SAME-SEX UNIONS may not be acceptable today, tomorrow or even the next five years in Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours but they will eventually come to the region.

And the driving force behind any change in attitude may be a mix of economic factors – the need for tourists and investors – and a desire by West Indian immigrants for racial equality in North America and Europe.

That prediction came from Lindsay Blackett, Alberta’s Minister of Culture and Community Spirit and the son of Barbadian parents.

He insisted that discrimination against gay couples was unacceptable and legally wrong in Canada, a position taken by the Canadian Supreme Court and embraced in Alberta’s human rights code.

“I think that over time you are going to have to,” the minister said of the need for attitudinal change towards gays in the Caribbean.

Religion’s role

“I understand the history and the conservative nature of the Caribbean and I think that religion plays a big role in Caribbean countries. I certainly respect that. But what is your (Barbados’ and the Caribbean’s) end goal? Is it to bring in more tourists or is it to bring in investment or try to bring in people?

“If you want to pick the people you have and if you are prepared to say I want only these kinds of people, then continue along the current course. But you just don’t know who the people are that you are going to be doing business with or who you want to attract.”

In essence, they may be gay and you don’t know it.

That was one reason why change may come. Just as important, according to Alberta’s first Black cabinet minister, the quest for equality by Caribbean immigrants abroad may also influence change.

“If we want to get true equality in the world we have to start treating everybody equally,” Blackett told the Saturday Sun.

“If we start being defensive and you start singling out people you would never get there. If you are the Caribbean with a predominantly black population and you expect other countries in North America and Europe are going to treat everybody equally, especially the black community, you can’t be pointing fingers and discriminating against another group and then expect the larger group to come and accept you.

“It’s just not possible. Somebody has to take that step to show that it is not acceptable and we are all one big family.”

Blackett, who was raised by his parents first as a Baptist and later in his teenage years as an Anglican, contends that the reality of life in a changing world may lead to a different approach in Barbados and elsewhere in the region.

Take his case, Blackett said.

“I was taught through the church that a relationship is between a man and a wife. But as I got older in life I realised there are many people who have different sexual orientations.

“I have friends and acquaintances, co-workers who have a different sexual orientation. I remember reading in the Scriptures ‘we are all God’s children’, and when I look at that I say we have to evolve.

“If we hold fast to that as black people we would never have been given equal treatment either. So, far be it for me to discriminate against somebody else. I tried to broaden my horizon.”

Blackett’s cousins are Barbados’ Minister of Culture Steve Blackett and Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor Vincent Blackett.

He represents a mostly white riding or constituency, Calgary-North West in the Alberta legislature.

The Bajan Canadian is a member of the ruling Progressive Conservative Party which runs one of Canada’s richest provinces.

Source: Nation News