Letter of the Day | Time for relationship equality

The Editor, Sir:

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights recently ruled that the American Convention on Human Rights, which Jamaica ratified, guarantees full relationship rights to LGBT people. This includes civil marriage. However, Section 18 of our Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms bans the recognition of any form of same-gender relationships. This entrenched constitutional provision cannot be reversed by a court; it would require parliamentary action. However, this is highly unlikely because of the hysteria whipped up by evangelical extremists and their American backers who lost the marriage-equality debates back home.

According to these religious fundamentalists, allowing consenting adults with the same plumbing to legally form lifetime bonds poses serious societal threats, including the extinction of humanity. Modern fertility advances such as surrogacy are apparently beyond the comprehension of these conservatives. And neither are they able to grasp that for many persons, gay or straight, reproduction is not the primary motivation for copulation. It's really about intimacy. Children are sometimes a happy outcome, and Jamaica produces an abundant supply.

At the same time, multiple studies have shown that relationship equality actually protects marriage and leads to fewer divorces. One reason is simple enough: people don't have to worry that their partners are secretly gay and only using them as 'masks' or 'cures' for their homosexuality. HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are also reduced, as legally protected couples are more likely to be monogamous.

For human rights and public health reasons, it is therefore time that Jamaica respected and allowed relationship equality for all citizens.

Maurice Tomlinson

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