Book Review: Trumpet by Jackie Kay

Trumpet is one of the books I have to read for my theories of Gender and Sexuality class. Overall it was an easy read and part of me didn’t want to put the book down. Not because I liked it though, but because I found this book frustrating and infuriating.

The book follows the life of the wife and son of a famous jazz trumpeter Joss Moody after his death. He has a secret though, a secret that not even his own son is aware of. Joss Moody was born Josephine Moore.

I know that there are people who aren’t accepting of queer and trans gender people but I felt like there was little critique of that. It was just kind of accepted as the way things were. Those who did accept that Joss was who he was are presented in a way that they are some how separate from society at large but that their words can be used against them to continue the anti-acceptance diatribe that is present through out most of the book.

I found it hard to like any of the characters. I wanted to like Joss but there wasn’t really enough about who he was for me to feel an affinity towards him. Millie seemed bland and consumed by her husband’s death, which, though understandable, made it hard to connect with her as well, as she did not seem to express her feelings short of living in her own little world. The son and the reporter were infuriating individuals, even though the son is slightly redeemed at the end.

Also, the whole use of pronouns through out the book really got on my nerves. Maybe it’s just me but there is something so disrespectful about using ‘she’ for someone presenting as male, especially after their death. Or assuming that someone is trans because it gets them off or that they were just hiding.

As I always learned it sex is between the legs and gender is between the ears and the two don’t have to “match” in the way society thinks they should. In fact I believe that gender is not a static thing but is in fact fluid and can change.

Paragraph 175

I recently watched a movie called Paragraph 175. It is a documentary about the Nazis’ treatment of homosexuals in the holocaust. Everyone knows about the 6 million Jews who were murdered during the holocaust. Not many know about the 10-15000 gay men who were sent to concentration camps. Fewer than 10 of those men were still alive at the time of this movie.

Oddly enough there are only 5 cases of lesbians in concentration camps. This was because to the Nazis saw lesbianism as temporary and curable and that lesbians could still procreate for the Aryan cause. Basically it was easy to force procreative sex on lesbians.

Gay men mostly escaped the gas chambers because they were gay Christians. But they were the lowest of the low in the hierarchy of the concentration camps. They were marked with the Pink Triangle.

Here’s an excerpt from The Pink Triangle.com:

“Triangles of various colors were used to identify each category of “undesirable”: yellow for Jews, brown of Gypsies, red for political prisoners, green for criminals, black for anti-socials, purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, blue for immigrants, and pink for homosexuals.

The pink triangles were slightly larger than the other colored triangles so that guards could identify them from a distance. It is said that those who wore the pink triangles were singled out by the guards to receive the harshest treatment, and when the guards were finished with them, some of the other inmates would harm them as well.”

When the Nazi regime fell almost all others were released homosexuals were branded criminals and sent to prison. East Germany’s version of Paragraph 175 lasted until 1968. West Germany kept the Nazi version of the law until 1969.

If you wish to hear some very moving stories about the experiences of homosexuals during the Nazi Regime Paragraph 175 is an amazing movie.

Remember Remember The Fifth of November

And not just because of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Parliament Houses.

Also not just that we all woke up (or stayed up) to find out that the first African American president elect is Barrack Obama.

But also that while the Democrats were celebrating their push for change millions of Americans voted to amend their state constitutions to include the “Traditional Marriage”.

This is wrong.

Unlike I have seen so many people say THIS IS DISCRIMINATION.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines to discriminate against: to make an adverse distinction with regard to; to distinguish unfavourably from others.

This is what the voters in Florida, California, Arizona and Arkansas have seen fit to do. They have decided that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness only applies to certain groups of people. Again.

It seems like we are always looking for someone to blame. Whether they are Jewish, Black, Muslim, or Homosexual they are different and hence the source of all the world’s problems.

Bigotry is Bigotry.

Or else would someone explain to me why it is not? Oh wait! I know! Black people don’t “choose” to be black but gay people “choose” to be gay.

Yeah. Right.

And another thing. Domestic Partnership is NOT the same as marriage.

What this video does not mentions is that domestic partnerships costs way more.

See a particularly moving video against Prop 8 here.

I am not saying that other forms of discrimination don’t exist or that they are less important than homophobia. Just because Obama is president doesn’t mean that racism will just disappear.

This was just what was on my mind.

Yes I am gay. I say that as proudly as ever before. I had felt as though I had been slapped in the face by millions. Now I’m going to turn the other cheek and work to accept and tolerate others. Even if they don’t accept or even tolerate me.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.