Liminal identities: Caribbean men who have sex with men in London, UK

Abstract

Accounts by 10 Caribbean men who have sex with men living in the UK reveal them to be liminal beings with unstable and unresolved identities. They are between social states: aware they are not heterosexual and not publicly recognised, or in some cases self‐accepted, as homosexual. Caribbean‐born respondents especially suffer from homophobia, expressing regret and disappointment at their sexuality. They may also experience cognitive dissonance – as they are aware of their conflict with the heteronormative order – they cannot resolve. Religion contributes to homophobia and cognitive dissonance particularly for Caribbean‐born men, some of whom may believe a fundamental conflict exists between Christianity and homosexuality. Heterosexism and homophobia contribute to and reinforce their liminal state, by preventing transition to publicly recognised homosexual status. Respondents may engage in private and public, internal and external, overt and covert policing of their and other gay men's behaviour: through strategic pretence at heterosexuality and/or condemnation of men engaging in behaviour identifiable as stereotypically homosexual, for example. Narratives point to the need to complexify the conventional understanding of Jamaican heterosexism to explain reported variations in the degree of anti‐homosexual hostility in the country.