[NOTE: We’re experiencing many technical difficulties with this site, which have resulted in articles being posted later than usual and my not being able to properly format images. And my webmaster tells me things will probably get worse…. I apologize for this and beg for your understanding and patience. ALH]
On Tuesday, in an interview with the BBC program HARDtalk, Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding decreed that there is no room for gays in his Cabinet. And as I listened to him, I could not help thinking of other politicians, like U.S. Senator Larry Craig, who take such egregious public positions against gay rights as a means of keeping their own homosexuality locked in the closet.
More to the point, however, Golding proudly defended his provincial pledge that “homosexuals will find no solace in any Cabinet formed by me.” But I was stupefied by his apparent obliviousness to the discouraging signals his decree sends to potential investors in, and visitors to, his country. Not to mention the encouraging signals it sends to the homophobic thugs who already prey on suspected homosexuals all over this island nation.
Indeed, Golding seemed utterly unfazed by the fact that his declarations were only reinforcing the finding by Human Rights Watch that Jamaica ranks as the most homophobic country in the world.
Specifically, he insisted that “Jamaica is not going to allow values to be imposed on it from outside” and rationalized his homophobia as follows:
A Prime Minister must decide what he feels would represent to the Jamaican people, a Cabinet of ministers who would be able to discharge their functions without fear, without favour and without intimidation. That’s a choice that I had and I made that choice.
But this compels me to wonder if he feels ALL Jamaicans would be well served by a Cabinet of ministers who govern with fear (of homosexuals), with favour (towards heterosexuals) and with intimidation (from Jamaican clerics who demand strict adherence to their anti-gay religious dogma)….
Moreover, I wonder what values Golding fears outside forces are conspiring to impose on Jamaica:
Could it be the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the universally applicable and inalienable set of human rights that every person is entitled to, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression?
Or could it be the values codified in the Bible – the word of God, which proclaims that we are all His children, warns us not to judge lest we be judged and dares any of us who is without sin to cast the first stone?
Regrettably, I have no doubt that, like the (mostly black) Anglican bishops who decreed that there’s no room for gays in their ranks, Golding is using the same perverse religious and cultural rationalizations to discriminate against gays that whites used to discriminate against blacks not so long ago.
Whatever the case, I urge all conscientious Jamaicans to prevail upon him to renounce this bigoted decree. Especially since his proclamation that the Jamaican government practices apartheid-like discrimination against gays is bound to incite such outrage amongst Americans and Europeans – upon whom Jamaicans depend to sustain their tourist economy – that they will shun Jamaica like a Taliban island paradise….
Apropos apartheid, Golding would do well to be guided in his political and moral thoughts about gays in his Cabinet (and in society) by South Africa’s Nobel Peace Laureate – Archbishop Desmond Tutu. After all, here, in part, is how Tutu paid tribute to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission on April 8, 2008:
Despite being frequently hounded, the butts of offensive jokes, discriminated against, vilified, molested and even killed as targets of homophobia, most of you still manage to remain extraordinary human beings, compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing, refusing to be embittered. Thank you for your part in trying to help make our world a better place.
Finally, as the son of a preacher man, I am well versed in all of the Biblical scriptures (most notably Leviticus 20:13) that self-professed Christians cite to justify their moral, social and professional aversion to homosexuals. But until they can also cite scriptures in which God condones moral, social and professional fraternization with liars, thieves and adulterers (as opposed to homosexuals), I shall regard their homophobia as borne of nothing more than base prejudice and rank hypocrisy.
NOTE: Even though Golding announced his decision to ban gays from his Cabinet just days after California legalized same-sex marriage, the political irony (or lesson) of this juxtaposition seems completely lost on him.
More importantly, Golding certainly has a right to his personal attitudes towards gays. But he is wrong to impose his homophobic views on the Jamaican people by using an anti-gay litmus test to determine who is qualified to serve as their government ministers.
Related Articles:
Anti-gay crusader, Sen. Larry Craig, arrested for soliciting gay sex
Bruce Golding elected prime minister
Fight over role of gay bishops in Anglican Church
California legalizes same-sex marriages
* This article is also published today at Caribbean Net News – the most widely read newspaper in the Caribbean
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PM Bruce Golding, Jamaica gay rights
C.Jadusingh,Esq. says
When in the course of human events it become necessary for one people to dissolve the political, religious, nationalistic and unjust legal bands which have connected to intolerance, bigotry, hatred and ignorance and to assume among the powers of the earth a more just and equal station to which the laws of history, and the history of the evolution of global human rights and dignity demands of them.
Well done Mr. Hall and thank you.