Abstract
This article presents an interpretation of Mark 5:1-20 employing the method of reading backwards, a narrative technique introduced by Randall C. Bailey. It foregrounds the lived experiences of same-gender loving (SGL) people of African descent, naming hegemony, homophobia, hatred, and hypocrisy among the legion of the unclean spirits of Empire which must be exorcised. / argue that once the man is clothed and restored to his right mind (5:15), he is redeployed by Jesus not only to proclaim what the Lord has done, but he also has the obligation to tell the stories of those who do not survive (or choose to remain in) their own caves as a result of empire. I do so from the lens of my SGL lived experience which emerges from the intersection of African American, Queer, and Postcolonial biblical interpretation.