Roseau, Dominica (TDN) -- Dominicans lately have been discussing the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage following the news that a local organization is agitating for the removal of the country’s buggery laws.
Darryl Phillip, spokesman for the Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiYDOM) organization revealed that his group has embarked on a public campaign to get the century’s year old laws removed from the books.
Under Dominica’s laws, buggery or sodomy is explicitly forbidden and is a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment of up to ten years.
Last year, those same laws came under world scrutiny after two visiting tourists were arrested and charged for sodomy. John Robert Hart age 41 and Dennis Jay Mayer 53 were ultimately fined for indecent exposure after Police dropped the sodomy (buggery) charges.
According to Phillip, Dominica’s buggery laws are so repulsive that “ people are leaving the island, leaving lies and getting married…they are also growing up really hurting .”
He called for public understanding of gays, and lauded a recent call by the Roman Catholic Church for the removal of such laws across the world.
The initial response to Philip’s calls has largely been hostile as callers to local radio condemned the group and for the most part maintained that the laws should not be removed.
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