As a once respected media house, the Guardian may well believe maccoing to be its thing. But as a former journalism lecturer, I am very sure it isn’t mine. I am not, therefore, in the least interested in knowing who Michelle-Lee Ahye’s partner is. Or his or her sex. Or his or her gender. …
Read More »Dear Editor: Fear factor; the Guardian’s disturbing headline story on Michelle-Lee Ahye
“Irrespective of where one stands on LGBTQ rights, the story was shameful. It demeaned one of our island’s greatest athletes [Michelle-Lee Ahye] for no countervailing journalistic purpose. Not only was the premise of the story flawed, the merits of it too.” The following Letter to the Editor on today’s Trinidad …
Read More »Dear Editor: Recognising human rights of others is not a zero-sum game
“What we often fail to realise is that human rights are not a zero-sum game and recognising rights on the left does not remove rights on the right. “Recognising the human rights of former slaves to be free did not diminish the human rights of the former colonials to freedom. …
Read More »Daly Bread: Life in the never-ending movie; a bizarre political week in T&T
Scenes in the public life in Trinidad and Tobago have become so unreal that I have been listening to Brother Valentino’s “Life is a stage” to re-digest his opinion that in Trinidad and Tobago we live in a never-ending movie in which we all have a role to play. Ministers …
Read More »Monitoring me 3: Ali’s reply to Trump, Bolt pulls up Rogge, MJ’s silence and the eye of the Tiger
“If white America were judged by the quality of its people,” Muhammad Ali might have said, “the USA might not finish too high on any list.” Ali was like that, never pulling his punches, unbowed, cowed neither by Joe Frazier’s aggression nor George Foreman’s power nor the might of Uncle …
Read More »Living Law: Why the procedure for making laws should matter less than their content
In this article, I hope to show why laws must be fair, evenly applied to everyone and, most of all, respectful of human rights. Let us begin with a return to my example from Part 2. Parliament decides to legislate to the effect that 95% of your earnings is to …
Read More »Media Monitor: Darryl’s PS, Camille’s BS, Rowley’s stress and the PNM’s right royal DS mess
Jereem Richards’ 200m Commonwealth Games gold medal was all the rage yesterday. So I want to salute the 24-year-old sprinter on his achievement and give him all the respect he deserves for it before I turn my attention to another medallist. Richard Thompson has thrice medalled at the Olympics. And …
Read More »Dear Editor: Why President Weekes should use her bouffs sparingly
“The thing about bouffs, though, is that they are a peculiarly ineffective means of communication. Often, they roll right off the back of the person at whom they are directed. In worst-case scenarios, such as when they come from a President, they can draw lines in the sand and raise monkey glands. “Just refer back to the Price vs the President situation.” …
Read More »BOOM! Bye bye, buggery laws; High Court declares sections 13 and 16 unconstitutional
Justice Rampersad: “The claimant, and others who express their sexual orientation in a similar way, cannot lawfully live their life, their private life, nor can they choose their life partners or create the families that they wish. To do so would be to incur the possibility of being branded a …
Read More »Freya’s Advice: Is nixing of anti-buggery law pushing us closer to Second Coming?
As the courts came to a decision on whether to revoke the buggery law in Trinidad and Tobago, I was observing the goings-on in our beautiful two-island republic with great trepidation. And excitement. And as I also observe what is happening on the international front, I have reason to believe …
Read More »Master’s Voice: For Blacks, women and the colonised, sin is a sexually transmitted disease
We’re all probably familiar with the stereotype trope of the hypersexual (and if male, predatory) African. Most of us have heard about—and many struggle to disavow—that racist image of African people that seems to figure most prominently in the ways they see us. Even on many porn sites (yes, I …
Read More »Living Law: Should Moreau have sued Minister Smith instead of Smith’s Ministry?
Carrie-Ann Moreau, who claimed to have been sexually harassed by Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith, did not sue Smith but sued the State (the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs and the Chief Personnel Officer) for TT$234,360. Similarly, Bernadette Sammy, who claimed to have been sexually harassed …
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