ABSTRACT
The island nation of Jamaica – as well as the Caribbean more generally – has loomed large in discussions about the rights and identities of LGBTQ people, often cited as an example of extreme homophobia. In this chapter, we want to contribute to recent efforts subverting this dominant narrative through recounting a flash mob that was branded as Jamaica’s first ‘Gay Pride’ event, held in Kingston in 2015.
By joining the accounts of Simone – a Jamaican activist who was named the ‘Face of Pride 2015’ – and David – a German researcher conducting ethnographic research in Jamaica at the time of the 2015 Pride event – we reproduced the collaborative reflection that we employed in the development of this chapter. Engaging with each other’s ethnographic accounts led to us considering the flash mob’s significance as a moment of collective joy for LGBTQ people in Jamaica – a marked contrast to most representations of Jamaican LGBTQ lives. Simultaneously, we seek to understand the flash mob as a limited foray of the LGBTQ community into the Jamaican public sphere – somewhat at odds with culturally relativist analyses of Caribbean non-normative sexualities posing that discretion is crucial in Caribbean societies.
