UK-based TT gay rights activist Jason Jones said the recent remarks made by Energy Minister Stuart Young in Parliament encourage homophobia and discrimination.
Last Thursday during the budget debate, Young made remarks toward the Opposition Leader and Opposition MPs which stirred controversy in the public sphere. The UNC has referred Young to the parliamentary privileges committee.
In a statement to Newsday on Wednesday, Jones said “recent disgraceful homophobic and bullying language spoken in our hallowed Parliament by Minister Stuart Young highlights just how important it is for our society to be educated on and to embrace diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) if we are to create a truly tolerant environment for all citizens.”
Jones made history on April 13, 2018 when he won a landmark court ruling which overturned this country’s sodomy law, deeming it unconstitutional. The decision set a precedent for other Commonwealth countries and was cited in a same-sex case in India. The state appealed the ruling and the matter is still before the courts.
Jones said government was currently spending millions of taxpayer dollars fighting to retain British colonial-era laws that encouraged homophobia such as exhibited by Young.
“Our independent Parliament then extended the power of these heinous laws twice and created a new law in 1986 to further criminalise adult consensual same-sex intimacy. They then in 2000 created an Equal Opportunity Act that excluded protections for people being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. So our TT Parliament has long been a safe space for homophobia and discrimination.
“The lawyers for the Attorney General say these laws are not used punitively against the LGBTQ+ community but what they actively do is to cement and encourage homophobia such as Young's, so shamefully exhibited in our Parliament.”
The activist said homophobia costs TT’s economy billions of dollars yearly in lost revenue. He said an investigative report three years ago by the Open for Business coalition found that state- and societal-sanctioned homophobia costs the Caribbean US$2.4 billion annually.
Jones said whatever someone’s personal opinion, LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual) people deserved human rights to equality, dignity and freedom of expression as enshrined in the Constitution.
“It’s time our country grows up and grows out of this nonsense. Homophobia makes as much sense as hating someone who is left-handed or has green eyes.
“LGBTQ+ people have always been here and we aren’t going anywhere.”
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