The Editor, Sir:

Recent newspaper reports quoted the Prime Minister as saying the Government was committed to protecting the rights of all Jamaicans. In essence, the articles were about protecting women and children from abuse and violence. But, Portia, men are also on the receiving end of abuse and violence. They die every day in the streets and in their homes by the gun, the knife, the machete, and the ice pick. Who is going to protect our men - our brothers, our sons, our fathers, our husbands, our lovers?

In one of the newspapers, the Prime Minister is reported to have argued that Jamaican women were being mistreated emotionally and physically, and that something should have been done to protect them from this type of treatment. And, I thought of another group of Jamaicans who are mistreated daily. I am talking about gays. Well, Madame Prime Minister, will you protect us too?

Significant contribution

Many of us have contributed significantly in every sphere of national development, and there are many of us in the country more than what people would want to believe. Some are out; some are not, hiding under the thin veil of marriage; others are living in glass closets; some are in Parliament denying us our rights. What a double standard.

Everybody must be protected under the law. But, before violence can be eliminated, the social ills would first have to be addressed. Poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, slums, and bigotry must be eradicated, because they are inextricably linked to violence.

And, to end with a well-known idiom, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Freedom for all.

I am, etc.,

HERMES APHRODITE

hermes_aphrodite@hotmail.com

Kingston