Rights of homosexuals

The Government should be commended for raising the issue of gay rights. As reported in yesterday’s Sunday Newsday, the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs now has a draft policy which will form the basis of public debate on gender matters. Among such matters is the rights of homosexuals in our society. This issue first came up as a sidebar under the United National Congress administration, when they passed the Equal Opportunities Act 2000. Ostensibly drafted to prohibit “certain kinds of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different status,” the Act specifically excluded sexual preference as a ground for discrimination.

In other words, if an employer decided to fire someone because they were homosexual, that individual had absolutely no recourse in law. Such a clause, of course, made a mockery of the Act’s title. In any case, the Act has been in abeyance since its passage, because the Commission and the Tribunal needed for it to function have never been set up. Additionally, the Act was passed with a simple majority, and could well be challenged by constitutional motions when it does go into effect. Certainly, one area where such a challenge could be mounted is in this specific exclusion of homosexuals.

The Draft National Gender Policy and Action Plan, prepared by the Centre for Gender Studies and Development Studies of UWI, recommends that the State should “facilitate public debate on the promotion of and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms of all persons, irrespective of sexual preference or orientation.” This wording is poor. In suggesting that debate be facilitated, the plan already comes to a conclusion on the matter that it wants discussed. And that conclusion includes protection of the freedoms of all persons “irrespective of sexual preference,” which is absurd, since this would include persons whose preference is for pre-pubescent children.

But the plan is quite right in recommending that the State open up the issue for public debate. Where there has been any discussion so far, it has been carried out mainly in the opinion pages of the newspapers and on radio talk shows. Such talk has, for the most part, generated more heat than light. If the Government raises it as an issue, however, the debate may become more structured and more informed. Politically, though, this game might not seem to be worth the candle. The issue of homosexuality raises ideological passions that, on the face of it, are out of all proportion to the tiny minority (between two to four percent of any given population) who are so oriented.

Indeed, the issue is even now threatening to cause a schism in the Anglican Church. But such a debate embodies more fundamental questions which, as a developing nation, we must confront. What do we mean by human rights? How do we define discrimination? What are the relevant criteria by which we choose people for particular positions? What is the basis of our moral perspective? In the interest of finding out what the nation thinks, we hope the Government will not sweep this Draft Policy under the carpet.