‘Social distancing’ is how LGBT people have always had to live

 | 
04/06/2020

As news reports with dire predictions about Covid-19 began to multiply exponentially, I quickly realized that the inevitable physical distancing required and resulting social isolation was not as big a deal for me as I suspect it is for many other people. Investigating my own sense of calm, I wondered if I was missing something, some quality that allowed me to be untroubled with the idea of quarantining. Then I saw a Facebook post from a young gay Jamaican friend that provided an epiphany: for decades, Jamaica has been “preparing” LGBTQ+ citizens, like myself, for this pandemic of social distance and isolation. In my friend’s words, which I’m paraphrasing only slightly, “We speak now about social distancing, but it’s something I’ve been doing for a long time because of homophobia.” You see, as queer Jamaicans – and queer global citizens, really – we’ve been forced to engage in social distancing as a matter of survival for so long that it is now part of our daily existence.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 07/26/2024
07/25/2024
Ghana’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a six-decade-old law criminalizing gay sex as the west African country awaits another court decision on whether to …
Added on: 07/26/2024
07/25/2024
The Government of Namibia has chosen the wrong side of history by challenging the recent High Court ruling that declared the country’s apartheid-era ban …
Added on: 07/26/2024
07/25/2024
It’s hard to believe it was little over a year ago. Just 12 months ago, the best women’s soccer teams from across the globe …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 07/26/2024
It’s hard to believe it was little over a year ago. Just 12 months ago, the best women’s soccer teams from across the globe …
Added on: 07/24/2024
Nearly 40 million people were living with the HIV virus that causes AIDS last year, more than 9 million weren’t getting any treatment, and …
Added on: 07/24/2024
In June, the LGBT+ association Kap Caraïbe in the French Caribbean island of Martinique had to cancel many of the events it planned as …