Morningside author shares his personal trauma in new novel

REDEMPTION is a book that features Morningside resident Jay P Joubert’s own struggles with being trapped in a lifestyle that brought him no happiness and his story about coming out as a gay man.

The author struggled internally with acceptance and believed it to be a sin, and was embarrassed of himself in front of his parents, family, friends and society.
“When you know you could identify as gay, but every sphere in life tells you – you are to be like this, act like this – you will do as they say. The truth is when you conform to everybody’s ideas and ideologies, you never get to be yourself. You push out your own make-up. When you choose to identify as gay, you already knew this from birth. You’re not suddenly choosing to be gay. You are gay or you’re not. When you’re coming out and identifying as gay, it isn’t a metamorphosis. I see it as a rebirth, a chance to redeem your own life. A time to be yourself, to take back your life,” said Joubert.

Joubert has been a writer since 2014, having published his first book Arise (The Fire, the Power and the Glory) in 2014 in the UK. And on September 19 this year, he released his second novel, Redemption.

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The author says he has a passion for teaching and inspiring people. “I like to inspire people with the written word. I started writing from my own experiences, and what started as encouragement flowed into ideas and thoughts, and that became my writing. Now and again, my life has become the force for inspiration because I want to inspire others with my own experiences.”

From a young age, Joubert was molested by strangers, bullied and abused, and when he grew up, he says he struggled with coming out as gay in a society where being gay is still often frowned upon.

“I want to inspire people with my story and inspire others who will associate with my story. I also know that my story will resonate with people in the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.

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His advice to young men and women struggling with their sexual identity: “Be yourself – life’s too short to spend time being someone else. It is also okay to be gay. In a society where being gay is still considered to be a sin, an abomination or evil, by some primitives, I wanted to tell people, who wrestle with the same questions, to be yourself. Lying to yourself is never good; it only does you more harm than help you in the end. You do belong in this world; you matter, and you are perfect in every way.”

Redemption is currently available on Amazon Kindle. The author says he is in the process of getting a hard copy version to be made available to readers.