handsome men (“beautiful types”); 2) noticingmen who are
displaying, purposelyor not, anerection (undergarmentsbeing
rare); 3) frequenting a cruising area but being unsuccessful at
finding a sexual partner.
The1903diary reveals that in just over fortypercent of the
completed sex acts, he gave the othermanmoney, whereas in
the 1910diary it is 75percent. Interestingly, inonly two cases
noted by Sir Roger did the otherman ask formoney up front.
Was this, then, atypical?Were most of these encounters just
twomenwanting to have sex, withCasement, feeling himself
to be themore prosperous one, giving the other somemoney?
Certainly in the largest, most modern cities, Casement would
have encounteredmenmaking their living that way, but free
sex was also apparently common too. This question is unan-
swerablewith the information the diaries provide. The greater
amount of sexual activity in the 1910 diary probably reflects
the larger, more sophisticated character of the cities of South
America.
WhenCasement was engaged in his investigations—trav-
eling jungle rivers toreachremote rubber collectioncamps, ob-
serving the treatment ofnativebearers,weighing themand their
loads, documentingfloggingscars, burnsandamputations, giv-
ing food to the starving, sending the ill to thehospital, sending
smaller children home, freeing natives who were imprisoned
for simply trying to leave, investigatingmurdersofnatives, tak-
ing down testimony, recopying it at night—hewas extremely
focused on his mission for the indigenous people (“poor
souls”). His sexual activitywasmainly concentrated in larger
cities:London,Dublin,Belfast,Rio,Belém, andportsof call on
the trips back to his station or home. It is quite clear from the
diaries that night (and even day) cruising in themain squares
andparksof citieswasacommonworldwidephenomenon, and
that itwas easy to find restlessmenwhowere looking for sex.
R
EACTIONTOTHE
D
IARIES
The “BlackDiaries”were held prisoner for many decades by
the British government, as threats of obscenity charges were
madewhenever anyone asked to publish them. Evenmore re-
cently, they have come under attack, with charges of sex
tourism and pedophilia being leveled. Inmy opinion, neither
charge is supported.Anunbiased readingof the1903and1910
diaries makes it clear that Casement was not traveling to ex-
oticplaces tohire local sexworkers.Thecontemporarycontext
(a hostile one) of his sexual orientation denied him
any
rela-
tionshipexcept for secret, passing, or intermittent ones, nomat-
ter where he was. In large cities, he easily found the places
where gaymenwere seeking eachother out.
As for pedophilia, an article byCóilinOwens in
The Irish
Literary Supplement
(March 22, 2004) contains an excerpt
fromthe 1911diary (Nov. 9-12) thatOwens attempts touse to
prove thischarge, butwhichendsupproving theopposite.Here
Casement describes arranging twooutings to seewhether José
(inhis late teens, learningEnglish fromCasement)might also
have homosexual feelings (which indicates he does not wish
to impose himself on an unwilling partner). Having come to
theconclusion that José
does
havesuchfeelings, he inviteshim
home, but thendecides against pursuing a relationship, proba-
blydue to the realization that doing sowouldburdenhimwith
a level of responsibilityhe couldnot honor.
There are twoother encounters that factor intoanyaccusa-
tionof pedophilia.Hemet twoyoungboyswhowerecruising:
“Albert, 15 1/2 years old” inLondon on July 15, 1910, and “a
Caboclo boy, 16 or 17” in Pará, Brazil, onAugust 8th of the
same year. If these two boys were cruising tomake a living,
this is certainly an indictment of the societies they lived in.Or
possibly, they were precociously self-aware and were begin-
ning their sexual lives. Either way, Casement was not the sort
of person to inflict any sort of distress upon them. The boys
seemtohavebeenpart of thecruisingscene.To take these three
examples, as some have done, and attempt to conflate them
with the recent scandals in the Catholic Church shows preju-
dice rather thananalytical thinking.Also,manyof thediaryen-
triesarecryptic, coded, or sketchy.Toattempt topindownwhat
actuallyhappened, nevermind thepsychological andsocial dy-
namicsof theseencounters,wouldentail filling ingreat spaces
with prejudice.
I do suspect, on the other hand, that Roger Casement may
well have had amild case ofOCD, whichwould be a tremen-
dous advantage to a clerk or to an investigator. On boat trips,
he would estimate the distance to be covered each day and
check it against theactual distance traveled.Healso registered
May–June 2014
17
RogerCasement (right) with his friendHerbertWard, ca. 1903
The year is 1990, the Berlin
Wall has just come down, and
Europe is in turmoil as the
first GulfWar unfolds. Tony
is about to embark upon the
journey of a lifetime—a year
abroad in the City of Lust.
WWW
.A
MAZON
.
COM
Where better to come
out of the closet than in
GayParee?
