Dear Editor,

Mr. Rohan Sooklall in his letter [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] captioned "I can see no good reason for denying homesexuals equal rights" (19.7.2001) could not see any reason why Gays should not be afforded special treatment. Consider this if you will sir.

From time immemorial since man walked on this earth there has always been conflict for one reason or another and consequentially discrimination. People discriminate against each other because they look different, speak differently, live in a different location, have different ideologies, hold different point of views etc. This is a fact of life.

As a society we also discriminate. We discriminate against the thief by locking him up and denying him access to the general populace because society does not look kindly upon the act of thievery and we seek to punish him for breaking our rules. We discriminate against murderers by taking away their lives in retaliation for the lives that they took because society as a whole does not condone the act of extra judicial killings. So we punish them for violating the sanctity of life.

We create laws to preserve our way of life and to ensure that the things that most of us feel strongly about are protected. Most of us do not believe that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle and resent the strident efforts of its proponents to force our acceptance of it. Intrinsically we know that John and Tom were not meant for each other, that is not the way that nature intended it. Nor do we have any intention of condoning it. Many atheists and agnostics also feel an intrinsic distaste at the thought of two men in an amorous relationship. Indeed no one in any religious body in Guyana that I know openly embraces the gay lifestyle. Further, the law books of our dear land of Guyana still list Sodomy, which is an integral part of the gay lifestyle, as a crime.

If, as it seems, our society perceives homosexuality as undesirable then those who practice such a lifestyle deserve no special privileges or equalization of rights with the other members of society. In effect they practice the desires of their heart to their own detriment in a similar manner to other social transgressors.

I am not proposing a witch hunt or rather a gay hunt. I am not saying that they should be branded and burnt at the stake and their ashes scattered to parts unknown. I am saying that if we as a society believe this lifestyle to be abnormal and deviant, then we should resist all efforts to legitimize it by granting it special protection and elevating it to a position of normalcy.