1. A female poet got a banana peel out of her tote bag and stated for the first time on a stage that she was a lesbian.

The poet, , has this style where she tells a deeper truth by not always telling the truth. Especially for the Antwerp Queer Arts Festival she did speak openly onstage about her sexuality, the woman she used to love and the poetry that came out of those experiences.

In the end she got four people out of the audience and got them involved in a simultaneous dramatic reading.

2. The short film ‘La Santa – The Blessed’, the movie debut of Chilean director Mauricio López Fernández.

‘ ’ is about María, a 13-year-old intersex girl who is forced by her father to incarnate the Holy Virgin Mary at the procession in their town, because he thinks this is the only way she can “get fixed”.

For the people who are not familiar with all the lingo: an intersex person is a person who is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. (More info: )

Back to ‘La Santa’! The film really takes you into María’s life. A small town, rural life where nothing significant seems to happen, but where all the expectations of religion, family, sexism and macho culture are weighing on the teenage intersex girl.

What I really liked about ‘La Santa’ is that it has quite a no-nonsense approach and the main character is very relatable, although the setting of the story is so specific. We’ve all been thirteen and trying to find our own (sexual) identity, while you feel the world is bombarding you with expectations. With María as the main character, Fernández shows these dynamics even more clearly.

3. The moment Thomas Glave, an Anglo-Jamaican queer writer, gave almost half of the audience a boner with his very spicy reading of his own work.

Wow, that man can work with words! I was ferociously waving with the AQAF booklet to give me some cool air.

Besides the juicy language, Bart Eeckhout of the University of Antwerp asked him questions about his writing, Jamaica and his vision on queer literature. Eeckhout found four big T’s in Glave’s work: taboos, transgressions, traumas and tenderness.

I was surprised how much the British colonial history of Jamaica has still such a large influence on today’s life. “Don’t keep your shit in my toilet! If the Queen of England can wipe her own ass and flush her shit, you can do too!” is just one example of what you might hear in Jamaica.

More importantly, there is still a law forbidding anal sex, dating back from colonial times and the country has a strict social class hierarchy. The result? A dangerous situation for gay men and few contacts between queer people from different classes.

A little positive note: Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica’s Prime Minister, has showed more openness towards the queer community and thanks to the internet, queer people can more easily get in touch with each other.

Now, a quick question for the detectives among you: what is the link between the image on the cover of Thomas Glave’s book ‘Among the Bloodpeople’ and Conchita Wurst?

For the ongoing program of Antwerp Queer Arts Festival, check