Liberate gays
Published:Monday | November 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
In the lead story of The Sunday Gleaner of November 6, 2011 titled 'Not ready for gays', Prime Minister Andrew Holness said, "People's private actions have public effect. In the Jamaican context, there is a public effect, and governments have to pay close attention to that."
This is a most rational and commendable acknowledgment by the new PM. Pity he didn't, or wasn't allowed to, expound on the public effect of continued criminalisation of private, consensual, adult male same-sex intimacy.
In this regard, I would like to highlight that many heterosexual women have approached me urging that I increase the level of advocacy around decriminalisation of adult male same-sex intimacy, simply because they are not sure who they are in bed with.
If gay men (estimated at seven to 10 per cent of the population) were able to engage in their own sexual relations unmolested by the law, they would be less likely to expose their female partners (and resulting children) to untold physical and psychological harm.
Failure to decriminalise homosexual activity is condemning the Jamaican public to many more years of unnecessary misery.
MAURICE TOMLINSON