Andrew, fly the gate for gays

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IN RESPONSE to the Trinidad and Tobago court decision striking down their anti-buggery law and our prime minister’s subsequent (redundant?) statement that he would appoint a gay person to his Cabinet, our usual Chicken Littles have begun predicting imminent doom for our fair isle if we follow sweet T&T.

Their histrionics, in sum, read: The (British colonially imposed – and now apologised for) antibuggery law saves Jamaica from all kinds of vices – our rampant murders, world-leading HIV infection rates and paedophile pastors notwithstanding.

The fearmongers are, therefore, urging our PM to proceed with all deliberate delay, and I suspect that their views will triumph. We saw this after a similarly promising proclamation from Portia during the 2011 election debate.

Of course, none of the hysterical outcomes that these welltravelled fearmongers have identified have materialised in any other country. The fact that gay sex has been legal in the Bahamas since 1991 has not made all their kids gay. And despite marriage equality being legal in Canada for more than 12 years, heterosexuals are somehow able to locate and copulate with each other.

Even so, two specific dreads of our anti-gay brigade are constitutionally impossible in Jamaica: No pastor could be jailed for condemning gays because of our robust rights to free speech and religion. Also, same-sex marriage is constitutionally banned.

So, Andrew, you can safely fly the gate. Gays will not suddenly take over. What they will finally have is the constitutional right to privacy enjoyed by every other Jamaican.