THE EDITOR, Sir:
I READ with concern the report 'Government urged to protect gay rights' carried on the front page of The Gleaner, dated Wednesday, December 12, 2001. In this report it is said that the JFLAG's presentation to the committee on the Charter of Rights Bill supported their call for "decriminalisation of anal sex in private between consenting adults." This position is taken on the basis that "a person's sexual orientation was largely, if not entirely, out of his or her control and therefore should not form the basis of discrimination."
Wrong and right must be established outside of the individual. It cannot be based on their ability to control or not. It must be the responsibility of the community to establish what is right and what is wrong. In addition the community must not rely on its current experiences alone to determine wrong or right. It must look at its historical experiences, its forecast of the future, the experiences of other communities along with some standard reference point of principles to determine right and wrong.
I propose to the members of JFLAG and the entire Jamaican community to make that reference point the Word of God as it is expressed in the Bible.
It is in the Word of God that we get a holistic perspective of love for our fellowman.
I am, etc.,
STEVENSON SAMUELS
(Pastor )
Irne@cwjamaica.com
