Mac Fingall’s column which appears in today’s press – Abnormal behaviour – makes for interesting reading. He gets points from BU for daring to state an unequivocal position about a subject which Barbadians remain largely hypocritical. His position on homosexuality and same sex marriage is one which accords with the Caswells and Bush Teas of this world Fingall uses the biological cum physiologically flavoured with the philosophical and religious argument to good effect given his audience
However, there is the other argument to the homosexuality debate BU raised recently and which Fingall never addressed. No we are not referring to whether the right to be gay is a human rights issue. Doesn’t matter the arguments Barbadians bring to the table, as articulate as they may seem, a heavy dose of pragmatism must be accommodated as well.
There is a financial and economic impact which Barbados will have to wrestle with sooner rather than later. The issue is not whether Barbadians are ready to remove what some believe is an obsolete law from the statute book as it refers to homosexuals. Or whether legislation needs to be affected to safeguard the rights of same sex unions (marriages).
According to Barbados Sexual Offenses Act of 1992, “Any person who commits buggery is guilty of an offense and is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for life.” The lesser, related charge “serious indecency” can result in up to 10 years in prison.” The law stands on its own for all those on either side of the argument to form a conclusion to its severity and relevance. The argument that no one has been charged is moot, irrelevant and redundant. The debate is now about the potential threat given the political consideration hitched to gay advocacy.
For Barbados the debate will soon morph to how a little country which depends on the developed countries for economic sustenance can/should maintain its current position by defending the status quo. The emphasis on developed countries is to stress the point that in Canada, United Kingdom and the United States the rights of homosexuals are well on the way to being protected in law. The fact that Barbados and almost all of the English speaking Caribbean are service economies and depend on the UK, US and Canada as source markets shows how important is the economic argument which Fingall omitted in his postulation. Fingall and all like minded are free to hold their positions BUT are they prepared to deal with the repercussions?
The following 76 Countries Where Anti-Gay Laws Are As Bad As Or Worse Than Russia’s shows that Barbados is on the radar and will be targeted by an influential group. This group will hitch its advocacy on Barbados’ Sexual Offenses Act. Of interest is a comment posted in the link provided which states, “Rihanna, your gay fans in Barbados need some support”. It is only a matter of time before someone asks Rihanna, the Ambassador, to state her position on the issue at hand and it will not matter her response because Barbados will be dragged kicking and screaming onto the global stage.
To Mac Fingall BU asks: Can we afford this sort of publicity? The latest incident anti-gay incident last week does not help the our cause..
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