Why marginalise those against LGBT lifestyle
ITHE EDITOR, Sir: WRITE in response to the column ‘US supports rights of LGBT J’cans’ by US Ambassador Luis Moreno published on Saturday, May 23, 2015. He expresses his country’s (United States) goal of “[globally] promoting the respect for universal human rights for all people”.
I feel compelled to ask the ambassador, why doesn’t the US lead by example by starting at home? Why do those Americans who respectfully disagree with LGBT lifestyle face marginalization and loss of freedom to enjoy their human rights in their own land?
We in Jamaica have learnt of the experiences of former Atlanta fire chief Kevin Cochran, who was fired after 30 years of service for publishing a book with one line stating that homosexuality was a sin; Melissa and Aaron Klein, bakers in Oregon who were forced to close their bakery and pay up to US$150,000 for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple; Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich in California, who was forced to resign from the company he co-founded because he believed that marriage is, as God ordained, to be between one man and one woman.
I would welcome from the ambassador an explanation for the obvious double standard. Aren’t these Americans counted in the ‘all people’? After all, their president said, “No one, especially in a democracy, should be denied the promise of full and equal citizenship.”
I hope that you will publish this letter and that he will reply. ALDYTH BETON melbeton@gmail.com