Homosexuality...

I was truly inspired by doing our first interview for 'Rise'. Margot is a wonderful interviewer and if you have the chance try to catch her show 'Makin' it!' on Island FM on Tuesday's at 7.00pm to 8.00pm to hear talk about new and innovative ideas and works relevant to the Bahamian reality. She provides an important outlet for voices that may normally be stifled within this society.
Homosexuality is never an easy subject to approach based on all the personal fears and those surrounding it in society. I met an American woman down at the Wharf where I do my paintings who was gay. I told her what I was doing but made the unfortunate mistake of saying that our main character in the play chooses his lifestyle. She looked at me and retorted that she had struggled with this issue for over twenty years then blurted 'Who chooses this?'..This play is much more than being gay but rather the struggle one encounters in self- realizing in what is 'natural' to them. It is about being human throughout the fears and facing them with courage.

The term 'body politics' refers to the practices and policies through which powers of society attempt to regulate social, sexual and Religious control over the body. It was coined by the feminists in the early sixties and seventies but applies to everyone as far as I am concerned...The powers at play in body politics include institutional powers expressed in government and laws, traditional and cultural attitudes. Individuals engage in body politics when people are denied rights to control their own bodies. The struggle for equal rights emphasizes an individual's power and authority over their own body.

It is amazing that in today's age that we are still conflicted with the idea of having authority over our own bodies and who we self determine to be with at a point of that. Far too often we allow others or Institutional bodies to decide this for us rather than empowering ourselves to control ourselves for ourselves. That individual choice is ultimately our own and where the struggle for equal rights comes in amidst these restrictions whether psychological or inflicted by Law..It is a journey learning to trust oneself and who one is. What two consenting adults do within the privacy of their own home is their own business! It is alright to have the partner of your choice and one's absolute right....Life is not a box and you don't have to live in one!
Only in facing one's fear, can one truly be free...Be free and RISE!