It is very interesting to see the current debate that the commissioner of police's statement on Seventh-day Adventists is creating.

It is interesting because we are suddenly hearing about diversity and tolerance and respect for individual differences. The national motto is being emphasised and the Constitution trumpeted. The irony is that the Seventh-day Adventists have been in the forefront, along with other religious groups, advocating continued intolerance and persecution of gay and lesbian Jamaicans.

The arguments about diversity, tolerance and respect for individual difference were never important then. Similarly, constitutional protection of freedom of expression and privacy certainly could never extend to homosexuals. Suddenly, now that the shoe is on the other foot, all these values are in vogue.

These are the problems we create when we do not respect the fundamental rights accorded to every citizen in a free and democratic society, and instead opt for selected rights to favoured groups. Rights must be upheld across the board, regardless of our individual feeling about particular groups. That is what prevents the majority from terrorising any minority.

Individual rights

Homosexuals have been at the receiving end of this sort of assault for a long time. At one stage it was Rastafarians, now its the Seventh-day Adventists, next it could be Muslims, rich people, white people, the potential list is vast. It is for that reason that we must uphold the individual rights and freedoms for all, because we never know when we will find ourselves on the receiving end. The same knife weh stick goat, stick sheep.

I am, etc.,

RICARDO SMALLING

smalling@eli.org

Washington, DC