Pensive Moods: The campaign continues...

Today's thoughts committed to paper:

The Editor Sir,

The problem with giving uncritical minds new knowledge is that it inspires them to use these tools to validate already questionable deductive capacities and it usually results in the creation of logical fallacies.

Unfortunately such was the case with Elvena Williams whose letter was published Wednesday November 9, 2011 under the title “Meet Gays Halfway But...”.

She prefaces her proficiency as a social scientist by describing a study she conducted untold years prior under the topic “Profile of the Jamaican Homosexual” wherein she interviewed 50 male homosexuals aged 25-45 from white-collar backgrounds. Surely she could not have expected such a limited sample to allow her to extrapolate findings capable of constituting a “profile” of any social group much less one as diverse as male homosexuals and to go further to prove that homosexuality is a matter of choice. But by her own admission not only did she expect it, she also achieved it.

If so then she has achieved something that has eluded the fields of philosophy, psychology and gender studies since their inception. She has apparently outsmarted all the major gender theorists and psychologists such as Kinsey, Hooker and Klein and rubbished their seminal work!

She is hesitant to ascribe any notion of heredity to homosexuality and instead likens it to mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. This of course betrays the presumed authority of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which de-listed homosexuality from the category of mental disorders almost 40 years ago. She has reversed decades of science in one fell swoop! Amazing!

As a result of her findings and in recognition of human rights she prescribes a modified retention of the buggery law which decriminalizes male same-sex activity in a private sphere but outlaws the “flaunting of this lifestyle in public spaces” such as “drag parties”. This would effectively shut down the very lucrative and popular roots theatre industry but that’s alright because it’s done in the interest of public morality!

She means well, but her circular reasoning to get there has certainly taken my head for a spin.

Fact is, no one knows the origins of human sexuality. Whether sexuality is chosen, pre-determined, or an accident of evolution is immaterial when it comes to legislating the activities of consenting adults in their private abodes. That is the essence of the campaign to repeal the buggery law.