Gays have rights too, says Griffith

Gay people in Barbados have a right to enjoy the intimate relationships of their own choosing.
And Barbadians have been called upon to protect those vulnerable sectors of the society forced to endure levels of discrimination and the denial of rights “which are an embarrassment to our professed commitment to individual rights and freedoms”.
“By now, you must know that I am referring to those men, women and youth whose sexual orientation exposes them to discrimination, ostracism, ridicule, marginalization and the feeling that they have little option but to live in the shadows of this ambivalent and judgemental society,” said George Griffith, executive director of the Barbados Family Planning Association (BFPA).
He was speaking Saturday night at the graduation ceremony of the BFPA-sponsored Family Life Counselling and Community Development programme – which is celebrating its 21st anniversary – at the Radisson Acquatic,?Acquatic Gap,?St Michael.
It is an initiative started in 1992 as the Family Life Education and Peer Counselling Training Programme to ensure the maintenance of a progressive programme of sexual and reproductive health and rights. (AB)