The noise that never ends

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Recently, the mayor of Montego Bay made a public decision to deny members of the LGBT community access to the public facilities of the Montego Bay Cultural Centre to host a forum on same-sex marriage and the readiness of the country.

The Supreme Court later overturned the ruling of His Worship and granted the LGBT community an interim order to rent the facilities.

The Church was infuriated by this ruling and to prove their point, pooled tithes and offering and commuted from Kingston to the Second City to make a demonstrative spectacle to let the world know of their disapproval.

Now this tit-for-tat promises to continue among Jamaican LGBT, the Government, Church and the general populace with no predicted resolution. This is because everybody is talking, but nobody will shut up long enough to listen.

Councillor Charles Sinclair was quoted in a September 13 article in The Gleaner saying; “I am not opposed if Montego Bay Pride wishes to have an event to promote same-sex marriage, but I believe it should not be held at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre”.

However, the event was to be a forum to ‘discuss’ whether or not Jamaica is ready for same-sex marriage. How does one deduce that these discussions are promotional efforts by the group? Who exactly will they be promoting to?

I am getting really tired of this cliché, archaic racketeering. We need, instead, to facilitate civilized discussions among the State, Church and civilians, where each party can speak, share their aspirations and objectives, but most importantly, where they can listen to each other and be open to understanding each other’s perspective.

ANDRE MICHAELS