Church should support human rights, message of inclusion
Published:Friday | August 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I read Dr Glenda Simms' article titled 'Beware of hatred in the name of God' and concur with her sentiments. As she puts it, "We cannot love in the name of God while we advocate hate." Having viewed the public service announcement, I can state that its wider social message is one of tolerance and accep-tance of our friends, family members, neighbours and fellow Jamaicans, who ought not to be discriminated against
We cannot continue to justify discrimination and state that homosexuals are abominations unto God, for He created us all. Nor can we continue to argue that preaching tolerance and acceptance of homosexuals is part of a wider gay agenda. The only issue here is a human-rights agenda, which should extend to all citizens of Jamaica.
Are we not all guaranteed equal treatment under the Constitution? Further, our buggery laws relate to just that: buggery. Being homosexual is not a crime, but as long as our buggery laws remain unchallenged, the wider society will not seek to make the distinction. I look forward to the time when we would have matured as a democracy and accept people for who they are and not for who they sleep with.
I pity our church leaders who, disappointingly, spew hate and intolerance from the pulpit and continue to feel ever more justified because it is the 'cultural norm' for Jamaicans to marginalise gay men. The thing about cultural norms is that they do change. It was not so long ago that our forefathers were slaves, blacks had no rights, Rastafarians were social pariahs, women had no place in the business society and reggae was the music of poor ghetto youths.
For Jamaica to hold true to its Constitution and truly honour its international human-rights obligations, so, too, will our 'cultural norm' of hate and intolerance for homosexuals have to change. Until such time, I laud Matthew and Christine Straw for their message of tolerance,
NATE