Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
What does it mean to be a Deaf GLBT person in the world today? Over 85 Deaf and hearing people from all over the world share their stories, interviews, poems, and more in this anthology. Straight people also share their experiences. Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader features rarely-heard voices such as a Deaf Ethiopian bisexual woman, a hard-of-hearing intersexed transgender musician, a Deaf ex-gay man, a Deaf lesbian witch, a Deaf gay Asian, a Deaf lesbian FTM rock n roll drummer, an older British non-signing deaf man, a Deaf black gay HIV-positive man, a hearing partner of a Deaf transman, a Deaf gay Hispanic man, a Deaf black lesbian tomfemme pagan, a Deaf gay hearing-aid fetishist, a Deaf Hindu lesbian, a DeafBlind Jewish gay man, a Deaf straight woman with two mommies, a Deaf leather titleholder, and a Deaf lesbian with an identical twin Deaf lesbian sister. Countries include Canada, Chile, England, Ethiopia, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Russia, and South Africa. Subjects cover coming out, family, identity, relationships, community, and activism.

BOOK REVIEW:
This is a collection of stories that deals with the double discrimination of not only being GLBT, but also deaf. The dual labels (and more) tend to make outsiders of these people even within their community, creating almost a separate group that deals with discrimination not only within the greater GLBT community but amongst themselves. With more than 85 different voices all rising to share their unique and individual stories, sometimes painful, sometimes humorous and all moving. While not always an easy anthology to read, these stories fascinate the reader with their insight and strength in the face of odds most neglect to recognize. The casual cruelty these diverse people have all experienced to one extent or another is belied by the knowledge that as varied as these voices are, their stories continue to inspire.

This anthology of stories spans topics and styles from coming out to reactions of friends and family, struggles with their own identity, relationships, and their sometimes awkward and ignored place with the community. Just as some GLBT are shunned from society, deaf GLBT are shunned within the GLBT community and the dual displacement clearly adds unneeded complications and struggles. However, the varied ways of handling this range the gamut showing the beauty of the individual beyond the labels and neatly decided place in society. Their stories mimic this with the range of style from narrative to poetry, interview, and essay.

Image a world where sounds are not taken for granted and communication is not as easy as opening your mouth to speak. This world has all the beauty and heartache you can imagine and the authors deliver this image vividly with a multicultural patchwork of ideas, memories, hopes, dreams, and realities. From black deaf pagan lesbian tomfemme, blind deaf and gay Jewish man, bisexual Ethiopian woman, Hindu lesbian, deaf HIV-positive gay man, a gay European journalist and every shade, gender, race, creed, and identity in between and beyond, this collection speaks loudly in the vacuum of silence.

For those that feel the LBT is often lost in the G of the community, this book will remind readers that all of those letters are prevalent and open within the community and even further reminding that additional factors can ostracize members, such as hearing or not. All of the stories are important for their message and strength in self-awareness but a few stand out for the writing and moving message. Especially of note are Terry Galloway’s “Words: Prologue from Mean Little deaf Queer”, Alex Leffers’ “do you have a penis”, Michael Conley’s “Reading Lips: From the Stageplay”, and the foreword beautifully written by Raymond Luczak. My personal favorites included the humor of Ocean’s “Unlabeling Oneself” and the moving, heart pounding journey of Thierry H.’s “A Journey in Iran.”

As with all anthologies and collections, the writing is varied and uneven from long essays to short poetry, to lengthy asides and memories. Those I’ve mentioned stood out but each story clearly belongs within the pages and without even one, the anthology would have been less. I highly recommend everyone take the time to read these fascinating stories and open their eyes and ears to the voices that clearly speak, even in the silence.

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. However, some books were purchased by the reviewer and not provided for free. For information on how a particular title was obtained, please contact us at reviews@rainbow-reviews.com.