Local gay lobby group, the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), has taken issue with yet another public statement by Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

In a letter responding to a Gleaner editorial about comments he made on the BBC 'HARDtalk' programme last week, Golding said the campaign for gay rights was aimed at having same-sex unions recognised.

Golding wrote: "The campaign for gay rights does not end with the entitlement to Cabinet membership. Its sights are set on same-sex unions, same-sex marriages. Where is the line to be drawn? Is there a line to be drawn?"

Pressured by outsiders

The Gleaner had criticised Golding's tone during the interview after he told the BBC that he would not allow an open homosexual to form part of his Cabinet and that he would not be pressured by outsiders to recognise gay rights.

However, in an open letter to Golding yesterday, J-FLAG said same-sex marriage was not on its agenda.

"We perceive the dragging of this issue into the discussion as a smokescreen that distracts from the real challenges of how as a society we grapple with the violence and hostility that have come to define our engagements around controversial but important sociocultural issues," J-FLAG Programmes Manager Jason McFarlane wrote.

He also questioned whether the prime minister's pronouncements that he would not be pressured by international lobbyists was indicative of whether Golding was willing to listen to local human rights and gay lobbyists instead.

"We know that this has not been the case and note that the shutting down of such a dialogue by retreating into a discourse on the cultural right to prejudicial behaviour makes it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve substantive progress on difficult questions in the society," McFarlane further said.