The Editor, Sir:

Most Jamaicans seem to support the Prime Minister's 'no gays in my Cabinet' comments. I am not one of those persons. In fact, if someone had told me that he made that comment, I would have accused that person of mischief.

Gay persons are in an unfortunate position in this country. No one will go to bat for them. It's not the macho thing to do and the weak-minded among us fear that we may be stigmatised.

If we are to take the PM's comments to their logical conclusion, no one regardless of his skill and talent, can hope to serve at Cabinet level if that person is gay.

Stalwarts

Alexander, the Macedonian ruler and first king to earn the title 'the Great', conquered and ruled most of the civilised world while he was still in his '20s. He is still recognised as one of the greatest military geniuses of all time. But our PM would not allow the country to benefit from his talents because he had a passion for one of his privates.

Hadrian, who I think was the most progressive of the Roman emperors, started welfare payments for the poor, instituted tax reform, codified laws and enacted legislation against mistreatment of slaves. He was attracted to members of his own sex so, this visionary would be bypassed by the PM.

Socrates, the Athenian philosopher who taught himself geometry, astronomy and philosophy and eventually earned a reputation as the wisest man in Greece, along with his most famous student Plato, who started his own school - The Academy - the first University in Europe, would be roundly rejected by Mr Golding, if they wanted to share their vast influence by becoming Minister of Education, because their sexual interests were different from the majority of us.

John Maynard Keynes, revolutionised the way economists think about economics. He was so influential, an entire school of modern thought bears his name. Yet, Mr Golding, who worships at the altar of Keynsian dogma, would prefer to send for Omar to be Minister of Finance than allow the country to benefit from the genius of this man because he was said to be keen on men.

What effect would this exclusion of gays have on the rest of society? Realizing, quite rightly that they were being discriminated against, the likes of Emily Dickinson, Gertude Stein, Virgin Wolf, Leonardo da Vinci, John Milton, Lord Bryon, Tchaikovsky, Oscar Wilde, and Tennessee Williams would be just a few of the immortals who would be exploring the possibilities of dual citizenship so that, like others who go this route, they could retreat to a place where one would assault their pockets or their preferences.

Difficult position

Mr Golding is in a difficult position because he painted himself into a corner during the interview. A simple statement that he does not discriminate against such persons in any way would be sufficient. His stridency about no gays in his cabinet was reminiscent of some of our semi-literate DJs who, insecure and unsure of who they really are, make statements to create a certain image.

I know of no one with the intellectual breadth and depth of our Prime Minister who discriminates against persons because of their sexual preference. After all, they are not going for a midnight swim. Given the strong homophobic attitude in our country today, however, an openly gay minister could attract unwelcome comments and that could be a distraction for the entire government.

Maybe it's nature, maybe it's nurture. Whatever is the cause of this behaviour, I do not think that, given a choice, anyone would choose the daily discrimination and danger that this lifestyle attracts.

We need to get to the bottom of this matter to understand the causes and the reasons for our attitude to our brothers and sisters who engage in these activities.

I am, etc,

GLENN TUCKER

Stony Hill

Kingston 9