Funny Gyal: My Fight Against Homophobia in Jamaica

Angeline Jackson, a young adult from Jamaica, fought against the oppression of queer youth in her country, advocating for recognition and justice. Despite facing discrimination and trauma, including "corrective rape," her faith deepened, giving her the courage to challenge gender violence and oppression. Her story is a powerful testament to the power of one person to make a difference.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 04 August 2022
Publisher: Dundurn Group Ltd

The Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult — 2022 Finalist is an inspiring story of Angeline Jackson, who stood up to Jamaica's oppression of queer youth to demand recognition and justice. When Angeline was a child, she wondered if there was something wrong with her for wanting to kiss the other girls. As her sexuality blossomed in her teens, she knew she wouldn't "grow out of it" and that her attraction to girls wasn't against God. In fact, she discovered that same-sex relationships were depicted in the Bible, which she read devoutly, even if the tight-knit evangelical Christian community she grew up in believed any sexual relationship outside of marriage between a man and woman was a sin, and her society, Jamaica, criminalized homosexual sex. Angeline's story begins with her traumatic experience of "corrective rape" when she is lured by an online predator, then traces her childhood through her sexual and spiritual awakening as a teen — falling in love, breaking up, coming out, and then being forced into conversion therapy. Sometimes dark, always threadbare and honest, Funny Gyal chronicles how Angeline's faith deepens as a teenager, despite her parents' conservative values and the strict Christian Jamaican society in which she lives, giving her the courage to challenge gender violence, rape culture, and oppression.

ISBN-13: 9781459749191