says who
you are is natural normal and moral you
deserve to be seen and you need to be
heard it is in these stories that have
the silenced heard and the hidden scene
that we can connect we can connect
online we can connect through brave
organizations fighting for equality and
we can connect through here and it is in
that connection that there is a chance
there just maybe maybe there is a better
future a future where no one needs to
cover their face or change their name or
hide who they are a future where
everyone’s story matters in a future
where love is never illegal I’m very
grateful to be given this opportunity to
talk to you tonight because you helped
me to fulfill my promise to the people
whose stories I said I would tell today
I act as their immediate intermediary
they allowed me to photograph them and
record their words in the hope that they
will be heard I’d like to thank you for
listening thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
Please follow and like us: