Task 2D: Prejudice against minorities in English-speaking countries

Prejudice against gay people in “Time for Love”

Task 2D asks you to create a text discussing prejudice against minorities in English-speaking countries. In the assignment, you should use "Time for Love" (Text 7) or "The Painting" (Text 8) from the preparation material and another text or film you have worked with during your course in your discussion.

The poem “Time for Love” by Sean Lìonadh explores prejudices against the gay minority in the UK. The poem is written in free verse and published in 2018, exploring contemporary anti-gay attitudes in society.

The lyrical text follows two young men holding hands in a park. Very few people smile at their courage, with most people being critical:

It’s a flurried dance of reaction. Some smile, they’re proud and they want me to know.
But there’s a darker shade of brow that balances the books. (p. 13, ll. 6-7)

The critical looks make the speaker feel uneasy, and he begins exploring some of the causes of such looks. The speaker puts it down to mainstream notions of normality: “I’m a walking meal for the mouths of normality” (p. 13, l. 21). People assume that being gay is not normal. However, the poem argues that normality is “a crowd-sourced fantasy” (p. 14, l. 1), showing how many people who pretend to be normal have secret fantasies or go through traumatic events that change their lives: “…she miscarries and they carry that grief with them to the grave and they are not normal anymore…” (p. 13, ll. 24-25); “…he writes to Japan at the weekend to get a friend to send him the used knickers…” (ll. 26-27)

According to the poem, education in a rigid system can make people prejudiced against gay people:

Teenage boys blunder ahead. How much thunder are they carrying in their heads? They should probably be at school drawing straight lines. Sprinting in straight lines. Thinking ...