The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

GREG Moss and his UPM should be public ally called out for their cynical ploy of raising and inflaming anti-gay sentiments as a transparent attempt to score meagre political points on an unpopular administration. 

Sadly, just because this ploy is transparent that does not mean that it will be ineffective.

Locally and globally political figures have found that making the LGBT community a target has reaped political dividends. 

Right-wing Christian activists have found that targeting gays with rhetoric and suggested policies that seek to criminalise gay relationships and deny basic rights to gays and lesbians in a range of critical areas, including employment, housing, and families, has increased their access to influence in countries like Uganda, Nigeria, Moldova, Poland and Russia. Locally, public statements and campaigns targeting LGBT persons have raised the public profiles of religious figures like Pastors Lyall Bethel, Mario Moxey and Alfred Stewart and radio personality Kevin Harris. Sadly such efforts are often effective; the failure of all four questions of the recent referendum on gender equality is the most recent and, arguably, most successful example of this shameful tactic. Opponents of equal rights for women were able to successfully defeat the constitutional referendum by directly vilifying, dehumanising and stigmatising gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Bahamians.

In light of this track record, I am not surprised that a few political figures have embraced this reprehensible approach to scoring political points.  I do not expect that this will change. I am, however, committed to pointing out when men and women should know better than to employ this shameful tactic of targeting an already marginalised minority in our nation for short term political gains.

PROF FROM THE FARM

Nassau,

January 5, 2017.