MEMBER OF Parliament Ronnie Thwaites stepped outside party lines yesterday to defend gay rights and condemn capital punishment.
Mr. Thwaites said he felt obliged to make his personal position clear on the issue of homosexuality, a topic which came in for condemnation at the recent People's National Party (PNP) annual conference.
Addressing yesterday's session of Parliament, he said: "I am convinced the homosexual disposition in either man or woman, although I am no medical practitioner or psychologist, is largely genetic in origin.
"I am aware of its unnaturalness. I am persuaded of the prohibitions of scripture against such conduct, yet I do not believe that homosexual conduct between consenting adults, no matter how morally reprehensible, should attract criminal sanctions."
Mr. Thwaites, a Roman Catholic deacon, said while he did not support same-sex marriages, it was important he state what was in his heart and on his conscience, recognising full well that those views did not represent, and may never represent, the position which the majority of Jamaicans agreed with.
On the topic of capital punishment, Mr. Thwaites said: "I stand in this Parliament this evening as an unrepentant abolitionist. I am against capital punishment.
"I say so solemnly, because it is not easy for a Member of Parliament to stand and take a position on any matter which so contrary to his or her own constituents. I believe that we are, fundamentally, representatives here and that, generally, one should represent the views of one's own constituents. In this case I cannot do so, as a matter of conscience."
However, the maverick MP quickly stepped back on side to when it came to defending his party's support for the establishment of a Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). He also took the party line in condemning the recent English Privy Council death penalty rulings, as the House of Representatives resumed debate on the Court.
