The Joint Select Cmt 2006 on The Charter of Rights - Consenting Adults (Male)

Under section 13 (3) (i)

The Right To Privacy was examined
The provisions included in the bill guarantees

the right to protection from search of the person, respect for private and family life, privacy of the home and other property and communication

other reformulated provisions were suggested:

the right to everyone to protection from search of his person and property and to respect family life, privacy of the home and other property and of communication.

after much debate according to the document, a group known as the Lawyer's Christian Fellowship had an issue with the wording of the parts that contained "respect family life, privacy of the home and other property" as they drew upon the Toonen vs Australia case of 1994 pointing out that that case in which it was held that ..... "adult consensual sexual activity in private ...." was included in the concept of privacy and that that included consensual homosexual activity in private, the issue adjudicated on in that case.

In a letter dated Feb 1, 2006 the LCF also stated that in the US case of Roe vs Wade (401 U.S. 113 (1973)) the whole concept of privacy was used to justify the practice of abortion and contended that if the Government of Jamaica wanted to allow the decriminalization of homosexuality, abortion or of any other criminal act "should be expressly done by legislation and not by judicial interpretation."

JFLAG's request for the grounds for protection from discrimination be widened to include the grounds of sexual orientation, the previous Joint Select Committee had decided however they would not go along with suggestion as its possible impact on marriage and parenting.
JFLAG considers the legislation which criminalises buggery between persons as the essence of discrimination against homosexuals particularly in relation to its enforcement against male homosexuals and if a recommendation for the repeal of that in relation to consenting adults in private was as far as the Committee would go, then JFLAG would be grateful for that concession.

The previous Committee had agreed to bring to the then Administration the matter of considering the offense of buggery as practised in private between consenting adults.

The issue of homosexuality and abortion in relation to the guarantee of privacy in the proposed section 13(3)(j) of the constitution had been raised by the Lawyer's Christian Fellowship, The National Church Alliance and Concerned Citizens - they recommended that the words "respect for private and family life, privacy of the home" should be deleted from the proposal section and that the following words should be used as presented in an oral submission

1. The right of protection from search of the person
2. The right to protection from search of property
3. The right to protection from entry by others on his premises
4. The right to privacy of communication

The written submissions however from the same groups was worded differently:

The right to protection from search of the person, respect for private and family life, to include the rights of marriage as is defined herein (voluntary union between a man and a woman), privacy of the home and other property and communication.

The constitution should send a clear message that marriage is of a heterosexual nature and same sex marriage will not be permitted.

More to come