Deaf, Gay, HIV Positive, and Proud: Narrating an Alternative Identity in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which John Meletse, a young black man who is an openly gay Deaf activist living with HIV, prioritizes some identities over otherswhen telling us about his life. In analyzing this narrative of self, this article explores the ways in which sexual, gender, and "disabled" identities intersect in alternative constructions of masculinity. A close reading of parts of John's biographic narrative allows the article to show rather than tell how his coming to terms with sexual identity is a process. John's videotaped life story, translated from South African Sign Language, was drawn from original interviews that formed part of the results of a SANPADproject onDeaf Culture in South Africa and from subsequent follow-up interviews.