We have often made the point in these columns that the test of a liberal democracy rests as much with how it protects the rights of its minority as its acceptance of the rule of the majority. For no right is sacred if it does not guarantee the rights of those with whom we disagree or do not like.
That, essentially, was our argument last week when we took issue with the Public Defender Earl Witter when he advised gays to "hold your corners" lest they provoke violence against themselves in homophobic Jamaica. Of course, Mr. Witter was well intentioned, his idea being that given the objective circumstances of Jamaica, people should not put themselves in harm's way.
We believe that Mr. Witter's position is not only wrong but plays into the hands of those who would deprive people of their rights or their freedoms. Today, it may be persons perceived to be homosexuals; you never know who will be next.
We are more convinced of the position in the face of the latest public attack on a presumed gay man in Falmouth, Trelawny, on Friday. This man was beaten by a large crowd, having been accused of dressing like a woman. He was rescued by the police.
It was a repeat of the scenario at a Kingston mall a few months ago when three allegedly gay men were stoned by a mob even as they were being rescued from a pharmacy by the police.Then, like on Friday, the law failed to follow its due course.
The provocation to violence in each of these cases was individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression, guaranteed in section 22 of the Jamaican constitution, in the manner of their dress. It was, however, not only their right to free expression that was under threat, but that ultimate right: the right to life. No one was arrested or charged.
There may be societal snickering at the attacks on homosexuals, for which there is a moral equivalency with the vigilante justice meted out to presumed thieves who are hacked to death. But there is grave danger in such acts of impunity: Are these moral arbiters and modern day inquisitors ever wrong?
What if they are?
Civilised Jamaica, we expect, will just shrug it off. Until the next victim is beaten and hacked in the name of the civilised and the moral.
