Keep buggery law, majority say

Four out of every five Jamaicans want buggery to remain a criminal offence while 12 per cent believe it should be decriminalised, an RJRGLEANER Group-commissioned Don Anderson poll has found.

The remaining eight per cent of respondents were unsure of their position on the matter.

Though the buggery law does not explicitly target gay men, it effectively prohibits sexual relations among that minority.

Anderson, who is the CEO of Market Research Services Limited, explained that with a low 12 per cent support, very few variations were anticipated across the demographic groups.

“So it is only of little note that females (13 per cent), younger persons 18-24 (13 per cent), and older persons 55-64 years old supported this position,” he said.

However, among the income groups, highly paid persons varied significantly from the average of 12 per cent support, with 19 per cent expressing the view that buggery should no longer be a criminal offence.

Conversely, 80 per cent of Jamaicans said buggery should be remain on the books as a criminal offence.

“Both males and females supported this position equally, whilst amongst the age groups, persons 35-44 were strongest advocates of this position,” Anderson said.

Furthermore, he said Jamaicans in the upper-income strata were least in support, at 74 per cent, compared to the average of 80 per cent, but still heavily endorsed the retention of buggery as a criminal offence.

Moravian pastor the Rev Charmane Daley disagrees that sex between consenting adult men in their private domain should be criminalised, arguing that abuse or attacks can be adequately circumscribed under other laws.

“Where there is rape or child abuse, this becomes a criminal offence, and of such, they should face the full penalty as defined by the law,” Daley told The Gleaner on Monday.

“The term buggery can be removed from the books and treat all sexual offences as stipulated by other laws that are already there.”

Co-chair of the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights, Dr Carolyn Gomes, has described the poll results as an “unfortunate finding” that reflects the need for more public education on the removal of an 1860s British colonial law.

“We would hope that the Jamaican society would become more current and more progressive in line with the recent decision of Singapore and follow the lead of a number of countries, including Belize, in the Caribbean region,” the rights advocate said in a Gleaner interview on Monday.

Then Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller had declared, during a leadership debate in December 2011, that it was time for a review of the buggery law, saying she believed the issue should be put to a conscience vote in the Parliament.

Simpson Miller reneged on that promise.

The Supreme Court in Antigua ruled the country’s anti-buggery law unconstitutional in July after an openly gay man and the Women Against Rape group argued that it offended their constitutional rights.

Gomes said buggery laws will continue to be challenged until people arrive at an understanding that “what people do in the privacy of their homes is their business”.

LAW PROBLEMATIC

Attorney-at-law Clyde Williams told The Gleaner that buggery is addressed under the Offences Against the Person Act but he argued that sections of the legislation are “incongruous and problematic”.

He cited, in particular, Section 76, which references the abominable crime of buggery, committed with mankind or an animal.

“It is the Offences Against the Person Act, so already that is a problematic section because it sidesteps into an offence against an animal,” Williams said.

He said the colonial law invades the privacy of persons and does not have a genuine victim.

“How would you be able to detect such a crime?” he asked.

“This is a law that is strictly built on morality – that people should not engage in any anal penetration, even if it is in private and with consent,” the attorney said.

Fieldwork for Anderson’s poll, assessing 1,113 respondents, was conducted between July 16 and 26. The margin of error was plus or minus three per cent.