Former sex worker Natalie Harewood has all right to run for elected politics, chairman of the Barbados Christian Council (BXC), Canon Noel Burke, has said.
“Natalie is a Barbadian and she has every right like any other Barbadian to offer herself for politics. It’s one of the duties of citizenship to participate fully in democracy and so she is like any one of us and has every right to participate in elected politics,” he said.
The chairman of the BXC said regardless of her background she deserved a chance to pursue elected politics.
“It’s my understanding that she has one particular lifestyle that she says she has since given up.
“She has set up her platform to present herself and her arguments where in which she believes she can lend assistance to the Barbadians society, and the constituents of The City I’m sure will listen to her and hear her arguments in the elected process, and they will maketheir decisions.
“But she deserves a chance,” he said.
Burke said Harewood deserved the right to run for office without fear of judgement and discrimination.
“I attended a conference recently in Suriname and in that conference it was stressed that sex workers ought not to be discriminated against, they ought not to be stigmatised, the person has rights and privileges of any other citizen.
“So Natalie has every right to do so without fear of anyone judging her and without fear of being stigmatised in anyway.
“Persons should listen to her and assess whether or not they believe she can make a contribution to national life in that particular way,” he stressed.
Harewood, 36, announced last week that she was entering the political race and will be vying for a parliamentary seat in The City.
She will be running against the Barbados Labour Party candidate, retired Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic; United Progressive Party leader, former senator Lynette Eastmond; Solutions Barbados candidate Fallon Best; and Democratic Labour Party candidate credit unionist and human resources specialist Henderson Williams. (DB)