7 News Belize

Cops Involved In Equal Ops
posted (January 8, 2020)
Yesterday, we showed you the press conference held by the National Evangelical Association of Belize. They came forward to express their outrage against last week's Appeal Court judgment, which confirms that gay sex is legal.

They came out swinging against the local gay community, and they were predicting that plans are already being hatched to challenge for the right to same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court.

Well, we've since been informed that the Evangelicals aren't the only ones making early chess moves in relation to the wider implications of the judgment. We've seen this Facebook post from the National AIDS Commission in Belize which informs about public consultations for an "Equal Opportunities Bill".

It reads, quote, "The National Aids Commission (NAC), in collaboration with the Office of the Special Envoy, with the support of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV & Aids… and the Human Dignity Trust… has embarked on the development of a comprehensive 'Equal Opportunities Bill', using the CARICOM Model Anti-Discrimination Bill with the addition of race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, health status or other grounds against discrimination." End quote.

The public consultations start this coming Saturday, and will move every day to 8 of 9 of the major municipalities countrywide.

House Speaker Laura Tucker-Longsworth, who is also the Chair of the National Aids Commission, is also making media rounds to promote awareness.

So, it's a concerted national effort, Today the press asked the Police Commissioner he knows anything about this bill. He told us that while he doesn't, the police department does have a representative that is giving input on it:

Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"I do not know the content of the bill, or the draft bill. I believe that Mr. Jones, who is our legal advisor, is on that committee that is dealing with that piece of legislation. I know there's similar legislation in Trinidad and Tobago, and I would want to think that maybe the bill is replicated from that one in Trinidad and Tobago. That is all I have to say, but where it is that there will have some criminal implications, then most naturally, the police will have a role to play. If and when that time comes, then we'll see how we'll get around it."

We'll keep following this story.

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