Garth Rattray

Stephen Sackur of the British Broadcasting Corporation television interview programme HARDtalk, grilled Prime Minister Bruce Golding with probing, heavily loaded and biased questions on crime, corruption and homophobia in Jamaica. The PM did exceedingly well in most areas but failed to refute Sackur's use of raw statistics to suggest that our police murdered over 1,400 citizens between 2000 and 2007. However, his muffing of the question on homophobia in Jamaica will have lasting repercussions.

Confrontational questions

Sackur's modus operandi is to project an air of knowledge and superiority while firing confrontational questions. His relentless, aggressive questioning vaporises the interviewee's defences. Since Golding is prime minister of a country that has been internationally labelled as homophobic, his 'handlers' should have foreseen questions on the subject of homosexuality and coached him on appropriate responses.

I believe that there is another reason why the chief servant 'lost it' somewhat during the interview. Jamaica is so small, so networked and so filled with politicised people in influential positions that our leaders are never really pushed hard or seriously challenged on sensitive issues. Journalists are wary of them and the many diehard, powerful and sometimes violent people who support them.

Consequently, our mainstream media interview politicians by posing carefully worded questions designed to probe, but not too deeply; to tease out, but not upset or offend. That works fine in our politically charged and polarised country, but it leaves us with poor self-regulation, lacking in accountable leaders and vulnerable to international criticism.

'Programmed' people

Regarding homosexuality in Jamaica: I have quite a few male and female patients who are homosexual and they have explained to me that there are people who are "programmed" that way. They also tell me that some individuals are ambivalent and end up on the other side - sometimes. I was also told about a minority of people who are not true homosexuals but choose to practise it out of lasciviousness. This is the group in which many people (misguidedly) place all homosexuals and lash out at them for being 'out of order' and perverted.

In spite of our society's numerous ills, we have a strong religious base. Con-sequently, many Jamaicans cannot accept homosexuality. However, Jamaicans are sometimes tolerant of homosexuals as long as that lifestyle isn't overt, thrown in their faces or forced upon them. Many in so-ciety mistakenly believed that a certain political bigwig was homosexual, yet that never detracted from their strong support for him. Other very influential persons were known homosexuals, yet they remained highly respected. Just like the United States armed forces, Jamaica is at that "Don't ask, don't tell" stage.

Although buggery is defined as, "anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex", people wrongfully believe that it is purely a male homosexual act which they associate with warped morals, illegality, molestation, paedophilia, sinfulness and 'nastiness'. Therefore, no political party will be brave enough to repeal our buggery laws anytime soon.

When the chief servant was asked if he wanted to, in the future, live in a Jamaica where a gay man or a gay woman can be in the Cabinet, he scored big points locally when he strategically slapped his chest and repeatedly said, "Not mine!". However, tragically, he gave everyone the distinct impression that he (the representative leader of a country) is prejudiced, discriminatory and homophobic. What he should have said is that the Jamaican people will not accept an openly gay person in Parliament anytime in the near future and just leave it at that.