The Editor, Sir:

I watched news reports of a Senate hearing debating Senator Warren Newby's motion on family issues. Senator Basil Waite in his contribution was suggesting that we define and legislate the nation's "preferred family options" to prevent homosexual unions from being so defined.

What Senator Waite seems to be doing is taking the 'boom bye bye' culture of the dancehall and 'senatising' it.

Choice

Families are created due to the choice of individuals, and no amount of legislation can change that.

People cohabiting and dedicated to the (emotional, financial, etc) happiness of each other are a family, whether you choose to call them so or not. To suggest that the time of the legislature should be spent cherry-picking preferred families is ridiculous.

Ironically, the motion was to address the breakdown of the Jamaican family structure. If someone was mischievous, they could argue that the traditional family type can't be all that great if it is prone to such failure.

Matchmaking

But, seriously, government ought not to get into the matchmaking business. There are too many real issues to be tackled for us to be wasting time on fluff.

And Senator Waite, if you are against gay marriage, here is a simple solution: The next time you are proposed to by a gay man, just say no.

- Oliver Hunter, oliverhuntersurveys@yahoo.com, Ocho Rios, St Ann, Via Go-Jamaica