Last night, 7News showed you an excerpt of the interview which Jamaican Gay Rights Activist Maurice Tomlinson granted to our colleague, Kalilah Enriquez of Ceen News. He addressed the issue of the accusation that his ex-wife Deputy Sol Gen was somehow trying to craft laws in Belize in favour of the local pro-gay movement in Belize.
In that interview, Tomlinson also spoke about why he felt the need to challenge Belize's Immigration Act. Even though he has been to the country twice before finding out that the law exists, he says that it is a matter of principle that it must be repealed. According to Tomlinson, the law marginalizes homosexuals, classing them with prostitutes and other commercial sex workers, and puts a blanket ban on them from the country:
For the record, that wording which he presented to our Colleague is his interpretation, and he didn't quote the Immigration law. The exact wording of the section he is challenging say that prohibited immigrants include, quote, "Any prostitute or homosexual or any person who may be living on or receiving or may have been living on or receiving the proceeds of prostitution or homosexual behaviour." That wording is important because Belize's Deputy Solicitor General submitted to the court that the law seeks to ban persons acting as commercial sex workers. It remains to be seen if what interpretation is the one that the Caribbean Court of Justice makes, and it will determine whether or not they allow his case to be heard.
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