The Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) has expressed satisfaction with statements made by Prime Minister Keith Rowley that he does not support behaviour which discriminates against individuals.
However, the commission is hoping that a proposal submitted by them to the Attorney General’s Office in 2014 to include sexual orientation as a status for protection against discrimination will soon come before Parliament.
On March 16, in response to a question posed by CNC3’s journalist Golda-Lee Bruce on whether the Prime Minister was okay with people who claim to be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation having no recourse under the Equal Opportunity Act Chap 22:03, Rowley said he did not support discrimination against citizens.
In a press release issued yesterday, the EOC stated that this act prohibits discrimination against individuals on seven status grounds (race, ethnicity, religion, sex, marital status, origin and disability) but sexual orientation is expressly excluded from protection.
Although the act includes sex as a status ground, Section 3, the interpretation section, provides that sex does not include sexual preference or orientation.
“The EOC is very encouraged to note that the Prime Minister promised to revisit any laws that undermine the constitutional right of equality of treatment,” the release stated.
The release further stated that a proposal was submitted to the Attorney General’s Office in October 2014 to include sexual orientation as a status ground for protection against discrimination.
“Previous proposals that the commission had submitted to the Attorney General (for example, to include age as a status ground and to expand the definition of disability to include certain ailments such as HIV/Aids, cancer and multiple sclerosis) were forwarded to the Law Reform Commission for research and reporting, but we are not aware of any action being taken with respect to the proposal of October 2014.”
The EOC said they look forward to urgent action being taken and to the drafting and tabling of the necessary amendment bill before Parliament.