Equals Barbados reposted this
It is #Pride2024 and the Barbados LGBTQ+ Coalition, of which I am a member, was recently officially launched to share our mandate of advocating for the empowerment and dignity of Barbadian LGBTQ+ citizens through law reform and access to services. Approaching #PRIDE activities it is hard not to think about visibility and invisibility. To my mind, visibility and invisibility take on expansive meanings in these times. None of us are invisible in the true sense of the word unless we are gifted shapeshifters (but that is for another post 😊). It is the acknowledgement of one's humanity however we show up in the world, that makes being visible or invisible so important. To be seen, heard and acknowledged as a fellow human being is at the core of it. This absence of human acknowledgement cuts deep because it can further lead to a lack of access to services, violence and persecution, discriminatory behaviour and denying basic opportunities to live a life of dignity and earn a decent salary. I have been thinking about what these things mean as a member of the LGBTQ+ community amid the atrocities against the people of Pal3st1n3. Imagine the simple act many of us take for granted when you click a drop-down menu on a random form that one has to complete, and not see your country there? Invisible to the world. And imagine how visible the w@r against your people are - out there for the rest of the world to see. Invisible in human acknowledgement, visible only in trauma and death. Imagine how hard it is to be as you are, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, trans or gender-diverse, and all of that matters nought. It is not the first time in world history that we have had to subvert the core of who we are, accept the normality of cruel death and still find the will to survive. I could name many examples, so much so, that I would exceed the LinkedIn word limit for this post. Thanks to the world's artists, activists, and scholars, who speak truth to power, we know what happened in earlier periods of genocide. The common thread is values that accept making a people invisible by plunder and mass murder while profiting from it. Visible on our screens every day, showing the most callous and horrifying aspects of the human soul. This is not the kind of visibility and invisibility to embrace if we say we want "a better and just world". #Pride offer lessons for all of us to go back to - the dignity of the person which is at the heart of visibility: affirming one's identity, facilitating representation, challenging stereotypes, fair access to healthcare, employment, housing and education, and feeling safe in one's home and country. No one deserves a life of indignity. There must be a future where invisibility does not exist: marginalisation, mental ill-health, economic insecurity, violence and discrimination, financial instability, internalised stigma and more. None of that, for anyone, anywhere, with no exception. We are all related. #dignity4all #pride2024