Sexing Up Parliament.

Barbados is drifting toward the bizarre. One MP, the personable Patrick Todd (Minister of State: Education & Human Resource Development; pictured), has apparently suggested that fellow MPs declare their sexual orientation (see Nation News). Now, he has said that he is not homophobic--interesting that he does not need to say that he is not hetero-phobic. But that does not mean the country is not. So, let an MP put his or her sexual head over the parapet and let's see how well they are received. It's not such a bad idea if you believe that Parliamentarians are now ready to be open about their assets as well as their 'liabilities'. You want to know what a fellow legislator likes between the sheets, or in the kitchen, or in the barnyard, or on the small screen, but you're balking at finding out how they obtained the assets and generate the they have? Come on, now. You're pulling one of my two legs.

I do not listen to the Bajan Parliament on the radio much, but it would be funny to hear the Speaker referring to the Member for St. Peter or St. John (the parishes just happen to be the seats of the previous and current prime ministers, and have no relationship to private parts), with the rider ('homosexual', or 'heterosexual', or 'uncertain sexual preference') while the budget debate is going on. Hansard will need to be read very carefully to ascertain how and why voting was the way it was. Did the gays gangs together to overturn the straights? Is a gay MPs constituency always at the bottom of the list when funds are being allocated? My curiosity is now pricked.

From now onI think Minister Todd should go by the nickname "Sweeney", in honour of the famous demon (butchering) barber of Fleet Street. I can imagine plenty a Bajan, who on hearing that his or her MP is not as straight as an arrow, would be ready with the cut-throat razor to do a little paring of the margin of the member for wherever. Makes me wince.

Barbados, for all the claims of 'little England", is not a liberal democracy. It could not handle having someone in Parliament like Matthew Parris or Lord (Peter--there you go again) Mandelson, who would be bringing their boyfriends to cocktail parties. Nor could it deal with the openness of US Congressman, Barney Frank, the openly gay representative from Massachusetts. It's not at the rabid end of the scale like Jamaica, where burning and killing is deemed "good for dem". But, I am not sure where toward that end of the scale it lies. So, Minister Todd, I think you are playing too much with your members. Nice idea, but it's time is not yet ripe.