Dear Editor,
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is desperately grabbing at straws now in an effort to make news headlines and trying to gain points with an electorate that is fed up on so many levels.
JLP Leader Andrew Holness announced recently that, if elected, he would put the buggery law to the people to decide through a referendum. The JLP seems to choose campaign issues loosely based on what they read and hear in the media. An effective leader, however, is decisive and wouldn't need to rely on costly referendums to make decisions, especially on human rights issues.
If issues such as these were to be based on referendum voting, the world would still be waiting and debating whether women and blacks should have the right to vote, or whether or not there should be racial equality, and the like. Today, there are only a few countries in which women still can't vote due to cultural norms and extreme religion.
A good leader grabs the bull by the horn and leads based on instinct and example and what he feels is right. A good leader consults with advisors and interest groups and tries to educate the masses with thought and information, even as he tries to find the right balance in these decisions. A leader ought to be influential; not all decisions will be popular.
This is why First World countries are far ahead in academia, science, technology, and development, and are usually also advanced with these topics on human rights. How can you ask the public to vote on which sex acts between consenting adults should be legal or illegal?
If they are going to vote on buggery between homosexuals, there should be separate question on buggery between heterosexuals; wouldn't that be interesting?
It is now 2015, and the JLP is still trying to make gay rights a campaign issue, and try to sway momentum with their subtle anti-gay agenda. Even if the People's National Party (PNP) Government didn't act on promises to review the buggery law, at least they were courageous enough to state their position. Anyone can serve in the Cabinet, and no one would be discriminated against. The only thing we have heard from the JLP is that they would rely on a referendum. What a farce, the JLP tried the same thing during the last election to differentiate themselves and paint the PNP as pro-gay, and they still lost to a PNP landslide victory. The JLP hasn't changed at all.
Pete Delisser
pdelisser1988@yahoo.com
JLP playing with
the buggery issue
-->
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is desperately grabbing at straws now in an effort to make news headlines and trying to gain points with an electorate that is fed up on so many levels.
JLP Leader Andrew Holness announced recently that, if elected, he would put the buggery law to the people to decide through a referendum. The JLP seems to choose campaign issues loosely based on what they read and hear in the media. An effective leader, however, is decisive and wouldn't need to rely on costly referendums to make decisions, especially on human rights issues.
If issues such as these were to be based on referendum voting, the world would still be waiting and debating whether women and blacks should have the right to vote, or whether or not there should be racial equality, and the like. Today, there are only a few countries in which women still can't vote due to cultural norms and extreme religion.
A good leader grabs the bull by the horn and leads based on instinct and example and what he feels is right. A good leader consults with advisors and interest groups and tries to educate the masses with thought and information, even as he tries to find the right balance in these decisions. A leader ought to be influential; not all decisions will be popular.
This is why First World countries are far ahead in academia, science, technology, and development, and are usually also advanced with these topics on human rights. How can you ask the public to vote on which sex acts between consenting adults should be legal or illegal?
If they are going to vote on buggery between homosexuals, there should be separate question on buggery between heterosexuals; wouldn't that be interesting?
It is now 2015, and the JLP is still trying to make gay rights a campaign issue, and try to sway momentum with their subtle anti-gay agenda. Even if the People's National Party (PNP) Government didn't act on promises to review the buggery law, at least they were courageous enough to state their position. Anyone can serve in the Cabinet, and no one would be discriminated against. The only thing we have heard from the JLP is that they would rely on a referendum. What a farce, the JLP tried the same thing during the last election to differentiate themselves and paint the PNP as pro-gay, and they still lost to a PNP landslide victory. The JLP hasn't changed at all.
Pete Delisser
pdelisser1988@yahoo.com
JLP playing with
the buggery issue
-->