THE EDITOR, Sir:
I HAVE lived abroad for 29 years, most of my adult life. I feel distanced from Jamaica both in place and time, and no topic highlights this better than homosexuality. By and large, it concerns me as much as Bill Clinton's cheating on his wife did. It is a juicy gossip that I don't regret having heard.
After speaking to my friend in Jamaica, I discovered that homosexuality, to most, has come to personify immorality and ungodliness. I can't remember them having this religious fervour or moral indignation when we were young women together. Whatever has changed must be in the local environment since my morality is still live-and-let-live, and my religion continues to surface in times of need and recedes when the crisis has passed.
Homosexuality seems to engender more cohesion among all strata of society than the flag. I can't even remember any protracted discussions sur-rounding homosexuality in my youth. And, yes, they existed or so we suspected, but they evoked no desire among my peers to attack and destroy, not even to humiliate. Jamaica was then a kinder and gentler society.
Throughout history societies have cohered around fringe issues, often to the detriment of a minority group; something we as blacks should be mindful of. History is strewed with cruel spectacles perpetrated under the guise of morality/religion, whether it was the burning of witches in Salem, Massachusetts (1692) or the proposed stoning of an adulteress in Nigeria (2001).
The Christians of Salem acted in the name of God, but today how many perceive them as anything but barbarians on the loose? History will also judge us.
I am, etc.,
DOREEN McGANN
doreenmcgann@netscape.net
Järfälla, Sweden
Via Go-Jamaica
