THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE CALL has once more been issued for the decriminalisation of homosexuality and prostitution in a bid to stem the scourge of AIDS and its spread among the high-risk groups within our society. My concern is whether such proposals truly represent legitimate approaches for solving the dilemma faced by the medical fraternity.
Without contention, I accepted the view that man is free to chart his preferred path in life whether that path lies within the parameters of the socially deviant. However, when private morality - and one that is confined to a minority begins to adversely affect non-private resources, specifically those of the state and the taxpayers, then to what extent must social accommodation take place?
Is it fair to ask of the majority that accommodation should include the reconstitution of the legal framework that has codified the social relations which have defined the standards of decency in our society?
Do we continue to yield to the same liberal hedonistic philosophy that justifies unfettered licence at the expense of personal responsibility? God forbid that supposedly enlightened men in high places in society should skew the future of present and future generations and mortgage that trust of past generations so that we can 'sanitise' the sex trade in Jamaica.
A good doctor would know, however, that corruption must be excised from the body, not accommodated, if the body is to be saved. And moral corruption is no different.
I am, etc.,
RYAN PALMER
71 Penwood Road
Kingston 11
