Submission from Jonathan Suter, Bermuda
I would like to take this opportunity to write
to you about the lack of action on behalf of the Bermuda Government
to ensure that sexual orientation is included in the Human Rights
Act.
While the current government is commendably
taking action to encourage discussion on the topic of race, it
has made no such intentions of doing the same in regards to sexuality.
For a Government who is so dedicated to empowering individuals
who have been down-trodden in the past, it provides little hope
for affording a sense of belonging to individuals of the queer
community (homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, transsexual,
and inter-sex). It is deplorable that on Bermuda's beautiful shores,
many individuals must hide and deny who they really are, in order
to be fully accepted. One only needs to refer to the controversy
that was created around and influenced the Rosie O'Donnell cruise
decision not to visit Bermuda. Yes, individuals have the right
to freely express themselves, but if they do so in a way that
is offensive, hateful and unproductive, it is completely uncalled
for.
At the end of the day, the queer community are
just normal people, like you and I, and everyone else. They just
happen to be attracted to members of the same sex, both sexes,
or neither sex. How that has any negative impact on society is
a mystery to me. Certain individuals from the church and other
organisations will claim that it is immoral and wrong. My question
to them is how can loving someone be either of these? After all,
love is the premise from which they preach.
Ensuring that individuals, regardless of their
different personal characteristic, are able to fully participate
in society without the fear of retribution or discrimination,
is one of the fundamental human rights, under the UN Declaration
of Human Rights. Whilst "sexual orientation" is not
included in Article 2 explicitly, there have been several attempts
to include it, with the understanding that the term `other status'
provides for the inclusion of sexual orientation, whereby individuals
regardless of their sexual orientation are entitled to the rights
and freedoms put forth in the Declaration.
If the Bermuda Government were to take the lead
by adding sexual orientation to the Human Rights Act, it would
ensure that queer individuals could not be discriminated against
because of being queer. It is about affording the queer community
the same rights and protection from discrimination as everyone
else, and promoting equality and acceptance of people for who
they are.
The failure to include sexual orientation in
the Human Rights Act is a failure of the Bermuda Government to
ensure that all Bermudians and residents on the island are afforded
the same fundamental human rights that should be afforded to all
individuals regardless of their individual characteristics.
It's time to do something about it!
29 January 2008
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